Book RecsJun 29, 2020

Queer Book Recs by Fellow Bookstagrammers

For this Pride we have something completely new on the blog: queer book recommendations by fellow bookstagrammers! I thought it would be fun to let others do the work for a round of recs 😛 This is especially fun to me because it includes some books I still need to read myself.

As always: these are all adult science fiction and fantasy (with ONE special exception), featuring at least one queer main character.

Recommendations by Nicole
@nebrinkley

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

  • gay (m)

Caseworker Linus is sent to investigate a strange magical orphanage, not expecting to find a family—or fall in love. THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA is a feel-good queer found-family must-read.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

  • ace (f)

Asexual Nancy, newly returned from the Halls of the Dead, must solve a murder mystery at a school for kids kicked out of their own portal fantasies. The first of a gorgeous, inclusive novella series.

Monstress by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda

  • casually queer

What happens when Maika Halfwolf, a disabled teenage girl with a psychic link to a powerful eldritch monster, becomes the target of both human and otherworldly forces? Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900s Asia, this casually queer steampunk world is perfect for fans of dark fantasy.

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

  • trans
  • disabled
  • black

Monsters don’t exist in Lucille—but when a beast climbs out of her mother’s painting to warn Jam of something terrible lurking in her best friend’s house, Jam has to decide who to believe and how far she’ll go. Written by a black, non-binary author, PET follows disabled, trans, black Jam in a world full of queer people of color.

Recommendations by Christelle
@c.m.muller

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha shannon

  • f/f
  • lesbian
  • bi (f)
  • gay (m)

A slowburn f/f romance in an epic fantasy story with dragons, magic, a dark prophecy, court intrigue and a secret order of badass mages! Did I mention the dragons?

ThE Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Christoph

  • bi (f)

An epic story of revenge with assassins, gladiators, sassy shadow daemons and a school for assassins, with one of the most badass girls ever as lead character.

This is How YOu Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

  • sapphic

A short but beautiful time-travelling love story between two “enemies” in a war on a dying earth

Recommendations by Kes
@Bookofthegay

Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden

  • sapphic
  • BIPOC

Sapphic spacefarers, living ships, and oh my tentacles.

The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera

  • f/f

Two girls born as bartering chips in a treaty fall in love and have to confront gods and demons in this Asian-inspired fantasy.

Into the drowning Deep by Mira Grant

  • bi (f)
  • f/f

A scientific mission to discover murderous mermaids.

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

  • bi/pan
  • unknown gender for majority of the book

A war against Mars in a corporation ruled future forces our protagonist to reevaluate everything they believed.

Recommendations by Dom
@domreadsall

The Outside by Ada Hoffmann

  • f/f
  • autistic

Be Gay, Do Heresy. Space opera meets body horror in a world where gods and technology are enmeshed.

Starless by Jacqueline Carey

  • trans man
  • m/f

Bodyguard/charge story in a lush world where the gods walk the earth, with a bonus of soulmate AU vibes.

Recommendations by Jessi
@bookishjessi

The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ Charles

  • m/m

The Secret Casebook is a series of vignettes about a Victorian-era ghost hunter and a journalist falling in love and joining forces to battle the occult like Sherlock and Watson.

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

  • m/m

Witchmark is a magical murder mystery set in a post-war Edwardian England-esque fantasy world with a slow burn romance and bicycle chases. Yes. I said bicycle chases.

Stormsong by C.L. Polk

  • f/f
  • sapphic
  • gay

Stormsong is the sequel to Witchmark and is a magical political thriller that addresses what comes next after you overthrow a great evil and discover everything you thought you knew was a lie.

Badlands by Morgan Brice

  • m/m

A psychic medium and a jaded cop team up to catch a serial killer and fall in love. Sound familiar? At first it does but the story is also full of weird supernatural goodness and is delightfully queer.

 

Thanks to everyone who participated and for your recommendations! I enjoyed seeing what books you picked and I’ll definitely get the ones read that are still on my TBR.

1 reply to “Queer Book Recs by Fellow Bookstagrammers”

  • Ahhh, there are so many here that I’d love to try! I like the idea of gathering recommendations from other people – like you say, it’s nice that you’ve found some books you want to read too. ?

    Very excited to see Starless here – I’m looking forward to trying more of Carey’s work and I’ve heard good things about that one. I’m also hoping to read Cerulean Sea soon. I hope I adore it as much as everyone else has!

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