So many good suggestions.
+10,000 for Lois McMaster Bujold; she's my favorite. The Vorkosigan series has a great amount of character development. Agree with starting with Shards of Honor and Barrayar; Falling Free is in the same "universe", but it's a side branch of that universe.
Agree with Card as well. In addition to the Ender series, he had another one having to do with Tecumseh and The Prophet, set in an alternate 1800's US, which I loved. The Tales of Alvin Maker (Seventh Son, Red Prophet, Prentice Alvin, Alvin Journeyman, Heartfire, and The Crystal City).
If they like fantasy, Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series) is excellent.
Also, Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time series - which was finished by the above-mentioned Sanderson when Jordan passed before completion.
Daniel Keys Moran has an excellent series as well - Armageddon Blues, Emerald Eyes, The Long Run, The Last Dancer, The Big Boost - all excellent. Known as Tales of the Continuing Time.
David Weber's Honor Harrington series is military scifi, and well done. They lose their punch after about book 8, but it's very "Horatio Alger in Space."
If they like mysteries, Edgar Allen Poe and Sherlock Holmes are easy to find.
Michael Connolly is a fast read, and does police procedurals. His character Harry Bosch is now on Amazon Prime, so again - a good choice if you like to read, and then see a movie/TV show based around the characters. For a slower-moving mystery plot, with weird depths, I find John Connolly's Charlie Parker series a good time. Also John Dunning, the Bookman's Wake series.
Dan Simmons has both SciFi and horror genres - I loved Carrion Comfort many years ago, and it continues to be something that teens have liked when I've recommended it.
If they are basketball fans, Harlan Coben has a series of books with Myron Bolitar (and later his son, Mickey), having to do with a former basketball player who is now a sports agent/rep. Mysteries abound. Solutions ensue.
Walter Mosely's Easy Rawlins' series is set in 1940's-50's LA; historical and well written.
Dune, by Frank Herbert. One of my Top 10 books. The sequels are not as good, but the original remains a fantastic novel.
Mary Doria Russell - superb historical AND SciFi - The Sparrow is also in my Top 10, aka "Jesuits in Space." Children of God, its sequel. She has also written A Thread of Grace, Doc (Doc Holliday, the OK Corral), Epitaph and Dreamers of the Day.
+10,000 for Lois McMaster Bujold; she's my favorite. The Vorkosigan series has a great amount of character development. Agree with starting with Shards of Honor and Barrayar; Falling Free is in the same "universe", but it's a side branch of that universe.
Agree with Card as well. In addition to the Ender series, he had another one having to do with Tecumseh and The Prophet, set in an alternate 1800's US, which I loved. The Tales of Alvin Maker (Seventh Son, Red Prophet, Prentice Alvin, Alvin Journeyman, Heartfire, and The Crystal City).
If they like fantasy, Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series) is excellent.
Also, Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time series - which was finished by the above-mentioned Sanderson when Jordan passed before completion.
Daniel Keys Moran has an excellent series as well - Armageddon Blues, Emerald Eyes, The Long Run, The Last Dancer, The Big Boost - all excellent. Known as Tales of the Continuing Time.
David Weber's Honor Harrington series is military scifi, and well done. They lose their punch after about book 8, but it's very "Horatio Alger in Space."
If they like mysteries, Edgar Allen Poe and Sherlock Holmes are easy to find.
Michael Connolly is a fast read, and does police procedurals. His character Harry Bosch is now on Amazon Prime, so again - a good choice if you like to read, and then see a movie/TV show based around the characters. For a slower-moving mystery plot, with weird depths, I find John Connolly's Charlie Parker series a good time. Also John Dunning, the Bookman's Wake series.
Dan Simmons has both SciFi and horror genres - I loved Carrion Comfort many years ago, and it continues to be something that teens have liked when I've recommended it.
If they are basketball fans, Harlan Coben has a series of books with Myron Bolitar (and later his son, Mickey), having to do with a former basketball player who is now a sports agent/rep. Mysteries abound. Solutions ensue.
Walter Mosely's Easy Rawlins' series is set in 1940's-50's LA; historical and well written.
Dune, by Frank Herbert. One of my Top 10 books. The sequels are not as good, but the original remains a fantastic novel.
Mary Doria Russell - superb historical AND SciFi - The Sparrow is also in my Top 10, aka "Jesuits in Space." Children of God, its sequel. She has also written A Thread of Grace, Doc (Doc Holliday, the OK Corral), Epitaph and Dreamers of the Day.
Statistics: Posted by Sandi_k — Thu May 30, 2024 1:00 am — Replies 61 — Views 3760