Fantasy books written by women

As I said, I still read them but some character arcs give me the icks.

Another vote for this ^

If you like a bit of urban fantasy then

Violet Fenn (set in Liverpool)
Tracy Whitwell
Faith Hunter - Jane Yellowrock series (set in New Orleans)
Also the Riftwood series, same universe but different characters with a little crossover
Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse) but has also written some excellent other series
Kelly Armstrong if you like a werewolf or two
Kim Harrison all the witchy stuff
Anne Bishop, superb alternate reality,

More classical style

Jen Williams, really fun

I came here to say this as well; the Daughter of the Empire series is really good indeed.

I believe that Naomi Novik has also been mentioned a couple of times but I don't think that anybody has mentioned Deborah Harkness and Discovery of Witches trilogy.

Yes, it is witches and vampires but it is done really, really well. It was turned into a TV series by Sky a couple of years ago but that wasn't as good as the books (no surprise)

"[M]ost of our acclaimed literature is written by DWEMs (dead white European males) but it’s still some great writing." @ElleneAsanto

Well, after recommending Anne McCaffrey's Crystal Singer and almost everything by Jacqueline Carey in PP, I was dithering about derailing this thread. However, as I'm pushing 65, I have to mention the brilliant E H Forster (one of ElleneAsanto's DWEM's?) short SF story The Machine Stops.

Female main character, no romance and fantastically prescient, dystopian imagined future with a proto-internet and the worship of 10th-hand experience. Here's a downloadable version: www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~koehl/Teaching/ECS188/PDF_files/Machine_stops.pdf

I read it as a teen and have regularly returned to it. Enjoy. (Spoiler alert: it doesn't end well.)

"[M]ost of our acclaimed literature is written by DWEMs (dead white European males) but it’s still some great writing." @ElleneAsanto

Just going off at a total tangent here, but please bear with me. A graphic novel from a still-alive (I believe) white male.

Well, I say, "graphic novel" but it had it's origins in a late 20th century comic - "2000 AD".

It features a female protagonist in a somewhat dystopian future. She's very ordinary and just tries to deal with stuff that happens.

The first series was published when I was 19 (please, don't judge me for reading comics as an adult) and it continued until series three when I was 21.

The name of this series is "The Ballad of Halo Jones".

It was written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Ian Gibson.

The first series is a day in the life, the second series shows her working in a hospitality role and then the third series, is a sort of war story similar in many respects to The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

OK, some people may judge me for liking a graphic novel but I think it still stands up to this day.

@Another2Cats don't you dare apologise for liking graphic novels, they are a perfectly legitimate form of reading. You also have good taste, I'm going to assume it's good as it's written by Alan Moore I haven't read this particular one. 😁. I don't have many on the shelf but I intend to recommend them all to my son once he's old enough!

If you’re going to quote me, please do it correctly. And it’s E M Forster.
I haven’t read anything by Jacqueline Carey - but the soft porn covers are a turn off for me.

N.K. Jemisin "The Fifth Season" (trilogy)

R.F. Kuang "Babel" and the "Poppy War" (trilogy)

Ooh - forgot about Patricia Kennealy-Morrison - The Keltiad - fabulous set of books. Think druids in the future...

Julian May (read the saga of the exiles before intervention/galactic milieu trilogy)
janny wurts mistwraith series (all 12 books now published!!!! Yay)

have never forgiven melanie rawn for not finishing the Ambrai series so can’t recommend:-(

Anne mccaffrey (but yes I didn’t see it as rape when I read as a teen)…

Mercedes lackey magics pawn trilogy (good LGB theme too here)

I liked the Jacqueline Carey but yes a bit bdsm

I skimmed very quickly, but I don't see that anyone has mentioned:

Marion Zimmer Bradley (Arthurian)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Zimmer_Bradley

Elizabeth Lynn (the Tornor trilogy)
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Elizabeth_A._Lynn

Tanith Lee
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Elizabeth_A._Lynn

Ursula LeGuin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin_bibliography

C. L. Moore (perhaps the precursor of them all; notably Jirel of Joiry)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._L._Moore

Not Marion Zimmer Bradley unless you are comfortable with her alleged crimes (documented on the link above). I'm not.

Horrible isn't it. Sorry to be a downer. Enjoy the rest of your reading!