If you go to the young adult section of the bookstore, you will find a few different types of books. First, you may see an abundance of colorful, gleaming covers of a girl in a lavish dress and a crown on her head. Next to it is usually the gloomy, poetic titles of the romance section with the high school protagonist staring longingly at the love interest with dirty Converse Shoes and a backpack slung over their shoulders can be found. Browsing the sections, these two appear more than any other genres: fantasy and contemporary fiction. For the last few years, they have been what is popular, but much like past trends, they are due to fade away at some time. 

  For example, dystopian books are a scarcity in 2019. In the early 2010s, they were massively distributed. The most influential was The Hunger Games and Divergent. Those two were adapted into movies, and it seemed like you could not get away from them. Today, they are almost forgotten. There are many reasons for the disappearance of a book genre, especially ones that used to be huge. Actually, its popularity may have been the cause itself. After so many of them were cranked out, similarities started to become noticeable. Society is split up into different groups for careers or paired for marriage. The seemingly average protagonist becomes a figurehead of a rebellion against a corrupt, mind-controlling government. The fad fizzled out as new authors tried to publish the same old stories that just did not work for audiences anymore. It became repetitive, and creativity for a novel about dystopia went away. When the creativity goes away, so does the audience’s want for it. With that, The Hunger Games became something of the past. 

  Similar to dystopias, apocalyptic books have vanished. The Fifth Wave is a notable mention, along with any novel focusing on worldwide disease, starvation, aliens, or zombies. Although it was a popular genre, it was less mass-produced as compared with the other and has faded. The cause for it is likely the cause of most other dying genres: a change in audience. The young adults of the late 2000s are no longer young adults, and they have moved on to other genres. With a constant replacement of people reading these novels comes a desire for new and fresh content. Everything is temporary, and things get old fast. Repetition is boring, and readers always want to explore something different and exciting. 

  “I would love to see more horror and mystery books in the future. I haven’t seen much of those lately, and they should make a comeback,” said freshman Sophie Erickson. Because of the dynamics of book genres, you never know what is going to appear next. If you are tired of what has been on the shelves recently, there is always hope.