Since so many of you asked, here is my humble opinion on many famous YA novels and how I think they could have been better (NO SPOILERS, I promise!). Let’s rip each other’s throats about this :) I’ll let the comments open so you can all defend or destroy these books, but please, no spoilers!

Pros: amazing dystopian world, original, action packed, a page turner
Cons: while I thought in book one there was good character development and a good evolution of the relationship between the various characters, book 2 felt written in a rush. It stagnates. The main character is static, she never learns, she keeps making the same mistakes over and over again, there is no evolution between the relationship between the main character and her partner. While the action keeps crunching everything else is very static.

Pros: amazing world development, entire languages and histories created and developed, amazing plot, the father of fantasy
Cons: the beginning is very slow, so much for starting in the middle of the conflict. If this book were to be published today no publisher would pick it up, ever. This is a great example of why independent publishing is a viable option. Maybe the next great bestseller does not fit the industry’s mold.

Pros: very original concept, the beginning is very well written
Cons: One third into the book you feel like the author dumped you. The whole book turns into a lengthy narration, dialogue disappears, the plot becomes obvious, the resolution is very weak

Pros: great character development, good emotional depth, exotic French background with some foreign words, good tension, good side-plots
Cons: I wanted the resolution to be a bit more intense, without giving anything away, but this is a romance and I personally would have loved a great, all-out love scene after building tension for the whole book

Pros: amazing sense of humor, fast paced, incredible emotional depth, great characterization, character development and relationship evolution, incredible description of the creative process, great voice and setting, great ability to talk about loss, pain and death without whining
Cons: O_o I got nothing.

GBA