I just realized almost all the books I've read are written by men, except a couple of Ursula K. le guin books.
this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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I hadn't really considered the sex of the authors in what I've read, but looking at my shelves and picking some feminine names in the genre:
- Jacqueline Carey's Godslayer duology (Absolutely amazing. Plays with themes of morality, religion, and war with a deep lore to bring it to life) I've only read the first two of her Kushiel's Legacy series but I've enjoyed those as well.
- Trudi Canavan's Highlord's Apprentice trilogy (not the hardest or heaviest read but quite fun)
- Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman's Death Gate Cycle (7 books, massive story with woven storylines and a wild lore creating a world with its own redefined science)
These aound really interesting ill check them out, death gate cycle sounds like it has a hard magic system? Always a fan of that
Its something ill check once some dialouge or character motivations start to throw me off, and if it effects like a whole gender not just a few characters
Try Ursula K LeGuin! The earthsea series is 50% female protagonists, but the first book has a male protagonist. I really love the ones with the female protagonists tho. Her sci-fi is great too but has fewer female protagonists IIRC.
I've read The dispossessed and The left Hand of Darkness. They both had well written male protagonists in my opinion.
Saga of the Borderlands (La Saga de los Confines) by Liliana Bodoc is my personal favorite, it's story is settled in a continent similar to the pre Columbian American, i absolutly love it and highly recomend it!
Wizard of Earth Sea series by Ursula K. Le Guin
Have you tried Ursula Le Guin? Her Earthsea stuff really grabbed me when I was younger.
Oh I definitely rememebr reading it, was it the word magic stuff
I apparently have the first ebook, must've gotten distracted by some other series and forgotten it
A Wizard of Earthsea is probably my favorite fantasy book. Around the fourth book it starts to get a bit woman targeted, I feel, but it's still a great series.
The Broken Earth Trilogy was written by a woman.
Your username in YELLING CAPS combined with the mundane comment made me chuckle.
I'm happy to have brought a small amount of joy into your life!
This is such a good series.
I'm currently reading Babel by RF Kuang, which definitely can't be described as woman-centric (indeed, a major criticism is that its female characters are relatively shallow and few and far between). Good book though.
If you want an old classic to try, give Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees a go. Very unique and fairly influential cult classic from 1926.
I really like Martha Wells, in particular the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy is mostly female protagonist led, but reasonable depictions of everyone and has really great world building
I cannot remember the genders of most of the characters in murderbot
I've only read the first part of the Hidden series by Tiffany Shearn, but I really liked it. I'm planning to pick up the rest of the series at the Ren fair she attends this year.
Margaret Weis and Robin Hobb would like a word.
I was very concerned scrolling the comments that it looked like no one was going to mentioned Margaret Weis. She is an amazing author stand alone, and Dragon Lance was one of the first big Fantasy series I really cut my teeth on.
Robin Hobb wrote the series OP is talking about….
Fair point.
Robin Hobb is my favorite lol
Dragonriders of Pern is pretty good, Entire and the Rose was too.
If you like d&d the Dragonlance books were coauthored by a woman.
I’ll edit in some more if I think of any.
Could you be more specific about which books did not resonate? I read pretty widely and don't usually notice jarring differences. There are only a handful of men who I noticed really couldn't write female characters, most modern authors can. In fantasy & sci-fi at least.
Maybe my issue is avoiding popular books and going for the niche ones, I typically seek out hard magic systems and progression fantasy where it definitely is lacking
Like the lesbian necromancers in space? I can see that. I love the Kushiel books but can tell they're written by a woman.
In sort of alternate history fantasy where I think there is no jarring gender stuff:
I've been reading the Katherine Kerr Deverry books, they are old but I think you might like those. The YA ones starting with The Thief of Attolia, if you haven't read those, is delightful, and doesn't take much time. Robin Hobb, but you already found her, and definitely Naomi Novik as recommended by others. I like most all the Django Wexler books, he's a dude but writes from both men's and women's perspectives seamlessly. Katherine Kerr, Robin Hobb, and Naomi Novik write from the perspective of non-human characters too, that might be something to look for when you are looking for a writer who can change perspectives.
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon is a great epic feeling fantasy read. I recommend it heartily; I believe it's her first book (?) but it's incredibly well written and immersive.
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson was a step out of my own comfort zone, since I don't typically prefer real world settings, but I enjoyed it immensely. It's set in basically the current era, and the main character is a hacker who ends up accidentally getting involved in a magical hidden world.
The Shades of Magic series by V. E. Schwab is a lot of fun. Alternate universe fantasy with tons of magic.
I read Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series around the same time I read ROTE and really enjoyed them both.
I was also going to give a shout out to Novik, absolutely adore the Temeraire series.
I really like Diane Duane's books.
100% agree on this recommendation. Her Young Wizards / "So you want to be a wizard?" makes almost the exact opposite choices as the Harry Potter series does (magic is a choice not inherited at birth, Wizards feel responsible towards the rest of the world instead of wanting to ignore it completely, they learn on their own with their magic tome and some informal tutors instead of going to a school).
Everything about that sounds awesome wtf, reminds me of witch hat atelier, anyone can do magic if taught but they act like its rare and are picky, only pick kids so they can teach them not to misuse it (the main "villains" are against that and want to give magic to all)
Its not high fantasy but the Greenbone Saga is pretty damn good and written by a woman. As a dude I didn't feel like it was targeted at women or men.
The Shepherd King series by Rachel Gillig
City of Brass series by S. A. Chakraborty
The Dark Gods series by Tara Sim
The Folk Of Air series by Holly Black.
Some excellent suggestions in here already but I'll add Lois McMaster Bujold's brilliant World of the Five Gods series. She says they can be read in any order you like but I read the Curse of Chalion then Paladin of Souls, then The Hallowed Hunt then all the other 'Penric' related novellas - so publication order in other words. The series won a Hugo award a few years ago.
Edit: if anyone is looking to fill the Fitz shaped hole in their lives, Curse of Chalion is particularly good.
Ill check it out, the naming sense alone is solid