Best teen adventure books according to redditors
We found 563 Reddit comments discussing the best teen adventure books. We ranked the 219 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
4. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 1: Charmed Life / The Lives of Christopher Chant
9 mentions
Some of these were listed on my blog, but here's a list of Fantasy/Romance with Strong Female Protagonists:
And of course, as mentioned by everybody else:
I work at a kid's bookstore and get this question all the time! Here are some of my favorite recommendations:
The Chrestomanci books by Diana Wynne Jones, and some of her other books too, like Howl's Moving Castle would be fantastic. She writes great fantasy.
The Emerald Atlas series is great for adventure.
Shannon Hale writes wonderful fairy tale type books. Start her off with Princess Academy or Goose Girl.
Jessica Day George is also a favorite at our store. Tuesdays at the Castle or Dragon Slippers would be great starts to new series.
Kate DiCamillo is wonderful. Her newest book Flora & Ulysses was awesome.
I loved Savvy and Scumble by Ingrid Law. If she likes those she could also try A Tangle of Knots and A Snicker of Magic. Not all one series, but similar ideas.
And lastly maybe something by Brandon Mull? He writes really fun fantasy adventure stories.
...know what it takes to go through the design process of creating your own 'professional' looking book covers.
Speaking as a cover designer, here's a number of elements where I see a lot of amateurs messing up:
Failing to research their genre niche to see what the covers of the top-selling books look like. Book buyers use the covers to guess at what the book will contain, to narrow down their choices. There are far too many books available to expect that readers will read the description of every single result of their search on whatever platform they're searching on, so you need to signal genre, sub-genre, and mood loudly enough that it jumps out as someone's eye is scanning over a batch of 1.5" tall covers that are all competing for attention.
What signals those things, and what things readers are looking for, changes subtly over time, so you need to keep an eye out. I designed the house look for the Zoe Chant shifter romance books (I don't do all the covers; many of the authors do their own) and while we've kept the same overall look, when Zoe Chant first published the idea was to play up the cozy qualities in the books. As action romance has gotten more popular in the past few years, the challenge now is to play up the dramatic tension without signalling "alphahole" because the Zoe Chant niche is focused on ultimately kind heroes. This mostly involves a lot of dramatic lighting, and in recent months a lot more glowy elements to pull focus. The books are the same sort that have been published all along, we're just focusing on different aspects now.
Yes, there are always books that break the mold of current design and sell a ton, and thus set new fashions that everyone else chases. Your book will not be the one that does that.
Leaving large flat areas of color in the design. This also fits in with researching covers in your niche: large flat areas of color are common in non-fiction, but not so much in fiction. At the very least, fill in that empty blackness with a texture or with words. If you have a background in graphic design and understand how to use negative space properly, go for it, but if you don't, then I wouldn't attempt it.
Failing to give the focal point of the design a 'pop'. 'Pop' means to stand out. You can do this with color, composition, negative space, light glows, etc., and you should use more than one thing. It should be immediately apparent what the focal point is, because you have less than one second to grab the reader's eye and make them interested. The more experienced you are, the more subtle you can go--I love the cover for Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House, where the broken-up letterforms cause you to look twice and realize it's a snake doing that.
Failing to take lighting on the stock photos into account. If you grab two stock photos and montage them into a picture, they need to have complementary lighting. You can't have one high-key (bright, few shadows) and one low-key (dark, dramatic), and if you have the lighting in each photo coming from a different direction, you need to account for it in the rest of the picture because the two pictures will never blend properly if you don't. Yup, even in photomontages that aren't supposed to look like one photo: we are used to consistent lighting schemes in real life, and inconsistency draws the attention in a bad way because the brain goes "Something is wrong here."
Slapping the text on as an afterthought. The best cover designs involve the text from the very beginning, and make sure the composition includes the text. Ninth House above is a very obvious (and also very trendy right now) example.
(Also note that while Ninth House technically has large flat areas of black in the artwork, the title covers it up.)
Being afraid to put text on top of the artwork. Too many amateurs either make or buy a nice picture, and then go "I can't hide this picture!" and scrunch the title waaaaay down at the bottom and put their name waaaay up at the top. Ideally, you should have researched what your genre's conventions are--note that most trad publishers often put the text smack on top of the artwork, even interacting with it--and worked with the artist to develop a composition that takes the text into account. Barring that, put the full artwork on your website where your fans can see it (and maybe buy prints from your artist, or you if you licensed the copyright), and just slap that title on top.
Joe Abercrombie can get away with breaking this rule because he's Joe Abercrombie (and because the positive shape of the helmet POINTS AT THE TITLE, and because his name is BRIGHT RED and focus-pulling, and because the lighting on the helment is dark at the bottom and light at the top--three things that drive the eye to Abercrombie's name, which is the focal point).
Using default Photoshop text effects. Do not use anything more than a subtle drop shadow if you're new to this. Most text effects just look muddy at Amazon search results size, and are terrible anyway. If you find yourself looking at your title on the cover in a flat color and thinking, "This looks boring. I should jazz it up," then it means you are using the wrong font. It's still going to look wrong once you put a pillow emboss and outer glow on it. Go look at creativemarket.com, filter by price range, and invest in a (READABLE) font that is more interesting than Arial or Times New Roman or whatever you were using that came default with your computer.
Not making their author name big enough. You shouldn't go as big as Robert Jordan's name if you're not as big as Robert Jordan, but when your name is tiny, it looks like you're apologizing for having dared write the book.
Speaking of Jordan, I love these current covers. This is what you do if you can't bear to cover the artwork: you frame it, and you pull colors for the frame and the text from the artwork, and you incorporate interesting shapes into the frame. As a not-well-known author, you'd put the title into text the size of Jordan's name and put your name into the smaller text, and in the case of these covers, the frame would draw attention to your name, so the text could be smaller. (Although for an unknown author who wanted a similar cover, I'd put the series name into the frame, make the title large, and put the author name across the top.)
Has anyone read Graceling? That is indeed the case. Those with unique eyes like this are considered outcasts and people fear them.
Red Rising is a great SF trilogy; it starts out with a definite YA feel, but becomes a more complex story, and I'd argue the second book is better than the first. It has been optioned.
Red Queen is popular, and I'm sure there are studios looking to option the series.
And studios would be stupid to not consider Sarah J Maas' Throne of Glass series.
I also think there is interest in An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, and Cinder by Marissa Meyer.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Diana Wynne Jones yet. The Chrestomanci Series is an ideal starting point.
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
The Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin
The Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman
The Belgariad and The Mallorean by David Eddings
The War of the Blades series by J.D. Hallowell
The Shannara series by Terry Brooks
All of these are fabulous!
I would also add Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles. It begins with Dealing with Dragons, wherein Princess Cimorene decides that she's terribly bored with all this royal business and runs away to live with a dragon (sort of as an apprentice). I remember it being a lot of fun!
Instead of just getting rid of them, I think we should supplement them with stories like Dealing with Dragons, Ella Enchanted, and other books with positive messages.
Enchanted Forest by Patricia C. Wrede These books are hilarious and feature a strong female lead, well multiple strong female leads. Actually, come to think of it, I think the only guys are a talking, floating, blue donkey with wings and an inventor that doesn't get much time.
There's a witch that has an attitude very much reminiscent of the Dowager from Downton Abbey. There's a tomboy princess (the biggest stereotype in the series) who decides she wants to be kidnapped by a dragon. And finally, there's a dragon who is just tired of all these little human shits running around disturbing her plans.
They're called The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Amazon link.
You seem to have two types of books here, fantasy YA and classics that span the genres.
For fantasy YA-type books I recommend:
For non-YA I think you might enjoy from the other books you've included, I recommend:
Take a look at Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series.
I was reading His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman when I was 9.
They're still some of my favorite books.
I highly recommend Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone (2011). It had me at "cheek-chew of bitterness." I still say that in my head. What I would do to come up with stuff like that!
I am officially back stateside, and in the last 24 hours I have successfully fixed the water softener, shoveled a fine collection of oak logs, leaves, live plants, and raccoon shit off the roof, made bank tutoring o-chem, and taught the Verizon employee how to connect to their own 4G network. I was unaware the name of their APN was such a secret. Also, that 4 tiers of escalation would be so damn useless. I ended up guessing the name like some sort of movie cracking and then went back and made the guy write it down because I can't be the only person ever to have that problem and it was seriously a 10 second fix. See also: was feeling smug.
I also got a lot of reading done in the past month, apparently. Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Name of the Wind, Matched, Graceling, Sapphique, Assassin's Apprentice, the first Circle of Magic book, and started a bunch of others.
If we're running out of discussion ideas, another book recommendation/rant/rambling thoughts thread might be fun.
Friends still have my MS and are being slow readers and I can't bug them about it because they have real work to do. Argh. I'm planning to cover my office in sticky notes and reorder some scenes that way while I wait on them.
The Enchanted Forest series by Patricia C Wrede is engaging, witty, and sex-free.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak is wonderful for everyone of any age. It has lyrical writing, a story that sticks with you, and moving imagery. I can't recommend it enough.
Tamora Pierce's Tortall novels are great (I'd recommend starting with the Protector of the Small series or The Immortals series). There is some sex in them, but it's not graphic and it's far from the focus of the books.
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud is witty, well-paced, and engaging.
The Sabriel series by Garth Nix is pretty dark, but no more so than the ones you listed.
Let us know what you end up getting her!
Gregor the Overlander is a pretty good series!
City of Ember
Inkheart, I don't know if its a bit young for him, but I remember enjoying it over a vast course of ages
Redwall!
The Wind Singer, my personal favorite. Part of a trilogy. I remember loving these when I was younger
I absolutely loved the “Redwall” series by Brian Jacques and “The Alchemyst: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel” series by Michael Scott as a young adult (still love them now) plus you’ll be set for the next few birthdays and holidays. They both have plenty of sequels in their respective series! (22 novels in the Redwall series and 6 in The Alchemyst series!)
This is going to seem like a really strange choice, but it's coming from another 16 year old. I recommend Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman, as it is one of my absolute favorite books. It may only appeal to him if he likes science or engineering, but it's worth a shot regardless.
In a similar vein to the Chronicles of Narnia, may I recommend The Hobbit/ The Lord of the Rings? Both are great stories that he may like. Although they are not the best written books in terms of writing quality (in my opinion), the Inheritence Cycle by Christopher Paolini might appeal for entertainment value. Perhaps a lesser known author that I greatly enjoy is Megan Whalen Turner, author of The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. I just became aware of this book and have thus never read it, but A Conspiracy of Kings by the same author is bound to be good.
Steering away from fantasy, he may also like science fiction. I recommend any Ray Bradbury. Most of his stories are short, so for someone who doesn't read often they are great. My favorite are the Martian Chronicles, but R is for Rocket is also a good compilation. All of the Artemis Fowl series are recommended as well.
If I think of any more, I will certainly edit this post.
OH GOD, JEREMY THATCHER DRAGON HATCHER
Further exploits in the life of a young nerd: Bruce Coville's Unicorn Chronicles, Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest series, Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon Chronicles, Susan Fletcher's Dragon Chronicles...
Excuse me, I have to go to the library.
Sounds like he views reading as a chore and not a form of entertainment. It may be that he hasn't found a book that clicks with him yet. Try focusing on his interests. Does he have a favorite movie? If its been adapted from a book, it might keep his interest.
Take clues from how he spends his free time. What kind of games does he play? Both Halo and Warcraft have their own line of books. I think it boils down to he need to find reading entertaining, and only he will be able to make that distinction.
He are some choices to try out:
Calvin and Hobbes, Far Side, or even try manga, Naruto is very popular.
Good luck with finding the something that he likes.
http://www.amazon.com/Artemis-Fowl-Graphic-Eoin-Colfer/dp/0786848820
The Artemis Fowl series would be a good follow-up to Harry Potter. A 12-year old evil genius plans to ransom a fairy.
She might also like the Circle of Magic series, where a bunch of 10-year olds from different backgrounds discover they have unique types of magic.
Is it The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede?
xD ok this will be a long message bear with me.
Yes! Every serial I write has a home page, and every home page has:
For my serials, the home pages are as follows:
Flameweaver Saga
Halfway to Home
From a quick browse-through of your comments I didn't see you crossing paths with any other serial authors - If you haven't read any of his stuff, I highly, highly recommend /u/Hydrael's work, over at /r/Hydrael_Writes! His Dragon's Scion and Small Worlds projects are exceptional! Small worlds is also published on Amazon!
I can help with that! Some quick recommendations that I personally love - these are loosely ranked in order of how I'd recommend them, but the fact that they're here at all means they've got my support :)
Fantasy novels:
The October Daye series:
Trickster's Choice/Trickster's Queen
Graceling
Scifi Novels:
Agent to the Stars and Old Man's War
The Ender Quartet
The Ship Series
Susan Cooper has a great series called "The Dark is Rising" It starts with "over sea and under stone" and continues from there. They sell the whole series. This was my absolute favorite series as a kid and actually was the book that started my love of reading. (i was not too big into reading before that.)
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Rising-Boxed-Set-Greenwitch/dp/1416949968
Do not be confused with the horrible movie they made based on the second book. That just sucked.
Maybe [The Monstrumologist] ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Monstrumologist-Rick-Yancey/dp/1416984496) by Rick Yancey? It's about monster hunting - I really enjoyed it. It has more of a science/anthropology bent than pure magic but it is still very much fantasy. It's also set in a similar time period, no modern technology.
Full disclosure, I haven't played Bloodborne but am familiar with the general themes from reviews.
The fucking graphic novel pulled it off. https://www.amazon.ca/Artemis-Fowl-Graphic-Eoin-Colfer/dp/0786848820
Just make him have a flat face. Aviators optional.
The Redwall series.
Here you go!
Source: am an English teacher.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman. http://www.amazon.com/Stardust-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0060934719
His Dark Materials Trilogy is good, though the movie was bad. http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Trilogy-Golden-Compass-Spyglass/dp/0375842381/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334109041&sr=1-2
Piers Anthony writes funny fantasy. I enjoyed the first dozen or so of his Xanth novels. http://www.amazon.com/Spell-Chameleon-Xanth-Book/dp/0345347536/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334109146&sr=1-1
YA lit is my favourite genre, and i remember being that age and being bored with what the school had us read.
Ideas for you: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Dealing with Dragons series by Patricia C. Wrede (anything by her, actually, but that's where I'd start)
I'll second the Redwall books, there are a BUNCH!
On a slightly different topic, 9 was the age I started reading Dorothy Gilman (specifically, Caravan and Incident at Badamya)and Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody books. If she is a sophistocated reader, they are pretty awesome mystery/exotic books with light romance but nothing narsty.
I myself have just spent my summer re-reading Tamora Pierce's Tortall books for the heck of it, and those are super awesome, if she hasn't read them already. Why don't you have her look over our suggestions, haha?
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede. It's technically a young adult book, but I've loved it all my life and still do. The characters are AMAZING and you will laugh out loud reading it.
Here are some ideas for young adult fantasy, with a few science-fiction books thrown in. Look them up and see if they look like something you might like:
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville (Mievile is a rising star of of SF/F, and this is his only novel so far written for young adults. Two British girls are pulled into a bizarre alternate London and must foil an evil plot)
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer (scifi in futuristic Africa, three mutant detectives trying to rescue kidnapped children of a famous general)
Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes (near-future SF, robots do all the work, so what is there for new high school graduates to do?)
There are plenty of SF/F Choose Your Own Adventure books, which are a nice change of pace from third- and first-person narratives.
The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper. The first book is Over Sea, Under Stone, but you might want to start with The Dark is Rising.
Incidentally, I do NOT, under ANY circumstances, recommend Eragon.
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Dust-Belle-Sauvage-ebook/dp/B01N390U59
Laine Taylor has a good theory. Starts off a little slow, but is good.
Is it the The Chronicles of Chrestomanci?
The Monstrumologist
http://www.amazon.com/The-Monstrumologist-Rick-Yancey/dp/1416984496
That's a tricky one. Seems the majority of fantasy books with a female protagonist fall into either the ya or smut category
I would suggest:
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
These are technically ya but I wouldn't say the relationships are stereotypical of ya
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
If you don't mind smutty then my goto in Kresley Cole and her immortals after dark series. Always a nice light paranormal romance. Not every book is a hit in my opinion but there's some gems. Plus it's fine to read then out of order/skip some.
Well now you can!
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville turns this idea on its head very nicely. The chosen one gets taken not long after the start of the novel. Her best friend goes and saves the day instead. Near the end she becomes known as the un-chosen one.
Just incase you didn't know, Artemis Fowl was also made into a graphic novel.
edit: whoops was mentioned below, responded too soon.
I've read and loved almost all of the recommendations already here (TAMORA PIERCE). But to add some that haven't been mentioned (and trying really hard to not overload you with 20 books at once), I read and reread Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown and its prequel so. many. TIMES. Maybe even more than I reread Tamora Pierce. Patricia McKillip, Maria Snyder, Patricia C. Wrede (Dealing with Dragons quartet), Althea Kontis, Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray and Susan Fletcher (Dragon Chronicles) are similar authors to check out for awesome female-driven fantasy, with varying degrees of lightheartedness. Wrede, Fletcher, Snyder and Kontis all wrote books that lean a little less epic/serious, Block writes a lot in prose that's also a very quick (but more intense) read, McKillip tends to be more wordy but beautifully so, and Bray can kind of go either way depending on the series.
For more contemporary fiction, RACHEL COHN (of "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist"). Her Gingerbread series has content a good deal more mature than Angus, Thongs, etc., but her style is similarly irreverent and witty and really fun. Seriously, check her out. Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons is like a much younger version of Cohn, still zingy and sweet. For a quieter modern-day read, Garret Freymann-Weyr writes realistic (more mature) young adult relationships, and introduced me to the idea of bisexuality in a sort of roundabout way.
Julia Alvarez relates stories about the Latina-American experience incredibly well, although I think the first book I read by her takes place solely in the Dominican Republic. According to my reading list, I guess young me got sick of reading about other white people, so I'll add Marjane Satrapi's hilarious graphic novel Persepolis and the more sedate Shabanu series by Suzanne Fisher Staples.
I'd also strongly second comments for Gail Carson Levine, E.L. Konigsberg, and did I mention Tamora Pierce?
(I tried to link a lot of authors to my faves from their work, but I won't be mad if you never look at any of them. Is your reading list long enough now? Also, I know you didn't ask for a ton of fantasy/historical fiction recs, but I think a lot of us defined our teenagerhood by and identified more strongly with one of those series or another.)
tl;dr my top three recs that haven't been mentioned yet are Rachel Cohn, Julia Alvarez, and that one duo by Robin McKinley.
Get those kids some books!
[This was my FAVORITE series as a kid!](Redwall (Redwall, Book 1) by Brian Jacques et al. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0142302376/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_Imontb0WZZHMF)
They were so fun to read, and written for young audiences as well. I love animals and adventure. :) They are novels through so probably above 5 year old level, but would make great bedtime stories still.
I have lots of books in my wishlist if I win. I also love books!
Mine are some [Earbuds on my iPod list] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007136B7A/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=JA3CGVP7ZEGL&coliid=I114BCC7KXLIS) because my old pair broked :(
Then this book on my book list, it's on there because reading is good!!!
St. Vincent on my CD list because she's amazing
and that's it :\
/u/Morthy you shall now be dubbed Dr. Morthy-o. Let's play a pill version of Tetris.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore. It's my favorite book of all time, and I have not found one person yet who doesn't love it.
Here's Amazon's description: Kristin Cashore’s best-selling, award-winning fantasy Graceling tells the story of the vulnerable yet strong Katsa, a smart, beautiful teenager who lives in a world where selected people are given a Grace, a special talent that can be anything from dancing to swimming. Katsa’s is killing. As the king’s niece, she is forced to use her extreme skills as his thug. Along the way, Katsa must learn to decipher the true nature of her Grace . . . and how to put it to good use. A thrilling, action-packed fantasy adventure (and steamy romance!) that will resonate deeply with adolescents trying to find their way in the world.
You should read [Redwall] (http://www.amazon.com/Redwall-Book-1-Brian-Jacques/dp/0142302376/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397698927&sr=1-1&keywords=redwall) by Brian Jacques. It's a fun fantasy novel, full of adventure - and talking animals. I would recommend the entire series.
/u/Morthy you shall be now dubbed Dr. Morthy-o. Let's play a pill version of Tetris.
Fantasy: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. The first book is good, but the second and third are fantastic.
Non-fiction: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human by Richard Wrangham. Flat-out the most fascinating book I've ever read. About evolution and shit.
Literary Fiction: Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin. The writing is so beautiful, moving, exquisite, all that good stuff. Le Guin's best work, imo.
Science Fiction: The High Crusade by Poul Anderson. Sooooo awesome. Has some elements of fantasy in it (the medieval part anyway.) Basically, knights vs. aliens.
Princess Cimorene from Dealing with Dragons
The Monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey is another good fiction series.
For non fiction it's not quiet crypto but it is ghosts: Ghost Hunter- Hans Holzer. It's a collection of sorts about early paranormal investigation.
Another series I like that's fiction is The Newsflesh series by Mira Grant. It's zombies (I know, over done) but a really cool universe of post apocalypse society.
Yes. There are sequels as well, two I think.
Demon Haunted World is great for teaching skeptical critical thinking skills.
When I was around his age I loved Redwall. They're great books that really appeal to a young boys sense of wonder and adventure, all while teaching great life lessons along the way.
Sherwood Smith. Start with Crown Duel because it's the best to start with from Pierce, but she has a number of really wonderful books. Possibly Maria Snyder's books as well. I didn't discover those until many years since I'd worked through every Pierce book more than once, but they're probably still age appropriate. I'd start with Poison Study. The Enchanted Forest series could also be a nice option. Walter Moers might be a bit intimidating at 12, but I'm a big fan. Robin McKinley's Damar series would also be good.
Wasn't Un Lun Dun YA (I haven't read it yet)?
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. It's classed as Young Adult, but it's awesome for any age. No looking at the summaries for the next ones until you've read each one, though. Spoilers abound.
I really loved the Wise Child trilogy, The Hero and the Crown/The Blue Sword, and the Sally Lockhart series (and all of Phillip Pullman's books) as a kid.
Thought it was a reference to this
Based on your criteria, I'd say start with some Young Adult stuff first, it tends to be shorter and less convoluted than the adult high fantasy stuff like WoT and GoT. Maybe Graceling would interest you?
If you want something light hearted that won't take up too much of your brain space, I'd say try Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, the Landover series by Terry Brooks, or the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. All fantasy books plenty of comic relief.
I take it from Harry Potter and Divergent he likes strong, morally-white protagonists on journeys to save the world. I don't know his exact reading level or interests, so I will make the following suggestions by category. I ranked books in each category by difficulty.
 
Teen Fantasy:
 
Dealing with Dragons: Funny, easy to read, dragons, magic, and sarcasm.
The Lioness Series, Immortal Series, or The Magic Circle Series: Strong female leads and interesting to read with great stories (Think Mulan). My brother loved them.
Artemis Fowl: Strong, morally ambiguous but ultimately altruistic, sarcastic, and smart protagonist against the world.
User Unfriendly: Dudes get sucked into a video/rpg and try to get out without dying. Like Tron, but less sci-fi and more fantasy.
Halo: One of my brothers who HATES reading -- or at least is incredibly picky actually stayed up all night to finish four of Halo books. He also really likes the games. I don't know which one is the first or the best but this one had the best reviews. I dunno if it is dark either -- I haven't read it :'(.
The Dark Elf Trilogy: Darker than anything else I have on here (or can be) hero vs world type fantasy. Drizzit = my brothers' hero growing up. Kinda WOW-esque? Having played both, I understand how much of WOW is inspired by DnD. I personally didn't like this.
Redwall: Harder to read, talking animals save the world from other talking animals. I personally hated this series, but my brothers read every single book in the series at the time.
 
Adult Fantasy:
 
Magician: Magic, totally badass protagonist, BORING first couple chapters, but ultimately the most OP hero I have ever read. Amazing, truly amazing. I think it is two-three books in the first series.
Harper Hall: Dragons, music, strong, but lost protagonist. Deals with sexism and gender biased. The other books in the cycle range from sci-fi to political fantasy.
Dragonbone Chair: Strong, badass hero vs a dragon. What happens? He becomes more badass. It is a lighter verison of LOTR/Sword of Shanara (which is probably too much politics/genetics/enviromental commentary -- generally boring-- for him right now) --
An even lighter alternative, more teen book is Eragon. That being said, I absolutely DETESTED these books. I don't care if he was 16, he didn't coming up with any of his own material. But -- a lot of people really like it, so your brother might!
 
Sci-fi:
 
Ender's game: Amazing ending, especially if he likes videogames. I haven't seen the movie, but my Dad said it was "loosely inspired" from the book. All I know is the book was world-changing. It has some legitimately dark points (like gouging out a giants eye or drowning puppies).
Johnny Maxwell Trilogy: This dude is cool. I didn't know until I linked it that it is hard to get a copy >.<.
Dune: This, like LOTR, is VERY political and can be very easily boring. It might also be too adult or hard for him. There is mental illness and just crazy people in the later books.
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Mature Humor:
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He should be ready for some British humor, which is a little more mature than American humor (sorry) and much more sarcastic. You also have to be in the mood for it, especially if you aren't expecting it.
Sourcery: Really, really funny.
Hitchhiker's Guide: Also funny.
Magic Kingdom for Sale -- Sold: American. Funny take on fantasy books.
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I kept away from darker books where the protagonist is morally grey (Artemis fowl and Drizzit being exceptions -- though they are both still definitely heros), sex, questionable themes, or general mental derangement.
I also stayed away from more modern books, which I have read a lot of if you would like recommendations for those instead. I read a lot in general, so if you have a questions about a book in particular, I can try to help.
Edit: Links
I thin you will like The monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey
Ratha's Creature by Clare Bell has some covers where the large cat is carrying a torch or being surrounded by fire.
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci books all have cats on the cover - not so much warriors, though.
Here is a list of fantasy novels about cats (all of the covers have cats on them).
I'm not satisfied with any of these and will def keep looking, but might be a place to start. This is assuming that the giant cat on the cover is a major character and not just a random cat, and I haven't completely gone on a wild goose chase. XD
Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester, most definitely! Then you'd have to list all the stuff that's been based off that series, which is down the bottom of the wikipedia page.
And I know this is a bit out there for you, but you could call this supplementary - it's historical fiction with dragons. His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1) by Naomi Novik.
For the girls, you could get them to read the stuff by Georgette Heyer. Heyer was a romance novelist whose research library for British period customs and clothing was fiercely fought over by museums and libraries when she died. She wrote things that are both engaging and truly capture the flavor of the timeframe; she didn't impose modern morals and anachronisms onto her fiction.
Sherlock Holmes? Pick a few of the classic stories and maybe analyze the differences between society then in Victorian England and today. As a companion, you could get them to read the bit in A Bloody Business: An Anecdotal History of Scotland Yard which discusses Arthur Conan Doyle and his contributions to social change in Victorian London.
Then there's the Mabinogi, which has inspired tons of other works, and you could pair that with Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising Series - there's only one book in there that really draws from/deals with Welsh myth, but it's a good one.
In no particular order:
Most recently, I read the Quadrail series. It was pretty good. It was kind of like Zahn took The Icarus Hunt and expanded it into a full series, rather than a one-off. I think that The Icarus Hunt was better, though.
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede.
Phenomenal series!
I have a 9-year-old daughter, too. For Roald Dahl, don't miss Danny the Champion of the World, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (the latter is for older kids, so I'm not sure about the six more, but Henry Sugar is indeed wonderful).
Redwall is a bit on the graphic side. Best skim one first. A substitute for the time being is the Warriors series. My wife and daughter read them independently in unison (my wife reading after her bedtime) and discussed them.
Harry Potter is conspicuously missing from your list. Intentional? I hope you haven't pegged this one as having cruelty as its main theme. It's jam-packed with great themes of friendship, loyalty (within reason), trust, love of parents and family, standing up for what's right, and a whole bunch more. It's one of those book series you want a notebook for, to jot down quotes because there are so many gems.
Dear America is a fictional diary series of girls living in various periods in history.
The Mary Poppins series shouldn't be overlooked. It's quite different from the movie.
I'm putting my money on The Enchanted Forest Chronicles series, first book: Dealing with Dragons. The head-strong princess has no interest in the idiot prince she's supposed to marry, is quite comfortable once she's in the company of a dragon, and no thank you, she has no need for being rescued.
Also, The Mysterious Benedict Society series. It all starts with a newspaper ad seeking "gifted children looking for special opportunities."
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A used paperback of The Monstrumologist would be awesome if I win. Thanks for holding the contest! :)
I think the [Redwall] (http://amzn.to/2EL9BYT) series of books by Brian Jacques would be right up your alley!
Thank you for your kindness to your niece.
You mentioned YA fiction - how about the Daughter Of Smoke And Bone series?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031613399X
I'd recommend The Blue Sword and The Hero and The Crown by Robin McKinley. I think I read them first in Grade 2 or 3, and I still love them and reread them often. The Blue Sword is about an orphan girl who is kidnapped by a desert king and trained as a warrior to save his nation, and The Hero and The Crown is a prequel about an ancient hero who fought dragons.
She writes a lot of other books that might be acceptable, often retellings of fairy tales. However, absolutely do not let him read Deerskin at this age. It has very disturbing themes, even for adults.
Try the Forest Chronicles, starting with Dealing with Dragons. The princess runs away and does housework for the dragon instead of being rescued. Other issues relating to fantasy shows up. It's fun and the main character is witty.
Sure would, and it's a good book. I loved the boxcar children but that may be too young.
My friend's 8-10 year old is huge into hunger games, and The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland
Graceling
Crossing the Wire
A Long Walk to Water
War Brothers
Is this still going?
Frank and Beans!
Funny. I've been avoiding the classics because they were written when conventions expected a heavier hand.
O.k. Try some stuff written within the last 20 years. I wish I could give you a more diverse list, but I've been playing catch up myself. That said, I've already read 20 books this year. The ones that weren't a waste were:
Equal Rites--Terry Pratchett He's a master at making a 4 level point with one sentence.
Good Omens- Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman This one is cool because a lot of people try to figure out who wrote what.
Besieged- Rowena Cory Daniels Kick-ass story. Great characterization. Descriptions snuck into the creases.
Wool-Hugh Howey O.k. I didn't read it this year, but it sucks you straight in. There's so much to learn about how Hugh made a fandom who demanded more material from him.
Another highly recommended book: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making This one has a strong, strong voice, but does a breath-taking job of describing imaginary things. Amazing stuff.
It's all about the karma. Mmm baby.
Try this earlier work with a male protagonist.
http://www.amazon.com/User-Unfriendly-Vivian-Vande-Velde/dp/0152163530
China Miéville's Un Lun Dun. It's a kids' book, but it's fantastic. Miéville turns a lot of the standard fantasy tropes on their heads, with thoroughly enjoyable results.
Dathan Auerbach's Penpal. Horror/suspense, written by a redditor, and debuted on reddit. The Kindle version is less than $4. Seriously creepy but totally worth it.
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. I have never laughed so much while reading. It's phenomenal.
Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. What happens to poor people once nanotechnology can be used to make anything? It's my favorite of the Stephensons I've read, but it still ends like a Neal Stephenson novel. :|
Cory Doctorow's Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. It's about the first-born son of a mountain and a washing machine. It's also about setting up wireless networks. Also: it's FREE.
Hope you enjoy some of these! :)
I suggest China Mieville's UnLunDun. It's fun, light, and almost Harry Potteresque.
I think you should read this book. I read it once a while ago and really loved it... sadly i no longer have my copy so if i win id love another copy of it!! Thanks for the contest, cause I love reading books!
I want to suggest The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner and its sequels. These are some of my favorite books and I feel they are not popular enough for how good they are.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Thief-Queens-Book/dp/0060824972/
Is it this:
Throne of Glass
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1619630346/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_1PT1xbJ9WF0KQ
Taylor - Daughter of Smoke and Bone
I'm really failing at this whole thing.
I have three books I'm currently in an on hold status on:
Those would be my suggestions for this month. I have read The Girl on the Train and have neutral feelings on it.
I'm not sure which book in the series, but that sounds like The Chronicles of Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones?
Also Dawkins' Children's Lectures are wonderful. But as for books the Golden Compass (Fiction) is a great one fro kids her age.
http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Trilogy-Golden-Compass-Spyglass/dp/0375842381/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1330737562&amp;sr=8-2-spell
Throne of Glass
The kindle version is actually on sale right now! I grabbed it yesterday.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N390U59/
Some quick googling came up with two more possibilities: User Unfriendly and The Game of Sunken Places
The main character is younger than what you requested but the themes and writing are tailored to adults. It's not really childish at all but very fantastical, think Alice in Wonderland: Fairyland series by Catherynne M. Valente.
First book is The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making Amazon link
Sure! I know exactly what you mean. So, I will say that a lot of the most interesting stuff in Fantasy is (and has for a while) being done in YA fantasy, and I don't mean stuff like Twilight.
Garth Nix's Abhorsen series (starting with Sabriel) is excellent. Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock is kind of along the lines of what you're talking about, but is really well done.
Just about anything by Dianna Wynne Jones is great, I will call out specifically Howl's Moving Castle (the inspiration for the Miyazaki film of the same name) and also her 6 part [Chronicles of Chrestomanci] (http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Chrestomanci-Charmed-Lives-Christopher/dp/006447268X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1417629757&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=chronicles+of+chrestomanci).
If you're in the mood for something more adult, I really enjoyed Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, starting with Kushiel's Dart, but that gets into some S&M stuff, which, YMMV.
And then Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Which is just fantastic.
Oh, nice. That is a really good name, but I'm even more attached to Giddon than to him being a Vandagyre, if that makes sense? Giddon's a character from one of my favorite books, so I'm really happy to have him. :)
Thank you so so much for offering! I can't believe the kindness of the people in this community. :)
Percy Jackson series seems cool so far, or as I mentioned in another comment The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, also Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli
Try:
I've been looking that too, but just now I have too much to read both on my Kindle and outside it to start a completely new series before I've finished the last ones. You did like YA books? I could recommend this if you haven't read it yet :)
Dealing with Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book One
I second the Tamora Pierce suggestion. Also definitely Gregor the Overlander! Suzanne Collin's lesser known series (she wrote Hunger Games). I recently finished reading (it's a 5-book series) and it was FANTASTIC. Just amazing. It's a YA series. The House of the Scorpion is also great, might be for your stronger readers. Eragon series is fun, and Dealing with Dragons is still one of my all-time favorite dragon books/series. Bruce Coville is a great author, and his work might be a little young but it's good to have a mix. I absolutely loved everything of his I have read, but especially Aliens Ate My Homework and the rest of that series. Most of these will appeal to the young men, hopefully.
When I was a young lady, I read pretty much anything, but I know a lot of boys like books with a boy main character. I really was a bit horse crazy, so here's some you might look into for your young ladies. The Saddle Club is a very long series about 3 girls and their horse-y adventures. It was really fun and it's great to find longer series because, if they like the first one, there's a lot to enjoy. (Oh a thought - you could always get the first one in a series, then just tell them to get the rest from the library or something, if there's budget concerns) I also liked the Thoroughbred Series and the wonderful Marguerite Henry horse books, especially the famous Misty of Chincoteague but really any of her books is a good read. My all time favorite horse series was and still is The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. Oh, how I loved that book.
There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom was fantastic the first time I read it, and I also like the "Wayside School" books which are both by Louis Sachar. Judy Blume is fun as is Beverly Cleary. Redwall gets a lot of kids into reading, you also might consider some high-level comics/graphic novels to reach a different audience. The Hobbit Graphic Novel has great illustration and I loved reading it so much when I found it one day in a store.
I found history pretty boring so avoided those books but I did enjoy The King's Swift Rider about Robert the Bruce and Scotland, might be the only vaguely historical book I remember reading around those ages. I tried to avoid mystery books more or less, but I loved Encyclopedia Brown (even though according to Amazon it's for younger ages). I enjoyed Harriet the Spy she was a pretty cool girl role-model at the time. My Side of the Mountain was absolutely fantastic and such a great adventure, though I enjoy everything Jean Craigshead George writes. I feel like Julie of the Wolves is pretty standard reading material, maybe not anymore, but what a great story. Oh my gosh, I just about forgot The Indian in the Cupboard, that was such a good story. Anything Roald Dahl is wonderful as is Jane Yolen, I especially recommend the Pit Dragon trilogy. The Golden Compass, So You Want to be A Wizard, Animorphs, Goosebumps, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Kiki Strike, Dinotopia, Song of the Gargoyle and The City of Ember.
I am sure that is way more than you need, but my mind started racing. It was hard to stop once I started -- thank you for that enjoyable tour through my past. Lots of great memories of time spent reading. Hope you find some of this helpful, at least.
The problem is that she probably hasn't found the right genre yet that interests her. Schools are absolutely horrible at this sort of thing, so she probably thinks all books are like the ones they make her read at school.
So go back to basics. Introduce her to Nancy Drew (mystery), Babysitter's Club (random social life), Alanna: The First Adventure (Girl power fantasy), Dealing with Dragons (more sort of straight up fantasy that's not to long), etc.
That and there are some amazing comics out there. Take her to a comic shop and have her look around.
Pretty much everything by Tamora Pierce is great. My favorite is the Beka Cooper trilogy that starts with Terrier, but that's largely because it's IMO the least YA of her series, so it may not be quite what you're looking for. I also really liked the Circle of Magic quartet and its followup The Circle Opens quartet.
That said, all of her books are lovely, so I don't think you can really go wrong with any of them.
Reminds me of the spiral stairs in The Hero and the Crown.
The first four books have all been turned into comics. Here's a link to the first one on amazon.
$6.29!
Oh man, I have so many used books on my wishlists. Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America, Flowers for Algernon, A Clockwork Orange, and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making are some of my most-wanted from my Under $6 wishlist :D I also have an entire books wishlist! Any of the books except for the children's books are great used! (I don't like used children's books just because they take a beating quickly)
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles would be my movie (series?) of choice.
It has the same upside-down take on fairy tales as Shrek, and actually wouldn't be too bad in CGI either - but could also be done with actors/actresses for more realism. Even if only the first one got made, I'd be pleased.
The Thief by Meghan Whalen Turner
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede were my favorite when I was that age. It's a four book series and it's awesome. It's about a not-so-pretty princess who doesn't want to be rescued.
Could it be The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper? There are five books in the series, all of them are excellent.
The Anthropophagi in The Monstrumologist were pretty wicked!!
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede are great. :-) it's a humorous take on fairy tale type stories.
My niece is 13. She is reading an anime series right now. (We do live together) some about high school...I dont know much about anime, but dragons are pretty freaking sweet! I'm really trying to get her to read as much as she can, but she loves it so yay!
(I think thats then link to the right thing)
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles.
These are still some of my favorite books. The first and third books are told from the point of view of female protagonists, though they're important in all 4.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore It follows a female protagonist who has a special talent (called grace) in this book. The world-building in this book is fantastic and I am sure it will suit her adventurous nature.
You and Obaday Fing (from Un Lun Dun) would make a nice couple.