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Fo my second post I'll go for The Tombs of Atuan a Young Adult novel by Ursula LeGuin. It is the second novel in the Earthsea trilogy but can be read as a standalone. It is easily the finest of the series and arguably at least as good as anything she has written. It deals with themes such as identity and the nature of evil and makes magnificent use of symbolism. Here's a sample of LeGuin's prose:
"The Earth is beautiful, and bright, and kindly, but this is not all. The Earth is also terrible, and dark, and cruel. The rabbit shrieks dying in the green meadows. The mountains clench their great hands full of hidden fire. There are sharks in the sea, and there is cruelty in men's eyes."
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