BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

THE OLD KINGDOM TRILOGY BY GARTH NIX
it is literally my favorite book series ever

it's just. . . it's just so good.
it's a fantasy-type world with zombies, but like. magic zombies? and super super cool worldbuilding and bloodlines and concepts and magic based off of music and just
it's so good
im bad at describing just trust me ok

 

oh man
Garth Nix
I read his The Keys to the Kingdom series and The Seventh Tower series
I loved them
I feel like I have to give this trilogy a go now because I loved his other books I've read

 

*busts down door* DID SOMEBODY SAY BRANDON SANDERSON hi I love his stuff please especially read the Stormlight Archive I need more people to share my theories with

Stormlight also has some pretty high-quality mental illness rep and, textually, almost nobody in it looks white. And there are lobster dragons and spirits incarnating nature and emotion and giant magic swords that can cut through anything.

#i have a full infodump about reasons to read everything he's written in the Fan Town thread #i have a problem

I've read the first one! Necromancer lawyers. :::333

I'm not sure I'd call it magic based off music; more that music can convey magic. But man, the magic is cool. (Still haven't read Goldenhand, incidentally, will when it comes out in paperback.)

 

@chaoticArbiter If you liked Tamora Pierce you will probably like Graceling, which is about Katsa, who is 'graced' with the ability to kill and is used by her uncle the king as a thug/enforcer, and how she tries to use her ability for good.

eta: Thirding the recommendation for Max Gladstone. There are canon gay and lesbian charactes, and the third book features a trans woc protag whose problems have nothing to do with being trans.

 

aaaaaa I read that one already
it was
so good
I actually own Bitterblue, which was
also good

 

Ok so given those likes I'm also going to suggest:

- The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner: Gen, the titular thief, got himself arrested after bragging that he could steal the king's seal, doing so, and then going back to the same pub to boast about it. The king's advisor has him released from jail in order to help him recover an important artefact. I gave it to my sister for Christmas and her expression at the end of the book was amazing.

- Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon: not YA, but a short and fast read. Two Jewish mercenaries/con men get responsibility for a deposed young prince dumped on them. They are Not Impressed with the prince, but there's potentially money in the offing, so they go along with it.

- Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: Breq is the last part of a space ship whose beloved lieutenant was killed, and now she is out for Revenge. This one is a maaaaybe, being neither ya nor modern dystopian, but the protag, Breq, is a smol bundle of angry just like Katsa and I love her v much, and despite not being a sci-fi person I really liked it! It was much more accessible than I expect from the genre.