Welcome to EB and the Lego community itself. The age recommendations are, in fact, more accurate than not. It is a good set to get for your son. Also, if you like realistic Lego sets, hop on over to city or town. If you like fictional themes, like Hero Factory, well choose that! There are also Licensed themes like Star Wars and Prince of Persia, Indiana Jones. You could go on Bricklink and buy some older sets of your interest. You could create your own models from spare pieces called MOC's. Do you have Lego Digital Designer?