Next SFF Author: Rick Yancey

Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham

Series: Young Adult

Fantasy Literature for Young Adults (over the age of 12).

Gifts: Le Guin’s usual mastery of story and style

Gifts by Ursula Le Guin

There are lots of reasons to like a good Le Guin novel — her spare prose, her sharpness of description, her ease of storytelling, but in simple terms, when Le Guin writes well (nearly always), it boils down to the fact that reading becomes bare unadorned pleasure. Pleasure at its purest and simplest. And that is the gift of this book.

The backstory is pretty simple — families living in the Uplands have hereditary magical abilities or “gifts” (one type to a family) that can and usually are employed to harm: gifts of “unmaking”

The Tombs of Atuan: Strong second book

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin

The Tombs of Atuan is the second book in the Earthsea series that began with A Wizard of Earthsea. Wizard is a true classic, and it wouldn’t be much criticism to say Atuan doesn’t match it. It’s true, but The Tombs of Atuan is still well worth the read, quite strong in its own right.

The Tombs of Atuan is a near complete shift of character,

Trickster’s Queen: Proves that Pierce is the master of YA fantasy

Trickster’s Queen by Tamora Pierce

Trickster’s Queen is the sequel to Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice and (so far) the first set of books that are not quartets, but a simple duet. It is also by far her longest book, and in her acknowledgements she credits that to J.K. Rowling due to the fact that the Harry Potter books are so thick. Both books take place in Pierce’s Tortall universe, though are situated on the Copper Isles rather than Tortall as in the Alanna,

Trickster’s Choice: Have the sequel on hand

Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce

The last time we saw Alianne of Pirate’s Swoop was briefly in Wild Magic, as a little girl of about five. Now she’s sixteen, and the true product of her parents: Alanna the King’s Champion and George Cooper, the King’s Spymaster. Although she’s eager to take her place amongst the adults of her world, honing her gifts as a spy, she’s also perfectly content to spend her time relaxing, flirting and mischief-making — much to the disappointment of her mother.

After a particularly uncomfortable squabble with her mother over her prospects for the future,

What the Cards Said: So darn predictable

What the Cards Said by Isobel Bird

What the Cards Said is the fourth book in the Circle of Three series, a fifteen-volume set that chronicles the learning experiences of three adolescent girls — Kate, Annie and Cooper, in their year and a day of study in the religion of Wicca.

In this book Annie has discovered her skills in tarot reading, and after she’s been talked into playing “Miss Fortune” at the school fair, others pick up on her uncanny habit to accurately predict things.

Specials: Read it to satisfy your curiosity

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Tally has changed since she was caught by Special Circumstances. She has become one of them: a Special. Her body and mind have been altered and she is now an elite fighting machine with super-fast reflexes and a hardened body that can withstand almost anything…but none of this can really make her happy. Tally is surrounded by “friends,” but none of them can take away her memories of her friends from the Smoke and the lessons they taught her. Then she and Shay get a breakthrough and once again whiz off into the wild on their hoverboards searching for the elusive “New Smoke”

Water: Transformation: A good read for young fantasy lovers

Transformation by Kara Dalkey

Transformation is the final book in Kara Dalkey’s Water trilogy, beginning with Ascension and continuing with Reunion, both of which are essential reads if you want to understand this final book. Previously, young mermyd called Nia from the underwater city of Atlantis came ashore in order to find Gobiath, a squid-like Farworlder that rules Atlantis. He is one of the last of his kind after Atlantis was betrayed by the evil mermyd Ma’el and his Farworlder Joab,

The Woman Who Loved Reindeer: A must-read

The Woman Who Loved Reindeer by Meredith Ann Pierce

Set in a prehistoric fantasy setting of ice and snow, The Woman Who Loved Reindeer refers to its two main characters: the young Caribou and the child she names Reindeer. As someone who experiences prophetic dreams, Caribou lives alone until her sister-in-law brings to her a golden-haired child. Claiming that it is not her husband Visjna’s child (Caribou’s brother), Branja begs her to take in the child before Visjna returns from the season-long hunt and so that the child’s true father cannot come to claim him.

The Realms of the Gods: Pierce’s best book to date

The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce

The Realms of the Gods is the final book in Tamora Pierce’s Immortals quartet, and probably the best. As one can possibly guess, it’s nearly impossible for someone to begin reading this series at this book — you at least have to read Book Three: The Emperor Mage, though ideally you should have all three previous books under your belt: Wild Magic and Wolf-Speaker just to have the complete picture of what’s going on here.

Sorcery and Cecelia (The Enchanted Chocolate Pot)

Sorcery and Cecelia (The Enchanted Chocolate Pot) by Patricia C. Wrede

To best understand Sorcery and Cecelia one has to first flick to the back of the book in order to read the authors’ afterword in which they explain the format and history of their story. After hearing of a game called “The Letter Game,” Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer decided to have a go — each took on the persona of two young women in a more magically flavoured 1800’s, and wrote to each other concerning their activities.

Next SFF Author: Rick Yancey

Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham

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