Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and Dani @ Literary Lion. Today’s topic is Predicting Trends.
Have you noticed any trends in the genres/categories you read in the last few years? What seems to be trending now?
Most of my reading list is YA, and this is a category of books that has a huge tendency to move in trends. Fairytale retellings have been popular for a few years now and that’s still continuing, particularly dark and twisty versions of the tale. On the fantasy side, there has been a significant shift towards Fae ever since ACOTAR, high-stakes heists are still in fashion too, but overall, I’ve noticed a significant shift towards more complex and detailed world-building in the genre. There are also more Asian-inspired fantasies of late, like Spin the Dawn or Descendant of the Crane. Space operas like Aurora Rising or Crownchasers are another recent trend. An increasingly diverse cast of characters is something I’ve noticed across genres, most common in sci-fi and fantasy novels. In historical fiction, WWII related books were very common last year.
What do you think the next trend will be? What trends would you like to see?
There was a dystopian phase some years ago with The Hunger Games and Divergent and it slowed down a little after that, but I have a feeling the genre is going to make a comeback. Science fiction in general is another that is growing more popular recently and I think that will continue too, particularly in YA. Vampires seem to be getting popular again as well, though that trend is not one I’m looking forward to.
Are trends healthy for the book world?
It really depends on the way it is done. As a reader, I usually don’t follow trends and choose my books based on what I feel like reading rather than what is popular, and I take hyped books with a pinch of salt. The main issue is that we could end up with a bunch of titles that are way too similar in a row and it just takes the fun out of it. It could also take attention away from other great books because the hype is on the books following the trend. On the other hand, the popular trend could bring some really amazing titles to the forefront, and of course, if it’s a trend you really love, it’s great to have a wider range to choose your next read from.
Have you noticed any trends in recent books? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Worlds Unlike Our Own 
It is strange that Dystopian hasn’t been popular the last few years. The only recent series we read was Scythe by Neal Shusterman.
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Dystopian novels have definitely slowed down but I’m hoping the genre will make a comeback soon! Scythe is on my TBR, I’m really excited to read it.
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I don’t mind trends, but agree completely that it ends up it makes it really hard for a book to impress me because I feel like I’ve read the story before, even if the writing is really good. I definitely think there’s going to be a dystopian resurgence given everything from the last year, aha. Great post!
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Thanks for reading! Too many similar books due of a trend is so annoying and I feel like I can’t judge them individually because I’m unconsciously comparing them to each other. It’s definitely the perfect time for dystopian to make a comeback though
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Such an interesting post! I was thinking about how dystopian had sort of slipped away the other day! I don’t mind trends as some of the current popular ones are my fave kind of books!
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Thanks! It’s so nice when the current trend lines up perfectly with your go to reading choices!
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Great post, I really loved reading your thoughts on trends, this was really interesting and something I hadn’t realised before, but I definitely see it now. I pick books I fancy depending on my mood or my TBR and not on trends either.
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Thanks for reading! Yes, reading only according to the current trend can get boring really quickly.
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I agree on titles being too similar! The biggest trend at the moment seems to be retellings, as you said and also murder mysteries – especially ones with podcasts. I like murder mysteries but there’s so many of them it’s been difficult to wade through the sludge to find gold.
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Thanks for reading! I didn’t notice until you pointed it out, but murder mysteries have become quite popular of late. You’re right though, it’s so hard to find the good ones when there are so many out there.
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I definitely understand what you mean about books being too similar. I recently read The Hate U Give and it had elements of so many other books that I had read back to back that it felt like I had read it before. Still a really good book though.
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Exactly, it’s hard to fully enjoy a book when that happens! Though I think I was lucky with that trend since The Hate U Give was the first one I picked up. I really enjoyed it too!
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