Young Adult Fiction

[Fortis]

Ender's Game...

Love the series. Ender's Game was my favorite but I also liked Ender's Shadow.

Have you read the sequels to Ender's Shadow? They are incredible.

[acoletterose]

I have indeed. It's been awhile though, I should read them again.

I tried reading all of the books in the series in a week or so, but I got bored after I finished the ones on Bean and I have picked up Card since. And dat's a damn shame.

[Fortis]

Just don't read Card's "Worthing" books. Shudder.

One thing I've learned when reading Card is that his stuff is either brilliant and fantastic books...or really really weird. I've been reading his anthology of short stories called Keeper of Dreams, and some of them are amazing mindblowing stories, and then others are just unreadable.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I found Card's "Enchantment" to be, well, enchanting. Great historical realism and meta-value.

[Fortis]

I found Card's "Enchantment" to be, well, enchanting. Great historical realism and meta-value.

Hmm...I'll have to check it out

[Johnny Unusual]

I read Thief of Always a few years ago and really liked it.  I picked it up because I had never read Clive Barker before and heard he has a similar style to Neil Gaiman.  I knew his reputation for gore and mythology but I didn't realized that it was a young adult book.  I was certainly hooked though and really enjoyed it.  I'm surprised it hasn't been made into a movie yet.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Oh yeah. Theif of Always is wonderful, and it's a decent paralell/barker version of Neil Gaiman's "Coraline"

BTW, Coraline is coming out as a 3-D movie in 2009.

Pray for it.

[Kzinistzerg]

Hmmm... I'll list.

Sabriel+Lirael+Abbhorsen By Garth Nix
Silverwing, Sunwing, Firewing, Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
The Olympians by Rick Riordan
Any "Juvenile Fiction" by Heinlein
Any of Tamora Pierce's books (Though I reccomend recent books over past books)
The Midnighters Trilogy by Scott Westerfield (And anything else he wrote)
The Lost Years of Merlin (can't remember who by)
Anything by Diana Wynne Jones (like The Dark Lord of Derkholm, which is basically a magic version of arthur dent)

Lots more, none spring to mind, however. I have to say, though, that the universe of Sabriel is just an amazing universe, as far as Death and Life are concerned. Really quite good.

OH! And my favorite, nearly forgot here, is the Firekeeper series, by Jane Lindskold. And anything by her. The titles are 'Through Wolf's Eyes', 'Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart', 'The Dragon of Despair', 'Wolf Captured', 'Wolf Hunting', 'Wolf's Blood'.

The main character was literally raised by wolves... Smart wolves. Wolves who are part of a segment of animals who are every bit as intelligent as people...

[exlibris11235]

I love Tamora Pierce, but she is partially chick lit, so i doubt anyone has heard of her (well fantasy, young adult, chick lit but i digress)

I'll admit, I love Tamora Pierce too. I'm a big fan of The Protector of the Small series, and I loved Terrier. Sometimes one just wants a little bit of girl-power cotton-candy reading.  I don't know if I'd classify her as "Chick Lit", though, since Tammy Pierce doesn't really do post-feminism (thank goodness).

I do browse the YA/Children's sections all the time, looking for old books I read  and liked when I was a kid and new books that look good.

Other YA/Children's books I love:
Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett
The Time Quartet (A Wrinkle In Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters) by Madeleine L'Engle
Matilda and The BFG, by Roald Dahl
Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth-Carey (nothing like the recent movie, thank heavens!)

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Skullduggery Pleasant.

I think it might be more juvenile than young adult fiction, but it's still great, and the audiobook thank goodness has a spectacular reader. His inflections and tones ensure you never confuse voices and fill even the most minor characters with vivid life. It's got great dialogue, humorous whit, pleasing detective tropes and fantasy elements, and a walking, talking, fireball-flinging skeleton as a good guy. What's not to like?