Realm of the Elderlings is my favorite series of all time and its written by a woman, but every other book series ive read that ive liked has been written by a man. Not sure how to describe how most books I tried written by woman in the past felt other than the audience not feeling like me. Realm of the elderlings I never had this issue, I enjoyed following the female protoganists and the fool even if I dont identify with how they feel, so I think its not necessarily the main character being a male for half the series being why I like it.
I just typically dont like men written by woman like woman rightfully dont like woman written by most male authors, since it tends to be done poorlly. Looking for series/authors that do a good job of representing both genders and writing for them, not misrepresenting either or acting like its the only thing that defines them and all their actions.
Try Ursula K LeGuin! The earthsea series is 50% female protagonists, but the first book has a male protagonist. I really love the ones with the female protagonists tho. Her sci-fi is great too but has fewer female protagonists IIRC.
I’ve read The dispossessed and The left Hand of Darkness. They both had well written male protagonists in my opinion.
I just realized almost all the books I’ve read are written by men, except a couple of Ursula K. le guin books.
highly reccomend robin hobb if you havent read her books already, if you like game of thrones youll see some similarities, shes friends with george rr martin and the read each others work
I hadn’t really considered the sex of the authors in what I’ve read, but looking at my shelves and picking some feminine names in the genre:
- Jacqueline Carey’s Godslayer duology (Absolutely amazing. Plays with themes of morality, religion, and war with a deep lore to bring it to life) I’ve only read the first two of her Kushiel’s Legacy series but I’ve enjoyed those as well.
- Trudi Canavan’s Highlord’s Apprentice trilogy (not the hardest or heaviest read but quite fun)
- Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman’s Death Gate Cycle (7 books, massive story with woven storylines and a wild lore creating a world with its own redefined science)
Its something ill check once some dialouge or character motivations start to throw me off, and if it effects like a whole gender not just a few characters
These aound really interesting ill check them out, death gate cycle sounds like it has a hard magic system? Always a fan of that
Wizard of Earth Sea series by Ursula K. Le Guin
I’m currently reading Babel by RF Kuang, which definitely can’t be described as woman-centric (indeed, a major criticism is that its female characters are relatively shallow and few and far between). Good book though.
If you want an old classic to try, give Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees a go. Very unique and fairly influential cult classic from 1926.
Saga of the Borderlands (La Saga de los Confines) by Liliana Bodoc is my personal favorite, it’s story is settled in a continent similar to the pre Columbian American, i absolutly love it and highly recomend it!
Some excellent suggestions in here already but I’ll add Lois McMaster Bujold’s brilliant World of the Five Gods series. She says they can be read in any order you like but I read the Curse of Chalion then Paladin of Souls, then The Hallowed Hunt then all the other ‘Penric’ related novellas - so publication order in other words. The series won a Hugo award a few years ago.
Edit: if anyone is looking to fill the Fitz shaped hole in their lives, Curse of Chalion is particularly good.
Have you tried Ursula Le Guin? Her Earthsea stuff really grabbed me when I was younger.
GIDEON THE NINTH!!!
I really like Diane Duane’s books.
100% agree on this recommendation. Her Young Wizards / “So you want to be a wizard?” makes almost the exact opposite choices as the Harry Potter series does (magic is a choice not inherited at birth, Wizards feel responsible towards the rest of the world instead of wanting to ignore it completely, they learn on their own with their magic tome and some informal tutors instead of going to a school).
