Let’s face it, it is tough to find good books to read in the modern age. With romantasy novels and AI slop flooding the market, it can feel like it is impossible to find the book that will scratch your itch for entertainment. With rising prices making reading an increasingly expensive pastime, most people simply cannot afford to waste money on a book not worth their valuable time. Thankfully, as the resident nerd here at the CORE Insider, I have curated a list of today’s best fiction that might just save the day and introduce you to a book that respects your time as a busy high school student. So sit tight with the drink of your choice as we dive into the wonderful world of fiction and hopefully pick up a new favorite book on the way.
The Way of Kings: Epic Fantasy but with 10x the Crustaceans
Brandon Sanderson weaves a tale of loss and redemption throughout the landmark first book of his critically acclaimed Stormlight Archive epic. The Way of Kings follows the stories of a broken warrior kept in chains, a woman torn apart by her past sins, and a warlord seeking a better way to live. Yet, in the backdrop of these characters and their personal journeys, magic is slowly returning after millennia of mundanity, heralding the return of something much worse soon to come.
Sanderson writes flawed characters whose humanity makes the reader sympathize with them and root for their success. His characters feel human in a way that few protagonists do, bringing an anchoring humanity to the fantastical stories that Sanderson outlines throughout the book, setting the scene for the dualistic clash that dominates the next four books of his epic. Readers who seek to lose themself in an intricate world for hours at a time and come to love the protagonists will love The Way of Kings. While its length may seem intimidating to some, Sanderson’s masterful wordsmithing makes the thousand pages pass like the short days of Spring Break.
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven: Irreverent, Contemporary Fiction that Gets Magic Right
Following the overwhelming success of Harry Potter many prospective authors have thrown their hat into the ring of writing magical contemporary fiction, oftentimes with little success. Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, however, is not only of a similar caliber to Harry Potter, but arguably better.
Taking place in Britain, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven centers around an organization of witches bearing the titular name that is recovering from the aftermath of a war between the coven and a faction of power hungry witches and warlocks that attempted to overthrow the government. Dawson not only shows what running an organization of magic would look like in our mundane world, but also delicately relates it to political events with an empathetic perspective that doesn’t attempt to strawman opposing perspectives and force the reader into a specific perspective.
The cast of characters, a group of middle-aged friends that drifted apart over the years, are thrust together into a chaotic world after the end of the world is prophesied, with a high school boy apparently being the source of the doom. Juno Dawson breathes fresh life into the contemporary fiction genre with her compelling characters and realistic portrayal of modern struggles. For those that enjoyed Harry Potter but longed for a more mature approach to magic that brought into consideration the mundanity of the modern world, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is a must read.
Mistborn: The Intrigue of Court Politics with Magic Metal and an Evil God King 
Brandon Sanderson effortlessly translates the wondrous politics of the French Revolution into a wondrously fantastical world where some special humans can burn metals in their stomach to gain special powers. With a magic system both simple to understand and consistent across the novel, Mistborn paints a magical canvas before dragging the reader into it.
Key to the story is the orphan Vin, a young woman hardened by spending her childhood as a member of a gang in the capital of the Final Empire, a dystopian medieval society ruled by the authoritarian- and very immortal- Lord Ruler. After being effectively adopted by Kelsier, a firebrand who managed to escape the Lord Ruler’s cruel prison, Vin finds herself deeper in the criminal underworld than she had ever expected. Part of a crew of elite specialists, Vin must learn to trust others in order to accomplish the greatest heist of all, the theft of the Lord Ruler’s Atium, a metal that he uses to exert economic control over the warring noble families and keep his kingdom stable. To accomplish her goal, Vin must play the role of a young noblewoman, which becomes far more complicated when she meets the rebellious Elend Venture at her first ball.
Sanderson writes a story that will keep the reader engrossed until the deep hours of night, flipping through the pages as the story unfolds before them. Those seeking scholarly magic, a heist story to trump all others, or a forbidden love story will find what they are looking for in the pages of Mistborn.
Heartstopper: A Genuine Portrayal of the Social Struggles of High School Students 
Alise Oseman’s romance graphic novels invite the reader into the mind and the accompanying troubles of a high school boy named Charlie Spring, a socially awkward and notably nerdy boy who tries to get out of his comfort zone after a particularly bad break up. Meeting the lad-ish Nick Nelson through his classes, Charlie soon finds himself hopelessly in love. While they face their fair share of troubles throughout the books, particularly in the early books before their relationship was formalized, Heartstopper is the beautiful story of love between Charlie and Nick.
Despite being a romance series, Heartstopper elegantly captures the growing pains of high school with aplomb. Many young readers are likely to relate to the mental health struggles of Charlie, the lovestruck awkwardness of the side character Tao Xu pursuing his longterm crush, or the awkward familial relationships that Nick deals with. Oseman makes the reader feel seen for their own struggles through writing a realistic story about high school, one in which the protagonists aren’t some exemplars of humanity who have everything figured out. Readers seeking a lighthearted love story with hidden depths will love Heartstopper.
