Something for everyone

The Maze Runner

The Hunger Games

The Knife of Never Letting Go

I've always been a fan of fantasy, The Wizard of Oz, The Once and Future King, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy were hugely influential on me as a young reader. I was a fan of The Game of Thrones series years before HBO followed it with its successful (and well written) TV show. Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series are also among my favorites.

However, I would not have described myself as a "sci-fi" fan. And yet, I loved movies like E.T. and Close Encounters as a child, which are clearly stories in the science fiction realm. But hearing science fiction described as being "hard" and "soft" helped me understand that I am indeed a science fiction lover!

Young adults are really an ideal audience for science fiction. Since the settings are often futuristic, writers have greater flexibility to create circumstances for characters that aren't defined by contemporary society. Many of the fantasy and science fiction books I've read and enjoyed, like The Maze Runner, The Hunger Games, and The Knife of Never Letting Go have characters who are forced to survive in hostile environments controlled by adults. Breaking free of adult control is something many young adults fantasize about, and sci-fi allows young readers to do just that.

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