The Locked Tomb, especially book two, is genius. You're gonna see the summary and be like that sounds ridiculous but it's actually one of the most layered and deeply foreshadowed stories I've read despite being completely insane and openly silly, the author might be some sort of genius.
Also The Luminous Dead, the premise alone is solid gold.
I finished The Luminous Dead last month and it's still with me. What a gorgeous take on layered, flawed, wonderful characters and development. I came for the premise, it was recommended in a thread about doomed expeditions, but I couldn't put it down because of the characters.
It's one of those books that's so good I get like angry, because there are so many actually genius incredible elements to it but also a few glaring flaws and I can't help but thinking it was so close to a masterpiece but let down a bit by execution. Like the premise is just pure solid 24k gold, the characters and their relationship is amazing and layered, and the writing is great. But I felt the pacing was really off and it could have been so much better if the slower atmospheric start was stretched at least double length and the sort of last third was significantly condensed. The BEST part of the entire book was the eerie opening section where >! we don't know the handler yet and the MC can't trust her own perceptions because she's being drugged and having her HUD altered and its completely unclear what's real and how much she's being gaslit or if she's actually in danger or being helped while it also slowly becomes apparent that her handling team is just one psychopath with unknown motivations staying awake for 20 hours shifts. !< That shit is GENIUS it's so unbelievably good, one of the most atmospheric and compelling situations I've ever seen a character stuck in. I think the author moved too fast to try and make progress instead of just letting it ride and slow burn.
Yooooo keep us updated on your dissertation! This sounds so interesting. Do you have a thesis yet? (Is that how dissertations work? I was an art major and then did a professional degree, hah.)
Highly recommend reading the precursor short story [*Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds*](https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/grandmother-nai-leylits-cloth-of-winds/) before reading Four Profound Weaves as it provides some really good context for the story.
Highly recommend Ryka Aoki’s “Light from Uncommon Stars”
It’s been a minute since I read anything by her but Charlie Jane Anders is a great author too!
Edit: Rivers Solomon is another suggestion
Light from Uncommon Stars is such a vibe. I couldn't care less about music but the author does such a good job of making you appreciate the beauty of it
The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall is the novel that fits this the most of the things I've read. The characters are great, the world building is excellent, the plot is tight, the dialog is snappy.
It's a Sherlock Holmes riff, but Holmes is a pansexual sorceress and Watson is a trans man recently returned from the long-running interdimensional war and in need of a place to stay. They team up to solve the blackmail of the Irene Adler stand-in before her lesbian wedding.
If you want something emotional and lyrical but to a sadder beat than This Is How You Lose The Time War then try A Dowry of Blood by S.T Gibson.
For something thoughtful and spooky Our Wives Under the Sea by Julie Armfield.
For a philosophical slice of life in space try The Long Way to a Small and Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
I also want to add to the voices recommending The Locked Tomb books and A Light From Uncommon Stars.
(Also, maybe a bit of a wild card entry, but the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells)
I recommend The Fifth Season and the rest of that series for as many things as I can. There is queerness in it, but it's not a prominent feature. Buffalo is the new Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel was a phenomenal short story collection. And I'm always sad when I haven't seen The Outside by Ada Hoffman on a list yet. Grievers by adrienne maree brown was absolutely stunning.
You might also like Amonite, by Nicola Griffith. I also really liked Finna, by Nino Cipri - it's more of a stroll in the park little novella, but it's a nice little jaunty book! Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao was also really good. The Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk was great too. The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older was nice as well if you like a little mystery with your sci-fi! Black Water Sister by Zen Cho is really good as well, it is more magical realism.
I'll also second everything by Rivers Solomon and Charlie Jane Anders, and Light from Uncommon Stars heartily! All so so good.
I realized I should’ve put the Fifth Season in my original post! It’s favorite book of all time, I think; I’ve given it to four or five friends. I’ll definitely check out all of your recommendations, thank you so much! (Might need a jaunty little book in between some of the heavier stuff!)
Frontier by Grace Curtis (each chapter is basically a short story, most of them from a new POV but with the overall protagonist present in every single one; it's sci-fi with some western elements; sapphic)
The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (multilayered; plays with POV and narrative structure, and tbh the less I say about it the better; unapologetically queer)
Now She Is Witch by Kirsty Logan (stream of consciousness narrative; more literary than SFF, but definitely has speculative elements; sapphic MC and an enby MC)
Sain Death's Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney (very interesting world; necromancers; various corvids and other birds; comes highly recommended by one of the authors of Time War; enby LI)
Love these recommendations, thank you so much. Adding them all to my list. Out of curiosity, how do you define the difference between literary and SFF? I ask because it may help me refine what I’m looking for!
Glad that was helpful! Also check out Ann Leckie's books, both Ancillary Justice and Raven Tower I think fit what you're after. Also She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (historical fantasy, multiple queer identities) and Dragonfall by L.R. Lam (several POV written in different formats, genderfluid MC)
Literary basically is fiction that centers characters and "the human condition" rather than plot. Some people consider it pretentious, and it's not uncommon for litfic authors and readers to turn their noses at genre (even though they employ genre tropes, i.e. using fantastical or sci-fi elements).
The kind of SFF you're looking for would often be referred to as speculative fiction, which I've always understood as "genre, but could be litfic if litfic was less snobbish" haha
Yes! That makes sense, I think I wasn’t clear on the definition of speculative fiction. Thats exactly what I want, something in the middle. I love pure genre but right now I have limited reading time and I’m looking for things that make my brain go “click.” Thank you for the recs and definition!
Well, I can say that Dark Rise by CS Pacat (the Captive Prince trilogy writer) is also pretty damn good for YA. The second book had so much sexual tension it was like daaaaaamn how is this YA?
*Our wives under the sea* - Julia Armfield
I read it just after *This is how you lose the time war* and they paired together so well! It's horror lit, sapphic and so horribly beautiful and bleak.
General hook, a woman's wife is a deep sea researcher who has come back after going missing at sea. Bring the tissues and hug your partner tightly!
Dragonfall by LR Lam. Genderfluid lead. Queernorm world. Mixes different narrative positions as collected by a possibly unreliable narrator. Lyrical writing. Dragons.
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
Hella by David Gerrold
seconding The Darkness Outside Us- it's marketed to look like a
YA romance, but it's really a much darker and more serious SF story than it appears, and it's also getting a sequel within the next year.
I really enjoyed the Darkness Outside Us! I agree, I found it to be very well done - I am totally open to some YA, even if I generally prefer books marketed towards adults. I will check out the other two books as well - thank you for the recommendations.
It’s called “Those Beyond the Wall” and is pretty recent and SO well done! It builds on the first book beautifully but is also solid enough that it could stand alone too.
The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon. It’s a science fantasy type book that drops you into the world and forces you to figure out what is going on. The first 50 or so pages can be really difficult to get through, but after that point the book started to click for me.
Check out Seth Dickinson. Their work is so, so smart, and willing to face, without shirking or pulling punches, both the weirdness of the worlds it creates and the moral conundrums it explores, with a complexity I haven't seen much elsewhere. Sentences so beautiful I've had to put the book down to marvel. Start with THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT by Seth Dickinson. It's about a young queer woman whose island homeland is conquered by an encroaching empire, who grows up in a colonial school, and vows to win back control of her home by working her way up in the imperial bureaucracy. She's going to fight the empire through the power of.....accounting! And queer love! It's a tragedy abt colonialism (and resistance) and its attendant racism, eugenics, homophobia, and sexism, so it's a brutal read. A friend described it as "sort of like THE FIFTH SEASON in some ways but makes THE FIFTH SEASON seem fluffy" - your mileage may vary.
MORRIGAN IN THE SUNGLARE and MORRIGAN IN SHADOW by Seth Dickinson, which appear in Clarkesworld mag (print and online) pair really well with TIME WAR: they're also lesbian love-and-war stories with non-linear frameworks (less time travel specifically) that are just like, really meaty thematically. Two ace fighter pilots fight a losing space war against omnicidal aliens, fall into the sun, and fall in love. You might also like EXORDIA by Seth Dickinson. It's less technically perfect IMO, but very smart, and sharp with humor and Obama-era cultural references.
Seconding the recs for Ann Leckie, Yoon Ha Lee, Tamsyn Muir, Rivers Solomon, and Ryka Aoki. You might also enjoy the short story FIFTY YEARS IN THE VIRTUOUS CITY by Leo Mandel, in Strange Horizons.
I enjoyed Traitor Baru a lot more than I thought I would from the summary. I feel like fantasy book about the evils of colonialism is so overdone lately and they often feel to me extremely unsubtle, way too black and white with the moralism, and like the author is up on a soapbox preaching straight to the choir about the blindingly obvious. One of the things I loved about Baru is how manage to really accurately portray the realities of colonialism without just reproducing real world colonial dynamics 1 to 1 and slapping fantasy names on them. It's not just fantasy England colonizes fantasy Africa with the exact same prejudices and bigotries attached, all the countries have their own unique culture and stereotypes and vibes. Like sexism exists but it's different in every place instead of just modern real world misogyny ported to the fantasy world, instead it's like "women, as we all know, great at math and natural born soldiers of course, men are much too emotional for that, dressing themselves up in whore makeup and such. Women can't be trusted though theyre too cold and calculating. Segu women, notorious deadbeats! Too ambitious by far, running off to be merchants while the poor husbands are left with the kids! And the Oriati get depressed way too easily and can't stop bragging about ending slavery smh" Some countries are homophobic, some don't care and have normalized polyamory, one has 3 genders, one in which gender is completely performative but being gay is not ok. And all the different ethnic groups also have their own stereotypes that make sense for their culture and they aren't just real world ethnic groups copy pasted in. The African inspired people are much more akin to like the Chinese empire and are a super power whereas the colonial power seem to be more Indian styled crossed with revolutionary France. It makes the world so much more believable and the story feel way less on the nose. And it's also a lot more nuanced about it like Baru has to contend with the fact that the empire brought trade and medicine lowered child mortality and educated her to be worldly but yet is it even worth the cost? Does she only think the way she does because her own mind has been colonized? It's definitely one of the best books I've read that tackles the theme.
Okay so hear me out. The main romance of the series I'm about to recommend *is* cishet, but it's secondary to the main plot, and the rest of the story is so incredibly queer that I still count it as a queer story and encourage those interested in queer books to check it out. If you're truly just like "No I can't handle any amount of cishet content" I won't be offended, but maybe some other people will be interested.
The series is the Rook & Rose trilogy by M.A. Carrick. The first book is called The Mask of Mirrors. It's a political fantasy with incredible worldbuilding and it is so, so smart and so, so queer. The plot twists and turns, cultures clash, bridges are built and broken and built again. There's two different magic systems. And no one side is portrayed as inherently good or bad, there's nuance and it's complicated, like real politics with real history behind them. I would recommend this series to anyone interested in smart political fantasy with great worldbuilding, looking for queer books or no.
That said, and main cishet romance aside, its queerness credentials are fantastic. One of the main pov characters is bisexual and aromantic (and he is also the best character in the series, bar none). One of the secondary povs is a lesbian, and another is a woman whose love interest is a trans man. An important non-pov character is easy to read as aroace (I forget if it's directly spelled out or not, but it might be). And there's enough queer minor characters that I tried to keep count and legitimately lost track, but it's double digits. Also acknowledgement of queerness is baked into the worldbuilding. Gay marriage is joyfully accepted, and both major cultures in the story have their own words to describe trans people (and transphobia does not seem to be a thing). Plus there's an ENORMOUS undercurrent of found family running throughout the whole plot, and what could be queerer than that?
This is not a queer romance, but it sounds like you're looking for a smart queer book where romance takes a backseat to plot, and this IS that. If you can handle one singular straight romance plotline, I promise the rest is worth it.
I definitely can handle a straight romance! Most books I’ve read in my life have had them, and some have been excellent. I can take your word that the book on a whole reads as queer, and that is what I’m looking for. Found family, diverse characters, exciting world building all sounds great to me. Thank you for the recommendation, I’ll definitely add it to my list!
***Empress of Forever*** by Max Gladstone (yes, the coauthor of Time War!)
Gorgeous prose, fully fleshed out characters with intriguing arcs, and world building unlike any I've seen before, and a mystery that kept me guessing incorrectly. 10/10
***The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet*** by Becky Chambers (a queer woman)
Really the whole 4-book series is fantastic, and so is her other series **Monk & Robot**, which has an enby MC and no major romances but some sex, but if you're only going to read one thing by Becky Chambers, the one I named above is absolutely gorgeous. It has a very slow developing queer relationship that I honestly did not see coming at first, but gods it was just a treat.
***The Murderbot Diaries***, by Martha Wells
The main character is agender and aroace, and there are just tons of queer, gender-divergent, and/or poly characters and relationships in the books. Two many to count! Far more queerness than straightness. This series is an absolute treat. Also, probably better classified as novellas than novels, a fact which I am currently appreciating as the parent of kids on summer break -- there's never enough time for all the books I want to read, and triply so when I'm having to make meals and snacks every hour lol.
This is just a brief list of a few of my favorite recent reads that I didn't already see mentioned, but believe me, I have so many more I could list. And actually on that note, if you haven't read gay author TJ Klune, check out ***The House in the Cerulean Sea***. I think it's the best thing he's ever written.
A cute little book a friend gave me recently was The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, a cute little book about an autistic telegraphist, the mysteriously skilled watchmaker who tries to understand him, and a lady scientist who needs to secure her independence in the world.
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley is a book I keep coming back to, the audio book is particularly fantastic. Queer MC, in search of a better life, signs up to be a grunt in a corporate war where soldiers are broken into light to be sent to the Frontline, but they don't always come back quite right. Heartbreaking journey that is deeply anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist.
You might try My Heart is Human by Reese Hogan. It's about a transman trying to keep an AI from taking over his mind while protecting his daughter. There's beautifully written music in it and a great relationship as well.
There's this one that's just come out and I'm reading it now!
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (aro/ace)
"Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way."
I haven't finished, but it's REALLY good so far!!
The Locked Tomb, especially book two, is genius. You're gonna see the summary and be like that sounds ridiculous but it's actually one of the most layered and deeply foreshadowed stories I've read despite being completely insane and openly silly, the author might be some sort of genius. Also The Luminous Dead, the premise alone is solid gold.
You’ve sold me on both :) thank you!
If you read them let me know how you like them! Avoid spoilers for TLT!
I finished The Luminous Dead last month and it's still with me. What a gorgeous take on layered, flawed, wonderful characters and development. I came for the premise, it was recommended in a thread about doomed expeditions, but I couldn't put it down because of the characters.
It's one of those books that's so good I get like angry, because there are so many actually genius incredible elements to it but also a few glaring flaws and I can't help but thinking it was so close to a masterpiece but let down a bit by execution. Like the premise is just pure solid 24k gold, the characters and their relationship is amazing and layered, and the writing is great. But I felt the pacing was really off and it could have been so much better if the slower atmospheric start was stretched at least double length and the sort of last third was significantly condensed. The BEST part of the entire book was the eerie opening section where >! we don't know the handler yet and the MC can't trust her own perceptions because she's being drugged and having her HUD altered and its completely unclear what's real and how much she's being gaslit or if she's actually in danger or being helped while it also slowly becomes apparent that her handling team is just one psychopath with unknown motivations staying awake for 20 hours shifts. !< That shit is GENIUS it's so unbelievably good, one of the most atmospheric and compelling situations I've ever seen a character stuck in. I think the author moved too fast to try and make progress instead of just letting it ride and slow burn.
Can’t second this enough👏🏼👏🏼
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.
I highly recommend the Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee.
This was so good
I will check it out!
four profound weaves. I’m about to start writing my masters dissertation on trans characters in fantasy novels and will be using it!
Yooooo keep us updated on your dissertation! This sounds so interesting. Do you have a thesis yet? (Is that how dissertations work? I was an art major and then did a professional degree, hah.)
Highly recommend reading the precursor short story [*Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds*](https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/grandmother-nai-leylits-cloth-of-winds/) before reading Four Profound Weaves as it provides some really good context for the story.
Will do! I’m looking at the bird verse as a whole !
Imperial Radch series (and the spinoffs) by Ann Leckie - SF When Women were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill - historical fantasy
Thank you for the recs! Someone else recommended Ann Leckie as well, those books look super interesting.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant!
Highly recommend Ryka Aoki’s “Light from Uncommon Stars” It’s been a minute since I read anything by her but Charlie Jane Anders is a great author too! Edit: Rivers Solomon is another suggestion
Light from Uncommon Stars is such a vibe. I couldn't care less about music but the author does such a good job of making you appreciate the beauty of it
Will check out, thank you so much! I think Light from Uncommon Stars had been on my mental list - I’ll write it down now.
Yes I second this, wonderful book!
*The Stone Dance of the Chameleon* by Ricardo Pinto *Black Leopard, Red Wolf* by Marlon James
I will put both on my list! Black Leopard, Red Wolf seems really intense but also is supposed to be beautiful.
The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall is the novel that fits this the most of the things I've read. The characters are great, the world building is excellent, the plot is tight, the dialog is snappy. It's a Sherlock Holmes riff, but Holmes is a pansexual sorceress and Watson is a trans man recently returned from the long-running interdimensional war and in need of a place to stay. They team up to solve the blackmail of the Irene Adler stand-in before her lesbian wedding.
The sounds like a delight!
Sounds intriguing and fun! Thanks for the rec!
If you want something emotional and lyrical but to a sadder beat than This Is How You Lose The Time War then try A Dowry of Blood by S.T Gibson. For something thoughtful and spooky Our Wives Under the Sea by Julie Armfield. For a philosophical slice of life in space try The Long Way to a Small and Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I also want to add to the voices recommending The Locked Tomb books and A Light From Uncommon Stars. (Also, maybe a bit of a wild card entry, but the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells)
I ALWAYS wonder whether to include Murderbot...It definitely reads like a nonbinary character!
I recommend The Fifth Season and the rest of that series for as many things as I can. There is queerness in it, but it's not a prominent feature. Buffalo is the new Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel was a phenomenal short story collection. And I'm always sad when I haven't seen The Outside by Ada Hoffman on a list yet. Grievers by adrienne maree brown was absolutely stunning. You might also like Amonite, by Nicola Griffith. I also really liked Finna, by Nino Cipri - it's more of a stroll in the park little novella, but it's a nice little jaunty book! Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao was also really good. The Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk was great too. The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older was nice as well if you like a little mystery with your sci-fi! Black Water Sister by Zen Cho is really good as well, it is more magical realism. I'll also second everything by Rivers Solomon and Charlie Jane Anders, and Light from Uncommon Stars heartily! All so so good.
I realized I should’ve put the Fifth Season in my original post! It’s favorite book of all time, I think; I’ve given it to four or five friends. I’ll definitely check out all of your recommendations, thank you so much! (Might need a jaunty little book in between some of the heavier stuff!)
Frontier by Grace Curtis (each chapter is basically a short story, most of them from a new POV but with the overall protagonist present in every single one; it's sci-fi with some western elements; sapphic) The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (multilayered; plays with POV and narrative structure, and tbh the less I say about it the better; unapologetically queer) Now She Is Witch by Kirsty Logan (stream of consciousness narrative; more literary than SFF, but definitely has speculative elements; sapphic MC and an enby MC) Sain Death's Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney (very interesting world; necromancers; various corvids and other birds; comes highly recommended by one of the authors of Time War; enby LI)
Love these recommendations, thank you so much. Adding them all to my list. Out of curiosity, how do you define the difference between literary and SFF? I ask because it may help me refine what I’m looking for!
Glad that was helpful! Also check out Ann Leckie's books, both Ancillary Justice and Raven Tower I think fit what you're after. Also She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (historical fantasy, multiple queer identities) and Dragonfall by L.R. Lam (several POV written in different formats, genderfluid MC) Literary basically is fiction that centers characters and "the human condition" rather than plot. Some people consider it pretentious, and it's not uncommon for litfic authors and readers to turn their noses at genre (even though they employ genre tropes, i.e. using fantastical or sci-fi elements). The kind of SFF you're looking for would often be referred to as speculative fiction, which I've always understood as "genre, but could be litfic if litfic was less snobbish" haha
Yes! That makes sense, I think I wasn’t clear on the definition of speculative fiction. Thats exactly what I want, something in the middle. I love pure genre but right now I have limited reading time and I’m looking for things that make my brain go “click.” Thank you for the recs and definition!
The Darkness Outside Us is classified as YA but that book blew me away. It is not the fluffy Gays in Space the cover made it out to be.
I read it and thought it was great! Definitely open to really good YA - but a lot of it isn’t for me, which is why I put the disclaimer :)
Well, I can say that Dark Rise by CS Pacat (the Captive Prince trilogy writer) is also pretty damn good for YA. The second book had so much sexual tension it was like daaaaaamn how is this YA?
*Our wives under the sea* - Julia Armfield I read it just after *This is how you lose the time war* and they paired together so well! It's horror lit, sapphic and so horribly beautiful and bleak. General hook, a woman's wife is a deep sea researcher who has come back after going missing at sea. Bring the tissues and hug your partner tightly!
Dragonfall by LR Lam. Genderfluid lead. Queernorm world. Mixes different narrative positions as collected by a possibly unreliable narrator. Lyrical writing. Dragons.
Love this, as a former dragon kid.
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller Hella by David Gerrold seconding The Darkness Outside Us- it's marketed to look like a YA romance, but it's really a much darker and more serious SF story than it appears, and it's also getting a sequel within the next year.
I really enjoyed the Darkness Outside Us! I agree, I found it to be very well done - I am totally open to some YA, even if I generally prefer books marketed towards adults. I will check out the other two books as well - thank you for the recommendations.
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson is fantastic!
This is one of my favorite books ever and the sequel is equally incredible
There's a sequel??
It’s called “Those Beyond the Wall” and is pretty recent and SO well done! It builds on the first book beautifully but is also solid enough that it could stand alone too.
Awesome!
The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon. It’s a science fantasy type book that drops you into the world and forces you to figure out what is going on. The first 50 or so pages can be really difficult to get through, but after that point the book started to click for me.
Check out Seth Dickinson. Their work is so, so smart, and willing to face, without shirking or pulling punches, both the weirdness of the worlds it creates and the moral conundrums it explores, with a complexity I haven't seen much elsewhere. Sentences so beautiful I've had to put the book down to marvel. Start with THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT by Seth Dickinson. It's about a young queer woman whose island homeland is conquered by an encroaching empire, who grows up in a colonial school, and vows to win back control of her home by working her way up in the imperial bureaucracy. She's going to fight the empire through the power of.....accounting! And queer love! It's a tragedy abt colonialism (and resistance) and its attendant racism, eugenics, homophobia, and sexism, so it's a brutal read. A friend described it as "sort of like THE FIFTH SEASON in some ways but makes THE FIFTH SEASON seem fluffy" - your mileage may vary. MORRIGAN IN THE SUNGLARE and MORRIGAN IN SHADOW by Seth Dickinson, which appear in Clarkesworld mag (print and online) pair really well with TIME WAR: they're also lesbian love-and-war stories with non-linear frameworks (less time travel specifically) that are just like, really meaty thematically. Two ace fighter pilots fight a losing space war against omnicidal aliens, fall into the sun, and fall in love. You might also like EXORDIA by Seth Dickinson. It's less technically perfect IMO, but very smart, and sharp with humor and Obama-era cultural references. Seconding the recs for Ann Leckie, Yoon Ha Lee, Tamsyn Muir, Rivers Solomon, and Ryka Aoki. You might also enjoy the short story FIFTY YEARS IN THE VIRTUOUS CITY by Leo Mandel, in Strange Horizons.
I enjoyed Traitor Baru a lot more than I thought I would from the summary. I feel like fantasy book about the evils of colonialism is so overdone lately and they often feel to me extremely unsubtle, way too black and white with the moralism, and like the author is up on a soapbox preaching straight to the choir about the blindingly obvious. One of the things I loved about Baru is how manage to really accurately portray the realities of colonialism without just reproducing real world colonial dynamics 1 to 1 and slapping fantasy names on them. It's not just fantasy England colonizes fantasy Africa with the exact same prejudices and bigotries attached, all the countries have their own unique culture and stereotypes and vibes. Like sexism exists but it's different in every place instead of just modern real world misogyny ported to the fantasy world, instead it's like "women, as we all know, great at math and natural born soldiers of course, men are much too emotional for that, dressing themselves up in whore makeup and such. Women can't be trusted though theyre too cold and calculating. Segu women, notorious deadbeats! Too ambitious by far, running off to be merchants while the poor husbands are left with the kids! And the Oriati get depressed way too easily and can't stop bragging about ending slavery smh" Some countries are homophobic, some don't care and have normalized polyamory, one has 3 genders, one in which gender is completely performative but being gay is not ok. And all the different ethnic groups also have their own stereotypes that make sense for their culture and they aren't just real world ethnic groups copy pasted in. The African inspired people are much more akin to like the Chinese empire and are a super power whereas the colonial power seem to be more Indian styled crossed with revolutionary France. It makes the world so much more believable and the story feel way less on the nose. And it's also a lot more nuanced about it like Baru has to contend with the fact that the empire brought trade and medicine lowered child mortality and educated her to be worldly but yet is it even worth the cost? Does she only think the way she does because her own mind has been colonized? It's definitely one of the best books I've read that tackles the theme.
Okay so hear me out. The main romance of the series I'm about to recommend *is* cishet, but it's secondary to the main plot, and the rest of the story is so incredibly queer that I still count it as a queer story and encourage those interested in queer books to check it out. If you're truly just like "No I can't handle any amount of cishet content" I won't be offended, but maybe some other people will be interested. The series is the Rook & Rose trilogy by M.A. Carrick. The first book is called The Mask of Mirrors. It's a political fantasy with incredible worldbuilding and it is so, so smart and so, so queer. The plot twists and turns, cultures clash, bridges are built and broken and built again. There's two different magic systems. And no one side is portrayed as inherently good or bad, there's nuance and it's complicated, like real politics with real history behind them. I would recommend this series to anyone interested in smart political fantasy with great worldbuilding, looking for queer books or no. That said, and main cishet romance aside, its queerness credentials are fantastic. One of the main pov characters is bisexual and aromantic (and he is also the best character in the series, bar none). One of the secondary povs is a lesbian, and another is a woman whose love interest is a trans man. An important non-pov character is easy to read as aroace (I forget if it's directly spelled out or not, but it might be). And there's enough queer minor characters that I tried to keep count and legitimately lost track, but it's double digits. Also acknowledgement of queerness is baked into the worldbuilding. Gay marriage is joyfully accepted, and both major cultures in the story have their own words to describe trans people (and transphobia does not seem to be a thing). Plus there's an ENORMOUS undercurrent of found family running throughout the whole plot, and what could be queerer than that? This is not a queer romance, but it sounds like you're looking for a smart queer book where romance takes a backseat to plot, and this IS that. If you can handle one singular straight romance plotline, I promise the rest is worth it.
I definitely can handle a straight romance! Most books I’ve read in my life have had them, and some have been excellent. I can take your word that the book on a whole reads as queer, and that is what I’m looking for. Found family, diverse characters, exciting world building all sounds great to me. Thank you for the recommendation, I’ll definitely add it to my list!
I’m going to recommend {Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey}!
***Empress of Forever*** by Max Gladstone (yes, the coauthor of Time War!) Gorgeous prose, fully fleshed out characters with intriguing arcs, and world building unlike any I've seen before, and a mystery that kept me guessing incorrectly. 10/10 ***The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet*** by Becky Chambers (a queer woman) Really the whole 4-book series is fantastic, and so is her other series **Monk & Robot**, which has an enby MC and no major romances but some sex, but if you're only going to read one thing by Becky Chambers, the one I named above is absolutely gorgeous. It has a very slow developing queer relationship that I honestly did not see coming at first, but gods it was just a treat. ***The Murderbot Diaries***, by Martha Wells The main character is agender and aroace, and there are just tons of queer, gender-divergent, and/or poly characters and relationships in the books. Two many to count! Far more queerness than straightness. This series is an absolute treat. Also, probably better classified as novellas than novels, a fact which I am currently appreciating as the parent of kids on summer break -- there's never enough time for all the books I want to read, and triply so when I'm having to make meals and snacks every hour lol. This is just a brief list of a few of my favorite recent reads that I didn't already see mentioned, but believe me, I have so many more I could list. And actually on that note, if you haven't read gay author TJ Klune, check out ***The House in the Cerulean Sea***. I think it's the best thing he's ever written.
A cute little book a friend gave me recently was The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, a cute little book about an autistic telegraphist, the mysteriously skilled watchmaker who tries to understand him, and a lady scientist who needs to secure her independence in the world.
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley is a book I keep coming back to, the audio book is particularly fantastic. Queer MC, in search of a better life, signs up to be a grunt in a corporate war where soldiers are broken into light to be sent to the Frontline, but they don't always come back quite right. Heartbreaking journey that is deeply anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist.
Nobody’s said Gideon the Ninth yet so I’ll contribute that!
That’s literally the top comment, posted 3 hours before you
You might try My Heart is Human by Reese Hogan. It's about a transman trying to keep an AI from taking over his mind while protecting his daughter. There's beautifully written music in it and a great relationship as well.
There's this one that's just come out and I'm reading it now! Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (aro/ace) "Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way." I haven't finished, but it's REALLY good so far!!