I’ve been reading YA fantasy since way back. I actually started out writing YA, and most of my early work was based on old-school magic and medieval worlds (maybe some of my future work will be, too!). These days, I’m spending more time with romance and UF, but when I want to pick up a satisfying read, I always find myself going back to my old favorites.
Ideally, I would’ve picked five favorite books, but that’s not reasonable for any bookaholic. How could I pick ONLY five? I settled with five series totaling fifteen books. If you’ve missed one of these beauties, please go to a bookstore somewhere in real life or on the Internet and redeem yourself.
5. Abhorsen Series–Garth Nix
Beautiful necromancy. Need I say more?
4. Immortals Series–Tamora Pierce
Tamora Pierce’s heroines are always fantastic and 7th grade me would’ve killed for Daine’s Wild Magic. Also important: Numair was my first book boyfriend.
3. His Dark Materials–Philip Pullman
It took me many tries to get into The Golden Compass. When I finally got it? WOW.
2. A Tale of Time City–Diana Wynne Jones
DWJ is one of my favorite authors of all time and her works deserve so much more attention. I stumbled onto A Tale of Time City in middle school and it was my gateway drug into becoming a booknerd. Butter pies, y’all!
1. Song of the Lioness–Tamora Pierce
I keep my books obsessively clean and scowl at people who try to open the spines too far, but Lioness Rampant spent way too many days in my backpack on the way to school to stay pristine. It’s ratty and covered in leaked highlighter and nothing else could so perfectly show how much I’ve loved this series over the years.