If he likes Hitchhikers Guide, Lord of the Rings etc...

[BigBoysDontCry]

Hi, looking for recommendations for a book for my 23 year old son to shove in his stocking for Christmas. He likes the above and is into gaming/Japanese anime/manga too.

He's autistic and difficult to get ideas from so it can be a hit or a miss sometimes. He has been a prolific reader in the past and would read pretty much anything but nowadays it's really got to appeal to him and then he really enjoys it.

My list of ideas is very short as it is so don't want to not include a book if I can help it.

Thanks in advance

The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke.

Lockwood and Co series by Jonathan Stroud.

Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series.

Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders series - the earlier ones before they descend into ‘sequelitis’.

John Wyndham’s novels. The Day of the Triffids is the most famous but The Midwich Cuckoos, The Chrysalids and Chocky are all very readable.

Ursula leGuin’s Earthsea novels.

I also think Terry Pratchett is worth another try but he hasn’t hit his stride in the first two Discworld novels so start with either the third, Equal Rites, or the wonderful fourth, Mort.

Ready Player One is great for gamers (way better than the film). If that works out, there's Ready Player Two (though I've not read that yet).

Flowers for Algernon? My teenage DC liked that.

Wizard of Earthsea trilogy by Ursula Le Guin.

Also agree with everyone suggesting the Philip Pullman Northern Lights trilogy.

Red dwarf books?

You’ve just made my day with this post OP - I’ve got a 15 year old with what sounds like similar taste so am also going to be googling .

My husband has similar tastes and also likes Terry Pratchett, Raymond E Feist and Neil Gaiman.

Some of my fav's

The wheel of time (gets a bit of a slog through books 7-8-9 but if he can manage Tolken he has the patients of a saint).
Katherin Kerr Devery series
The nights dawn trilogy by Peter F Hamilton is a work of art but quite dark.
The Dragons of pern books by Ann Mcaffry

Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series.

Seconded.

Robin Hobb - the Assassin and Rain Wilds series' (5 series in total)

Tad Williams- Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, and the 2 follow ups. I think the series is The Gentleman Bastards, but could be wrong.

Robin Hobb Soldier Son trilogy. It seems to be a love or hate trilogy, I love it.

Jim Butchers Dresden Files. Might be a good fit.

My DH is a big SF fan.

He likes Peter Hamilton, Neal Asher - I think these are quite funny, Dan Simmons, Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Recent ones I can think of
Red Rising - Pierce Brown
Venomous Lumpsucker - Ned Beauman

I really liked The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jenisin and she's also done some more fantasy books.

How about some Arthur c Clarke or Philip dick? Think they both have some short story collections.

Adrian Tchaikovsky and Becky Chambers are both excellent contemporary science fiction writers he might enjoy.

Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series is set during the Napoleonic Wars, but with an air force of dragons, which is good fun.

DS liked Children of Time after reading HHGTTG and LOTR.

Oh my, I can't believe so many suggestions!

Thank you all, I'm going to have a busy evening looking through everything.

Interestingly, he doesn't have a "mind's eye" so I find it strange that he enjoys reading as for me it's all about interpreting the words into scenes and characters. He can't do that but can't describe what he does in his head.

Also Iain M Banks culture series. Excellent, clever and occasionally funny sci-fi.

Agree with lots of the suggestions already, Rivers of London, Thursday Next, Temeraire, Gormengast, Robin Hobb....

If he likes the huge amount of descriptive detail in Lotr then Stephen Donaldson might be one to look at, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

I'd look at iain m banks ( his sci Fi ones )

Rivers of London.

That's exactly what I was going to say. Loved the Gormenghast Trilogy. Brilliant, brilliant books. Titus, Steerpike, Sepulchrave...feel really nostalgic for that 'lost in a book' feeling now!

Thirded.

Id also recommends some early Neal Stephenson - Snowcrash and The Diamond Age are great.

I don't have a mind's eye, but love reading. My memory is narrative, as is my comprehension. So the books enter my (imperfect) memory as words, just like my actual memories. I would find imagining pictures whilst reading rather distracting, and doesn't it slow you down?

Does he like spaceships, or dragons or both?
Autistic 20 year old DS has enjoyed:
The Martian
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Ready Player One
Dune
The Expanse series James S Corey
(all spaceships)
Naomi Novik's Temeraire series
(dragons)

More science fiction but I'm a massive LOTR and HHGTTG fan and Rendezvous with Rama and Ender's Game (movie was not as good!) are both excellent :)

Lots of the ones I'd suggest have already been mentioned, like Rivers of London, Thursday Next & Gormenghast, but I would add Julian May's Saga of the Exiles series. It's sci fi time travel adventure, but mixed in with old Celtic myths. Def worth a look.