Fantasy books written by women

[Pennyfeatheringt0n]

I tried to read Magician by raymond e feist the other day - 2 chapters in and the only female that had appeared is a housewife whose only function was to care for the main character (while all the men have professions), and one pretty princess.

I think i need more fantasy written by women.

I love robin hobb and have read all of hers. I like naomi novik and Frances hardinge. Sarah j maas doesn't appeal. I don't like books with a lot of romance as i feel it always gets in the way of the story.

What else should i try?

As a budding author could I ask what you look for in a fantasy book? What tropes do you enjoy and expect to see there?

I’m not sure if my ideas are any good so your thoughts would be so helpful. Thank you 🙏

Second this. The Empire Trilogy is amazing, and the main character is a Woman and i LOVE the story.

It is absolutely worth sticking with Magician though, as it crosses over with the Empire Triilogy, reading both will bring some huge insights onto the why/how of Magician as it develops.

However, not read the thread, so will likely repeat authors.

my faves are Katherine Kerr, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Jenny Wurtz, Trudi Canavan, Robin Hobb.

I'll have to trawl my bookcase for others, there are more in there.

cant believe no-one has mentioned Mercedes LAckey.. omg, her Herald books are AMAZING.. and SO many to read.. might need to be on kindle though, getting the paper back can be a challenge.

Arrows of the Queen is the place to start.. the arrows trilogy is just brilliant, and the world it's written in has been well fleshed out.

There are a LOT of VERY strong female leads in them, but some wonderfully written men too, its very equal rights for heros.

I think she is also Kate Griffin, who I recommended above. I will look at books in her other names!

Re other books above - I love Diana Wynne Jones, but really didn't get on with Luis McMaster Bujold who I read after a recommendation on here. It was just a bit weird about people with four arms living in zero gravity then an attempted mass murder of them I think.

Robin McKinley
Patricia McKillip
Megan Whalen Turner
T. Kingfisher (some horror others fantasy)
Martha Wells (Witch King and Raksura books are fantasy but good sci fi too)
Melissa Caruso
Susanna Clarke

Loads of people recommending Anne McCaffrey on this thread, but I read Dragonriders of Pern ages ago and had mixed feelings - some interesting things but some elements I found a bit irritating and kind of dated. It didn’t inspire me to read more. Worth trying something else by her? Or maybe it’s just not for me.

Left it too late to edit, I wanted to say that I don’t remember exactly what it was I didn’t like, just remembering a vague impression, so I wouldn’t say to others not to give it a go!

Personally, I don't think Anne McCaffrey's sexual politics have aged well. There's quite a lot of rape in the dragonrider books, carried out by ostensibly 'good' male characters.

I don't remember this being such a theme in her later works.

Holly Black? They’re more YA with major romance plot, but fun in their way and not as annoying as Sarah Maas.

There’s R F Kuang and the Poppy Wars books. Chinese mythology as the starting point for those.

Novik, Hobb, Arden are obvious giants in the field. Claire North sort of defies categories but is a great writer. I don’t think I’ve read a dud by her yet.

I’m surprised no one’s recommended R J Barker - The Bone Ships trilogy.
Also big thumbs up for N K Jemisin.

There’s a lot of very dull and derivative fantasy/SF out there. I’m a lifelong fan, but I’ve not found many great women writers. A favourite of mine is Doris Lessing’s Mara and Dann, more a dystopian future story though.

@VaguelyIneffectual I like Falling Free but, while chronologically first, it's not the place to start with the Vorkosiverse - Shards of Honor would be a much better entry point. Or if you prefer fantasy, the novella Penric's Demon or book Curse of Chalion are both great.

Yes I agree women in Anne McCaffrey's books don't get great treatment, their options seem to be limited to servant, wife or incredibly rarely dragon-rider which requires the woman to have sex with the rider of whichever dragon mates your queen dragon. There're a few books about a girl harper but she's treated as a rare exception to the idea, which goes unchallenged, that women are rubbish at music and obsessed with appearance and status. But impressing a dragon does sound wonderful...

Anything by Lois is fabulous.

I love the Sharing Knife series. The girl is a very strong personality.

Graceling trilogy by Kristen Cashore

Jo Walton is brilliant, and her books are very varied.

I’m really enjoying the bone shards daughter by Andrea Stewart, I’ve read 2/3 would recommend!

Another for Trudi Canavan too, black magician trilogy is better than rule of 5 though both are good!

As pp said, 100% Anna Smith Spark. Proper, female led, gritty fantasy. You will not be disappointed.

It's up to five books now! (I've just started reading the fifth one).

Echoing the Lois McMaster Bujold recommendations, I've not read the sci-fi ones but the World of the Five Gods books are excellent and I've got quite attached to Desdemona.

The Rook and Rose series by M A Carrick (two women writing together) is quite fun - politics, underworld gangs, fake identities, magic etc.

Julian May's Saga of the pleiocine age books

Elizabeth A Lynn's Chronicles of Tornor.

Another recommendation for Lois McMaster Bujold - the Five Gods series and the Sharing Knife series are both fantasy, while the Vorkosigan series is science-fiction. Great to see other fans here!

The Anne McCaffrey books may seem slightly dated now, and as previous posters have mentioned, some of the sexual politics are rather dubious.

Other female fantasy authors I’d recommend: Katherine Addison, Katherine Arden, Marie Brennan, Sarah Rees Brennan (some YA books; most recent book is for adults), Melissa Caruso, Zen Cho, Heather Fawcett, Robin Hobb, Diana Wynne Jones, T. Kingfisher, Ursula LeGuin, Juliet E. McKenna, Robin McKinley, Naomi Novik, Carrie Vaughn (including urban fantasy), and Martha Wells (sf & fantasy).

I loved Julian May’s Pleiocene saga when I was a teen, but some of the sexual politics are pretty awful, Still a great read, but be warned!

It's been a very long time since I read them, so you're probably right.

This is an entirely personal opinion, I’m pushing 70 years old and been reading SF and fantasy since I was teens - if you’re excluding what you read according to “sexual politics”, surely you’re narrowing your mind, not expanding it?

I know most of our acclaimed literature is written by DWEMs (dead white European males) but it’s still some great writing.

Many of my favourite authors have already been mentioned, but I don't think I've spotted CJ Cherryh yet. Her Chronicles of Morgaine is one of my all-time favourites. The central female character is brilliantly realised.