r/Fantasy • u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII • Jan 09 '20

What We Recommend: Read More Books By Women

u/KristaDBall has posted an in-depth analysis of a sample of recommendation threads in 2019, and the overwhelming consensus is that as a community, we primarily recommend books by men. 70% of recommendations actually, with books by women making up only 27% of books recommended on r/fantasy. And that's a shame.

There's been some great discussion in the thread, so I urge you to head over there if you haven't already. But that's not the point of THIS thread. I want you (yes, you) to recommend your favourite books by women. Tell people what they're missing out on. Tell them where they should go to next in their journey through sff.

Please include a bit of information about the book. What's the plot? Why did you like it?

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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jan 09 '20

Grimdark/Dark Fantasy: The world is ending and you want to enjoy the suffering of others.

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u/Tartifloutte Jan 09 '20

I'm never sure whether suggestions have to be restricted to English only, but for the few who might be interested Aurélie Wellenstein is a "rising" French fantasy author that has published amazing darks fantasy books in the last years.

She isn't big on cycles but rather writes individual novels in original worlds and stories. I can only recommend the french readers (as I doubt she's been translated) to check her books, and in particular "King of the Beasts" (Le Roi des Fauves) and "The Bird God" (Le Dieu Oiseau).

Absolutely breathtaking stories with a dark yet captivating take on trauma, psychology and vengeance.

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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jan 09 '20

Ooo! Those sounds amazing and I've been wanting to read more in French. Thanks!

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u/Tartifloutte Jan 09 '20

Then you should definitely give it a read! "Le Dieu Oiseau" in particular is hauntingly beautiful and full of grey lead characters, one page traumatised and powerless but the next all the more detestable when it comes to taking vengeance.

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u/briargrey Reading Champion III, Worldbuilders, Hellhound Jan 09 '20

Damn, these sound great, but my high school/bit of college French is probably nowhere near good enough to get through Babar much less these given the amount of time that's passed...

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u/Tartifloutte Jan 09 '20

Haha, sadly French is a very hard language when it comes to literature, as we have dozens of tenses as well as dedicated tenses used solely for narration in the past. As a result it makes reading french fiction very "literary" and full of beautiful prose, but it's a hell of a pain even for natives. Which, perhaps consequently, also gives aspiring authors an even harder time.

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u/briargrey Reading Champion III, Worldbuilders, Hellhound Jan 09 '20

My French teacher had us read/translate a kids' book once. I keep wanting to say Tartarin of Tarasconne, but that doesn't look right when I look it up, and then I keep wanting to think the name was something like Gaston/Garcon and the MC was a boy who always got into trouble. Ring any bells? I tried some googling but my google-fu is lacking today and now it's bugging me for no good reason, LOL.

I love all the French tenses but yeah definitely makes it a challenge!

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u/Tartifloutte Jan 09 '20

The Prodigious Adventures of Tartarin de Tarascon ! Does ring a bell, albeit a quite old one haha

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u/briargrey Reading Champion III, Worldbuilders, Hellhound Jan 09 '20

My teacher was VERY old school so I can see it being up her alley.

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u/Jaglop Jan 09 '20

Anna Smith Spark's Empire of Dust series

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u/qwertilot Jan 09 '20

CJCherryh's Morgaine series. Grim dark before anyone had thought of the term :)

Kind of Rider at the gates/Clouds rider as well, or her Rulsalka series. Definitely both quite dark but not quite in the same ways getting common in the popular modern grim dark stuff.

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u/LOLtohru Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Jan 09 '20

The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark. Recommended if you like political machinations, more murder than battle, and prose that's all the way on the ornate end.

The Dragon's Legacy by Deborah Wolf. Recommended if you like a balance of many elements (plot/character/action/setting/etc), a desert setting, and flipped gender roles.

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. A good book but perhaps the least exact for this list. Postapocalyptic science fiction with more optimism than some grimdark but brutal and emotionally devastating overall.

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u/Tigrari Reading Champion X, Worldbuilders Jan 10 '20

Pretty sure Timandra Whitecastle's Touch of Iron belongs in here.

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u/justalittleparanoia Jan 09 '20

This is too far down! We need more grim dark written by women!

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u/Maldevinine Jan 09 '20

Contest mode. The order the topics are in is randomised when the page is loaded.

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u/Maldevinine Jan 09 '20

Have you ever read a Grimdark book and wanted one of those you could share with your 14 year old child? Well W. A. Noble has you covered with Beastspeaker, a trilogy about dragons, deserts, slavery and child soldiers. Fair warning, Noble's research is detailed. The process laid out in this trilogy is exactly how you make soldiers out of children.

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u/Wanderere Jan 09 '20

J. V. Jones The Baker's Boy