Young Writers Society

I haven't been reading in a long time, and I'll be honest, my scope isn't really that diverse. Maybe you guys could recommend a book to me, especially if they go along these lines.
Fantasy/Adventure/Epic
Preferrably light enough for young adults or a teen target audience...
Though any grand-scale adventure story or tale with dark undertones is fine too.

Crossing my fingers for a title that I probably haven't heard before, and don't know about already.
I mean, I am looking for something new and interesting. I already have Eragon in my personal library, so it's off the list.

Maybe I'm also looking for something that isn't so mainstream, though mainstream's good too.
I'm looking for a book that offers something entirely new or different to my taste, so if you know and recommend any gems to quench my appetite, I'll be really happy.

All of the books I mention are 'dark' in nature.

My favorite book of all time is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It is an intense, gloomy, allegorical, triumphantly epic novel about the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. However, it is very heavy, so I'd recommend you read it when you're older.

An easier read, a beautiful and devastating book is Havah by Tosca Lee. It is a wild, emotional, fresh, lyrical reimaging of the Eve's (Havah's) story--the serpent's seduction, the Fall, her expulsion from Eden, her developing relationship with Adam, the birth of her children, and the death of Abel. Despite it's religious themes from the book of Genesis, it isn't preachy or uncomfortable to read.

Immanuel's Veins by Ted Dekker is a horrifying, exciting, romantic, and entirely original take on 'vampires' where warrior Toma Nicolescu is commissioned to look after the royal Cantemir family. However, soon, he is thrust into the forbidding Carpathian mountains to save his love, Lucine Cantemir, from being drawn against her will into the depths of darkness by a violent, sinister seducer.

A stand-alone sequel to The Giver by Lois Lowry, Gathering Blue is about teen orphan Kira who lives in a barbaric, post-apocalyptic society. The people of her village think she's useless because of her crippled leg and want to dispose of her. However, the village Elders save her because she is an extraordinarily gifted seamstress. The pursuit of her talent not only reveals her worth to the society, but additionally allows her to uncover dark secrets about her world.

Broken Angel (and its sequel Flight of Shadows) by Sigmund Brouwer is a fast-paced, action-packed novel about teenaged Caitlyn--genetically mutated--who is on the run from a vicious, bloodthirsty bounty hunter and is seeking to escape from Appalachia, a futuristic society trying to suppress her and its people.

Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee joined forces and are currently writing a trilogy called 'The Books of Mortals'. The first book, Forbidden, is an epic adventure novel about Rom, Avra, and a whole cast of characters who live in a society where the biological source of emotion in the human design--except for fear and basic traits--have been genetically removed. Mankind is practically dead, without any understanding of true love, passion, sadness, or rage. However, Rom and his group unlock the secret of how to restore life--humanity--in the human race.

There are others (older novels) like Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz, or even Inferno (and the entire Divine Comedy) by Dante. Yet, I'll let you look at these to start with. If you'd like anymore, let me know. I'm an avid reader.

Do you go in for animal fiction? If so I recommend anything in the Redwall series, or the Mistmantle Chronicles. Though I think the latter is aimed at fairly young readers and is decidedly Christian (the Heart of Mistmantle being God).

Disclaimer: I have no idea what's mainstream, because I live under a rock.

This is a bunch of stuff read off my bookshelf just now. I'm mega into scifi and fantasy, and most of these were bought during my teenage years, so I'm going to hope that means they're in the right kind of zone for you.

Trudi Canavan - Black Magician Trilogy / Circle of Five Trilogy. Two trilogies set in two different huge worlds involving magic and war and fun stuff like that. Black Magician involves a slum girl making her way in the upperclass world of magicians; Circle of Five is about a girl chosen to represent the gods as a priestess. (I'm sorry, I'm terrible at single-sentence summaries.)

Robin Hobb - Six Duchies books / Soldier Son Trilogy. There are three trilogies set in the Six Duchies on my bookshelf, and I know there are other companion books, so 'epic' is probably an appropriate word. Six of the books revolve around the life of FitzChivalry Farseer, a bastard son of the king of the Six Duchies. There's plot and intrigue, forbidden magic and royal magic, and a super-awesome world that's huge and detailed and amazing. (If you like books with their own worlds built in detail, Hobb is for you.) The Soldier Son books are set in a different (but similarly wonderful) world, and follow the son of a new noble, born to be a soldier for an army slowly expanding territory, much to the displeasure of the magic-using people who lived there before.

Diana Wynne Jones - Chronicles of Chrestomanci. These might be a bit young; I first came across them when I was 10/11 or something like that, and they're definitely kids' books. That said, I'm 21 now and reading the ones in the series I never got around to, and I like them. They involve parallel worlds, with lots of magic, and various children of about 12 navigating said magical worlds.

William Nicholson - The Wind on Fire Trilogy. Starting with The Wind Singer, this trilogy follows twins Kestrel and Bowman, who can talk to each other telepathically. Their city, where tests and exams determine absolutely everything, is under the power of an ancient force, and they set out on a long quest to save it.

Garth Nix - Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen (I forget the name of the trilogy). These are set in the Old Kingdom, a heavily magical place, and its neighbouring Ancelstierre, where magic stops working. They definitely have dark undertones! The Old Kingdom is plagued with terrible Dead creatures and necromancers who control them. It is the job of the Abhorsen to deal with them, but doing so involves crossing into death itself, with tools that are treacherous and will betray the user if they can.

Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials. Even under my rock, I can tell this is probably mainstream - they made that film about it that I refused to watch But, it's lovely.

Anne McCaffrey - Dragonflight (and all the other Chronicles of Pern). The planet of Pern is beset by the evil of Thread, from which only the dragons and their riders, bonded telepathically, can save it. As you get further into the series, this is definitely more scifi than fantasy, but it's got dragons!

Aaand apparently that turned into an essay of an answer. I'll stop now. Maybe I should make a big book reccommendation list of my whole bookshelf...

Seconding that recommendation of Pern. McCaffrey established a believable world with great characters- all without bringing in religion. In fact, in the introduction to The Girl Who Heard Dragons she states this was deliberate- there were so many "atrocities committed in the name of one religion or another" that she didn't want it on Pern.

Not to bias you, but my favorite has always been the short story "The Littlest Dragonboy". I won't spoil the plot but the protagonist was inspired by McCaffrey's brother.

Seconding Cadi on Robin Hobb--the Six Duchies/Realm of the Elderlings series are fantabulosa, srslyforrealzies.

Another excellent author is Rosemary Sutcliff. Her books are historical fiction, mostly set in English history, going from early Celt to Victorian. Some of them are early teen, I suppose, but they're so well written they can honestly work for any age level. Some of my favourites are Song For A Dark Queen, which follows Boudicca's uprising; The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers which are set in the last decades of the Roman presence in Britain; The Witch's Brat which is about Rahere and the founding of St. Bart's.

Catherine Webb writes excellent fantasy. Her first two, Mirror Dreams and Mirror Wakes are set in a dream-void-world, which is affected by the dreams that we in this world have. It follows a mage called Laenan Kite who comes out of early retirement to deal with politics and Nightmare and old enemies. Her other books are more urban fantasy; her Horatio Lyle series is set in Victorian London, and there's lots of running about and stone knives and creatures with green eyes and voices like maple syrup and falling off St. Paul's. It's all very cool. XD