Charles Stross's Merchant Princes is a rolicking good read, and well suited for teens and near I think - our eldest loved them. I recommend the first six (the six books are now sold as a trilogy, as they were originally intended to be).
The relaunch of the series with a new follow-up trilogy rather loses the plot and was a big disappointment... So I'd stick to the originals. :)
They're rather young for Merchant Princes yet then. Hmm.
Jonathan Stroud's award winning Bartimaeus Trilogy (in 4 parts with prequel) is younger - probably around 8 or 10, and is one of those children's series that there's a good chance parents will enjoy too. More alternate history and fantasy than sci-fi though. There's an adult layer in things, and a deliciously acerbic and sarcastic main character, so a good series for reading to them. I think I would have bought the rest of the series even if the kids hadn't enjoyed the first! Hugely recommended.
His other series, Lockwood, is similar but perhaps less for the adults though there's similar humour. They're a group of kids who are ghost hunters. So more squarely in the Harry Potter vein.
Younger still and I draw a blank, sorry - it's been a good while since our kids were in that age bracket. If I do remember anything suitable I'll update.
> They're rather young for Merchant Princes yet then. Hmm.
i pretty much enjoy any book that Stross publishes, including the merchant princes series, but things do get rather grim. (now kids, what do you think would _really_ happen if a superpower discovered a doorway into narnia? ...)
True, they do get a bit grim, but not graphic, which is why I thought them well suited for early teen. I think the lad was 12 when he started them and teens when he'd done, and he was a big fan. YMMV. He was an age to have enough glimpses of the real world in media and internet to get, and enjoy the ideas the books were playing with.
Charles Stross's Merchant Princes is a rolicking good read, and well suited for teens and near I think - our eldest loved them. I recommend the first six (the six books are now sold as a trilogy, as they were originally intended to be).
The relaunch of the series with a new follow-up trilogy rather loses the plot and was a big disappointment... So I'd stick to the originals. :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_Princes