Best teen & young adult fantasy books according to redditors
We found 560 Reddit comments discussing the best teen & young adult fantasy books. We ranked the 140 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 560 Reddit comments discussing the best teen & young adult fantasy books. We ranked the 140 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Sleepers, Wake by Paul Samuel Jacobs
Sleepers, Wake (An Apple Paperback) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0590423983/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_wQOTCb37CB06M
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!
This is Virtual War, by Gloria Skurzynski. It's on Kindle nowadays, and used copies are pretty cheap on Amazon
I think I found it:
I typed "young adult novel sci fi underground" into Google. Second link was to this page, which led to This Time of Darkness, and I'm 95% sure this is it.
Edit: Now I'm 100% sure. Google books has it online. Here's the page about the rats
Gemini Game?
https://www.amazon.com/Gemini-Game-Michael-Scott/dp/0816742715
Was it A Practical Guide to Dragons or Dragonology?
No, but that did send me on the right track and I found it! The Discovery of Dragons by Graeme Base!
Could it be Virtual War?
Lone wolf series?
Flight from the Dark (Lone Wolf) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0425084361/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.yJGAbBS3Z9TM
This reminded me of The Dark Side of Nowhere. One of my favorites growing up!
Amazon classifies Mistoborn as YA:
https://www.amazon.com/Mistborn-Final-Empire-Brandon-Sanderson/dp/0765377136
Stormlight is marketed to adults, but there isn't a paragraph in it that wouldn't be comprehensible or appropriate for a 14 year old.
I like Sanderson's books. I just also think they're childish.
In fact the only book that was recommended here that I didn't like was The Night Circus.
Beowulf! Beowulf is a must for any fantasy lover!
if you've read Beowulf and you want something similar, then check this out: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HBBWHW7/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i4
if you want something with mermaids then check out one of these two: https://www.amazon.com/Shearwater-Mermaid-Romance-D-S-Murphy-ebook/dp/B01N45RZCQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1541179533&sr=8-2&keywords=shearwater
or
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DZN9DBY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i8
Since he likes making his own stories, Wizards of the Coast published a book about dragons and one about monsters from the D&D game that read like a kids' non-fiction catalog. It sounds like he has a love of fantasy and creativity that lend well to roleplaying games when he gets older. For someone who doesn't enjoy reading there is a payoff when you get to play a game if you read the book.
A Practical Guide to Monsters
A Practical Guide to Dragons
After looking this up, I found more Practical Guides from WotC. Keep looking if you are interested.
The Boy Who Reversed Himself?
Sounds like Dark Side of Nowhere by Neal Shusterman
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316789070?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1
Sorry if that link doesn't work. I'm using my phone.
This is BRILLIANT.
Found mistborn easily:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/sitb-next/0765377136/ref=sbx_txt/002-2018152-0260852?_encoding=UTF8#textstats
I'm going to have to play with this. Do you know when they stopped gathering the metadata?
Gemini Game by Michael Scott
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Nowhere-Neal-Shusterman/dp/076534243X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
The plane who reversed himself.
Mmm, stewardess - bring me another stoned ketchup packet!
Winter of Fire?
http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Fire-Point-Sherryl-Jordan/dp/0590452894/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
girl becomes a handmaid and i read some of the reviews and a couple different people mentioned "fire-stones" or "firestones". found this by doing a bunch of really weird advanced searches on amazon.
Is it The Green Futures of Tycho?
There's the Godzilla: With Lights and Sound book for the new movie.
Godzilla vs Gigan and the Smog Monster picture book, obviously used is much cheaper.
[Godzilla on Monster Island] (http://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Monster-Island-Pictureback-R/dp/0679880801/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412126648&sr=1-10&keywords=godzilla), Godzilla Likes to Roar, and Who's Afraid of Godzilla and great but pricey even used.
And I'm not sure of the reading level of your child but there are the Scott Ciencin books.
And there's the more advanced series by Marc Cerasini:
Solved!
YES! THIS WAS IT!
The cover was this variation that I remembered.
Thank you!
https://www.amazon.ca/Dark-Side-Nowhere-Neal-Shusterman/dp/0316789070
Hyperspace by Michio Kaku.
Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy by Kip Thorne.
A Sound Of Thunder by Ray Bradbury.
The Green Futures of Tycho by William Sleator.
Based on your description of the cover it could be this one: http://openlibrary.org/works/OL82643W/Virtual_War
edit: There's a plot description on the book's Amazon page. Sounds about right?
So this is a long shot but it sounds kind of like Winter of Fire by Sheryl Jordan. The female heroine begins life as a slave forced to mine the equivalent of coal but later in the story while lost in the snow discovers how to warm herself from within. https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Fire-Point-Sherryl-Jordan/dp/0590452894
The Dark Green Tunnel and its sequel The Wand. Pretty good Narnia-esque fantasy.
Lizard Music
Harry Newberry and the Raiders of the Red Drink
edited as I remember more books
maybe this is it
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N1F8ULW/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
Aww, someone else read The Boy Who Reversed Himself in elementary school too!
Top of the list as per Rex Grossman: A Pracitcal Guide to Dragons
Was it the Lone Wolf series? Example
I loved these as a kid...!
I know you already said this was solved, but your description really reminds me of this:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Discovery-Dragons-Graeme-Base/dp/0810932377
I have that book on my shelf and just checked it, and three of the dragons are exactly as you described. I also found pics online:
http://gistlabs.net/Dragon_Forest/pictures/Graeme_BASE/BASEButterflyDragon.jpg
http://dragoncharm.freehomepage.com/images/welshred.jpg
http://www.oilpaintings-supplier.com/upfile/products/20101017510681688.jpg
Is it The Dark Side of Nowhere?
Ah I've seen your comment below. read maybe:
Joe Abercrombie - Best Served Cold
Max Berry - lexicon
Dürrenmatt - Suspicion
Gaiman - Good Omens
Kafka - The Trial
Sillitoe - The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide ( no way you haven't read that - but who knows )
Branderson - Way Of Kings
Libba Bray - The Diviners
Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra ( there is a really ugly bible style translation - beware!!! )
Lynn Kurland - Star Of The Morning ( your sex and age is of interest )
Schwab - Vicious
Bakker - The Darkness That Comes Before
Robert Thier - Storm and Silence
Eco - Name Of The Rose ( no way you haven't read it but u know the drill ) + Foucault's Pendulum
Lord Of The Rings ( duh )
Sanderson - Mistborn
Sanderson - Alloy of Law
Harris - Hannibal
Rothfuss - The Name Of The Wind
Bukowski -Ham on Rye
Burroughs - Running With Scissors
Wong - John Dies at the End
Could it be the Virtual War Chronologs series? It was required reading in 6th grade which I skimmed. It is a trilogy, and your description sounds vaguely familiar.
Amazon Description of First Book
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
amazon.com.au
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amazon.es
amazon.com.br
amazon.nl
amazon.co.jp
amazon.fr
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I found The Boy Who Reversed Himself lyong around my middle school library. Campy YA sci fi about a kid who can move in the 4th dimension, which adoes a surprisingly good job of making higher dimensional geometry accessible to middle schoolers. I don't think I knew it was math at the time.
If you're looking to read some decent adult Godzilla books check out Marc Cerasini's 4 book series. My favorites are the first two, Godzilla Returns and Godzilla 2000.
Oh man I love it! It reminds me of this book where they catalog different dragons from around the world. Very cool I would love to see a series of dragons from different biomes :)
Is it This Time of Darkness
I've just been re-watching these as well :)
These aren't detective stories, but if you want strong capable heroines, I'd recommend Tamora Pierce's books, particularly:
[Tricksters] (http://www.amazon.com/Tricksters-Daughter-Lioness-Tamora-Pierce/dp/0739451456/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334468727&sr=1-2) series
This heroine, Aly, has the most in common with Veronica (in terms of wit, slight cynicism, talents)
But also:
[The Song of the Lioness] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Song-Lioness-Quartet-Adventure/dp/0375825649) series
[The Immortals] (http://www.amazon.com/Immortals-Boxed-Wolf-Speaker-Emperor-Realms/dp/0375827005/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334468603&sr=1-4) series
[Protector of the Small] (http://www.amazon.com/Protector-Small-First-Squire-Knight/dp/0739446983/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334468653&sr=1-8) series
http://www.amazon.com/Virtual-War-Gloria-Skurzynski/dp/0689813740 Solved!
Is it "A Practical Guide to Dragons?"
Oh shit, I'm nearly positive it's Neal Shusterman's The Dark Side of Nowhere where the protagonist and many of his peers realize they're really aliens just disguised as humans because of "allergy shots". And as they reach puberty, the shots are disrupted and they start turning into scaley alien type things. What do you think? Is this it?
Hey guys. Long time poster here. I just self-published my first novel on Amazon! It's an urban fantasy story about a conflicted teenage necromancer. Available in print and digital on Amazon.
I've taken and given a number of tips on here, and I'm excited to share this with you!
Here's a blurb:
Thana Ayers may seem like any other girl her age, struggling to balance schoolwork, drama club activities, and her religious parents. But at night, she battles unholy monstrosities with her own astonishing abilities to control the dead. Thana’s never lost a battle. That is, until a mysterious creature appears unlike any she has faced before.
This strange presence threatens to unravel Thana’s carefully balanced life and reveal her powers to the world. It also promises to show her the secrets of the lichgate and unlock her true power, but all power comes with a cost.
Sounds like Sleepers, Wake
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0590423983/?tag=stackoverflow17-20
It's got space travel, a boy whose pod malfunctions, and it has spores in it on the planet they end up at.
Hopefully you're not smoking under the age of 25, if you're male....and little younger if your female. No need to lose IQ points just to taste sounds at such a high cost. If you're an adult...no lasting damage.
It reminds me of the book called The Boy Who Reversed Himself because when he went into another dimension ketchup tasted liked chocolate and not just any ketchup...packet ketchup.
Is there a difference between orchestra music and band music when seeing colors?
The time is right, could it be Gemini Game? That's what the cover looked like too.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0816742715?pc_redir=1404711594&robot_redir=1
Perhaps This Time of Darkness?
This is a good book. I had a different book; from the Baby Sitters Club series.
Also, i admit to learning a little from the series "The Song of the Lioness Quartet (Alana: The first adventure/In the Hnd of the Goddess/ The woman who rides like a man/ Lioness Rampant). Basically a coming of age story about a girl who starts out dressed as a boy because she wants to learn how to be a knight. She is basically unprepaired to become a woman, and unexpectedly has her first period and thinks she is going to die. Only thing someone may be concerned about is that she is dressed as a boy for a good part of the story (some may see this as not empowering women), but i think it helps to address gender roles. There is some romance/sex in the novel, but it is targeted to a teen audience. http://www.amazon.com/The-Song-Lioness-Quartet-Adventure/product-reviews/0375825649/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
I think you would like the Mistborn Trilogy (Goodreads | Amazon) by Brandon Sanderson. Although the female protagonist is younger than your requirements, all the characters are well developed and three dimensional. Spectacular worldbuilding coupled with a unique magic system, really elevates the plot. Give it a try. I think it is one of those series that not everybody might love, but nobody can hate. Cheers!
You mean the book that was released in the UK in 2011? 3 or 4 years after The Night Angel Trilogy?
[Here is the old Final Empire covers] ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0765377136/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?pc_redir=T1)