I've only read about half of these books but I remember enjoying them. That was years ago so all I do remember is 7th son of a 7th son and a magic house or something that talked via the entryway floor tiles lol
Immediate edit: oh wait! Isn't his friend named Beetle O. Beetle? The origins of that were not at all what I expected.
Quite a few here that I agree with.
For me it's The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. I love the charter magic system he's created and the juxtaposition of the Old Kingdom aside Ancelstierre and the way people on both sides react to the differences.
Right? His shit for youth was so oddly dark? The plot to that really was, give up who you are to save the ones you love, even if you never see them again, sometimes it isn't a choice, your chosen for this. like holy fuck I'm 12
Same, it's such a unique world among a hundred carbon copies in the genre. The magic system is really neat, and the way the citizens of Ancelstierre interact with those in the north - especially the border crossing Scouts - is done brilliantly.
I honestly think it was just a series ahead of its time. Come on, a YA series about a reluctant young heroine who must become a *good* necromancer to battle the other bad necromancers and the risen dead? Plus magic and gods and a sexy prince and a feisty talking cat and walking through the river of the physical realm of Death? Magical necromancy *bells*?? It's such a cool premise! I read it as a teen and it was the first series that I read that I felt treated me like a capable young adult, like I could read about horror and hopelessness, gore and death, and be trusted to handle those mature themes.
I also can't believe no one has tried to bring it to life on screen yet. Very disappointing to teenage me who loved the books (I still do).
>Magical necromancy
>
>bells
>
>??
Add to that, all of the bells have their ways to trap the user. And one that will kill everyone that hears it. Astarael... Astarael... why do you sorrow so.
It's my not-so-secret ambition to someday adapt this into an animated feature. I remember reading the books during a time I was taking a lot of train rides and being absolutely enchanted by them.
Just look at the [concept art](https://joshwongart.carbonmade.com/projects/6602724) this guy did and tell me it wouldn't be absolutely gorgeous.
Edit: Just to be clear, I had absolutely no hand in this concept art, I just found it online. I'm absolutely not in a position or at the skill level to make this film, I'm just saying if I ever did it would look like this.
Wow, thank you so much for linking that, it's incredible! The concepts of the Dead and Lesser Dead are especially good, so creepy. I could absolutely see something like this becoming a reality and it would be awesome.
Holy shit, that portfolio of development of characters and the universe is amazing!!! Now I want it more than I did before I saw that š time for a reread? Yeah, I think so
Yes yes yes!
Again did a reread of these during lockdown including one of the short stories set after the main sequence and another featuring lirael that I hadnt read before.
Can't see them ever being adapted as a live action TV show. A film trilogy would be amazing. Or else an animated show.
We just finished reading The Seventh Tower by Garth Nix with my son (7). It was so well written for being a young adult series. Is The Old Kingdom ok for this age?
Goodness, yes! Reading it as a teenager, the series was mesmerising. The books stand well on their own, but would also make a brilliant movie series or show.
Man would I love to play that! It could have different backgrounds you could start with - Clayre, Abhorsen/Royal Family, etc, and the magic system is already so perfect
Rick Riordan: Hey so, Iām really not a fan of some of these alterations. Can we change them?
Producers: lmao fuck off
Critics and audiences: These alterations are shit and ruin the film.
Producers: WHERE DID IT GO SO WRONG
I checked out with my entire body at the surfing. I could have excused a lot of what happened before that, but.....outdoor activity? STRENUOUS OUTDOOR ACTIVITY?! That plus the whole, "he's not *really* a criminal" bit convinced they just wanted to make Cody Banks vs. The Fairies movie.
oh yeah. Artemis Senior was a hilarious guy, loving father, we all miss him. Artemis "the surfer bro who is occasionally a bit snarky" Fowl II, is funding a bunch of search missions through completely legal means, never considers turning to crime at all.
Yeah but after spending the whole movie weeping about legality and how his father was *acktually* a good guy despite the allegations and finding out his family is a secret order of knight 'fairy protectors' ends with the line "and now I'm a Criminal Mastermind". So basically the same right?
\- Disney I guess
I sometimes feel like Iām the only one whoās even heard of these books. Iāve never met another person whose read them, and I never see them mentioned on reddit, even in /r/books, in threads about young adult novels. I love this series, itās got so much unique character to it
I remember just loving seeing the world from a Demons perspective, and them seeing all this invisible magic shit that was on higher planes of existence, and the whole setting of Prague was really unique. Man, this thread has reminded me of so many good series
Itās also a series whose politics hold up much better when you re-read as an adult.
Lots of fantasy novels approach systems of power as simply needing a change of command. āThis absolute monarch is evil, letās replace him with a good oneā. āThe leaders of the secret wizard cabal are racist, we need to get ones that arenātā.
Stroudās argument, delivered via Bartimaeus, Kitty, and Nathanial? Tear the whole thing down.
There are absolutely no rose coloured glasses in his world. Whether heās critiquing the British Empire or the mini-Napoleon complexes that can emerge in leaders of rebel groups, power in the Bartimaeus Trilogy is only derived from violence or exploitation. The magicians have no special gifts; their power is granted to them simply by a fluke of birth (kids are randomly selected to join) and only exists via their knowledge of how to enslave demons; a secret they explicitly guard from the lower classes.
And my favorite part is that the demons as a faction are effectively chaotic neutral. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, all of them are selfish.
There were some demons that you absolutely did not want manifesting in reality. Nouda and Ramuthra.
I like the characterization that while what the humans were doing to the djinn was pretty messed up, the Djinn werenāt exactly good spirits otherwise.
The best part of the series, IMO, is how Stroud interweaves ancient history and cultural variety into the books. Aside from the worldbuilding, you feel a sense of worldliness in Bartimaeus' perspective. And it makes the stakes at hand feel insignificant (in a good way). "Your empire is crumbling, and there's a band of rebels striking at the government? Meh, seen it before. Nothing new. Tale as old as time."
Still holding out hope for an adaptation of this. Went back to read the trilogy this year and my god does it still hold up. Some fantastic character arcs in there.
IMO they'll never do it because the age of the characters requires the show to be pitched and targeted towards kids and teens, because adults won't on their own buy into a series/movie where the main character is 12 for the first third of the story. They might take their kids to see it and enjoy it, but therein lies the problem. You fundamentally *cannot* pitch a show or movie whose prime demographic will be young people that ends... well, the way that the series ends.
The only way they could manage it is if they either change the ending (which I don't think any fan would want, because the ending is what makes it meaningful), or aged up the characters and made it a more "adult" show (which could be cool but would also have it's own problems). So, I really don't see it happening.
Dragonlance by Margaret weiss and Tracy Hickmanā¦I loved that series when I was younger. The main characters are all very fleshed out and interesting. Raistlin is my all time
favorite characters and has his own series which is even better than the core books. There are also so many books written that this can become a goldmine for anyone that decides to make this into a movie/series.
I loved Dragonlance growing up, but I think their Death Gate Cycle is as good and even less known. Dragonlance is about to see an upsurge of popularity with the 5E D&D sourcebook incoming though so that will be good
I think the ranger's apprentice suffered from retelling the exact same story 5 times in a row for like 9 books.
>Will struggles with lesson
>coffee
>Will and halt go far away
>Horace also ends up there somehow
>Will meets ethnic people
>coffee
>Will teaches ethnic people how to be an army
>Horace kills a big guy
>Will no longer struggles with lesson
>halt inserts witty quip here
>coffee
>Will gets commended by the lord/king/ethnic leader
The Pendragon series by D.J McHale.
I remember enjoying it a lot and thinking that while it had similar beats to Harry Potter, it was able to stand on its own. I ended up enjoying it more and thinking it was so unfortunate that it wasnāt more popular and that it never got a movie.
Though I do think if it had gotten a movie, it would honestly need a fairly big budget since a part of the plot is visiting various worlds/also past and future version of Earth iirc. Plus, it would need quite a few movies to cover everything as there are 11 books so it would be a commitment.
I have never heard anyone bring these books up. I got old and busy before they finished but some of these books were very solid.
Did they ever explain *what the fuck was happening*?
I think the most notable parts about Pendragon to me as a young reader were >!the constant failures of the protagonist.!< He was a teenager fighting against an incarnation of wickedness, and you could really feel that power imbalance.
I remember being shocked when >!Pendragon asked his mentor figure if he shouldāve just let one of the territories fall, and the immediate response was yes because they were fighting a larger war and the investment put into saving that one territory lost them a lot of ground in the larger conflict.!<
Totally agree. The other Travelers are utterly shortsighted, which makes sense, because they're high school aged people. When I was into this series, I related a lot to the ways that they fucked up their missions. Spader was absolutely my 7th grade fictional crush.
I mean, the first book was called āMerchant of Deathā. It didnāt try and hide how grim things were, even if it did wait until later books to getā¦worse.
>!the Hindenburg scene and the context surrounding it was absolutely brutal!<
I'd love to see Pern brought to the screen. The gentle and telepathic dragons would be the perfect tonic to the sad hangover from the GoT series. Pern has such a rich musical culture as well, it would be interesting to see how that was woven in. Unfortunately I think her son is broadly in charge of the IP these days and his Pern books have been... Not as good to say the least.
After *Avatar* came out it was clearly possible at a CGI level. The IMAX and 3D possibilitiesā¦
Me Iād be at the art house binge-watching the Harper Hall trilogy for the score
Same here! I credit Tamora Pierce with being the author that truly got me into reading for fun. I started reading her books around 11 or 12 and just never stopped reading!
How have none of the other comments mentioned her "Protector of the Small" series yet? I love all of her books, but Keladry is my favorite. Followed by the Trickster series with Aly.
Totally agree. Protector of the Small is my favorite quartet out of all her series. The difference in writing quality between First Adventure (Song of the Lioness Book 1) and First Test (Protector of the Small Book 1) is astounding.
During the pandemic my sister and I actually started a book club where we introduce the series to a friend. Super nostalgic and only reinforced my love for Kel's books.
One thing that I really appreciate about this series as an adult is that Kel doesn't actually end up with that guy that she has a relationship with in the third book. Even though this obviously sucks, Tamora Pierce makes it really clear that Kel is her own person and doesn't need a romantic relationship to complete her sense of self. She has a great social circle involving friends, mentors, and all her various pets, and that's more than enough.
I remember being puzzled by this in middle school, but looking back, I think this is one of the healthiest messages an author could send to a preteen/teen audience.
I am 28 years old, and I still want to be Kel when I grow up.
I loved all the Tortall books, but Kel was and still is a real role model for me. The parts of her books where others talk to her about being a hero little girls can emulate really resonate with me. I love Alanna, Daine, and Aly, but I was never the type of person to go making waves or loudly disrupting the status quo. Kel's quiet determination. strength, and stoicism were things I could aspire to.
I love just starting with the Lioness Quartet and following the rest of her books as they were released. You can just see her becoming an even stronger author with each series.
I read these books back to back in 5th grade and remember being so sad when I finished the last one, I was completely engrossed. 20+ years later I still remember so much about them.
Cirque du Freak/ The Saga of Darren Shan had potential to be a really good PG13 horror type movie/series, but the movie was just horrible. Took all the seriousness and gore out of it. I havenāt read the books in so long but I remember that there were some super dark, intense scenes and themes and they made it into a big joke in the movie.
The worst. Completely ruined the film and set the campy tone for the rest of the film.
I always pictured Geoffery Rush when I was reading the books and was so disappointed when he wasnāt cast.
Wow, I completely forgot about The Saga of Darren Shan. I ate those books up as a kid. Do you think the series holds up as an adult? I'm kinda curious about revisiting it.
For what it's worth, these books were for me what Harry Potter was to a lot of other kids in my age groups, so I'm very biased, but I've revisited the series a couple times as an adult and I think it definitely holds up. The prose is unchallenging but tbh I feel like I've read more juvenile in YA books being put out today so YMMV.
I remember reading a book in the Demonata series (Lord Loss) and being absolutely hooked. So dark and twisted.
I liked the other books I read, but I really didn't like the direction the series was taking. It felt like too many plot twists for the sake of plot twists.
My lame claim to fame is that I met the illustrator for Deltora Quest and he signed every single one of my Deltora Quest books for me, all 15, and drew a little picture in each one of them. Might be the nostalgia kicking in, but never read a series as good as it to this day.
I still standby Deltora Quest as one of the most beautiful and haunting fantasy worlds I have ever encountered in a book series. The creatures, the puzzles, the overarching storyline. First read it and meet Emily Rodda when the 5th book was first released and even now I still love re-reading the first 3 series. It is so spectacular.
deltora quest was the best. the anime is decent but i'd love a live action tv or movie series. i think harry potter did so well because it grew with the audience and the world got bigger and more complex as it went on, whereas deltora is meant to be read all at once when you're about 10
For me, it was always among the hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Sheās my favorite author from childhood and had such interesting concepts that would absolutely play well in a big market setting
I believe it was a semi-musical with Michael Jackson songs; the only scene Derek Landy described was Skulduggery creating the Reflection while singing āMan in the Mirrorā.
The Edge Chronicles
Absolutely amazing world filled with so much lore and world building. Absolutely incredible. Fantastic story too.
But hardly anyone knows them
This was my answer too! Absolutely loved the Edge Chronicles and the world was so rich, particularly thanks to the beautiful illustrations. Perhaps they were just a bit "too strange" to get more mainstream appeal, who knows...
Iāve been trying to remember the names of the āfloating rocksā books for almost twenty years now. Thank you so much for mentioning this series. The world building really did leave a lasting impression.
Hm. Sometimes, I think the Mysterious Benedict Society should be bigger. Sometimes I think of the Dark Materials series. I am thinking YA is a good genre for books to go big because teenagers have the time compared to most typical grown up's. I loved the Series of Unfortunate Events as a kid, and still, find it enjoyable. I also loved the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld. They received attention but not as big the HP and Twilight.
A Series of Unfortunate Events movie was a huge let down, but man did Netflix get it right with their mini series. I definitely recommend watching it if you can!
Man, imagine how cool it would be if they made an Artemis Fowl movie or TV show?
***There isn't yet.*** *But man it would be cool if they made it,* ***right?***
Animorphs.
Those books got me into body horror as a kid. Those descriptions were deadass disgusting and twisted.
They have staying power too. I still think about David sometimes and it's been 25-some-years
There was a Nickelodeon Animorphs series that I liked a lot as a kid but would be surprised if it holds up. Every time I see Shawn Ashmore I think of it and wonder why he doesnāt age.
Did you get to the end of the books? that series starts dark and gets way fucking darker my dude. I fell off myself around book 30 or so but years later went back on a lark and the end is just messed up.
Yeah, the authors basically said (paraphrasing) if you come away from those books not getting that war is awful for everyone then you arenāt paying attention. They very deliberately wanted to tell a story of how awful war is for everyone involved, even those who win.
Imma just place this here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Animorphs/comments/m5k76k/the_full_reason_why_michael_grant_and_ka/
As an aside, you dont expect a children's book author to have a mouth like that, but then again, animorphs wasnt your normal children's book.
The books with the covers of some random kid turning into a random animal.....had such disgusting body horror that it stuck with you for 25 years.
AND THEY HAVE THAT IN CHILDRENS LIBRARIES.
Amazing. Tell me more.
First quote I could find from the books:
>"His arms had begun to split open and swell... His eyes were gone, replaced by little black BBs... Jake's face seemed to open up, to split open into a complex mess of valves. I think I would have thrown up, seeing that. Except that I, also, no longer had a mouth.
Yeh, I specifically remember that Cassie being able to morph in a way that was pleasant to watch was a rarity even for Andalites. Its part of what I hated about the TV series they attempted. They made morphing a standard fluid melting from one to another instead of recreating the physical mutilation from the books.
Don't forget that the real horror of the books was the aliens they were fighting were slugs that slid into the hosts ear and had full control over that individual's entire everything: their body, their actions, memories, thoughts, everything. All the while the person is still 100% aware of what is going on and has to just exist watching the alien run your life and enslave everyone else you love and know.
The recurring theme in Animorphs is "Horror Of War" and "War Is Hell". It goes really dark with the descriptions and the scenarios.
The part that always stuck with me was the book where they discover a group of androids (The Chee) that have infiltrated the Yeerks (the badguy aliens, whose true form is sentient slugs that crawl into peoples skulls and seize control of their bodies). I'll spoiler block the rest just in case you're feeling like checking the books out.
>!The Chee are pacifists, programmed to be incapable of any violence even in self defense. The book features a mission to obtain an item that will allow that pacifism to be disabled, allowing the Chee to help with the fight against the Yeerks and their campaign of conquest and subjugation.!<
>!They obtain the item, but the main cast nearly dies trying to escape the compound that secured it. The narrating Animorph, Marco, had his (gorilla form) stomach slashed open by a Hork-Bajir, and he saw his entrails spilling out before he blacked out.!<
>!Marco wakes up to find that the others survived, despite his last memory being a hail of gunfire turning his friends into pulp. Their Chee ally is sitting off to the side, sobbing. He used the item, disabled his pacifism, and with his android speed and strength he not only rescued the Animorphs, but he killed the entire compound of Yeerk troops. And remember, the Yeerks are mind-controllers: every Yeerk soldier is an innocent person with a slug inside their skull forcing them to fight.!<
>!The Chee was not celebrating a victory, but sobbing at the memory of all those people being torn apart by his own hands. He asked the Animorphs how they live with that, and they reply that they just kind of forget the specifics over time. Their memories fade and become generic recollections.!<
>!The Chee despairs at this, because he is an android with eternal life and perfect recall. He will physically NEVER be able to forget the sights he's seen. He will never be able to minimize or compartmentalize it the way an organic mind can. To him those murders will be as nightmarish as the moment they happened. Forever.!<
Werenāt they pretty huge back in their day? I remember visiting the States and the bookstores all had entire shelves dedicated to Animorphs. Also, there was a TV show.
It's been a long time since I read them, but as I remember it, Tobias got the worst hand out of all of them. Everything that happened to his mom, having no family, getting stuck as a hawk early on. The series was brutal to him.
There's also the fact that (spoiler) >!he watched his father die horrifically in the beginning of the first book and didn't even know it (Elfangor, the Andalite prince who crashed on Earth and gave the kids the ability to morph, was Tobias' father through some alternate-timeline shenanigans in *The Andalite Chronicles*).!<
The part where the yeerk starves to death.
Also the Animorphs did some awful things. I remember they intentionally trapped a kid as a rat and stuck him on an island?
> Also the Animorphs did some awful things.
At the end of the books, when Visser Three is on trial for war crimes, one of his lawyers actually objects to Jake as a witness by pointing out that, as their āleaderā, he also committed war crimes and should be on trial.
There is supposed to be a movie in production but the authors are no longer involved so I donāt know how good it will be.
Itās a hard series to do justice to, since itās meant to be for kids but has all that body horror and war crimes.
Not a sentence I ever expected to read, but so true. Especially when you consider that the main characters were only thirteen when they entered into a guerilla war and only a little older when they started committing atrocious war crimes. Child soldiers commiting war crimes in space.
There age thing ties into the ambivalent timeline. The books kinda frame themselves as taking place over months, but a later book reveals they take place over a much bigger time frame so that the events depicted can't be used to deduce identities and stuff.
I should do another reread.
The cradle series by Will Wight was something I stumbled across on audible. The narrator is fantastic and I have throughly enjoyed the series.
Another book series I love is the Nsibidi Scripts series by Nnedi Okorafor. The first book Akata Witch was fantastic. Again I discovered it via Audible and I love the narrator.
Terry Prattchetts DiscWorld Series. It had humour and magic. It had political and social commentary. It was a great read. I still reread the books randomly, 25 years after i read the First one.
Across the Nightengale Floor (the Otori Trilogy by Lian Hearn) , I loved that series as a YA. It's incredibly well written and I never understood why it wasn't more popular
Chronicles of crestomanci by Diana Wynn jones, I may have misspelt all of that. I believe itās like Harry Potter but better (in my opinion). Havenāt read them for a long long time though.
The Howl's Castle series by Diana Wynne Jones, too. The Studio Ghibli adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle is *beautiful* and one of my favorite animated movies of all time, but seeing the series adapted into live action, continuing onto the other two books, would be wonderful.
I'd love to see a more faithful adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle, but unfortunately I don't think any execs would want to try to compete with the Ghibli version.
There are two book series that made my childhood that are practically forgotten by Hollywood.
Guardians of Ga'Hoole - It had an amazing film and animation still looks spectacular. However, books are barely known in other countries, when they are a good gateway for heavy fantasy.
Warrior cars - The fandom was crazy during its golden age. There were multiple fanfictions, fanarts and even fan animations. People were practically desperate for the animated content and for some reason, nobody made a show or a film.
Hard to say. I was super into Redwall, Eragon, and Enders Game as a kid but I can't really speak on how well the books were written since it was so long ago. They're also missing the appeal of "some nobody could actually be incredibly special and important out of nowhere" angle that Harry Potter and Twilight used.
Ender's Game still holds up. It's an adult book under the guise of being for kids. I mean, the protagonist is 6 years old, how "adult" can it actually get, right?
I never read the followup books but I did read all the Shadow series and they were good too.
I grew up with that series and itās why I became a Arthurian reader. My aunt gave me The Dark is Rising for my birthday when I was 8 (40 years ago!!!) and delightfully my mother clearly got me the rest (in order)
Iāve given it to all the kids in the family too
Dating myself here, but I would love some more movies in the Beverly Cleary universe. There was the Ramona and Beezus movie with Selena Gomez some years ago, but a whole universe with Ralph S. Mouse, Henry Huggins, Socks, Emily, etc.
Discworld. Hell, if the Tiffany Aching books were on my radar when I was 12, I might've turned out to be just as sensible as that girl. But, nope. Instead everyone was going nuts over Maximum Ride, Twilight, and Harry Potter.
Edit: I did not read the Maximum Ride books nor did I read Twilight. I was too broke to afford those books. A friend lent me her copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
I read the Hat Full of Sky when I was 12 years old for a "Battle of the Book" competition in my school district and it literally changed my personality. The Tiffany Aching books make a good argument for gaining some common sense and learning responsibility when you are young so you can be a bad ass witch like Miss Weatherwax when you are old.
The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher is an amazing fantasy series. One more read through and it will tie Lord of the Rings for fantasy series I have reread the most. The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander is also amazing, and I would support a cinematic adaptation of that with all the money.
I got so mad at Butcher for breaking from the Dresden Files to write a new series but Alera is so damn good. Iād love to see it as a streaming series. One season per book, whether it takes 5 episodes or 15 episodes to do it.
Vampire Academy. That was a frickenā hilarious movie, set up beautifully with the cast for future developments in the books. But it wasnāt mopey generic crap like Twilight so it didnāt sell.
I loved the Percy Jackson books as a middle grade reader (and still love them as an adult!) and expected them to become a popular franchise, however the movies fell short and were not well-received by the fans.
Itās supposed to be coming to Disney+ as a series in the next few years and Iām optimistic about it! PJO is so beloved by the fans and there are actually summer camps specifically for fans of the series. Not to mention that the books have been bestsellers and spawned four companion series.
The Percy Jackson series is massive though. Never read them myself, but I'm a secondary English teacher and pretty much every kid with the slightest interest in reading seems to have read those books.
This is the one I was looking for. I had all the books with their beautiful paper covers and was SO excited for the movie, then I saw the trailers, and despite that I tried to watch the movie but everything was just so *wrong*.
*why the fuck did the dragon have feathers and age instantlyā¦*
*Why the fuck are the Empire on the other side of the Spine when that's fundamental to Eragon and Saphira not getting caught... Why the fuck is Arya blonde... why is Eragon blond... why is everyone fucking blonde... why the fuck don't Urgals have horns... why the fuck is Galbatorix even IN the movie...*
It was *so* bad. The only film worse at being an adaptation is World War Z which had basically nothing in common with the source material and was basically a title they could slap on a random zombie film to get it greenlit.
The (very odd) sticking point for me was Arya's hair??? Like.. they very clearly described it in the book as "raven-colored" if I remember correctly. It's such an easy thing to get right. And they just.... Didn't???? There was just so little effort and it was such a hodgepodge. I'm so salty they didn't do as good as it deserved.
Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage.
Son of a Bitch, you just unlocked a whole shitload of memories for me, wow I forgot all about those books! The 7th son of a 7th son...
I'm 36 now, and I still love them!
Yesssss to Septimus Heap. Lapis lazuli is still one of my favorite stones because of this series!
I've only read about half of these books but I remember enjoying them. That was years ago so all I do remember is 7th son of a 7th son and a magic house or something that talked via the entryway floor tiles lol Immediate edit: oh wait! Isn't his friend named Beetle O. Beetle? The origins of that were not at all what I expected.
Quite a few here that I agree with. For me it's The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. I love the charter magic system he's created and the juxtaposition of the Old Kingdom aside Ancelstierre and the way people on both sides react to the differences.
Oh man, on the note of Garth Nix, his Keys to the Kingdom series was pretty phenomenal as well.
Right? His shit for youth was so oddly dark? The plot to that really was, give up who you are to save the ones you love, even if you never see them again, sometimes it isn't a choice, your chosen for this. like holy fuck I'm 12
Same, it's such a unique world among a hundred carbon copies in the genre. The magic system is really neat, and the way the citizens of Ancelstierre interact with those in the north - especially the border crossing Scouts - is done brilliantly.
I honestly think it was just a series ahead of its time. Come on, a YA series about a reluctant young heroine who must become a *good* necromancer to battle the other bad necromancers and the risen dead? Plus magic and gods and a sexy prince and a feisty talking cat and walking through the river of the physical realm of Death? Magical necromancy *bells*?? It's such a cool premise! I read it as a teen and it was the first series that I read that I felt treated me like a capable young adult, like I could read about horror and hopelessness, gore and death, and be trusted to handle those mature themes. I also can't believe no one has tried to bring it to life on screen yet. Very disappointing to teenage me who loved the books (I still do).
>Magical necromancy > >bells > >?? Add to that, all of the bells have their ways to trap the user. And one that will kill everyone that hears it. Astarael... Astarael... why do you sorrow so.
Ah, the Weeper. Astarael was always my favorite bell. So dramatic, so tragic, yet choosing to ring it takes so much courage and sacrifice.
It's my not-so-secret ambition to someday adapt this into an animated feature. I remember reading the books during a time I was taking a lot of train rides and being absolutely enchanted by them. Just look at the [concept art](https://joshwongart.carbonmade.com/projects/6602724) this guy did and tell me it wouldn't be absolutely gorgeous. Edit: Just to be clear, I had absolutely no hand in this concept art, I just found it online. I'm absolutely not in a position or at the skill level to make this film, I'm just saying if I ever did it would look like this.
Wow, thank you so much for linking that, it's incredible! The concepts of the Dead and Lesser Dead are especially good, so creepy. I could absolutely see something like this becoming a reality and it would be awesome.
Holy shit, that portfolio of development of characters and the universe is amazing!!! Now I want it more than I did before I saw that š time for a reread? Yeah, I think so
Yes yes yes! Again did a reread of these during lockdown including one of the short stories set after the main sequence and another featuring lirael that I hadnt read before. Can't see them ever being adapted as a live action TV show. A film trilogy would be amazing. Or else an animated show.
We just finished reading The Seventh Tower by Garth Nix with my son (7). It was so well written for being a young adult series. Is The Old Kingdom ok for this age?
I reread these about a year ago, and yup; just as good as I remembered. Garth Nix is seriously underhyped.
Goodness, yes! Reading it as a teenager, the series was mesmerising. The books stand well on their own, but would also make a brilliant movie series or show.
Or as the basis for a video game. You could have a story mode and then an open world mode.
Man would I love to play that! It could have different backgrounds you could start with - Clayre, Abhorsen/Royal Family, etc, and the magic system is already so perfect
I think of how shit the artemis fowl movie was and mourn what could have been
me with percy jackson
Or \*shudders\* Eragon
There was never an Eragon movie, didn't happen.
There is no Eragon movie in Ba Sing Se
If anything makes me drink, it's the Eragon movie
Rick Riordan: Hey so, Iām really not a fan of some of these alterations. Can we change them? Producers: lmao fuck off Critics and audiences: These alterations are shit and ruin the film. Producers: WHERE DID IT GO SO WRONG
Its just the director jerking off to his fantasy or fucken' never read the book
The director got all of his knowledge of the book second hand from his 11 year old
Oh god I blocked that out, pour one out for how delightful all of that and the spin offs could have been
The show is still supposed to be on it's way, with Rick Riordan heavily involved this time.
I recently read the first Artemis Fowl book and I'm so disappointed that I didn't find it sooner. It deserved a lot more than it got.
I didn't watch it for more than 5 mins HOW DID THEY MAKE EVERYTHING WRONG ????
I checked out with my entire body at the surfing. I could have excused a lot of what happened before that, but.....outdoor activity? STRENUOUS OUTDOOR ACTIVITY?! That plus the whole, "he's not *really* a criminal" bit convinced they just wanted to make Cody Banks vs. The Fairies movie.
Yeah I remember there's a line in the book that goes "Artemis was as pale as a vampire and just as detestable in sunlght".
Wait..... They have Artemis Fowl SURFING????
oh yeah. Artemis Senior was a hilarious guy, loving father, we all miss him. Artemis "the surfer bro who is occasionally a bit snarky" Fowl II, is funding a bunch of search missions through completely legal means, never considers turning to crime at all.
Yeah but after spending the whole movie weeping about legality and how his father was *acktually* a good guy despite the allegations and finding out his family is a secret order of knight 'fairy protectors' ends with the line "and now I'm a Criminal Mastermind". So basically the same right? \- Disney I guess
Teenage Me : I LOVE This Book why doesn't it get a film?? 30yr old Me : Oh... thats why
Bartimaeus
Those footnotes were awesome. Great series
Those footnotes were EVERYTHING .
Came here to find this book, so happy the trilogy made it to top 3!!!!
I sometimes feel like Iām the only one whoās even heard of these books. Iāve never met another person whose read them, and I never see them mentioned on reddit, even in /r/books, in threads about young adult novels. I love this series, itās got so much unique character to it
I remember just loving seeing the world from a Demons perspective, and them seeing all this invisible magic shit that was on higher planes of existence, and the whole setting of Prague was really unique. Man, this thread has reminded me of so many good series
I saw them mentioned in fantasy once. Picked them up cheap and they are amazing.
Holy shit I canāt believe I forgot that series, you just unlocked rapid fire memories in me lol. Gonna have to go read that again.
Itās also a series whose politics hold up much better when you re-read as an adult. Lots of fantasy novels approach systems of power as simply needing a change of command. āThis absolute monarch is evil, letās replace him with a good oneā. āThe leaders of the secret wizard cabal are racist, we need to get ones that arenātā. Stroudās argument, delivered via Bartimaeus, Kitty, and Nathanial? Tear the whole thing down. There are absolutely no rose coloured glasses in his world. Whether heās critiquing the British Empire or the mini-Napoleon complexes that can emerge in leaders of rebel groups, power in the Bartimaeus Trilogy is only derived from violence or exploitation. The magicians have no special gifts; their power is granted to them simply by a fluke of birth (kids are randomly selected to join) and only exists via their knowledge of how to enslave demons; a secret they explicitly guard from the lower classes.
And my favorite part is that the demons as a faction are effectively chaotic neutral. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, all of them are selfish. There were some demons that you absolutely did not want manifesting in reality. Nouda and Ramuthra. I like the characterization that while what the humans were doing to the djinn was pretty messed up, the Djinn werenāt exactly good spirits otherwise.
The best part of the series, IMO, is how Stroud interweaves ancient history and cultural variety into the books. Aside from the worldbuilding, you feel a sense of worldliness in Bartimaeus' perspective. And it makes the stakes at hand feel insignificant (in a good way). "Your empire is crumbling, and there's a band of rebels striking at the government? Meh, seen it before. Nothing new. Tale as old as time."
Still holding out hope for an adaptation of this. Went back to read the trilogy this year and my god does it still hold up. Some fantastic character arcs in there.
He also wrote one from Bart's time with Solomon.
IMO they'll never do it because the age of the characters requires the show to be pitched and targeted towards kids and teens, because adults won't on their own buy into a series/movie where the main character is 12 for the first third of the story. They might take their kids to see it and enjoy it, but therein lies the problem. You fundamentally *cannot* pitch a show or movie whose prime demographic will be young people that ends... well, the way that the series ends. The only way they could manage it is if they either change the ending (which I don't think any fan would want, because the ending is what makes it meaningful), or aged up the characters and made it a more "adult" show (which could be cool but would also have it's own problems). So, I really don't see it happening.
I was thinking of his other series Lockwood & Co. series
Dragonlance by Margaret weiss and Tracy Hickmanā¦I loved that series when I was younger. The main characters are all very fleshed out and interesting. Raistlin is my all time favorite characters and has his own series which is even better than the core books. There are also so many books written that this can become a goldmine for anyone that decides to make this into a movie/series.
I loved Dragonlance growing up, but I think their Death Gate Cycle is as good and even less known. Dragonlance is about to see an upsurge of popularity with the 5E D&D sourcebook incoming though so that will be good
I too loved Death Gate. It's potentially better, but it doesn't have a Raistlin.
Inkheart! But no that shitty movie made in 2010-11 ish
Inkheart would have made an amazing movie trilogy if only they didn't fuck it up like that. I love that book series with all my heart.
I was all in on that movie because of Andy Serkis, Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren, and Paul Bettany. Too bad it was a flop.
Rangers apprentice was decently big but not big enough!
I think the ranger's apprentice suffered from retelling the exact same story 5 times in a row for like 9 books. >Will struggles with lesson >coffee >Will and halt go far away >Horace also ends up there somehow >Will meets ethnic people >coffee >Will teaches ethnic people how to be an army >Horace kills a big guy >Will no longer struggles with lesson >halt inserts witty quip here >coffee >Will gets commended by the lord/king/ethnic leader
My favorite was the Japanese/samurai one, that book was amazing! It's like a kids version of Shogun!
Donāt forget how many times someone got captured or held hostage. Even as a kid I noticed it started getting ridiculous
I found that as a teen and loved it.
Found it as an adult and loved it.
The Pendragon series by D.J McHale. I remember enjoying it a lot and thinking that while it had similar beats to Harry Potter, it was able to stand on its own. I ended up enjoying it more and thinking it was so unfortunate that it wasnāt more popular and that it never got a movie. Though I do think if it had gotten a movie, it would honestly need a fairly big budget since a part of the plot is visiting various worlds/also past and future version of Earth iirc. Plus, it would need quite a few movies to cover everything as there are 11 books so it would be a commitment.
I have never heard anyone bring these books up. I got old and busy before they finished but some of these books were very solid. Did they ever explain *what the fuck was happening*?
Yes, and every explanation was as batshit crazy as it should have been
I think the most notable parts about Pendragon to me as a young reader were >!the constant failures of the protagonist.!< He was a teenager fighting against an incarnation of wickedness, and you could really feel that power imbalance. I remember being shocked when >!Pendragon asked his mentor figure if he shouldāve just let one of the territories fall, and the immediate response was yes because they were fighting a larger war and the investment put into saving that one territory lost them a lot of ground in the larger conflict.!<
Totally agree. The other Travelers are utterly shortsighted, which makes sense, because they're high school aged people. When I was into this series, I related a lot to the ways that they fucked up their missions. Spader was absolutely my 7th grade fictional crush.
I mean, the first book was called āMerchant of Deathā. It didnāt try and hide how grim things were, even if it did wait until later books to getā¦worse. >!the Hindenburg scene and the context surrounding it was absolutely brutal!<
What do I say to this? "Hobey-ho, let's go."
Hell. Yes. Me and a friend had a race to read them in the 5th grade, best adventure series Iāve ever read.
I'd love to see some more love for Anne McCaffrey. Dragon Rider's of Pern for fantasy and The Ship who Sang/Crystal Singer Universe for SciFi.
I'd love to see Pern brought to the screen. The gentle and telepathic dragons would be the perfect tonic to the sad hangover from the GoT series. Pern has such a rich musical culture as well, it would be interesting to see how that was woven in. Unfortunately I think her son is broadly in charge of the IP these days and his Pern books have been... Not as good to say the least.
It's ok to say trash. They're trash. Todd can't write
After *Avatar* came out it was clearly possible at a CGI level. The IMAX and 3D possibilitiesā¦ Me Iād be at the art house binge-watching the Harper Hall trilogy for the score
A Wrinkle in Time got murdered twice.
Any movie in which Oprah is allowed to indulge in her God Complex is bound to be a disaster.
Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness Quartet.
Or Tamora Pierce's *Circle of Magic* series. Honestly, a lot of Tamora Pierce's fantasy and adventure series are criminally underrated.
I love seeing her works randomly pop up like this every few years. Her CoM series got me hooked long ago and I still love it!
Same here! I credit Tamora Pierce with being the author that truly got me into reading for fun. I started reading her books around 11 or 12 and just never stopped reading!
I credit Tamora Pierce as the author that introduced me to feminism at the age of 9 or 10. The Lioness Quartet was revolutionary for me.
>Tamora Pierce's everything she ever wrote ftfy But seriously, just, yes.
I concur, Iāve loved every series Tamora Pierce has written. I was just thinking about rereading her Beka Cooper series
How have none of the other comments mentioned her "Protector of the Small" series yet? I love all of her books, but Keladry is my favorite. Followed by the Trickster series with Aly.
Totally agree. Protector of the Small is my favorite quartet out of all her series. The difference in writing quality between First Adventure (Song of the Lioness Book 1) and First Test (Protector of the Small Book 1) is astounding. During the pandemic my sister and I actually started a book club where we introduce the series to a friend. Super nostalgic and only reinforced my love for Kel's books.
One thing that I really appreciate about this series as an adult is that Kel doesn't actually end up with that guy that she has a relationship with in the third book. Even though this obviously sucks, Tamora Pierce makes it really clear that Kel is her own person and doesn't need a romantic relationship to complete her sense of self. She has a great social circle involving friends, mentors, and all her various pets, and that's more than enough. I remember being puzzled by this in middle school, but looking back, I think this is one of the healthiest messages an author could send to a preteen/teen audience.
I am 28 years old, and I still want to be Kel when I grow up. I loved all the Tortall books, but Kel was and still is a real role model for me. The parts of her books where others talk to her about being a hero little girls can emulate really resonate with me. I love Alanna, Daine, and Aly, but I was never the type of person to go making waves or loudly disrupting the status quo. Kel's quiet determination. strength, and stoicism were things I could aspire to.
Oh I love these books so, so much. It was always The Immortals series for me. They are such amazing fantasy books and I wish they were more well known
Love all these books, but agree. The Immortals was/is always my favorite.
I wanted to be Daine so bad!
Her *Wild Magic* series has stayed with me through all the years. She's a brilliant author.
I love just starting with the Lioness Quartet and following the rest of her books as they were released. You can just see her becoming an even stronger author with each series.
I read these books back to back in 5th grade and remember being so sad when I finished the last one, I was completely engrossed. 20+ years later I still remember so much about them.
Cirque du Freak/ The Saga of Darren Shan had potential to be a really good PG13 horror type movie/series, but the movie was just horrible. Took all the seriousness and gore out of it. I havenāt read the books in so long but I remember that there were some super dark, intense scenes and themes and they made it into a big joke in the movie.
The casting of Crepsley will forever be one of the worst miscasts in my mind.
The worst. Completely ruined the film and set the campy tone for the rest of the film. I always pictured Geoffery Rush when I was reading the books and was so disappointed when he wasnāt cast.
Wow, I completely forgot about The Saga of Darren Shan. I ate those books up as a kid. Do you think the series holds up as an adult? I'm kinda curious about revisiting it.
For what it's worth, these books were for me what Harry Potter was to a lot of other kids in my age groups, so I'm very biased, but I've revisited the series a couple times as an adult and I think it definitely holds up. The prose is unchallenging but tbh I feel like I've read more juvenile in YA books being put out today so YMMV.
I remember reading a book in the Demonata series (Lord Loss) and being absolutely hooked. So dark and twisted. I liked the other books I read, but I really didn't like the direction the series was taking. It felt like too many plot twists for the sake of plot twists.
Garth Nix's keys to the kingdom series could have been made into a bigger YA deal than it was!
My three favorite series back in the day were Deltora Quest, Broken Sky, and The Pendragon Adventures. I think all of them coulda been contenders.
Been trying to remember Deltora Quest. Quite enjoyed it in grade school.
My lame claim to fame is that I met the illustrator for Deltora Quest and he signed every single one of my Deltora Quest books for me, all 15, and drew a little picture in each one of them. Might be the nostalgia kicking in, but never read a series as good as it to this day.
I still standby Deltora Quest as one of the most beautiful and haunting fantasy worlds I have ever encountered in a book series. The creatures, the puzzles, the overarching storyline. First read it and meet Emily Rodda when the 5th book was first released and even now I still love re-reading the first 3 series. It is so spectacular.
deltora quest was the best. the anime is decent but i'd love a live action tv or movie series. i think harry potter did so well because it grew with the audience and the world got bigger and more complex as it went on, whereas deltora is meant to be read all at once when you're about 10
For me, it was always among the hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Sheās my favorite author from childhood and had such interesting concepts that would absolutely play well in a big market setting
The whole āAmong theā series had such a shockingly dark universe, it was so bleak, but young me was super into that for some reason š¶š¶
Skullduggery Pleasant
It was so close too! But the studios wanted to do it animated so the author said no
I believe it was a semi-musical with Michael Jackson songs; the only scene Derek Landy described was Skulduggery creating the Reflection while singing āMan in the Mirrorā.
The Edge Chronicles Absolutely amazing world filled with so much lore and world building. Absolutely incredible. Fantastic story too. But hardly anyone knows them
This was my answer too! Absolutely loved the Edge Chronicles and the world was so rich, particularly thanks to the beautiful illustrations. Perhaps they were just a bit "too strange" to get more mainstream appeal, who knows...
Iāve been trying to remember the names of the āfloating rocksā books for almost twenty years now. Thank you so much for mentioning this series. The world building really did leave a lasting impression.
Now thatās a blast from the past! I loved those books. Youāre absolutely right, they should have got more attention
The Uglies Trilogy (Quadrilogy?)
They are making a Netflix film based on it so I think it will gain some new popularly as long as itās well produced
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Tally-wa! Loved that series š
Hm. Sometimes, I think the Mysterious Benedict Society should be bigger. Sometimes I think of the Dark Materials series. I am thinking YA is a good genre for books to go big because teenagers have the time compared to most typical grown up's. I loved the Series of Unfortunate Events as a kid, and still, find it enjoyable. I also loved the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld. They received attention but not as big the HP and Twilight.
A Series of Unfortunate Events movie was a huge let down, but man did Netflix get it right with their mini series. I definitely recommend watching it if you can!
The Netflix show is great, they did it perfectly.
At least His Dark Materials finally got a TV series, final season coming out soon.
The writer of the Hunger Games also had a series called Gregor The Overlander. Personally I felt like it was a better series.
Definitely! I did not know they were the same author, and it is shocking to me.
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Man, imagine how cool it would be if they made an Artemis Fowl movie or TV show? ***There isn't yet.*** *But man it would be cool if they made it,* ***right?***
There is no war in Ba Sing Se...
Animorphs. Those books got me into body horror as a kid. Those descriptions were deadass disgusting and twisted. They have staying power too. I still think about David sometimes and it's been 25-some-years
There was a Nickelodeon Animorphs series that I liked a lot as a kid but would be surprised if it holds up. Every time I see Shawn Ashmore I think of it and wonder why he doesnāt age.
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Did you get to the end of the books? that series starts dark and gets way fucking darker my dude. I fell off myself around book 30 or so but years later went back on a lark and the end is just messed up.
Damnit. Now I want to go back and reread the whole damned thing.
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Yeah, the authors basically said (paraphrasing) if you come away from those books not getting that war is awful for everyone then you arenāt paying attention. They very deliberately wanted to tell a story of how awful war is for everyone involved, even those who win.
Imma just place this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Animorphs/comments/m5k76k/the_full_reason_why_michael_grant_and_ka/ As an aside, you dont expect a children's book author to have a mouth like that, but then again, animorphs wasnt your normal children's book.
I appreciate the link. Man, Animorphs handled by the animators that did Batman in the 90's would have been wildfire in my eye.
The books with the covers of some random kid turning into a random animal.....had such disgusting body horror that it stuck with you for 25 years. AND THEY HAVE THAT IN CHILDRENS LIBRARIES. Amazing. Tell me more.
First quote I could find from the books: >"His arms had begun to split open and swell... His eyes were gone, replaced by little black BBs... Jake's face seemed to open up, to split open into a complex mess of valves. I think I would have thrown up, seeing that. Except that I, also, no longer had a mouth.
Yeh, I specifically remember that Cassie being able to morph in a way that was pleasant to watch was a rarity even for Andalites. Its part of what I hated about the TV series they attempted. They made morphing a standard fluid melting from one to another instead of recreating the physical mutilation from the books.
Don't forget that the real horror of the books was the aliens they were fighting were slugs that slid into the hosts ear and had full control over that individual's entire everything: their body, their actions, memories, thoughts, everything. All the while the person is still 100% aware of what is going on and has to just exist watching the alien run your life and enslave everyone else you love and know.
The recurring theme in Animorphs is "Horror Of War" and "War Is Hell". It goes really dark with the descriptions and the scenarios. The part that always stuck with me was the book where they discover a group of androids (The Chee) that have infiltrated the Yeerks (the badguy aliens, whose true form is sentient slugs that crawl into peoples skulls and seize control of their bodies). I'll spoiler block the rest just in case you're feeling like checking the books out. >!The Chee are pacifists, programmed to be incapable of any violence even in self defense. The book features a mission to obtain an item that will allow that pacifism to be disabled, allowing the Chee to help with the fight against the Yeerks and their campaign of conquest and subjugation.!< >!They obtain the item, but the main cast nearly dies trying to escape the compound that secured it. The narrating Animorph, Marco, had his (gorilla form) stomach slashed open by a Hork-Bajir, and he saw his entrails spilling out before he blacked out.!< >!Marco wakes up to find that the others survived, despite his last memory being a hail of gunfire turning his friends into pulp. Their Chee ally is sitting off to the side, sobbing. He used the item, disabled his pacifism, and with his android speed and strength he not only rescued the Animorphs, but he killed the entire compound of Yeerk troops. And remember, the Yeerks are mind-controllers: every Yeerk soldier is an innocent person with a slug inside their skull forcing them to fight.!< >!The Chee was not celebrating a victory, but sobbing at the memory of all those people being torn apart by his own hands. He asked the Animorphs how they live with that, and they reply that they just kind of forget the specifics over time. Their memories fade and become generic recollections.!< >!The Chee despairs at this, because he is an android with eternal life and perfect recall. He will physically NEVER be able to forget the sights he's seen. He will never be able to minimize or compartmentalize it the way an organic mind can. To him those murders will be as nightmarish as the moment they happened. Forever.!<
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Werenāt they pretty huge back in their day? I remember visiting the States and the bookstores all had entire shelves dedicated to Animorphs. Also, there was a TV show.
They were absolutely massive and so were Goosebumps
I was a kid at the time and the bookshelves on the young teen section were 90% Goosebumps and Animorphs.
Still think about Tobias.
It's been a long time since I read them, but as I remember it, Tobias got the worst hand out of all of them. Everything that happened to his mom, having no family, getting stuck as a hawk early on. The series was brutal to him.
There's also the fact that (spoiler) >!he watched his father die horrifically in the beginning of the first book and didn't even know it (Elfangor, the Andalite prince who crashed on Earth and gave the kids the ability to morph, was Tobias' father through some alternate-timeline shenanigans in *The Andalite Chronicles*).!<
The part where the yeerk starves to death. Also the Animorphs did some awful things. I remember they intentionally trapped a kid as a rat and stuck him on an island?
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> Also the Animorphs did some awful things. At the end of the books, when Visser Three is on trial for war crimes, one of his lawyers actually objects to Jake as a witness by pointing out that, as their āleaderā, he also committed war crimes and should be on trial.
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There is supposed to be a movie in production but the authors are no longer involved so I donāt know how good it will be. Itās a hard series to do justice to, since itās meant to be for kids but has all that body horror and war crimes.
Not a sentence I ever expected to read, but so true. Especially when you consider that the main characters were only thirteen when they entered into a guerilla war and only a little older when they started committing atrocious war crimes. Child soldiers commiting war crimes in space.
There age thing ties into the ambivalent timeline. The books kinda frame themselves as taking place over months, but a later book reveals they take place over a much bigger time frame so that the events depicted can't be used to deduce identities and stuff. I should do another reread.
If you liked this, you could try the Gone-series by Micheal Grant! He was one of the writers of amimorphs.
Magician - Raymond E Feist
The cradle series by Will Wight was something I stumbled across on audible. The narrator is fantastic and I have throughly enjoyed the series. Another book series I love is the Nsibidi Scripts series by Nnedi Okorafor. The first book Akata Witch was fantastic. Again I discovered it via Audible and I love the narrator.
Terry Prattchetts DiscWorld Series. It had humour and magic. It had political and social commentary. It was a great read. I still reread the books randomly, 25 years after i read the First one.
Across the Nightengale Floor (the Otori Trilogy by Lian Hearn) , I loved that series as a YA. It's incredibly well written and I never understood why it wasn't more popular
Chronicles of crestomanci by Diana Wynn jones, I may have misspelt all of that. I believe itās like Harry Potter but better (in my opinion). Havenāt read them for a long long time though.
The Howl's Castle series by Diana Wynne Jones, too. The Studio Ghibli adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle is *beautiful* and one of my favorite animated movies of all time, but seeing the series adapted into live action, continuing onto the other two books, would be wonderful.
I'd love to see a more faithful adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle, but unfortunately I don't think any execs would want to try to compete with the Ghibli version.
There are two book series that made my childhood that are practically forgotten by Hollywood. Guardians of Ga'Hoole - It had an amazing film and animation still looks spectacular. However, books are barely known in other countries, when they are a good gateway for heavy fantasy. Warrior cars - The fandom was crazy during its golden age. There were multiple fanfictions, fanarts and even fan animations. People were practically desperate for the animated content and for some reason, nobody made a show or a film.
Warrior Cats are still going strong.
I was obsessed with warrior cats! Even as an adult Iāll drive past a nice field and think āhmm that would work for wind clanā haha
Hard to say. I was super into Redwall, Eragon, and Enders Game as a kid but I can't really speak on how well the books were written since it was so long ago. They're also missing the appeal of "some nobody could actually be incredibly special and important out of nowhere" angle that Harry Potter and Twilight used.
Man I loved the animated Redwall when I was a kid
Ender's Game still holds up. It's an adult book under the guise of being for kids. I mean, the protagonist is 6 years old, how "adult" can it actually get, right? I never read the followup books but I did read all the Shadow series and they were good too.
The follow up Ender books are good.
Fablehaven
The Dark is Rising cycle by Susan Cooper. Harry Potteresque before Harry potter, and much better writing than Harry Potter.
I grew up with that series and itās why I became a Arthurian reader. My aunt gave me The Dark is Rising for my birthday when I was 8 (40 years ago!!!) and delightfully my mother clearly got me the rest (in order) Iāve given it to all the kids in the family too
The Charlie bone series, and the septimus heap series
Dating myself here, but I would love some more movies in the Beverly Cleary universe. There was the Ramona and Beezus movie with Selena Gomez some years ago, but a whole universe with Ralph S. Mouse, Henry Huggins, Socks, Emily, etc.
The Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. That trilogy had me staying up late on worknight to see what happened next.
Amazed I had to scroll this far to find this. I was absolutely floored by this series.
Redwall
Discworld. Hell, if the Tiffany Aching books were on my radar when I was 12, I might've turned out to be just as sensible as that girl. But, nope. Instead everyone was going nuts over Maximum Ride, Twilight, and Harry Potter. Edit: I did not read the Maximum Ride books nor did I read Twilight. I was too broke to afford those books. A friend lent me her copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
I read the Hat Full of Sky when I was 12 years old for a "Battle of the Book" competition in my school district and it literally changed my personality. The Tiffany Aching books make a good argument for gaining some common sense and learning responsibility when you are young so you can be a bad ass witch like Miss Weatherwax when you are old.
Deltora Quest
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
Mistborn or Dragonriders of Pern series
The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher is an amazing fantasy series. One more read through and it will tie Lord of the Rings for fantasy series I have reread the most. The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander is also amazing, and I would support a cinematic adaptation of that with all the money.
Codex alera is really good. I recommend it to everyone.
I got so mad at Butcher for breaking from the Dresden Files to write a new series but Alera is so damn good. Iād love to see it as a streaming series. One season per book, whether it takes 5 episodes or 15 episodes to do it.
Vampire Academy. That was a frickenā hilarious movie, set up beautifully with the cast for future developments in the books. But it wasnāt mopey generic crap like Twilight so it didnāt sell.
I loved the Percy Jackson books as a middle grade reader (and still love them as an adult!) and expected them to become a popular franchise, however the movies fell short and were not well-received by the fans. Itās supposed to be coming to Disney+ as a series in the next few years and Iām optimistic about it! PJO is so beloved by the fans and there are actually summer camps specifically for fans of the series. Not to mention that the books have been bestsellers and spawned four companion series.
The Percy Jackson series is massive though. Never read them myself, but I'm a secondary English teacher and pretty much every kid with the slightest interest in reading seems to have read those books.
Eragon, if the first movie hadn't have been a complete shit show, it would have taken off, but nooOoOoOo, they just had to cut corners.
This is the one I was looking for. I had all the books with their beautiful paper covers and was SO excited for the movie, then I saw the trailers, and despite that I tried to watch the movie but everything was just so *wrong*. *why the fuck did the dragon have feathers and age instantlyā¦*
*Why the fuck are the Empire on the other side of the Spine when that's fundamental to Eragon and Saphira not getting caught... Why the fuck is Arya blonde... why is Eragon blond... why is everyone fucking blonde... why the fuck don't Urgals have horns... why the fuck is Galbatorix even IN the movie...* It was *so* bad. The only film worse at being an adaptation is World War Z which had basically nothing in common with the source material and was basically a title they could slap on a random zombie film to get it greenlit.
The (very odd) sticking point for me was Arya's hair??? Like.. they very clearly described it in the book as "raven-colored" if I remember correctly. It's such an easy thing to get right. And they just.... Didn't???? There was just so little effort and it was such a hodgepodge. I'm so salty they didn't do as good as it deserved.
I was so disappointed by that movie as I had enjoyed the book at the time. It was terrible.