Pet Peeves in YA... Part III?

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There have been many times when I've written about my pet peeves in YA (or see my discussion posts in general), and here I am, thinking about two trends I've seen lately that I would really like to not see again.

1. Incest

I don't understand how this even became a trend. I have three older brothers. I'm sorry, but incest is just plain ole gross to me. Yeah, I understand most of the novels have it so that the characters didn't know they were related, but if that had happened to me, the chemical attraction would have just died. Or I would've avoided the other person. 85% more likely the former, though.

Now, that's just me and my American perspective. My mom is from Lebanon, and some of her cousins are married and happily in love. So, clearly incest works for some people. But how often do you see cousin incest? It's far more likely in this genre to see a much more involved form of it, and I can't understand or relate to the characters at all when it happens. Honestly, I can't relate much to the cousin incest either. Can't wait until this trend disappears.

2. Brain Control

Okay, mostly this just offends me as someone studying neuroscience. We are hundreds of years away from understanding a lot of neuronal processes. Right now, there's a split in neuroscience where some neuroscientists believe that we are doing the exact same thing we did a century ago -- i.e. by classifying certain brain regions as being involved in "happiness," etc. are we any better than the scientist Gall, who would measure out certain indentations, and those would determine whether or not you were likely to be a criminal etc. etc. (phrenology)?  Even as neuroscience advances, we are still far, far away from being able to understand how our minds work.

ANYWAYS, not only is it not accurate scientifically to say that brain control is possible, but it is also NOT ORIGINAL. It doesn't matter what spin you put on it - whether it's through your emotions or hooking your head up with wires or inserting a chip in there - no, just no; I've now read way too many books that have involved it, and you're just putting a cramp on your world-building by including it. There is a very popular book out right now that has a version of this, and it will go unnamed, but that was basically the only part of it I truly disliked.

Got any pet peeves I didn't mention?

3 Comments

  1. Great points. I actually haven't come up against these two themes as much as you seem to have, but maybe it's because I don't read much sci-fi and I've been lucky enough to avoid the incest. Seriously, are there a lot of books with that? Because that's gross. Not to mention, Luke and Leia already stole that plot. It's not even original anymore.

    Brain control...it doesn't bother me as much, but I'm willing to suspend disbelief if it's far enough in the future. Even though it's highly unlikely.

    Love triangles. That's all I'm gonna say.

    C.J.
    Sarcasm&Lemons

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  2. I actually have a great-uncle who married his first cousin, divorced her, and married another first cousin.

    As far as neuroscience, maybe I shouldn't show you the WIP I'm working on right now... Though rest assured it's not "brain control."

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  3. I never thought of incest as being a trend in YA...but now that you mention it it does happen a lot. Although, I really, really loved Forbidden and How I Love Now, both of which have incest in them. :)

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