At that age I LOVED David Eddings Belgariad sereis of books
Pawn Of Prophecy
Queen of Sorcery
Magician’s Gambit
Castle of Wizardry
Enchanters’ End Game
The Tripods trilogy by John Christopher
House of Stairs and Singularity by William Sleator
I’m so glad you got the Bellairs book, they ought to love that!
Good lord. Under no circumstances would Jack Chalker books be appropriate for boys that are 9 and 13.
Patricia McKillip’s Riddle-Master trilogy is good. As is the Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Some of the stuff in Bridge of Birds might be over the head of a 9yo, but if he’s a good reader he’ll still enjoy it.
Yeah, Jack Chalker I enjoyed but much later in life. Not for kids.
YES Patricia McKillip rocks!! And I just re-read Forgottten Beasts of Eld, too.
You guys are awesome, thank you!!
I will Nth the David Eddings series; they’ll enjoy it now, and be able to read it with fond nostalgia when they’re older and can also see its flaws.
John Bellairs’ The Face in the Frost is great, and often available cheap at used bookstores.
Seconding Bridge of Birds.
I was 11 or 12 when I first read the Well of Souls books; I loved them. I was 13 or 14 when the 4 Lords of the Diamond series started and devoured it.
Why do you think they are inappropriate for a 13 year old?
David Eddings writes terrific dialogue, but I knew how the fifth book would end before the first was half over. No surprises leaves nothing to really look forward to.
Chalker is like Anthony but well written. I saw no respect for women as anything other than sexual. I liked these books- good pacing, interesting storylines- but I don’t want to give him anything that sexual yet.
It’s been a few years since I read the 4 Lords, but I don’t remember any sex in them at all. IIRC all books have the male protagonist finding a female love interest (who was usually his guide into the planet’s customs and society, etc.), but I don’t recall any sex in the books.
And the Well of Souls gave us Mavra Chang, one of the toughest (and longest suffering) characters I’ve ever read. Again, tho, I don’t recall any sex in those books.
NBD, tho. Not trying to argue, was just curious about what might have prompted the comment.
FWIW, I also read HHGTTG when it was first published, so I was 11 or 12 at the time. I thought it was the funniest book I had ever read (it’s still in the top 10).
Dragonriders of Pern has a semi-explicit sex scene.
However, if it concerns you, in the Starscape YA edition of the book the sex scene has been removed. When I flipped through the new edition, I noticed it immediately and thought, WTF, where’s the sex scene, that was my favorite part when I was 13!!
Andre Norton - Most if not all of the Witch World books are suitable.
I would suggest another Norton, also, Dragon Magic. I read it when I was quite young and it made such an impression on me that I tried to find out what it was that my memories nagged at me with and then go read it as an adult. Still holds up…four young friends have dragon encounters suitable to their ancestral traditions (Chinese, African, Scandinavian, Welsh).