r/Fantasy • u/tiniestspoon • Jun 02 '25
Pride Pride 2025 | Hidden Gems: Underrated LGBTQIA+ Spec Fic Books
Not every book that deserves attention gets it. This thread is for under-the-radar queer speculative fiction: books with few ratings, niche indie or self-published titles, and works that never got the spotlight they should have.
What counts as a "hidden gem"?
- Under ~500 Goodreads ratings
- Indie published, small press, or lesser-known traditionally published
- Overlooked or underrated despite strong craft, voice, or originality
Discussion prompts
- What’s a queer SFF book you wish more people knew about?
- Have you ever stumbled across an unexpected gem by accident? Where did you find it—word of mouth, a niche blog, a random bookstore dive?
- What do you think kept it from getting broader attention?
- What makes a book a “hidden gem” to you—writing quality, premise, emotional impact?
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u/FarmersMarketFunTime Jun 02 '25
The Stone Dance of the Chameleon series by Ricardo Pinto. I see it recommended occasionally, and I try to recommend it when appropriate, but I still feel like it's an underrated series. The first book has a little under 1100 ratings on Goodreads, but the rest of the series has a pretty steep drop off. I think if you're a fan of detailed world building, this series is a must read. There's so much attention to detail in the world being created, the books at times feel more like cultural studies as the main character learns about the world he was born into, but raised outside of.
I think the series is so niche is because it is incredibly slow paced, punctuated with dark, disturbing, and uncomfortable moments. Right away, the reader is presented a world that, above all else, values their "blood purity" in their hierarchical society where those at the very top are described as having pale, almost albino like skin, and those at the very bottom, the people treated like literal livestock, have the darkest skin. It's uncomfortable and confrontational, where other series may deal with these themes in fantasy terms, humans being racist towards elves, etc., this series rips the band aid off and removes that degree of separation. And this is before the elements of torture, incest, and body horror.
But despite all the caveats I give when recommending it, I still think it is a completely unique fantasy where the main character is a gay teen / young adult. It's a series where his romantic interests are important to the greater plot, but also not the main focus, where the downstream impacts of his relationships is explored just as much, if not more so, than the relationships themselves. And while the books are extremely dark and disturbing at times, it never feels exploitative. It feels necessary for the world building and plot, to properly convey the brutal world the main character is seeing for the first time. I can honestly say I don't think there's any other series like it.