Looking for THE book to hook my 16-year-old son on reading
My 16-year-old son isn’t a big reader, but when a book clicks with him he really enjoys it. I’m trying to find that one book that might pull him in. He has AuDHD which complicates his attention span.
Some context:
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He loved The Hobbit and also really liked The Witcher books.
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He’s very into fantasy games like Skyrim and Baldur’s Gate.
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Last summer we read Between Two Fires (Christopher Buehlman) together. He actually got to about 85% of it after being drawn in by the cover and the medieval vibe, but eventually stopped because it got a bit too bleak.
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He loves illustrations of medieval warriors / knights / grimdark-looking dudes.
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English is our second language, but he actually prefers reading in English.
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Recently he read The Great Gatsby in school. He said it wasn’t difficult, and appreciated it, but it just wasn’t his thing.
So I’m looking for one really good recommendation; the book you’d give to a 16-year-old who likes fantasy worlds, medieval settings, and RPG vibes.
Ideally something: engaging from the start, not extremely dense or slow, maybe adventurous or atmospheric rather than super depressing.
If you had to pick one book that a 16-year-old fantasy fan absolutely should read, what would it be?
by oblique_obfuscator
5 Comments
Heroes of Olympus
The inheritance games
The cruel prince(trilogy)
The perks of being a wallflower
The house in the cerulean sea
The book thief
( Recommend my personal fav s)
I’d suggest one of the best and most popular modern fantasy series: The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson.
Its a bit grittier than something like Lord of the Rings. One of its ‘hooks’ is the slow reveal of it characters, its world, and its magic system… so it creates a ‘one more page’ tension.
Dungeon crawler Carl!!!
Dungeon Crawler Carl
‘The Blade Itself’ if you want bloody action by one of the best berserkers to ever do it – I would have loved this at 16, and by then I was already reading Stephen king and watching rated r movies so he should be fine if he is already at that maturity level. Kicked off the recent grimdark book revival.
‘Kings of the Wyld’ is a rip roaring, action, “save the girl” story of a bunch of washed up heroes in a famous “band” (they’re celebrities, think 80s metal band- they even have an axe man) that have to get together to fight the biggest group of monsters ever assembled. Great story and action, and it’s funny to boot.