The local high school is considering redoing their selections for their 9th grade Sci Fi unit and I’m privileged enough to be able to provide suggestions. Currently they have a choice of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E Pearson, Scythe by Neil Shusterman, and Unwound also by Shusterman.
It doesn’t have to be explicitly YA, but definitely YA accessible, and preferably something that will keep a 9th grader interested and isn’t just a fluffy book but challenges thinking/perceptions like good Sci Fi can. My goal is something near 300-ish pages but if it’s a faster read more is ok.
TiA
I left them out of my comment, because I thought it might be too adult, but I think Christopher Paolini’s Fractalverse is about the same level as Long Way, so I’m going to recommend that as well! Pretty standard scifi plot (though I haven’t finished it yet, so maybe it gets shaken up in later books), but with some really interesting elements of transhumanism, like AR bio-implants, and giant genetically engineered brains for piloting FTL ships