For a reader who just finished
after Skyshade by Alex Aster · ages 12–16
Young adult · grades 7–11 · 900L
A solid entry in the modern fantasy wave with strong character agency and a compelling magic system.
Same style
by Rick Riordan
Young adult · ages 12–18 · grades 7–12 · 950L · 2025
Riordan’s best work — the humor is sharper and the stakes feel more personal than in Percy Jackson, making it a perfect bridge for readers ready to graduate from middle grade.
Young adult · ages 10–14 · grades 5–9 · 920L
A sly, emotionally satisfying fantasy that feels like a literary prize-winner disguised as a romp — Sophie's growth from cursed hat-maker to witch is the real magic.
by Jack Dann
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 950L · 2010
A solidly crafted dragon-rider coming-of-age that doesn't pretend to be more than it is — tight pacing, genuine stakes, and a protagonist who earns his power through vulnerability, not birthright.
Stretch them up
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 1050L · 2024
A genuine doorstop fantasy that respects teen readers' intelligence — ornate prose, deep worldbuilding, and a narrator whose unreliability becomes part of the pleasure.
Young adult · 1050L · 1952
The most philosophically rigorous American family saga; demands intellectual maturity but rewards it with a genuinely moral argument about choice and human nature that lands harder at 15–16 than at 12.
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 1050L
A play about mass hysteria and coerced confession that lands harder after every election cycle — teens wrestle with why good people participate in injustice, and it's the rare YA text that trusts them with that complexity.
Complementing on courage
Nonfiction · ages 9–12 · grades 4–7 · 820L · 1990
Freedman's accessible, photo-rich biography makes FDR's disability and determination feel immediate without sentimentality; kids grasp both the man and the era.
by Rick Riordan
Middle grade · ages 9–12 · grades 4–7 · 740L · 2008
The gold standard entry point for myths, quests, and kids who love witty protagonists — the ADHD/dyslexia angle feels earned, not decorative, and Riordan's voice carries slow readers through.
by Julie Berry
Young adult · ages 14–18 · grades 9–12 · 820L · 2016
A historically grounded love story about conviction and heresy that trusts teens to hold complexity—the Church isn't evil, the family's fear is rational, and Dolssa's choices carry real cost.
We'd skip — for now
by Sarah J. Maas
A step up — ages 16–18 · grades 11–12
Skip it if graphic sexual content, profanity, or sustained violence in fantasy settings are off-limits; the third act includes visceral combat and on-page intimacy.