Top Ten Tuesday #156

Hi all! I hope you’ve all been having a good week, I am taking a break from the hell of exam revision to write this post, but at least by the end of next week, it will all be over!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday now, and that means another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Today we’re talking Frequently Used Words In Titles (a topic I suggested!). A while back I did a post on unique YA Fantasy Titles, and today, I’m going to explore the opposite side of the coin, and talk about the Most Commonly Used Words In YA Fantasy Titles. It was difficult to narrow these down, because there are SO MANY commonly used words, but I picked what I think are the most overused ones. So here we go:

1. Shadow

For some reason, YA Fantasies really love the word Shadow! I don’t know, I guess shadows conjure kind of dark and eerie images and that’s a vibe a lot of fantasies want to go for?

Examples (not an exhaustive list): Shadow and Bone, Queen of Shadows, A Shadow Bright and Burning, Lord of Shadows, Reign of Shadows, Sea of Shadows, Empire of Shadows, Shadow Scale, Shadow Study, Prince of Shadows, Dance of Shadows, Shadows On The Moon, Shadow Kiss, Library of Light and Shadows, Shadow Crown, Mask of Shadows, Cloaked In Shadow, The Shadow Throne, A Skinful of Shadows, Shadowsong, Seven Deadly Shadows, Shadows on The Moon, The Shadow Hour, Shadowcaster

2. Bone

Bones also appear very frequently in YA fantasy titles, again, I guess because a lot of fantasy these days eers towards the dark and what is dark and creepier than bones?

Examples: Children of Blood and Bone, Shadow and Bone, Ink and Bone, Ivory and Bone, City of Bones, The Bone Queen, The Bone Witch, Daughter of Smoke and Bone

3. Blood

Since there is a trend towards a lot of death and violence in quite a number of YA fantasies, it makes sense that Blood is a commonly used word in YA fantasy titles, as an indicator of what is to come within the pages!

Examples: Children of Blood and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight, Frostblood, Fireblood, Nightblood, Blood Rose Rebellion, The Blood of Stars, A River of Royal Blood, Blood of A Thousand Stars, Silver In The Blood, Blood Promise, Blood Passage, Sisters of Blood and Spirit, Blood and Sand, Blood of The Prophet, Isle of Blood and Stone, Blood Magic, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, Half-Blood, RoseBlood, Song of Blood and Stone. The Blood of Olympus

4. King/Queen/Prince/Princess

Royalty is a key aspect of a lot of YA Fantasy, so it’s unsurprising that royal titles comprise a large portion of YA Fantasy titles.

Examples: Queen of Shadows, The Shadow Queen, Daughter of The Pirate King, Daughter of The Siren Queen, The Raven King, The Caged Queen, Red Queen, The Star Touched Queen, Princess of Thorns, Winter Queen, King’s Cage, The Iron King, Prince Caspian, The Traitor Prince, The Half Blood Prince, The Cruel Prince, Traitor Prince, Prince of Shadows, Ash Princess, The Orphan Queen, The Imposter Queen, The Sleeping Prince, Queens of Innis Lear, The Queen’s Rising, The Rogue Queen, The Fire Queen, The King’s Traitor, The Young Queens, The Demon King, Clockwork Princess, Clockwork Prince, Queen of The Tearling, The Queen of Air and Darkness. The Iron Queen, The Wicked King

5. Daughter

Titular daughters are incredibly common in YA, although often these titular daughters are daughter of “things” rather than daughters of people-you know since parents are usually absent in YA Fantasy!

Exmaples: Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Daughter of The Pirate King, Daughter of The Siren Queen, Daughters of The Storm, The Sin Eater’s Daughter, Daughter of The Burning City, The Watchmaker’s Daughter

5. Crown

Given the obsession with royalty in fantasy, it’s unsurprising that crowns make more than a few appearances in YA Fantasy titles!

Examples: The Crown’s Game, Three Dark Crowns, Crown of Midnight, The Crown’s Fate, The Crown and The Arrow, Cruel Crown, Hollow Crown, Shadow Crown, The Crown of Embers, Crown of Ice, The Crimson Crown, Crown of Thunder

6. Fire

Fire seems to be a quite common magical power in YA fantasies (including in my own WIPs), so naturally, it appears quite often in their titles!

Examples: For A Muse of Fire, Heir of Fire, Firestarter, Ice Like Fire, Paper and Fire, Of Fire and Stars, Girl of Fire and Thorns, The Fire Thief, The Secret Fire, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Playing With Fire, Spindle Fire, Fireblood, The Fire Queen, Trial By Fire, Fire, Fire Lines, Girls of Paper and Fire, Wicked Like A Wildfire, Bright Smoke Cold Fire, City of Heavenly Fire

7. Throne

Because where there are royals, there are thrones!

Examples: Traitor To The Throne, One Dark Throne, Throne of Glass, Throne of Fire, The Shadow Throne, The Gray Wolf Throne, Throne of The Crescent Moon, The Vanishing Throne

8. City

Honestly I’m not entirely sure why City is so popular in Fantasy books? I guess maybe it’s a way to indicate Urban Fantasy?

Examples: City of  Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire (yup that’s just The Mortal Instruments books!), Tarnished City, City of Bastards, Hollow City, City of Brass, Black City, The Secret City

9. Night

I mean YA fantasy loves a bit of darkness, so it fits that Night is a common title word choice!

Examples: Torch Against The Night, Frost Like Night, The Night Circus, Night of Cake and Puppets, Beasts of Night, Night Study, Nevernight, The Night Realm, Evernight, Nightshade, Nightblood, Midnight, Crown of Midnight, Girl at Midnight, Muse of Nightmares, Vassa In The Night, Wink Poppy Midnight, A Thousand Nights, Lady Midnight

10. Stars

Because in a genre obsessed with nighttime and darkness, stars are just the next step right?

Examples: The Star Touched Queen, Ruin of Stars, Obsidian and Stars, Of Fire and Stars, A Court of Frost and Starlight, Days of Blood and Starlight, Blood of A Thousand Stars, The Midnight Star, Girl of Ink and Stars, Even The Darkest Stars, The Stars Never Rise,

So there you go, some of the most commonly used words in YA Fantasy titles! I’m sure there’s many that I’ve missed, so leave your suggestions in the comments. I’m going to be kind of MIA over the next couple of weeks because of exams, I will try to get my review of Hero At The Fall up but I don’t really have time to sit down and write it at the minute because of my exams, so it might be a bit late! But I will be back with my newest Top Ten Tuesday post next week, talking about Books I’d Slay A Lion To Get Early, so stay tuned for that!