Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Suggestions

We have everything you need to help bring out the love of reading in your child. Check out our favourite new titles (directly below), our authors who can do no wrong, and our perennial favourites.

Iron Thorn

By Caitlin Kittredge

Kittredge creates a superb Lovecraftian-steampunk world that readers will easily fall into and never want to leave. An engine under the city keeps the population from rebelling and the necrovirus causes high rates of insanity in the chilling city of Lovecraft. Aoife is a young girl whose mother and brother are both in asylums and she fears her 16th birthday, when madness may descend upon her as well. Aoife must learn how to battle monsters and the city itself if she is to figure out how to maintain her sanity. A subtle, dark novel that has a quick pace, despite its length, and does not disappoint!

Sapphique

By Catherine Fisher

The sequel to Incarceron - one of those books whose cliffhanger ending left us clamoring for more - is out and we couldn't be happier with it. Spoiler Alert: If you haven't read Incarceron, then don't read this review! While the steampunkian living prison was bad, Finn discovers the Outside world is perhaps worse. With no technology and a frustratingly rigid system of rules, the Outside leaves Finn feeling trapped - especially when he is supposed to be the heir to the throne. Another pretender to the throne is thrown into the mix, and with Keiro and Attia still stuck in Incarceron, there is soon enough action to lead to another tremendous book!

Pathfinder

By Orson Scott Card

Card does it again! The story of a young man that mixes fantasy and speculative fiction in the complexely beautiful style that is unique to Orson Scott Card. Rigg's father dies, leaving him to complete the quest to find his sister with the help of a small circle of friends, each with their own powers. Rigg can see the paths of any living thing, and his friends are able to bend time. Running alongside this story is the past tale of earth's first colonization of distant planets. Everything melds together incredibly smoothly with great dialogue and ideas that really make you pause and go "hmmmm." We can't recommend this book highly enough, though the complexity of the ideas is high enough that it's probably better for kids 13 and up, unless you've got one of those super precocious 10 year olds.

Books of Beginning 1: The Emerald Atlas

By John Stephens

Of all the books that have been compared to Harry Potter, we believe this one comes the closest both in style and in humour. It begins as most fantasy classics begins: three orphaned siblings with a destiny arrive at their newest home and discover that the fate of the world rests on their shoulders. They discover an old book that leads them on an epic time-travelling adventure, and to answers about their mysterious past. The characters are hilarious, the dialogue is fantastic and the story is clever and fast-paced. You really couldn't ask for more and we are extremely excited to see what Stephens comes out with next!

Between Two Ends

By David Ward

What can we say? We love books about books, especially when they are as well crafted as this one. By reuniting two pirate bookends (who come alive and have quite the attitudes), a young boy named Yeats discovers that he is able to travel into literary worlds. He also discovers that years ago, his father left a girl named Shari in the world of The Arabian Nights. Shari has been stuck for 20 years, and now believes she is Sheherezade. Yeats has to convince Shari of her true identity and navigate the world of the story without getting himself killed in the interim. This is a great adventure story that is also a fabulous introduction into one of the greatest stories in literary history. This is a stand alone book, but there is talk of sequels and we can't wait to see which story world we readers get to travel into into next!

Department 19

By Will Hill

Anyone up for military sci-fi mystery with vampires? We're guessing yes. Jamie's father has been killed for treason, and his mother has been kidnapped by strange creatures, and now Jamie is suddenly shipped to work in Department 19. It's a specialized unit of the military that is not supposed to exist. Military conspiracies, lots of battles, a touch of romance and some really, really violent vampires make this a fabulous read that reminded us of a more gory Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A refreshing change from the sparkly vampires in recent books.

Seven Realms 1: The Demon King

By Cinda Williams Chima

We waited until the second book in the series (The Exiled Queen) was already out before telling you about this series because the ending of this first book is just too delicious, and you will want to read the second immediatly upon finishing the first. It's the story of the meeting of two heroes. One, a young, supposedly ex-thief named Han who steals the wrong wizard. The other, Raisa, the young heir to the throne, who doesn't take well to the idea of being married off to some idiot prince. What results is a story of heroism, fantasy and political intrigue. The world Chima creates is well-developed and the two main characters are powerful and very intelligent. We highly recommmend this series!

Authors Who Can Do No Wrong

Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Kristin Cashore, Cory Doctorow, John Green, Susan Juby, Gordon Korman, Justine Larbalastier, David Levithan, Kenneth Oppel, Mal Peet,Arthur Slade, Gail Sidonie Sobat, Scott Westerfeld

Perennial Favourites

  • The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series by James A. Owen
  • The Gideon Trilogy by Linda Buckley-Archer
  • How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell
  • Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan
  • The Hunchback Assignments series by Arthur Slade
  • The Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld
  • The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
  • The Shadow of Malabron by Thomas Wharton
  • The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley
  • The Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy
  • The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
  • Witch & Wizard series by James Patterson