@V_ I think the best YA magic school book is Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of EarthSea. I think I re-read it every decade. It always holds up and I always find something new in it. Remarkable for such a thin novel.

Charles Stross’s Merchant Princes series is a neat take on a classic trope. It’s got magic and plenty of alternate histories.

I’m a fan of Bruce Sterling and I also just re-read his Heavy Weather novel. It was published n 1994 and it’s remarkably prescient (a wrecked climate, rampant viruses, crypto currencies, etc). It’s also showing its age but a great read.

I’m also a fan of the late Iain M. Banks, especially his Culture novels. The Player of Games is my favorite in the series.

Another author I love is Neal Stephenson and I recommend Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, and Snow Crash. I also think you’d adore The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., which he co-wrote with Nicole Galland.

Greg Egan writes the hardest of hard scifi and Diaspora is Egan at his mind blowing best.

Finally, if you want to try some grimdark, I highly recommend Thomas Ligotti’s My Work Is Not Yet Done.

That should get you through the summer :-)