Being evil is brutal in BG3. They have you go through turn-based combat to murder defenseless civilians, party members are totally broken by the actions they took and openly hate you, and the party members that stay comment on how much of a backstabbing bastard you are.
It's nothing like a campy, fun Mass Effect renegade playthrough. Kinda depressing honestly.
Redwall by Brian Jacques. Introduced me to so many things like the fantasy genre, multi-book series, deep worldbuilding, archetypal races and probably way more. The food descriptions also stand out in my memory.
Haven't gone back to see how it stands up but I highly recommend it for kids whose reading level is improving and want to move up a tier in length/difficulty.