Montana Wakefield
Chasing Time (Adrielle Maddox)
A solid entry in the time-travel YA genre that prioritizes plot mechanics over deep character development.
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Wintersmith
by Terry Pratchett
Young adult · ages 10–14 · 920L · 2009
Pratchett's most emotionally grounded Discworld novel—Tiffany's choice to refuse supernatural temptation in favor of her own calling lands harder than any romance, and the prose does real work making fairyland both beautiful and genuinely unsettling.
The Floating Islands
by Rachel Neumeier
Young adult · ages 12–16 · 820L · 2011
A quietly ambitious fantasy with intricate magic-system worldbuilding and a protagonist whose outsider status feels earned—less flashy than contemporary YA but genuinely engrossing for patient readers.
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
by Garth Nix
Young adult · ages 14–18 · 820L · 2021
A sharply written urban-fantasy mystery with a nonbinary protagonist and queer romance; strong worldbuilding and atmospheric London magic, though the plot meanders slightly in the middle.