a relative just gave me 70 quid in book vouchers, assuming that most books are around 6-8 quid (the vouchers are only valid in one fairly expensive bookshop), what are 10 great fantasy books that i should read? i've not been a big fantasy reader in the past, at least, not so much high fantasy sort of stuff, beyond LOTR, although i'm not a fantasy virgin in general. today, i bought the first book i wanted to read with a voucher, it was the name of the wind by patrick rothfuss, one or two vouchers might go on the next few books in the gentleman bastards series by scott lynch, as i just read and rather enjoyed the first one. I've also really enjoyed some of the books by brandon sanderson before, so might get another of those if there's no other suggestions. i'm open to starting a long series like song of ice and fire or wheel of time, but im much more likely to want to read a stand alone, because i like to always have a book on the go and have a bit of variety in between each. are there any authors or books that i should try, since i have the opportunity? any responses appreciated.
Try the Antony Horowitz books about Alex Ryder Stormbreaker and Point Blank - the junior James Bond, my son loved them. Also Paul Jennings wrote a whole series of gruesome books which my son read avidly when he was about 10. Most of them begin with the prefix un, e.g. Unseen, Unreal etc. As a couple of other people have suggested, comics are a great way to get boys interested, there are loads of graphic novels available. Another way to get boys reading is to talk to them about PC games etc. Ask them to tell you how a favourite game works in terms of plot, choices the player has to make etc and get them to make a diagram of the plot, pathways. Also book summary like Themes In Of Mice And Men | Study Guides and Book Summaries They will become totally engrossed in it. When they have worked through this, tell them they are going to design a game of their own based on a story they know. They could choose something like Little Red Riding Hood, or Where the Wild Things Are - something fairly simple to start with, then they have to decide how the plot can be designed as a game, decide on any sub plots or choices that have to be made; identify the key challenges etc. If you have a really good ICT department, the boys may be able to try actually writing a program to make the game work! Hope this helps
