Sci Fi book recs for 12yo on a college reading level

[Anonymous]

She likes sci fi without a big romance sub-plot, sex, or excessive violence. She likes brandon Sanderson, stuff in the star wars universe, Illuminae Files, etc. She’s (sadly!!) not interested in YA books like Shadow and Bone. And she doesn’t want to read Dune for whatever reason.

She says she just isn’t into reading anymore and I’d like to see if I can find something she would like so that she isn’t so bored during the weekends.

[Anonymous]

Son read (and did not really like) Starship Troopers - though the movie with Denise Richards was good.

Dune series: excellent, plus the original movie featured Sting, and now there is a re-make!

[Anonymous]

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. - Heinlein

Alas, Babylon. - Pat Frank

[Anonymous]

Has she read Ender's Game? I'd start there + there are several follow up books.

Some other ideas...
The Martian
Seveneves
Contact

Any interest in fantasy? Try some Terry Pratchett. My DD loved Good Omens at that age but his whole Discworld universe is fun to read. "The Colour of Magic" is the first published book in that series but I think "Mort" is also a great introduction.

[Anonymous]

Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Hugo award for best series a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Isaac Asimov

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isaac Asimov

+1. Also Philip K Dick

[Anonymous]

Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy

[Anonymous]

My teen daughter really likes the works of Ursula Le Guin.

[Anonymous]

Modesitt. Recluce series is pretty good. There are several in the series focused on women characters. No explicit sex. No gross violence. Women run the major kingdom in the books.

Unfortunately the first book in the series features a male character though there are strong women characters too. The books are not in particular order and characters often relate between books. Same author has a series called Spellsong where most of the main characters are women.

I would have no issues having a 12 year old dig into that author.

Also, God forbid, Wheel of Time is out there. A long series - so long the author died and Sanderson was brought into finish up. But, the first book is really pretty good with important women characters. No explicit sex or violence really. And, the series is coming out in a couple of months on Prime I think (very big budget) so she would be up on the important characters.

Outlander is also good but a fair amount of sex. I would not recommend for 12. You will hear a bit about it because a new book is coming out after several years.

Obvious one - Harry Potter. Good reads even if she has seen the movies.

[Anonymous]

There’s a lot more in the fantasy genre—how does she feel about that?

Ray Bradbury has some Sci fi I loved at that age.
Agree on Martian and hitchhiker’s guide.

Cloud cuckoo land just came out and is getting great review but might be a little sophisticated for her.
Also maybe some non fiction like The Right Stuff? I have nieces and nephews very into space exploration who read that as teens.

The Star Trek novels are also pretty good (some of them)… my kid read Picard and seemed to like it.

[Anonymous]

Pierce Brown - entire Red Rising series. Fantastic!

[Anonymous]

Some of the best advice I got from my sons teachers was do not push advanced readers onto reading books designed for older people. While your kid can read at a college level, it does not mean they should. They may still get a lot of joy out of reading books written for their age level. I am just mentioning this since you said she was losing interest in reading. In case you are focused on books at a higher reading level.

[Anonymous]

A lot of "classic sci fi" like Heinlein is pretty dated and unpleasant to read, especially for a 12 year old. You want to find something either funny or recently written (or both). Alan Dean Foster's Glory Lane is funny. Elizabeth Moon's Serrano series is good. The Expanse is good but a little creepy. The Martian is good. Hitchhiker's Guide is dated but still great. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach is not fiction but it's fun.

For fantasy:
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. As someone else mentioned, Brandon Sanderson finished the series after Jordan died.
Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series.
Guy Gavriel Kays's Finovar series.
Robin McKinley's books; Outlaws of Sherwood is a good intro, or Sunshine.
T. Kingfisher's books; Clockwork Boys is a good intro.
Terry Pratchett's books (all).
Garth Nix's Abhorsen series.
Naomi Novik's Termeraire series or the standalone book Uprooted.
Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper books.

[Anonymous]

Agreed - I would not give my 12yo Heinlein or Asimov.

Does she read just sci-fi, or any kind of speculative fiction (i.e. is fantasy okay?)

I like a lot of the suggestions from PP. I'd add Nnedi Okorafor's Akata series (but NOT her adult stuff for a kid that age, it's really not appropriate), NK Jemisin's The City We Became. Also check out the Hugo award lists.