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

[Anonymous]

Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series. She could start with the more YA sequence - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums (aka the Harper Hall trilogy) - which are fully connected into the main series.

[Anonymous]

Octavia Butler Patternmaster series, Lilith's Brood, or Parable of the Sower

I love John Christopher at that age - the White Mountains Trilogy, but he also has some other titles. Harder to find, but I liked them.

NK Jemisin

Ray Bradbury

[Anonymous]

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

I came here to say this. I recommend the Left Hand of Darkness, the Dispossessed, and the Earthsea Trilogy. I wrote a junior year paper on the Dispossessed! Her works really make you think.

[Anonymous]

Terry Prattchet, NK Jensimon, Ursula LeGuin, Neil Gaiman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Octavia Butler Patternmaster series, Lilith's Brood, or Parable of the Sower

I love John Christopher at that age - the White Mountains Trilogy, but he also has some other titles. Harder to find, but I liked them.

NK Jemisin

Ray Bradbury

Butler-- too grim and sexual

Jemison--definitely too grim. The Stone Sky starts off with a father killing his son.

Eregon is a good set of complex YA fantasy novels that are complex enough for advanced readers without R rated content.

Anne Mccafferty 's dragon books are good too.

[Anonymous]

I’ve read most of the books recommended in this thread. For your daughter, I would most strongly recommend Ender’s Game, The Martian, Project Hail Mary, the Red Rising series, and possibly The Expanse for something longer and more involved. If she is interested in fantasy as well, there are a lot of other great books to check out, but the above list is all solidly sci-fi.

[Anonymous]

Also check out the League of Peoples books by James Alan Gardner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series. She could start with the more YA sequence - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums (aka the Harper Hall trilogy) - which are fully connected into the main series.

Yeah, those are problematic. Even the YA ones. Though not as problematic as Heinlein, Asimov, Herbert, etc. A lot of the books I read as a 12-year-old, I would never recommend now. Plus there's no need, because there are other (better) books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series. She could start with the more YA sequence - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums (aka the Harper Hall trilogy) - which are fully connected into the main series.

Yeah, those are problematic. Even the YA ones. Though not as problematic as Heinlein, Asimov, Herbert, etc. A lot of the books I read as a 12-year-old, I would never recommend now. Plus there's no need, because there are other (better) books.

I think I read Dragonsong when I was 10?

A 12 year old can handle that.

[Anonymous]

I second the Nnedi Okorafor Akata series.

Michael Crichton - Andromeda Strain
Stephanie Meyer- The Host
Marissa Meyer - Renegades
James Patterson- The Angel Experiment
H.G. Wells- Time Machine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series. She could start with the more YA sequence - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums (aka the Harper Hall trilogy) - which are fully connected into the main series.

Yeah, those are problematic. Even the YA ones. Though not as problematic as Heinlein, Asimov, Herbert, etc. A lot of the books I read as a 12-year-old, I would never recommend now. Plus there's no need, because there are other (better) books.

I think I read Dragonsong when I was 10?

A 12 year old can handle that.

The question isn't whether a 12-year-old can handle it.

The book came out in 1976. Read it again now, see what you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series. She could start with the more YA sequence - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums (aka the Harper Hall trilogy) - which are fully connected into the main series.

Yeah, those are problematic. Even the YA ones. Though not as problematic as Heinlein, Asimov, Herbert, etc. A lot of the books I read as a 12-year-old, I would never recommend now. Plus there's no need, because there are other (better) books.

I think I read Dragonsong when I was 10?

A 12 year old can handle that.

The question isn't whether a 12-year-old can handle it.

The book came out in 1976. Read it again now, see what you think.

In the main series, Lessa’s (sp?) first sexual experience is basically rape, akin to what happens to Daenerys Targaryen. When I read it as a young teen, I didn’t really have the context to understand. But now as an adult, I see it differently.

[Anonymous]

Try David Brian’s Uplift War series. Also, The Practice Effect and The Postman (which was made into a Kevin Costner movie).

https://www.davidbrin.com/uplift.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series. She could start with the more YA sequence - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums (aka the Harper Hall trilogy) - which are fully connected into the main series.

Yeah, those are problematic. Even the YA ones. Though not as problematic as Heinlein, Asimov, Herbert, etc. A lot of the books I read as a 12-year-old, I would never recommend now. Plus there's no need, because there are other (better) books.

I think I read Dragonsong when I was 10?

A 12 year old can handle that.

The question isn't whether a 12-year-old can handle it.

The book came out in 1976. Read it again now, see what you think.

If it could be handled in 1976, what’s the reason a 12yr old can’t handle it now?

[Anonymous]

How about the Shipbreaker series by Paulo Baciagulpi? I may have misspelled his last name. I read the series out loud to my son when he was 12 and we all enjoyed it.