It’s no news that, in young adult literature, a high concept can often equal a high paycheck, especially in this post-Harry Potter world. According to Publishers Weekly, HarperTeen has just shelled out seven figures for a debut series about high school kids who discover that their lives are mirroring a Greek tragedy. The first book, Starcrossed, has a young Helen of Troy figure having to deal with the fact that being with the boy she loves might lead to a new Trojan War. The following entries, Persephone’s Garden and Ilium, detail Helen’s katabasis to the underworld and an end-of-times battle between gods and humans respectively.
First-time author Josephine Angelini dubs it “a Percy Jackson for teenage girls,” but it’s hard not to think that the publisher might have seen it a bit more as “Twilight of the gods.” With its high school setting, forbidden love, foggy locale, and young female target audience, the series looks like a possible pretender to the throne currently occupied by Stephenie Meyer’s behemoth saga about face-sucking bloodsuckers.
What do you think, Shelf Lifers? Excited for this series? Or are you too busy writing your own attempt to get a piece of that sweet YA fiction pie? I know I am. Publishers, look out for my upcoming Invisible Box trilogy, about a teenage girl’s love for a quiet young boy who she discovers comes from a family of mimes. You can send the checks courtesy of Entertainment Weekly.
