If your kid thinks reading is boring, hand them this book. It’s essentially a high-stakes survival competition set in a castle, minus the cringe romance found in many modern YA novels.
It’s smart, it’s fast, and it respects the reader's intelligence. While there’s some fantasy violence and the threat of execution, it’s handled with enough distance that it’s thrilling rather than traumatizing. It’s a modern classic for a reason—it’s just a damn good story.






