r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Chrookshanks_Dobby21 • 8h ago
Why does reddit hate YA books so much?
I'm 18 and love reading YA. Now I have slowly also gotten into adult books which are great(Robin Hobb, Discworld etc). But I still adore my YA series
There is a very specific hate for YA here on reddit. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of bad books in YA. But that's the case for all genres
Like what's wrong with a teenager liking teenage stuff?? And of course teens are going to be annoying to many adult readers
For example so many people on reddit tell Harry is very annoying in the later books. But he is a teenager losing his loved ones every year! It's realistic for him to snap at people, to cry and complain.
Most people aren't perfect in real life either
I was a mess at 16 after losing a parent. And really related to Harry in the 5th book. But everyone on reddit calls him annoying for constantly whining.
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u/Few_Needleworker3308 8h ago edited 7h ago
It's fine to enjoy YA and teenage stuff. Especially as a teenager. I don't regret liking boybands, K-Pop, YA books, etc as a teen
Now I'm older and look back at it fondly. My tastes has changed since but I didn't NEED to read the most mature and masterpiece books at 15 to consider myself a good reader. I just read for fun
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u/SlurpBucketBoys 8h ago
Most of Reddit folks are not Young Adults. It's that simple. Go to YA subreddits specifically. Reddit is designed to find niches
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u/apeliott 8h ago
I felt they always had the air of being a bit dumbed down and sanitized. Like they were forced to be the censored PG version when I wanted the full-fat 18+ version.
They lose the sense of "Anything can happen"
I much preferred books which were written without feeling they had been written to be read out loud by some middle-aged teacher in a class of 13-year-olds.
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u/HVP2019 7h ago edited 4h ago
There is nothing wrong with a teenager liking YA books.
You are misunderstanding Redditors
Most Redditors are adults. As adults they may not like as many YA books because they are adults and have different tastes.
As an adult I still like some YA books. When I was a teenager I loved almost all YA books.
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u/PeakxPeak 7h ago
I think most redditors who hate YA hate it because of the disturbingly large number of people in their 30s, 40s, and beyond who exclusively read YA. You literally are a young adult, it's written for you.
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u/sircastor 8h ago
Anger and hate drive engagement, and Reddit loves engagement. This is unfortunately the reality of the internet. For what its worth a lot (way more than you think) is automated systems trying to farm engagement.
Edit: That said, I also was one of those people annoyed by Harry in book 5. Sorry you lost a parent. That's really tough.
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u/Purled_Attitude 7h ago
Reddit is full of edgelords who are happy to finally be able to vent their niche opinion on things that don't really concern them. Also, that after a while, you realise that it's basically always the same story in a different setting. Personally I like some YA books, but one can only read so many "death match with enemy-to-lover romance" books.
I'd like to recommend Naomi Novik's Scholomance trilogy. That's my go-to when I want to really lose myself in a book.
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u/big-red-aus 7h ago edited 7h ago
If your a teenager reading YA, sure go for it, I might recommend some as being better than others (Garth Nix is the best YA author currently working who's work is both very accessible, incredibly well written and doesn't talk down to young people like so many YA books do in my opinion), but other than that I'm just happy to see young people reading.
A lot of the criticism is about adults who exclusively read YA books. People really should try an expand their horizons a bit beyond YA as an adult.
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u/Few_Needleworker3308 7h ago
I was reading Dostoevsky since 15. How dare does a teenager does typical teen things in YA books?
That's the average redditor talking about books
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u/WritingNerdy 7h ago
People usually only come to Reddit to argue and complain. The internet is weird. It hasn’t always been like this so I think bots and pr accounts definitely influence things.
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u/WifeofBath1984 7h ago
Weird, I think YA is wildly popular right now thanks to BookTok. Where are you seeing all this hate? You and I have similar tastes in literature (Hobb is a goddess, I'm obsessed with RotE. I found it about 5 years ago and have read it three times. I just finished Soldier Son for the second time too). I dont see anyone hating on YA in r/fantasy or any of the other book subs I'm in.
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u/Real-Perspective7301 8h ago
weird to assume what other people hate, I'd suggest to take a step back from the internet for awhile
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u/Cosmx123 8h ago
Maybe they’re assuming because they’ve seen people hate
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u/Real-Perspective7301 8h ago
they don't know what someone hates, its just taking agency away
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u/ghostwriter85 8h ago
There's nothing wrong with a teenager liking stuff.
YA gets a bad wrap for two general reasons
1 - Teenagers not realizing that the adults they interact with on the internet have long since outgrown YA and don't find it particularly compelling.
2 - Adults who didn't grow out of the YA phase being difficult to deal with.
Like what you like, don't expect other people to like it.