Peter Dickinson – The Dancing Bear is set in Late Antiquity. The “Changes” trilogy (watch the reading order – the first volume was followed by two prequels). He writes for adults, as well (as does Rick Riordan).
Neil Gaiman. Philip Pullman. Douglas Adams!
Maybe some Kipling?
Another vote for The Belgariad by Eddings, and one for the original Shannara trilogy by Terry Brooks. I think I was about that age when I read them, and have very fond memories.
Diane Duane wrote a wizard series predating Harry Potter which got republished in the wake of the success thereof. Good for either gender, good stories, good writing. first book “So You Want to be a Wizard?”
Raymond E. Feist’s The Riftwar Saga consisting of Magician Apprentice, Magician Master, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon.
I’m a girl and a loved them, but they have universal appeal and the protagonist is boy. I started reading them when I was about his age.
I highly recommend the Stewart/Riddell Edge Chronicles. Brilliant illustrations - go here for a taste - bearing in mind that that online-only story is in reverse order, so you might want to start with the bottom here
Michael Scott’s series “The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel” is good also. Uses a lot of characters from mythology.
I started on the Hitchhiker’s series when I was 12, and loved it. Didn’t get all the jokes but I have re-read them as an adult.
Or His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. Challenging and a bit scary, but if he’s a clever kid he’ll get a lot out of them.
The entire Hornblower series of course.
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Venus series.
Fritz Leiber’s “Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser” series.
Michael Moorcock’s “Elric” series.
He might be a little young for the Elric stories, but when he hits puberty, he will love them. They are full of doom and angst. Elric is the patron saint of whiny teenagers.
Is he into darker stuffs? If so, you might look at Darren Shan’s two series, Cirque du Freak and Demonata. Cirque is the lighter of the two, about a kid who becomes a half-vampire and travels with a circus as the head vamp’s assistant. Sounds much darker than it is. The Demonata series is darker and gorier, but still aimed at about a seventh-grade audience. Links to the first books of each: A Living Nightmare and Lord Loss. The series are twelve books and ten books, respectively.
Perhaps a bit heavier is the Escape from Furnace series, aimed for about a 9th grade level. It’s set in a future where juveniles can be sentenced to hard time for crimes, a societal reaction to student riots and crime sprees in the near past. The protagonist is sentenced, for a murder he didn’t commit, to Furnace Penitentiary, a high-tech prison a mile below ground. But it’s more than just a prison; mutated dogs without skin roam the prison at lockdown, and gas-masked freaks called Wheezers drag some inmates away at night, returning them later as mindless killing machines. For five books, Alex battles the prison, solitary, the warden, and finally Alfred Furnace himself. First book: Escape from Furnace: Lockdown.
I gave my nephew some of those last Christmas and he quite enjoyed them - I did, too.
I also gave him the first book of the Last Apprentice series, which is AWESOME but a little scary for 11. (My nephew was 14 at the time - it depends on the kid, of course.)
well in a couple years he can read The Lord of the Rings!! (please let him read LOTR before the derivitive Shannara series. please please please.)
probably too young for Beagle’s “The Last Unicorn” but keep it in mind for the future.
I strongly recommend these two series as the protagonists are boys of about that age and are fantastic reads.
The Attolia series- Thief, The Queen of Atolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner.
The Earthsea series - by Ursula Le Guin.
Series are great too because you always know what to get them the next time!
I second Susan Cooper.
I also suggest Edward Eager and John Bellairs
Of course, there’s also Terry Brooks massive Shannara series.
but you could start him off with the original trilogywhich is an easier read than LOTR.
I know I’m being a jerk, but please - no one should read Terry Brooks Shannara thinking it is original. they should only read it, if they must, after Lord of the Rings, and they can come to their own conclusions.
I agree in full, except I would user much stronger language, were it appropriate.
I’d just stop writing after “nobody should read Terry Brooks Shannara”. Seriously, there are so many GOOD books around, why give a kid crap?
totally agree, and with Hello Again as well. Just trying not to come on too strong. I really do HATE those Brooks books. HATE HATE HATE.
there, that does feel better.