Queer Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Recommendations | Pride Month 2021

Happy Pride Month!

June is Pride Month so, I would like to shout-out a few of my favorite queer books. As a matter of fact, most of the books I’m going to mention are on my list of favorite books ever and I have gushed about them many times already but, I’m going to be self-indulgent and gush about them again! 😉

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

The Machineries of Empire trilogy is probably my favorite science fiction trilogy. It has everything I love: clever characters trying their best to make the world a better place, sentient robots and high stakes. The worldbuilding is one of a kind and the characters are unforgettable. I love all the books in the series but my favorite is Ninefox Gambit, I read it three times already and it gets better with every re-read.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

I still have yet to read Ancillary Mercy but I have enjoyed the first two books in Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy so much that I definitely think this series has a place on this list. Ancillary Justice follows an ancillary who used to control hundreds of body but who now has to live isolated in a single body. This trilogy plays narration and gender, it’s challenging while still being fun and captivating and the characters spend all their free time drinking tea. It’s great.

Too Like the Lightning By Ada Palmer

I haven’t gushed about Too Like the Lightning in a while, haven’t I? 😀 If you have been a follower of the blog for a long time, you know I love Palmer’s series. If not well, GO READ THIS SERIES.

I mean, it has everything! It’s a fascinating and thought-provoking reflection on utopia and how living in peace for centuries would affect humanity. It takes political intrigues and philosophy on a level of its own and like Ancillary Justice, it completely manages to deconstruct gender. I can’t wait for Perhaps the Stars, the last book in the quartet!

The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang

Royal twins are sent to a monastery until they are torn apart when their mother, the Protector, realizes that one of them is a Prophet and might be a very powerful asset for her rule.

The Black Tides of Heaven is a novella yet it does more in 150 pages than most novels. The worldbuilding and the characters are amazing and I loved the fact that, in this world, children are able to choose a gender (or not) when they are ready to do so. I also loved how it showcased family relationships and how we are often hurt by the ones we love the most.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Another excellent little novella, The Empress of Salt and Fortune follows Chih, a clerk, as they collect stories and artefacts with their magical companion Almost Brilliant. It’s also a story about two women working together to free themselves from a world where they are look down upon by everyone and the secret that ties them together.

Gorgeously written and perfectly paced, The Empress of Salt and Fortune is an absolute treat and I know I am going to read it over and over again.

This is How You Lose the Time War

Speaking of reading a story over and over again, This is How you Lose the Time War is another story I know I will re-read many times. In fact, I already re-read it once and I loved it even more the second time around. It follows the forbidden love story between two women working as agents on opposite sides of a time war.

This story is not going to be for everyone because the writing is very flowery and weird but oh my, it completely worked for me. I don’t usually cry while reading but the last time I listened to this story I cried at least three times! I can’t exactly say if I cried because I was sad, happy or simply emotional by the sheer beauty of the story but I definitely cried. I might just go re-read a few of my favorite parts right now.

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I think I have gushed enough for one day! Let me know if you have read any of these books and if they worked for you! 😉