Book recs wanted
Having just finished (and adored) the Hunger Games trilogy, I have determined that I wish to read more young adult sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian future stories. Female protagonists are desired but not required. I should probably confess that I know the Tortall books are widely loved, but no matter how many times I pick them up at the bookstore, I somehow cannot summon the desire to read them.
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A Fistful of Sky - Nina Kiriki Hoffman (urban fantasy, female protagonist)
Feed - M.T. Anderson (dystopian, male protagonist)
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (dystopian, male protagonist)
Poison Study - Maria V. Snyder (fantasy, female protagonist)
Dragon Bones - Patricia Briggs (fantasy, male protagonist)
The Hob's Bargain - Patricia Briggs (fantasy, female protagonist)
Edited at 2010-11-27 09:44 pm (UTC)
Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study and sequels.
Kim Harrison's The Hollows series.
Feel free to ignore this!
Okay, there's my spiel... I totally understand the feeling of not wanting to read stuff despite hearing good things but I think I am safe in saying if you give First Test a read you will almost certainly be hooked. And it's a fast read anyway so you don't have anything to lose!
I was going to try to rec other things but sadly I haven't been reading much teen fiction lately.
Edited at 2010-11-27 09:59 pm (UTC)
Re: Feel free to ignore this!
Mostly I'm here to advise against going anywhere near Trickster's Choice/Trickster's Queen -- it's very White Man's Burden-y, the tradecraft is awful and the protagonist's middle name may as well be "Powerup".
(And to recommend doubly the Beka Cooper books -- prequels -- but not on dead tree: they're in a twee journal format, and IMO much better listened to on audio than read.
For worldbuilding that's better planned out, and an in-world view that's grayer [Tortall is frequently quite black and white], the Circle of Magic books are quite good, but again, the first four are definitely children's lit rather than YA.)
Re: Feel free to ignore this!
I love Beka Cooper, even on dead tree. But I can't do audio books so.. Yep.
I still haven't read the Circle of Magic books but I plan on it soon.
Edited at 2010-11-27 10:18 pm (UTC)
Re: some of my classics and interesting 2010 reads
Feed - Mira Grant (sc-fi/dystopian, female protagonist)
Tithe/Valiant/Ironside series - Holly Black (dark urban fantasy, female protagonists)
The White Cat - Holly Black (male protagonist, dark fantasy)
Poison - Chris Wooding (DARK fantasy, female protagonist)
Zombies vs. Unicorns - short story collection (uh. various. and various.)
Ash - Malinda Lo (fantasy, female protagonist)
And a much older, very interesting example is The Changeover, by Margaret Mahy.
Parable of the Sower
and
Dawn
Adulthood Rites
and Imago.
These three are sometimes bundled under "Lilith's Brood."
Female protagonists, sci-fi, social conscious without beating you over the head with it, and just plain good writing.
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, whenever you're in the mood for something light (but with heavy undertones). It concerns a couple of alien invasions and a kick-ass heroine nicknamed Tip (her mom - who's not the sharpest tool in the shed - thought Gratuity meant something else *g*). I found it very funny. Also nice: Tip is a POC.
Wolf Tower by Tanith Lee. It's the first in a series (fantasy, kind of dystopian) but subsequent books weren't as good. Fortunately, Wolf Tower is a complete story by itself.
The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a boy, but it's set in a future dystopia, and I thought it was chillingly brilliant. The sequels were good but not as good.
Also, it's children's lit but The Windsinger Trilogy is one of my favorite books of all time, this time because it hits my creepy buttons (definitely sci-fi, definitely dystopic, very creepy all 'round), and because it's my very favorite portrayal of twins in any piece of literature ever.
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
These are, I think, my two favorite YA series.
trying to rec things other people haven't . . .
Juliette Mariller wrote a handful of YA-ish books with vampires that are not like Stephenie Meyer's vampires; the first one is Wildwood Dancing. They're historical YA fantasy set in eastern Europe. Lots of strong, intelligent women.
There's always Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville. Two protagonists, one identifying as male and one female.
One of Cory Doctorow's books was sort of dystopian--actually, most of 'em are, but I was thinking of Little Brother, but CD's hit and miss for me, depending on how badly his "Nice Guy(TM)" is showing.
I unfortunately tend to avoid dystopian fantasy because I usually don't like it (I couldn't stand the Uglies books for various reasons) but, well, I'm sure this is enough to start!
(Also, I vastly prefer the Song of the Lioness quartet to the Keladry quartet, but it may be because of at what age I read each of them.)
Have you read the Sabirel books, and/or the Alanna books?Aaaaaaaaaannd both of those have already been recommended, whoops.
Edited at 2010-11-28 03:24 am (UTC)
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith (aka
Green Rider series by Kristen Britain - fantasy, female protagonist. 3 books so far, 4th due out in February!