October 2025
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    Hello, my son has asked me to get him a book for Chistmas and id like to get him something awesome as his interest in books is waning somewhat.

    The problem is, the ones I think will be okay turn out to be either a bit too gory or they're a bit too childish.

    I read him Matthew Reilly's Contest and that was pretty perfect. It had monsters, an easy to follow story and lots of action.

    I thought about another Matthew Reilly book but the rest tend to be human Vs human whereas ideally he'd like something fantastical instead.

    Thanks for any recommendations.

    by FlibV1

    13 Comments

    1. Skandar and the unicorn thief
      I’ve also heard good things about The Last Dragon on Mars but haven’t read it yet.

    2. If he hasn’t already, maybe try the Percy Jackson series? It has a good amount of action and it’s age appropriate

    3. NotYourScratchMonkey on

      Might be a bit dated for him, but the Robert Heinlein young adult novels were great when I was 14. Look up Tunnel in the Sky and see if that might sound interesting to him.

      [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16683.Tunnel_in_the_Sky?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=kiUwCnSdnx&rank=1](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16683.Tunnel_in_the_Sky?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=kiUwCnSdnx&rank=1)

      Another young adult novel I enjoyed was Half a King by Joe Abercrombie. But be careful with that author as his other stuff is not for kids (really violent). It’s in the fantasy genre.

      [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37586799-half-a-king](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37586799-half-a-king)

    4. My nephew loved the Percy Jackson series, Keeper of the Lost Cities series, and the Ranger’s Apprentice series at that age.

    5. Try him on Australian author John Marsden’s ‘Tomorrow When the War Began’ – brilliant for any age, but written especially for young teens.

    6. Legal-Medicine-2702 on

      Dungeon Crawler Carl: About a guy who’s forced to traverse dungeons to survive. And while doing so, he’s watched by billions of aliens for entertainment.

      Monster Hunter International: About a guy who joins a mercenary group to make money off of killing monsters.

      Gore is brought up in these books as comedy relief, in most cases.

    7. Veridical_Perception on

      * Rick Riordan: Percy Jackson
      * Anthony Horowitz: Alex Rider series
      * Brandon Sanderson: The Reckoners series
      * Neil Shusterman: Scythe series
      * Pitticus Lore (James Frey and Jobie Hughes): Lorien Legacies series

    8. Impossible_Evening_6 on

      Mathew Reilly Ice Station. About a secret Antarctica base, and a military team goes in find out what’s going on. Action packed.

      Also great by his is Area 7.

      Also Clive Cussler Any of the Dirk Pitt books. Read those when I was 14, Inca Gold the best.

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