Can anyone recommend some SciFi books with well written female characters?
I’ve recently read Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie and am looking for well constructed, non male, well thought out characters.
The Expanse series has Naomi Nagata, Avasarala, Bobbie Draper, and Drummer (among others)
The Revelation Space trilogy by Alastair Reynolds has the badass Ilia Volyova (cyborg space pirate; it makes sense in context lol) as a main character (not primary protagonist though) in the first two books and Ana Khouri (ex-military/assassin) is the primary protagonist in the second two (and major character in the first).
Some of Reynolds’s other works also have strong female protagonists as well (e.g. Pushing Ice and the whole Revenger series). House of Suns is one of my favorites, and there are two protagonists, male and female, and have equal spotlight throughout.
Both of those are hard sci-fi, so hopefully that’s your jam.
Try out the Wayfarer’s series! Becky Chambers is amazing. Her books are wholesome and character focused, and give you a great feel of what it would be like living in that setting.
I also really like Brandon Sanderson’s Cytoverse. It’s a fantastic adventure that will keep surpsing you, but it is YA, so be ready for a little silliness.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.
The Space Between Worlds vy Micaiah Johnson
A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys
Pretty much anything by Octavia Butler.
- Silo series by Hugh Howie
- Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (Young adult dystopian scifi)
- Across the Universe by Beth Revis (Young adult)
- Bird Box by Josh Malerman (apocalyptic thriller)
- Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (fantasy, not scifi, but I’m digging up stuff from when I used to read more prolifically)
- Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds. I read this so long ago, and I feel like their were some great female characters, but I can’t remember if any were the protagonist. Each novel shifts around.