Books? That's My Thing!: Different Kinds of Paranormal

    If you look at the reviews of books that I've wrote, you'll know that I am a big fan of paranormal, so this week, I decided to talk about all things paranormal!

    In YA paranormal books, there are different kinds of paranormal, I'd to classify them into paranormal creatures and paranormal powers, so let's talk about my feelings/opinion towards each kind of paranormal (Okay, I've used this word way too many times within one paragraph).

   Paranormal creatures: vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fearies and whatnot. These kind of creatures takes a resident spot in YA paranormal books, while some of them, like vampires, are sort of an over-kill in the YA world, some are still undiscovered treasure, like demons. I've seen very little book that used a demon as the main protagonist and the only one that I've read with a demon as a protagonist is the Hex Hall Trilogy. I freaking <3 that trilogy! But not because of the demons, I like its wit. I am sure there are more demon books out there, but compared to vampires and werewolves, I think it's a safe bet that demons appears way less in YA books.

    As for my preference on different kinds of creatures... Well, I must say I don't really like vampires very much. So don't tell me something like, "There's a vampire in this book! Check it out!", 'cause I'm not sold on the vampire, however, I would read any vampire book as long as it's great. I feel the same towards werewolves, so no comment there. My favorite kind of paranormal creatures would have to be... Actually, I don't know, maybe a ghost? 'Cause it usually have a tragic past that's juicy to read and I just reread Anna Dressed In Blood, so... let's move on!

    Paranormal powers: psychometry, psychic and magic are three that I can think of, nothing more... Maybe you have more? Tell me in the comments. I actually prefer paranormal powers to paranormal creatures. Personally, I think with powers there are more possibilities. If you're a vampire, then all you can have are the basic vamp skills, but with paranormal powers, there can be more variations, more discoveries of new powers. Of course, that's just my thought, I know many people would prefer creatures to powers.

   Classification can hardly be perfect, and there's a gray area with dividing paranormal powers in two sides too. Exhibit A, I still can't decide whether Witches & Warlocks belongs to creatures or powers. They are born with magic right? That means they are not all the same with humans, but magic can also be an acquired power, so which one does it belong? Blood witches sound like it should be creatures, but what about characters that practice magic and acquired it? Does the acquiring turns them into creatures too?

    Exhibit B, I've seen books that feature shape-shifting as a power or as a creature. We use the term shape-shifters, personally, I think that means they are different with humans and therefore can be counted as creatures, but like the example with witches, some books portray it as a power. The book Otherkin by Nina Berry made it sound like shape-shifting is a birth right, not acquired. However, the famous Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling portrayed the power of shape-shifting as an acquired power.

    As seen from the two examples, there are definitely a gray area between paranormal creatures and paranormal powers. So, let's discuss:

What do you think of my classification? Do you have another way of classifying YA paranormal books? Which one do you prefer, powers or creatures? Or do you just downright hate paranormals? Comment below, I really want to discuss this with you guys :)