I honestly think that current YA is heading into a pretty good place! The fantasy boom that’s been going on for the last few years just has a lot more longevity than the supernatural romance or dystopia fads that preceded it, especially as it’s coincided with the increase of marginalized authors being able to tell their own stories that might differ from the genre’s foundational narratives. If you hear the phrase “YA” and your immediate derogatory association is still Twilight or Divergent, then you honestly need to get your head out of your ass and stop letting 10+ year old books drag the whole genre down.
Of course there’s still things that are not great, but a lot of that is more the faults of authors and behind-the-scenes shit spilling into their work when it shouldn’t. Some authors get more hype than they really deserve, and some are blatantly just cashing in on whatever publishers think the current Hot Issue(TM) is. A lot of these are problems with the entire industry, but YA in particular is usually treated as a market with lower standards, which makes it easier for subpar authors and manuscripts to get in the door - especially if they have existing privilege or connections. There’s also still the issue of authors who broke into YA for this exact reason and don’t even try to hide that their writing is more for their fellow middle-aged women than teenagers. But the past year especially feels like a shift in attempts to hold these kinds of authors accountable that didn’t seem to ever stick before, and frankly, they’re losing a lot of their original fans as said fans have grown up and realized there’s just better-written YA out there.
