Looking for a YA book where the writing isn’t childish or too playful. Similar examples include “The Monstrumologist” series by Rick Yancy, Bartemeus series, Navola, The left hand of God, Incarceron.
I prefer male MCs, I don’t mind romance but would prefer the FMC to be their own person and not just a weak side character.
by Sea-Ad-990
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Have you read Roxy by Neal Schusterman? It’s pretty dark and about addiction.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Anatomy by Dana Schwartz
Description: Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz is a gothic romance novel set in 1817 Edinburgh, following a young woman named Hazel Sinnett who defies societal expectations to become a surgeon, working with a “resurrection man” named Jack Currer to procure bodies for study, and uncovering a dark mystery involving missing organs and murder. The book blends historical fiction, mystery, and romance, exploring themes of ambition, gender roles, and the macabre world of 19th-century anatomy.
Check out the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett. The main character is female, but one of the strongest characters I’ve ever encountered, especially in a book for a younger audience, and intentionally subverts tropes you usually see with female YA main characters
It’s not necessarily a “dark YA” series but it deals with dark topics (there’s one bit where the main character cuts a man down from a noose while a mob is coming to kill him, for example), without sugarcoating them, and is still for children and young adults