Top 5 genre mash-ups

Ahh the YouSpace series is one of my favourites!! It’s an economics-inspired humour, sci-fi, fantasy series. With a dash of contemporary fiction. I’m not selling it well, but if you like Terry Pratchett, then I couldn’t recommend this more to you.

The Outsorcer’s Apprentice is technically book 3 in the series, but you don’t have to read them in order.

The Outsorcerer’s Apprentice blurb:

A happy workforce, it is said, is a productive workforce.

Mmmm.

Try telling that to an army of belligerent goblins. Or the Big Bad Wolf. Or a professional dragonslayer. Who is looking after their well-being? Who gives a damn about their intolerable working conditions, lack of adequate health insurance, and terrible coffee in the canteen?

Thankfully, with access to an astonishingly diverse workforce and limitless natural resources, maximizing revenue and improving operating profit has never really been an issue for the one they call “the Wizard.” Until now.

Because now a perfectly good business model — based on sound fiscal planning, entrepreneurial flair, and only one or two of the infinite parallel worlds that make up our universe — is about to be disrupted by a young man not entirely aware of what’s going on.

There’s also a slight risk that the fabric of reality will be torn to shreds. You really do have to be awfully careful with these things.

Ooh, I always forget about how much I love this book.

Lakesedge is a fantasy YA book, with monsters and a dash of romance. But, it reads like a gothic horror novel. AND it’s set in summer which is so unusual.

Lakesedge blurb:

There are monsters in the world.

When Violeta Graceling arrives at haunted Lakesedge estate, she expects to find a monster. She knows the terrifying rumors about Rowan Sylvanan, who drowned his entire family when he was a boy. But neither the estate nor the monster are what they seem.

There are monsters in the woods.

As Leta falls for Rowan, she discovers he is bound to the Lord Under, the sinister death god lurking in the black waters of the lake. A creature to whom Leta is inexplicably drawn…

There’s a monster in the shadows, and now it knows my name.

Now, to save Rowan — and herself — Leta must confront the darkness in her past, including unraveling the mystery of her connection to the Lord Under.

The Raven Boys is genre mash-up, but it’s subtle about it. At its heart, it’s contemporary fiction. But it has elements of mystery, fantasy (magical realism maybe?), thriller, paranormal and romance. But it’s just so good. I really love this series.

The Raven Boys blurb:

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them — not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all — family money, good looks, devoted friends — but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Ahh, I really need to finish this series… It’s been on my shelf for (literal) years. However, the Montague Siblings series is a real mash-up of everything. It’s historical fiction, adventure, fantasy and romance, with a dash of humour. And it’s queer. And we love it.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue blurb:

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions — not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.