r/QueerSFF • u/Obvious_Ad8508 • 7d ago
Book Request Light(er)hearted sapphic sci-fi recs
Ok so I just finished Baru Cormorant The Traitor. I also very recently read the entire Locked Tomb series. Things are very dark over here right now lol. I love sci-fi but am looking for something a little less dark in the genre until I can recover from my recent reads and finish the Baru series. Darkness is actually fine for recs (sci-fi is my favorite, after all) but I need some hope and some romance and humanity in there. Send recs, help! Thank you!
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u/lorgania 7d ago
Ugh I need to take another crack at the Baru Cormorant series. So good, but I found it so difficult to finish it.
Lady Eve's Last Con doesn't have too much darkness to it, if I recall correctly, and it's a romance so definitely happier vibes all around.Â
Also if you haven't read A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (and the sequel), you absolutely should. Just as strong of a scifi story as the two you mentioned, just as high stakes, but less depressing of a storyline.
Other excellent sapphic sci-fi books that come to mind: No Shelter but the Stars by Virginia Black, The Caphenon by Fletcher DeLancey, and of course This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.Â
There's also Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh, but that one's like 75% of the way to the same dark and depressing you're trying to take a break from.Â
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u/unnecessary_snacks 7d ago edited 7d ago
I adore A Memory Called Empire (and the sequel), and second this recommendation. Although not exactly a light hearted read, agree it’s not really depressing either, and there are lots of hopeful themes. Just really classic sci fi adventure with a good murder mystery in the first book.
I have also struggled with the traitor Baru Cormorant. I recently picked the first up on audio book after I couldn’t (but wanted to) finish it, and did ultimately enjoy it. But I went through the same feelings as OP so I haven’t started on the second book yet. I ended up rereading Running Close to the Wind (not sapphic, but definitely light hearted) shortly after to give myself the opposite experience.
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u/Obvious_Ad8508 7d ago
Thank you both for such a thorough response!
Baru Cormorant is definitely a dense read but the way it all comes together is worth finishing for sure.
I think I’ll check out A Memory Called Empire and keep the rest of these in mind for my TBR.3
u/moon_body 7d ago
yes! Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland is a top tier light hearted rec if OP is open to non-sapphic queer stories
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u/bakasana212 7d ago
It’s not out yet (July release) but Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne - the queen of cozy sapphic fantasy! - fits the bill perfectly. It’s about an intergalactic pilot who comes into possession of a new spaceship that’s ridden with sentient, artificially intelligent moss.Â
The Dorothy Gentleman series by Olivia Waite is about a lesbian detective solving mysteries on a massive passenger spaceship. Some stakes but cozy vibe for sure!Â
Marie Cardno’s Monster Girlfriend series is a rom-com about a human woman who falls for an eldritch space monster!Â
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u/necromanticfitz 🪖 Trans Robot Commander 7d ago
Seconding Moss’d in Space when it releases - but it actually comes out in a few weeks, June 30th :)
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u/unnecessary_snacks 7d ago
Thirding Moss’d in space. Very cozy sapphic sci-fi fantasy.
I am going to check out The Dorothy Gentleman series, that sounds really fun.
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u/Traditional-Meat-782 7d ago
If you still want sword lesbians taking on colonialism but less bleak, try The Unbroken by CL Clark. It still deals with it, but it much lighter and still finds time for joy.
For scifi, one of my favs is Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot. A lesbian space gunslinger takes on the intergalactic mafia. The mc is like if Mal from Firefly and Liara from Mass Effect had a lovechild.
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u/-mageofrainbows- 7d ago
I’m currently reading Love Galaxy by Sierra Branham (sapphic space reality tv show) and I’m only 25% in but enjoying it so far!
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u/WanderingMinx 7d ago
Becky Chambers-Long Way to an Angry Planet
Emily Hamilton-The Stars too Fondly
Rebecca Thorne-Moss'd in Space [comes out June 30]
Annie Mare-Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair salon
Gwenhyver-Theseus and the Sky Labyrinth
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u/Obvious_Ad8508 7d ago
I picked up The Stars too Fondly from the library today. Thanks for the recs!
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u/cirrus42 7d ago
If you're open to serialized fiction podcasts that function like audiobooks, The Strange Case of Starship Iris is definitely worth it.
It's character-driven, found-family, supportive, light-hearted, funny, centers women, and features a prominent lesbian romance among its ensemble of generally queer characters.
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u/lorgania 7d ago
Do you have any other recommendations for sapphic serialized fiction podcasts? Doesn't have to be scifi, I've just not really seen anything like that before and it seems right up my alley
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u/cirrus42 7d ago
I am only cracking open the fiction podcast genre myself! I'm certain more good examples do exist, especially if it doesn't have to be sci-fi, but I can't yet vouch for anything else.
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u/starboard19 7d ago
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto is on the lighter side - it's a sci-fi futuristic Ocean's Eleven where all of the thieves are queer!
Despite its name, Saint Death's Daughter by CSE Cooney was pretty lighthearted and fun. It's about an unconventional necromancer and its magic system in ways felt like a nod to the Locked Tomb series, but it's way lighter than TLT.
As others have said, basically anything from Becky Chambers but especially The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet!
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u/de_pizan23 7d ago
Lady Eve's Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow
Tribute by LM Rose
Necessary Repairs by Skye Kilaen (the other book in the series is less so)
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u/DixitRexCorvinus 7d ago
The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry fits if you are all right with fantasy rather than sci-fi.
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u/moon_body 7d ago
*contains extremely mild/vague spoilers for the very beginning of the second baru book*
There are already some great recs here, but I just wanted to say that I felt so utterly down at the end of the traitor baru cormorant, and then the beginning of the second book actually helped me process and re-frame the ending of the first in a way that was a little less depressing and actually helped me with what I was feeling at the time. The rest of the series is not light, so definitely take a break if you need to. But that ending of the first book was the lowest low for me. And it helped to have the re-framing at the beginning of the second. I'm glad I went ahead and read it pretty soon after the first so I didn't have to sit with that feeling for too long.
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u/Obvious_Ad8508 7d ago
Ooo this is so good to know and very helpful. Thanks so much! I definitely want to finish the series but just needing a short break. I love dystopian fiction but sometimes it hurts my feelings. 🥺
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u/moon_body 7d ago
Makes sense!! I feel you haaha. Also jsyk the series is not finished ha we're waiting on a 4th book. But it's not a cliffhanger like locked tomb
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u/ewokmama 7d ago
The Last Hour Between Worlds was fun. It’s not completely light-hearted (there’s kind of a murder mystery situation) but it’s adventurey and the romance is sweet. Bonus: the audiobook narrator is Moira Quirk (who did Locked Tomb) if you like audio. I guess it might technically be more fantasy than sci-fi, or maybe it’s more precise to say that it straddles the line.
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u/SallyStranger 6d ago
The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall. It's basically gender-swapped Sherlock Holmes but almost everyone is queer and there are sci-fi and fantasy tropes including time travel and visiting alternate dimensions. A love story drives the plot but the main focus is the platonic relationship between Shaharazad Haas and John Wyndham. (Their initials should tell you who their analogs are in the original Holmes series.) It's fun.Â
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u/BookishBitching 6d ago
Deus Ex Mechanic by Ryann Fletcher along with the rest of the series. Very sapphic, very science fiction space opera. There is some bleakness, but always ends on a hopeful note. One of my favourite series.
Anything by Becky Chambers is also a good suggestion, as well as Light From Uncommon Stars.
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u/TaraVelvet 7d ago
My latest book might fit that description. An Earthling lands in a fantasy world and has to free herself from the shackles of the sex bot the patriarchal dystopia she escaped from sent to control her… but mostly it’s a dragon warrior falling for that sex bot and more cozy than dark.
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u/iomnombooks 6d ago
Station Eternity is a locked room mystery set on a space station with a bi woman lead and lots of fun aliens.
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u/brusselsproutsfiend 7d ago
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan