If we’re including fantasy, Disc World series by Pratchet is a must
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Not when you’re 12. It’s funny until the man POV character’s failed love life comes up and again. What young man needs to be constantly reminded they’ll never find happiness or acceptance in the arms of a woman so they might as well stop caring about it? Boys at that age need girls worse than a junkie needs suboxone.
Ian M Bank’s State of the Art is worth a try
A collection of short stories setting in the Cultureverse
Some adult themes, but each self contained story is accessible to younger readers IMO
Don’t Panic
.
I need a drink.
And a bag of peanuts and a towel
Non Stop, by Brian Aldiss is suitable and accessible for younger readers
Helliconia light
I still remember this one, it really resonated with me as a kid. I read it way more than once.
I never read Starship Troopers. My older brother really liked it and tried more than once to get me to read it. I resisted on principle of rebellion as younger brothers sometimes do. I read Friday though and I thought it was really weird and definitely not what I would categorize as Young Adult but they let me check it out from the parish library at about 12 or 13.
Friday is not so soft porn, LOL. Not juvenile series…
The juvenile books by Heinlein are great for the stated purpose indeed.
The very first “real” book I ever read was Asimov’s FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE and I reread his bio every few years, so I am very biased in his direction yet I think that his Robot stories are a better intro for younger readers than the Foundation books.
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HG Wells is age appropriate and his stories seminal
Is Brave New World too old?
BNW is of course a mandatory read, but it has a lot of subtext that you need a good bit of life experience to appreciate properly.
I believe that means it’s a book that you can enjoy as a kid or teen and then re enjoy as an adult.
Starship Troopers?
I came across book 4 in a series that I think would resonate well with young people.
The Bobbiverse Series by Dennis E Taylor. I see this as becoming a cult classic with hard science fans. Sci-fi adventure into Von Neumann probes, the nature of Artificial Intelligences, space war!, the inevetabilities of cataclysmic apocalyptic war as technology grows, terraforming, colonizing other planets, religious extremism, fanatical fascist governments and the theoretical dangers of space travel. There are elements of cyberpunk but the author is definitely not punk. Straight laced guy. Lives a few miles away from me in Canada in the same neighborhood as my in-laws. One of those random things as I read his book long before I found out he knew my wife’s family, rather they know of him distantly as neighbors tend to do.
I think a kid might like this as well. It’s PG-rated, explores a lot of science, was written by an engineer and still manages to be very imaginative and intellectually stimulating. It inspires curiousity about the sciences, even the boring parts. I think that’s a win/win.
I will note that I wish he hadn’t wasted so many chapters on the bat-pig people aliens. That was annoying and does not play to the author’s strengths.
- We are Legion (We Are Bob)
- For We are Many
- All these Worlds
- Heaven’s River
Edit: I recommend the Audiobook. I never actually read the series but I played it while I was working and/or driving.
Holy hell, how did I miss this?
So is Fantasy ok?
Dragonsinger, Dragonsong and Dragondrums by Anne McCaffrey is the YA series set on the world of Pern.
Riddlemaster of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire and Harpist in the Wind by Patricia McKillip.
The Percy Jackson novels are fun.
Scythe, Thunderhead and The Toll by Neal Shusterman.
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, maybe wait until 13 or 14 for this one.
Some of you are recommending novels for adults, rather than children’s or YA stuff.
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Yeah. I don’t recall having much of a young adults fantasy choice as a kid.
Narnia, the magic faraway tree. And then straight on to tolkein and ec tubb.
The options now are phenomenal.