Interview Series Business In The Week Ahead.I believe the plan is still for there to be six books, and book 5 is currently in progress.
In support of waiting: the series is not yet complete, with a new book out every decade or two. I'm not sure whether to suggest jumping straight to book 3, The Lost Steersman, or waiting till a hypothetical future time when reading about romance doesn't irritate so badly and reading them in order. The two books were issued in one volume as The Steerswoman's Road probably better to seek out a single-volume edition of the first one. It would be a real shame to read that at the wrong moment and bounce off the series altogether, so definitely skip that one for now. Inconveniently, book 2, The Outskirter's Secret, has a strong romance element. If you're not familiar with the series, here's Jo Walton's recommendation, which is better worded than anything I'd be able to say. They'd probably enjoy The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein. Posted by brook horse at 6:30 PM on November 16 But kiddo may not appreciate a book where that happens to a trans character, so use your best judgement. It's handled very well, though, and it's one of the earliest representations of a nonbinary character in SFF. Tarnished Are the Stars by Rosiee Thor wasn't my favorite, but it does have an ace protagonist.ĭepending on their level of maturity, I might suggest Bone Dance by Emma Bull-there is a sexual assault, but it is not shown on page, though it is clear that it happens. Thursday Next by Jasper Fforde, The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman,Īeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente, Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, Railsea and Un Lun Dun by China Mieville, the Dragonback series by Timothy Zahn, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, Iron Cast by Destiny Soria, Otherbound by Corynne Duyvis, the Chrestomanci series by Dianna Wynne Jones, and Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter are all on my recommendations list and have minimal romance and lots of either science or magic. They would probably like A Closed and Common Orbit and The Galaxy and the Ground Below best. But the books can all be read standalone. Le Guin's Earthsea is in a similar boat, but maybe worth a try.īecky Chambers's Wayfarer series may be a good fit there's romance in the first book but it's one of many plots. I was going to suggest Ancillary Justice, but I think if they stalled out on Robin Hobb they'd probably stall out on Ancillary Justice, which I found even slower than Hobb (still good though!).
Posted by bananacabana at 4:20 PM on November 16 Reading Wikipedia stories will acquaint your kid with the high level details from previous books necessary to the plot. Start with either The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet or her newest novella A Psalm for the Wild-Built.Īndy Weir’s newest book, Project Hail Mary, was delightful in a very The Martian-like way.Īnd several books in Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga have no or only passing sex/romance including The Vor Game, Memory, and the novella Borders of Infinity if I recall correctly. It’s a lot of good people being good to each other and lots of non cishet characters. Lots of violence but the protagonist is a human/bot construct who’s pretty grossed out by sex and romance and also is wonderfully sarcastic.Īgain pre-read but the Becky Chambers books are delightful character driven sci fi where some characters are in or get into romantic or sexual relationships of different kinds but many characters are very uninterested. It would depend on the maturity level of your 13 yo but you could pre-read the first Murderbot book, All Systems Red, by Martha Wells. There’s just a bit of romance but it’s pretty passing, and most of the characters are not cishet, and there’s at least one who identifies as ace. Catfishing on Catnet and its sequel by Naomi Kritzer are contemporary fiction, not sci fi or fantasy, but I still really enjoyed them.