Alternatives to Twilight? Teen fantasy novels to read and write…
My sister calls and says that her her teenager daughter has finally found an interesting in reading. The girl hasn’t liked reading before but has just read the Twilight series. (I shudder.) My sister would like to keep her daughter reading so calls “the author in the family” to ask what books her daughter might like to read next.
So, I am turning to you folks to tell me. What books should I recommend? I am not up on young adult reading. I am really good at picking what son (same age group) wants to read but not sure if it is the vampire or the romance part that has my niece reading. Suggestions?
In related and interesting discussions of the week. My thirteen year old son was asked by one of our friends what he looks for in his reading. My son will read just about any fantasy books. He is the one who got me started on Harry Potter and has read the entire series himself, as well as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, the Avalon series, and now reading the Pendragon series. My son had no hesitation in speaking his mind (nothing new) and was quite specific in what he favours most. He says the books he is most drawn to are ones that feature a young person who has some powerful potential but had not yet figured out how to use it or developed it and who is up against a very powerful evil villain. He likes to read about them trying, stumbling and then succeeding. Captain_Snark (one of his dads), pointed out to the boy that it sounds like he likes “coming of age stories” and my son readily agreed. I guess I knew this about his reading but hadn’t realised that my son could so quickly and clearly explain what it is that he liked.
The other thing my son has also show me is that he doesn’t care what the gender and/or sexual orientation of the characters is. While most boys are assumed to only want to read about boys, and girls about girl protagonists, both my son and his girlfriend have said that it doesn’t matter to them. And since the Avalon series my son liked features girl characters as the protagonists, I can see he is right.
One of the things this has stirred up in me is the idea of going back to writing a fantasy romance novel I had the idea for that features two teenage boys. The current version has explicit sex in it, but I was wondering if I wrote a version that was less explicit, if it might not have a wider potential market and if I want to try that.
jake67jake said,
August 1, 2009 @ 12:01 am
I would recommend the Belgariad, by David Eddings (it’s actually a 5-book series, and has a 5-book sequel). Young Garion gets involved with a strange quest, that most certainly will change his life forever. Most libraries and bookstores should have them.
Also, Piers Anthony’s Xanth series (about 30? books now). They are based in the magical kingdom of Xanth, the land of PUNS, inter-related, but independent of each other. It is easier to read them in order, but not absolutely necessary.
An older series that *I* read as a teenager is Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber series (again, 5-books w/a 5-book sequel). Amber is the only True world, all other worlds, including our own, are simply Shadows of it.
My son is 17 and has devoured the Xanth series, enjoyed the Belgariad, and argued with the Amber books (he actually caught a couple of logic flaws, but they weren’t really horrible). My son has also read all the HP books, the Hobbit, Artemis Fowl, and the Eragon series. There are a few others I know he is following.
Feel free to shout back!
Seychelle Jean said,
January 1, 2010 @ 7:06 am
Twilight is the best movie i ever watched. I really love the vampire love story theme and i like Bella Swans character.
Kristiene said,
January 5, 2010 @ 6:15 pm
Kristen Stewart is the perfect Bella .. All around the casting was perfect, everyone had so much so much angst that they fit the story perfectly
Shelby said,
January 16, 2010 @ 3:45 pm
Twilight was a really good book until peopla started beating it to death with all the merch. and the movie was not that great it was cheesy and Kristen Stweart was not the best actress picked for this part.I know this sounds very hateful and i dont mean for it to be, but as a teenager i am very sick of everybody going on and on about twilight and the movies when they havent read the books.
Janice Yu said,
January 17, 2010 @ 10:44 pm
Twlight is really a great movie and i watched it several times. I love Kristen Stewart and also the rest of the cast of Twilight, they are really superb actors and actresses.
Josephine Stone said,
January 16, 2011 @ 8:44 pm
I’m not really into fantasy novels, but I did enjoy the Harry Potter series. My husband is though and recommends “The Wheel of Time” Series by Robert Jordon and now Brandon Sanderson. He also loves “Dune” by Frank Herbert. I’m not sure he is quiet old enough for “Dune” yet. I’d leave that to you to decide. It’s more of a science fiction. I’d let my thirteen year old, but when I was thirteen I read V.C.Andrews religiously. Those would be more for your son. I think that its more the romance that people like about “Twilight.” In which case I’d recommend V.C. Andrews, but I think most people would disagree with that.
Anyway, a quick google search gave me this. Quite a few suggestions in this.
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/books-to-read/answers/show/15050/does-any-one-now-any-good-fantasy-romance-books-besides-twilight-because-ive-already-read