At Dusk I Reign
Sage
Sadly, the mentality is not confined to YA. Ever since the structure of the genre was defined, too many authors have felt compelled to labour under the yolk. It's why I gate genres in general and the fantasy genre in particular. It seems to me to be a barrier to creativity, rather than the launching board it should be.The 'checklist' attitude seems to be very prevalent in YA fantasy these days, and the result is a genre that's embarrassingly replete with cliches.