She took the character we would normally consider to be the ‘sidekick’ and made her the female protagonist. I was all in when she explained that the Lynburn Legacy books were a magical gothic story, where the ‘damsel in distress trapped in the castle with her crazy relatives’ is actually the male protagonist. Sarah takes great joy in manipulating and subverting tropes, using them to her own means for wonderful storytelling.

Mostly, however, I love her books! The Lynburn Legacy trilogy is my favorite although I am fond of her others. She also has a tendency to post extended original work on her blog in installment format such as her ‘short’ story, Turn of the Story. Sarah is often found being smart on the internet, especially when professing her love of Taylor Swift. She also has a tendency to go on extended tweet binges of running commentary on (or parody of) her current favorite TV show. She is quirky and hilarious, and often comments on her love of people’s anguish over the trials and tribulations of her characters. You may be noticing a trend here, but Sarah is also one of my favorite people whom I follow on twitter. Hmm… What I’m pretty sure of, however, is that she is one of my favorite YA authors. On the other hand, moving her to the ‘R’ section would put her right next to Philip Reeve. I know in my collection, she’s filed under ‘B’, and I certainly wouldn’t want to move her, since that puts her right next to Libba Bray. So, I’m not sure if choosing Sarah Rees Brennan for ‘R’ is cheating or not.

Team human justine larbalestier