Startlingly similar blurbs on the ARCs of these upcoming YA titles grabbed my attention.
on Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury, August 2012):
“perfect for fans of George R.R. Martin and Suzanne Collins”
on Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes (Penguin/Razorbill, December 2012):
“ideal for fans of George R.R. Martin and Kristin Cashore”
As a serious fantasy and sci-fi nerd, I can say that I’m a fan of George R.R. Martin, Suzanne Collins, and Kristin Cashore—but I have to wonder whether there’s much overlap in YA readership among the three. Martin’s epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, featuring lots of gory battle scenes, incest, torture, and dark magic, is not for the faint of heart even among adult readers. The popular HBO show Game of Thrones based on the series—which wrapped up its second season last night—is, if anything, even more graphic. (Did you see Saturday Night Live‘s recent Game of Thrones behind-the-scenes skit?)
Are fans of Collins and Cashore really reading Martin, or is it the other way around?
About Katie Bircher
I started reading George R.R. Martin’s series in middle school – yes, the series is a gory, masochistic mess, but so is middle school. I read it right along with Tamora Pierce’s Lioness Rampant series to get my high fantasy fix. And as an adult nerd, Kristen Cashore, Suzanne Collins, and George R.R. Martin share the sci-fi/fantasy section of my bookshelf