7 YA Novels That Would Make Excellent Animes | Newbie Blogger Spotlight
7 YA Novels That would Make Excellent Animes
Hi friends! Today I have another Newbie Blogger Spotlight post and it’s one that has me very excited! Kelly has put together a list of 7 YA novels that she would like to see adapted into Anime, and it’s a great list! I hope you enjoy.
Hi loves! I’m Kelly Brigid from Another Book in the Wall. There, I unleash the plethora of love and thoughts I have about Young Adult literature and the bookish community as a whole! My blog has been around for just over a year, and words can’t describe the importance this hobby has taken hold of in my life. This wonderful community of bookworms means the world to me, and I’m so thankful that Jenn is featuring me on her blog!
Although reading is my first love (aside from the beauty that is tea, of course), I adore watching anime series in my spare time! Binge watching for five-hours-straight and raving about them for months is more accurate, but that’s beside the point. A few of my favorites include My Hero Academia, Beyond the Boundary, Your Lie in April, and Anohana: The Flower We Saw that Day. As much as I would like to believe that I have a vivid imagination, this statement is far from the truth.
I struggle to picture more than a glimpse of highly detailed worlds, and often forget many peculiarities from these universes. This is especially the case when I read fantasies. In my head, they all bear a strong resemblance to either Middle Earth or Narnia. Do you see that little thing collecting dust in the corner? It’s the last shred of my imaginative capabilities.
Now that we’ve established how horrendous I am at picturing worlds for myself, it only makes sense that I have a deep admiration for visually stunning universes in anime series. I love animations and have the highest respect for animators and digital artists who can create unique, eye-catching worlds! With that being said, here are 7 Young Adult novels and series that I would love to see adapted as animes.
1. 
Lifel1k3 by Jay Kristoff
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on May 29, 2018
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 402
Goodreads
On a floating junkyard beneath a radiation sky, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap.
Eve isn’t looking for secrets—she’s too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she’s just spent six months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, and the only thing keeping her Grandpa from the grave was the fistful of credits she just lost to the bookies. To top it off, she’s discovered she can destroy electronics with the power of her mind, and the puritanical Brotherhood are building a coffin her size. If she’s ever had a worse day, Eve can’t remember it.
But when Eve discovers the ruins of an android boy named Ezekiel in the scrap pile she calls home, her entire world comes crashing down. With her best friend Lemon Fresh and her robotic conscience, Cricket, in tow, she and Ezekiel will trek across deserts of irradiated glass, infiltrate towering megacities and scour the graveyard of humanity’s greatest folly to save the ones Eve loves, and learn the dark secrets of her past.
Even if those secrets were better off staying buried.
This captivating, cyber-punk setting is compared quite frequently to that from Blade Runner and Mad Max, and my word, would I love to see it come to life in animated form! Robots, human-like androids, and high stakes never tasted so well together!
2. 
Shadow of The Fox by Julie Kagawa
Published by Harlequin Teen on October 2, 2018
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 409
Goodreads
One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos.
Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.
Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.
There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.
With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.
When I read this Japanese-inspired fantasy several months ago, I couldn’t stop gushing about how it felt like an anime. There is marvelous characters band of characters trekking through a phenomenal world with dragons, samurais, kitsune, and magic! What more could I ask for?
3. 
Warcross by Marie Lu
Published by Penguin Books Ltd on October 4, 2018
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Pages: 353
Goodreads
When a game called Warcross takes the world by storm, one girl hacks her way into its dangerous depths. For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn't just a game—it's a way of life. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. When Emika hacks into the game illegally, she's convinced she'll be arrested, and is shocked when she gets a call from the game's creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year's tournament in order to uncover a security problem ... and he wants Emika for the job. In this sci-fi thriller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu conjures an immersive, exhilarating world where choosing who to trust may be the biggest gamble of all.
Despite how I primarily read fantasy, I can never turn away from a well-written science fiction book! Warcross exceeded my expectations, and I fell in love with Marie Lu’s futuristic Japan. The fine line between reality and the virtual world is blurred, crafting a wonderfully intricate setting.
4. 
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
on June 1, 2005
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 377
Goodreads
Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.
Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.
No matter how old I grow, I’ll always reserve a special place in my heart for this series. Rick Riordan helped introduce me to Young Adult fiction, and for that I’ll eternally be thankful. While this series has had two (unspeakably atrocious) movie adaptations, I would love to see Percy’s adventures as an anime. Imagine how breathtakingly beautiful the magic and Greek mythological monsters could appear!
5. 
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Published by Bloomsbury USA Childrens on May 7, 2013
Pages: 406
Goodreads
In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.
Fantasy animes are greatly underestimated in my opinion, and I would quite possibly kill to see this 7-book series adaptated as an anime. The Throne of Glass universe is incredibly complex, with dozens of nations and kingdoms displayed. I could easily picture the central plot being adaptated, and I would be so bold as to hope that new subplots and side stories from other characters could be included as well.
6. 
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Published by Feiwel and Friends on January 3, 2012
Pages: 390
Goodreads
Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder's brain interference has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it "a matter of national security," but Cinder suspects it's more serious than he's letting on.
Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder's intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is infected with the fatal plague that's been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for her daughter's illness, Cinder's stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an "honor" that no one has survived.
But it doesn't take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. Something others would kill for.
Futuristic China with cyborgs? Check! Genetically altered soldiers? Check! A brilliant glittering city in which a corrupt queen prevails? Check! Sweet romances that will make everyone’s heart swoon? Check! I honestly don’t know how this series has evaded becoming an anime.
7. 
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab, Victoria Schwab
Published by Tor Books on February 24, 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 400
Goodreads
Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.
Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.
Shades of Magic series
1.
A Darker Shade of Magic
2.
A Gathering of Shadows
3.
A Conjuring of Light
A smuggler who travels between the worlds of three separate Londons? If that line alone isn’t enough to convince producers to create an anime from this trilogy, then I don’t know what is. The Shades of Magic books are truly one of my favorite trilogies in existence, with its (pardon the pun) unparalleled world building, multi-dimensional characters, and invigorating story. Also, who wouldn’t love to see Kell’s magical coat in all its beauty?
Well, there you have it, loves! If you enjoyed this post and I didn’t frighten you away, it’d mean the world to me if you checked out my blog! And, let me know down below, which books or series you would love to see as an anime. Thanks again to the wonderful Jenn for featuring me here. She’s an angel!
Until next time,
Kelly Brigid
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Thank you so much Kelly! This was such a fun post. As always make sure you go and check out her blog and give her a follow. If you want to be part of this spotlight and are new, send me a message!
If you want to do a guest post and are not new, send me a message and let’s chat!
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7 Comments
These all sound amazing! I would love to watch all of these if they became real! Also … Kelly is amazing! She’s a wonderful blogger with a beautiful personality – I’m super happy you are showcasing her, for more people really should know about her blog.
Great post!
She is wonderful isn’t she!
Yes! Her and I started talking more last year after we kept tagging each other constantly ha-ha! So many great bloggers — I wish I had more time to read them all …
AWW JENNA ILY! 😘❤️
ILY TOO KELLY!! <3 <3
Warcross and TLC will such good anime, I can totally see them happening and now I want to watch it
I actually haven’t read most of these, and that makes me sad. They’re basically all on my TBR, though. I did read Shadow of the Fox, and I thought the same thing! Just reading it felt like watching an anime in my head, and I LOVED IT. I’m so looking forward to the sequel. 😀