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Fantasy novels written by women authors?

Dogo Mojo

Dogo Mojo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,155
So I've always really been a big fan of fantasy as a genre and the majority of its sub genres, but I've noticed that most, if not all of the books I've read have been by men, obviously mostly white guys. I love Tolkien, I have but have not yet read Game of thrones, I'm interested in Brandon Sandersons books, but I've been thinking I'd like to read some works in the genre by women and by people of color. So I'm making this post to get some suggestions on fantasy novels written by women authors, and I'm going to make another post soon for recommendations on fantasy novels written by POC because I believe that also deserves some dedicated recommendations. My only stipulation is that I'd prefer the romantic elements to be minimal as at least right now I'm not interested in that particular focus and trying to look up suggestions on google and many of the suggestions are romance novels.

I think it would be valuable to expand my knowledge of the genre beyond my same old comforts. I appreciate you and any recommendations in this venture.
 
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Deleted member 16516

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Ursula K. Le Guin is up there with Tolkien as a progenitor of fantasy and the Earthsea saga is extraordinary. It matches Tolkien's mythos in some aspects and surpasses it in others.

N.K Jemisin has established herself in recent years as one of the best writers of fantasy and her Broken Earth trilogy is superb.

Naomi Novik is another. I'd certainly recommend her book called Uprooted.
 
Alcoremortis

Alcoremortis

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Oct 25, 2017
2,554
Tamora Pierce and the Tortall series/Circle of Magic series - she was a big Tolkien fan but wanted more women so pretty much everything is woman focused

Tanya Huff and the Keeper's Chronicles - pretty silly stuff, kinda a Pratchett/Gaiman vibe

most all the rest of the woman fantasy authors I really like write YA, not sure if that fits the bill.
 
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Redcrayon

Redcrayon

Patient hunter
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Oct 27, 2017
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I'm a fan of Robin Hobb's books, her main series starts with Assassin's Apprentice, and continues on from there.

Also, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern. Seminal fantasy for me, I devoured them all as a kid. Start with Dragonflight. It was written in the late 60s I think. It's been 30 years since I read them so I might have some severely rose-tinted glasses over them.
 
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Saucycarpdog

Saucycarpdog

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Oct 25, 2017
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Really good series if you love Dragons.
 
Carn

Carn

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Oct 27, 2017
11,911
The Netherlands
Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books are probably some of the highest acclaimed fantasy books ever written; great starting point for her other works as well.
 
cupcakeunicorn

cupcakeunicorn

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Oct 27, 2017
2,349
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin is fantastic.

I'm currently reading her short story collection (How Long 'til Black Future Month?), which is also excellent.
 

Deleted member 13496

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,409
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon is supposed to be pretty good, though I will admit I've not read it myself.

And while it's a bit pulpy, I am enjoying Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb trilogy, really neat world-building and some fun characters.

Also, I don't wanna yuck anyone's yum but Robin Hobb sucks. I've never retroactively hated a fantasy series (of like 9 books or whatever I put myself through) more than the Assassin and Fool books.
 
Ramathevoice

Ramathevoice

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Oct 26, 2017
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Paris, France
Gonna second the NK Jemisin Broken Earth recommendation, some of the best fantasy I've read recently. I just started The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon and it seems pretty good too!

E: Beaten, curses! In which case I'll add a Jemisin book but in the urban fantasy genre: The City We Became, her latest.

And if you'll allow me a couple SF recs: the Wayfarers books by Becky Chambers are a joy, and The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal is a fun alt history space race yarn.
 
Doomguy Fieri

Doomguy Fieri

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Nov 3, 2017
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Cool books. Technically sci-fi since it takes place 10,000 years in the future, but the vibes are definitely fantasy (magic, immortal warriors, ancient mysteries, skeletons.)
 
Draconis

Draconis

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Oct 28, 2017
568
The Oathbound series by Mercedes Lackey. Really good series imo.


The Hero and The Crown - By Robin McKinley. My favorite and first ever Fantasy Novel.
 

Deleted member 16516

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I'm not really sure you can classify Madeline Miller as a writer of fantasy, even though her two published books do have fantastical elements in them, they are retellings of Greek mythology, but I'll recommend them anyway because they are excellent.

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Elshoelace

Elshoelace

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Oct 25, 2017
1,371
Robin Hobbs Farseer trilogy and all of her subsequent books in her series. Her characters are wonderfully fleshed out with a really interesting magic system. My absolute favorite fantasy series.
 
Glasgow Mega-Snake

Glasgow Mega-Snake

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Oct 28, 2017
2,959
Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

And the Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke (Starts kind of YA-ish, but gets pretty dark in the next books. Love the world. Originally German, I don't know how good the English translation is)

There's also Trudi Canavan's "The Black Magician" and "Age of the Five" series (read them as a teen, so I'm not sure how well they hold up. Maybe a bit tropey)
 
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Dogo Mojo

Dogo Mojo

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Oct 27, 2017
2,155
Edmond Dantès said:
I'm not really sure you can classify Madeline Miller as a writer of fantasy, even though her two published books do have fantastical elements in them, they are retellings of Greek mythology, but I'll recommend them anyway because they are excellent.

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Perfectly valid for me as mythology is a life long love of mine. Thanks you.
 
Rytheran

Rytheran

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Oct 27, 2017
468
Just outside Holtburg
Most of these are series, but nearly all of them also have standalone books, too.

Catherynne M. Valente - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making (Also, Deathless and Six-Gun Snow White )
Barbara Hambly - Dragonsbane
Naomi Novik - The Temeraire series
Jane Lindskold - Through Wolf's Eyes
Laurie J Marks - Fire Logic
C. J. Cherryh - The Paladin
 

Shoeless

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Oct 27, 2017
6,976
cupcakeunicorn said:
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin is fantastic.
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Yeah, gonna' have to agree with this one. It's incredible. There's a reason she won the Hugo three years in a row.

If you're in more of a Dresden/urban fantasy mood but with Native American myth and folklore, then Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse is a good place to start, that one's been making some waves.

If you want something with more of a fantasy/organized crime bent, you can try the Jade City series by Fonda Lee.

And if you want something weird and lyrical, Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng is about what happens when British missionaries attempt to convert faeries, and that goes about as well as you'd expect...

And if you want shorter comedy urban fantasy based on Filipino folklore that's written by a POC author, but not a woman, I have a novella coming out in March that fits the bill.

There are a LOT of POC women writing genre fiction right now, whether it's science fiction, fantasy, or even horror. Plenty of good in recent years as the gatekeepers have let more diversity in.
 
The Big Short

The Big Short

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Oct 29, 2017
596
Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower really stuck with me. It's her only fantasy novel so far though. Read it because I loved her debut books, Ancillary Justice and the sequels.

Edit:
Read this on the Wikipedia page for The Raven Tower:
"The Raven Tower was shortlisted for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel; however, Leckie chose to withdraw it from the ballot, on the grounds that her works had already been Best Novel finalists on four occasions, and she felt that there had been many works by other authors in 2019 which were equally deserving of the nomination."
 
Orayn

Orayn

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Oct 25, 2017
10,924
The Tensorate series (The Black Tides of Heaven, The Red Threads of Fate, The Descend of Monsters) by Neon Yang have a similar feel to the works of Sanderson and are pretty quick reads. The author is nonbinary and from Singapore.
 
Skade

Skade

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Oct 28, 2017
8,846
Redcrayon said:
Also, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern. Seminal fantasy for me, I devoured them all as a kid. Start with Dragonflight. It was written in the late 60s I think. It's been 30 years since I read them so I might have some severely rose-tinted glasses over them.
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I love those books to death but it's more like pure Science Fiction. It's just that many of it is hidden behind what looks like Fantasy. But yeah, can't go wrong with some McCaffrey (as long as it's not anything written by her son, he sucks).


Other than that, i liked the "Truth" series from Dawn Cook (also known as Kim Harrison), it's not action packed or anything, but it's nice.
 
Niahak

Niahak

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Oct 25, 2017
618
The Deed of Paksenarrion (Elizabeth Moon) is a collection that a friend recommended to me - it starts off a lot more subdued than most fantasy and has very little in the way of romance. It focuses more on a small-scale perspective of larger-scale warfare and a semi-spiritual journey.

It's probably one of my favorite fantasy "novels", although it's really a few separate novels collected. I've tried to get into her more recent releases in the series, but they didn't grab me as much.
 
Redcrayon

Redcrayon

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Niahak said:
The Deed of Paksenarrion (Elizabeth Moon) is a collection that a friend recommended to me - it starts off a lot more subdued than most fantasy and has very little in the way of romance. It focuses more on a small-scale perspective of larger-scale warfare and a semi-spiritual journey.

It's probably one of my favorite fantasy "novels", although it's really a few separate novels collected. I've tried to get into her more recent releases in the series, but they didn't grab me as much.
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That is a good one, like a deconstruction of the traditional RPG paladin, I enjoyed that.
 
Pellaidh

Pellaidh

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Oct 26, 2017
3,164
Ursula K. Le Guin's work is incredible, and she wrote both sci-fi and fantasy.

Catherynne M. Valente writes incredible prose - all of her work is just a joy to read. I think her best stuff is sci-fi (Silently and Very Fast), but her fantasy books are great too, and not too long either.

A warning on Robin Hobb, since she was brought up - her Liveship Traders series (at least, I don't know about her other work) contains very disturbing depictions of sexual assault, which might not be something you'd want to read.
 
selfnoise

selfnoise

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Oct 25, 2017
1,449
Pretty much all of the above recommendations are good, so in the spirit of novelty:

Patricia McKillip: An older author, I think she is in her 70s. Very consistent, well written, entertaining fantasy novels, and even better most of them are single, self-contained stories. Ombria in Shadow is particularly good.

Sofia Samatar - A Stranger in Olondria is a bit of a slow read but is the most beautiful book I've ever read in English.

Seconded:
Ursula Le Guin (one of my favorite authors, and personally I think her short stories are her best work so don't sleep on them)
N.K Jemisin (Broken Earth is pretty much perfect)
Madeline Miller (Circe is wonderful)
Naomi Novik
Katherine Addison (Goblin Emperor is one of the most feel-good fantasy novels ever and there's a sort of sequel coming this year)
Tamsyn Muir (as noted the Locked Tomb books are 100% fantasy with space ships and are delightfully goofy and great)
 

Deleted member 24052

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Oct 29, 2017
13,470
I'm reading City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty right now and really enjoying it. It takes place in a fantasy version of 18th century Middle East and has all kinds of interesting imagery and mythology from that and surrounding regions. Definitely recommend.

I've been meaning to pickup Robin Hobb's work as well, I always hear that she is excellent.
 
Transistor

Transistor

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Oct 25, 2017
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I read these a long time ago, and I remember enjoying them decently. I wouldn't say they're the best fantasy ever, but they're enjoyable:

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Charamiwa

Charamiwa

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Oct 25, 2017
6,053
I'm reading The Poppy War right now, it's really enjoyable. Especially if you like chinese history.
 
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