Books for 13yo dd who has just read Divergent?

[CocktailQueen]

She loved it but is looking for something less harrowing this time. Have Googled, and so many teen/YA books are scary/sad/terrifying.

Any recommendations? We both read and loved Em Bailey's Shift.

Is she old enough for The Handmaid's Tale or Orxy & Crake/After the Fall by Margaret Atwood? Cat's Eye also captured girls' friendship dramas and falling outs brilliantly.

Inkheart, The House on Falling Star Hill, Eragon, The Witch Trade are all good for that age - all a bit fantasy/adventure-y. I presume she's read the Chrestomanci books?

For something completely different you could try The Girls in the Velvet Frame by Adele Geras - about a family of sisters in Jerusalem in 1913.

The Witch Trade might be a bit young actually, but I still like it.

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge is a very nice read too.

Oh yes, Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

My 13 year old prolific reader really enjoyed Divergent, Maze Runner, Hunger Games etc but at the moment is loving Terry Pratchett's Disc World series, including all the Tiffany Aching ones. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was popular too but she had listened to the radio series first.
She may be badly influenced by her parents :o

And that should have been After the Flood by Mgt Atwood.

Favourites from the teenage section of the library I worked in were the Power of Five series by Anthony Horowitz and Wolf Brother, again a series, by Michelle Paver. DD and I read them and couldn't wait to get the next in the series.

I think the Oryx & Crake trilogy might be a bit... Knowing for a 13 year old. They approach sexuality in quite a depressing way. I read The Handmaid's Tale at about 13/14 and loved it though, found it really fascinating.

I'd second the Garth Nix Abhorsen series. Also The Magician's Guild trilogy by Trudi Canavan?

There's a lot of fantasy and sci fi on this list. I love those myself but I agree - I was also reading romance and crime at that age. Aren't any modern stories like this? Agatha Christie was great, but dated even in my day...!

What about the David williams books?

Wool trilogy is great, dystopian YA fiction.

Oh, wow, lots more replies! She's read the David Walliams books.
She's not that into sci-fi (and nor am I, but am happy to try new things).

The Year of the Flood sounds terrifying.
Wool sounds like a rehash of the Hunger Games - think we've had enough misery for a bit.

Have added lots of the others to my Amazon wish list - thanks!

Ive thought of another fab series.

Tomorrow, When The War Began.

Set in current day Australia but Oz is invaded by another country. A group of six teenagers are on a bush camping trip when the invasion happens so miss being captured and rounded up like the rest of their town. They then become a resistance movement blowing up bridges, etc. Really good.

"I was also reading romance and crime at that age. Aren't any modern stories like this?"
There's loads of YA/teen romance around - Rainbow Rowell, David Levithan, John Green (to be fair there's more to all those authors than just romance) - and stacks of others.

I guess people have tended to recommend fantasy/SF on here because the example given was Hunger Games?

Inkheart trilogy
All of Terry Pratchett's discworld (start with the Tiffany Aching books for a good introduction
The Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde
The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare (all called 'City of...') (they have some magic battles, and there are a few deaths, but it's not really dark, good wins out and there's even a be proud of who you are gay subplot).

CocktailQueen - does your dd's school have a library? If so, that's probably the best place to find YA books / get recommendations - from the librarian + pupil helpers / other library users.

Re romance, I like the Eva Ibbotsen ones (there are about five of them, set from about 1915-1950) but they might be aimed bit too old?

My Family and Other Animals and James Herriot are good too.

Eva Ibbotson definitely not too old - my 11yo found them young. (She also found them rather sappy, but that's just a matter of taste, I think - they are very sweet and she's probably a bit cynical.)

My 12yo loves reading.
She has devoured the Noughts and Crosses series
She is reading the Sally Lockhart mysteries now (Philip Pullman) after loving the Dark Materials trilogy
She likes the Eva Ibbotson books, and has read a few Agatha Christie (miss Marple)

My 12yo loves reading.
She has devoured the Noughts and Crosses series
She is reading the Sally Lockhart mysteries now (Philip Pullman) after loving the Dark Materials trilogy
She likes the Eva Ibbotson books, and has read a few Agatha Christie (miss Marple)

If you want to avoid dystopic fiction how about some comedy. I'd read Hitchhiker's Guide by then. And I loved any Pratchett I could get hold of. Has she read Wee Free Men?

I just thought some of the stuff in A Company of Swans (Harriet being 'ruined') might be a bit much and you get more out of them if you know the historical background - they were written for adults originally. But good to know they will be ok for OP's daughter - I'm recommending stuff I've read myself, rather than DC have read iyswim.

Neville Shute's 'On the Beach' would be good in a year or two, if a bit depressing (set in the 50s/60s, post nuclear war Australia, remote survivors wondering if anyone else made it).

I read a lot of EM Forster in my early teens, but probably spurred on by all those glossy Merchant Ivory productions.

Re. Eva Ibbotson - she's written children's books (Journey to the River Sea etc), which are probably aimed more at 10-12 sort of age range, and adult romance, so maybe that's the confusion?