I’ve been told this is a challenge-thing going around, and I approve. I approve even more of the suggestion that everything on the list be a backlist title, so that’s how I’m doing it!

So, in no particular order…!

Note for future!Sia: This list was heavily edited in July 2026.

Fair Haven by Wendy Palmer
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Published on: 4th November 2023
Goodreads

Stronghold Fair Haven by the Sea is a beacon in a sometimes harsh world, open to all and deliberately, stubbornly kind. It also holds the honour and responsibility of hosting an atelier, a workshop for the rare and highly-prized magical engineers known as Mancers.

Hazel lives a comfortable, contented life in Stronghold Haven as a member of the team of elite bodyguards protecting the resident Mancer. But when another Mancer comes knocking on Haven's door to plead for refuge from the stronghold zhey've just escaped from, zhey bring a growing threat of invasion in zheir wake.

Ash is disruptive to Hazel's peaceful routine in more ways than just to his own astonishment, he's hopelessly attracted to the prickly, secretive Mancer.

This might be the start of something precious...or the end of everything he holds dear.

Explicit m/nb and m/m (different couple!) sex scenes

I discovered Wendy Palmer last year – and told myself I wasn’t allowed to read Fair Haven (the one of her books that most appealed to me) until I reviewed at least one of the others. Which… I have not done! So hopefully putting Fair Haven on this list will both mean that I write a review AND get to this book!

City of Refuge (Maya Greenwood, #3) by Starhawk
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Representation: Hispanic pansexual polyamorous MCs
Published on: 4th December 2015
Goodreads

Every city needs three things: a plaza, a hearth, and a sacred tree...

In the violent, desperate world of 2048, eco-catastrophes and societal breakdown have left the country splintered. Yet amidst the ruins stands a green and flourishing city where four things are sacred—Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. When the ruthless Stewards of the Southlands invade, the people of Califia defeat them using nonviolence and magic. But they’ll be back, unless the northerners can liberate the Southlands first.

Healer Madrone struggles to repair the wounds of war and deprivation. Soldier/defector River leads an Army of Liberation to the south. Bird, musician turned guerrilla, longs to return to the fight, but now he’s pledged to deeper powers. How can they build a new world when people are so deeply wounded by the old?

Madrone has a dream... Build a city of refuge in the heartland of the enemy.

The Fifth Sacred Thing, the first book in this series, is one of my all-time faves. I read the prequel years ago (also great), but only discovered City of Refuge years after it was out. And somehow I’ve never managed to read it, even though I’m dying to!

The Poison Court by Amanda Downum
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual trans MC
Published on: 26th February 2019
Goodreads

Savedra Severos is no stranger to intrigue. Mistress to the King of Selafai and daughter of a rival noble house, she navigates the treacheries of court with every breath. On the eve of delicate peace talks, the court mage is found murdered. As Savedra investigates, she stumbles further into a web of secrets that enmeshes three kingdoms--entangling spies and sorcerers, lovers and enemies, strangers and kin. Among those secrets are Savedra’s own, dangerous enough to destroy her king and her family if they come to light. Traitors walk the palace halls, but the danger is more than political. Spirits prowl the city. Once a force of justice, now they seek only retribution--and they prey on those with blood on their hands. In a court fueled by schemes and secrets, not even Savedra is safe from their venomous touch.

"...some of the best fantasy politics/intrigue/spies/murder I have ever had the pleasure of reading." ~ Liz Bourke, Sleeps With Monsters

"Amanda Downum spins political intrigue and gorgeous prose with grace and style. Get this book into your eyeballs." ~ Marshall Ryan Maresca, author of the Maradaine Sequence

"Luxurious elegance and gloriously sharp dangers fill Amanda Downum's The Poison Court. As with every Downum book, readers will revel in beautifully rendered characters and elegant court machinations. What sets The Poison Court above the rest of its kind is the depth of feeling and intrigue in a setting where the past returns to betray the present; where entire fortunes can crumble on a simple taste, a slight glance, or a mere regret. Such a deft touch requires great skill and Downum never falters, nor does she ever turn her searing gaze away from the innermost secrets of The Poison Court." ~ Fran Wilde, author of Riverland and the Bone Universe novels

The Bone Palace is easily the best book in the Necromancer Chronicles, in large part because of Savedra, the trans lover-and-bodyguard of the kingdom’s prince. And there’s a whole spin-off novel about her! Obviously I had to pick it for this!

Revelations (Rhapsody of Blood, #5) by Roz Kaveney
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Lesbian MCs
Published on: 26th June 2023
Goodreads

The Rhapsody of Blood series follows two women, Mara and Emma, in their struggle against the mysterious enemy Berin who taught men how to become gods through slaughter - the Rituals of Blood.

Mara, immortal Huntress, destroys the Aztec gods, Robespierre and Jack the Ripper. She witnesses the flooding of Atlantis and the Crucifixion. She searches across the for her murdered sisters Sof and Lillit, cursed by wishes all three made before time From the forests of Europe to the deserts of Asia and Africa Jerusalem to Alexandria, Paris and past, present and future London, Mara is up against conquistadors, zombies and primordial fungus with allies that range from Jehovah to Montezuma, Voltaire to HG Wells and cockney spymistress Polly.

An ogre eats her lover Caroline, whose ghost recruits modern Emma to the fight. Originally with no powers save wit and intelligence, Emma faces down angels, elves, vampires, a mad monstrous Britartist and invading mathematical entities and becomes the new ruler of Hell...

Formidable apart, unstoppable as allies, Mara and Emma are the world's last hope against the wily Berlin and his prophesy of doom.

The Ring of Flesh will Burst, the Sleepers Will Awake and All Will be Undone.

It’s a little more understandable that I haven’t gotten to this one; there was a fair bit of a wait between book four of the series and this one. It happens! But it meant that when Revelations came out, I wanted to reread the rest of the series first – aaaaand I did not manage to do that. (I did review book one, though!) I haven’t decided yet whether including Revelations here means I must in fact reread the whole series, or just the previous book…

Moon Dust in My Hairnet by J.R. Creaden
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Queer autistic MC, polyamory
Published on: 19th April 2024
Goodreads

Moon Dust in My Hairnet is a fresh, hopeful, and diverse sci-fi romp following an autistic lunar lunch lady as she juggles relationships and threatening corporate overlords, all while adjusting to life on Lunar Trust One.

20-year-old Lane was perfectly happy living in her big sister's shadow. The great Faraday Tanner, who invented the gravdrive and inspired the movement to found the moon's first independent colony, was the unequaled voice of the post-melt generation. That is, until an unimaginable tragedy cut Faraday’s legacy short.

Wracked with survivor's guilt and desperate for her sister's utopian dream to succeed, Lane embraces her job on the moon: lunch lady—which is more than her parents think she can handle. Her boyfriend's supportive at least, when he's not drooling over one of the new recruits. Lane tries to put the past behind her, committed to enjoying her kitchen work and dating her boyfriend and his new crushes. She even participates in planning Faraday's memorial, forcing herself to grapple with monumental loss.

But when colony goods go missing and vital equipment gets tampered with, Lane can't accept the events as mere pranks, banding together with new and old friends to save their home.

This was, I think, my first ever advanced reader copy that I didn’t get reviewed by the publication day. I’m still disappointed in myself, and still dying to read it!

Constellation Games by Leonard Richardson
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 1st November 2011
Goodreads

First contact isn't all fun and games.

Ariel Blum is pushing thirty and doesn't have much to show for it. His computer programming skills are producing nothing but pony-themed video games for little girls. His love life is a slow-motion train wreck, and whenever he tries to make something of his life, he finds himself back on the couch, replaying the games of his youth.

Then the aliens show up.

Out of the sky comes the Constellation: a swarm of anarchist anthropologists, exploring our seas, cataloguing our plants, editing our wikis, and eating our Twinkies. No one knows how to respond--except for nerds like Ariel who've been reading, role-playing and wargaming first-contact scenarios their entire lives. Ariel sees the aliens' computers, and he knows that wherever there are computers, there are video games.

Ariel just wants to start a business translating alien games so they can be played on human computers. But a simple cultural exchange turns up ancient secrets, government conspiracies, and unconventional anthropology techniques that threaten humanity as we know it. If Ariel wants his species to have a future, he's going to have to take the step that nothing on Earth could make him take.

He'll have to grow up.

I spent DAYS fixing my ebook of this… and then never read it!

God's War (Bel Dame Apocrypha, #1) by Kameron Hurley
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 1st February 2011
Goodreads

Nyx is a bel dame, a bounty hunter paid to collect the heads of deserters – by almost any means necessary.‘Almost’ proved to be the problem.Cast out and imprisoned for breaking one rule too many, Nyx and her crew of mercenaries are all about the money. But when a dubious government deal with an alien emissary goes awry, her name is at the top of the list for a covert recovery.
While the centuries-long war rages on only one thing is certain: the world’s best chance for peace rests in the hands of its most ruthless killers. . .

I’ve wanted to read more Kameron Hurley forEVER – I’ve only read her (incredible) Worldbreaker trilogy. Every single one of her other books sounds amazing, but the Bel Dame series features bug-magic, so CLEARLY I need to start here!

Shadow Man by Melissa Scott
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Nonbinary MC (?)
Published on: 5th October 2009
Goodreads

In the future, humanity has developed five distinct sexes due to the effects of a drug that allows faster-than-light travel. The Concorde worlds have officially recognized all five sexes, but on the isolated planet Hara those in between male and female are considered mutations who must choose to live as one of the two traditional sexes. When Hara regains contact with the Concorde worlds, it's an opportunity for Warreven--a "herm"--to break the long-standing role society has forced on him. But it will also put him in the center of a political battle that will span the stars.

I adore Melissa Scott’s fantasy, but I don’t know her sci-fi at all. Shadow Man is one of her most famous books, and I’m braced for it to potentially be a bit dated, but I crave sci-fi that Does Things with gender, and my understanding is that Shadow Man will majorly deliver on that front!

Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1) by Ada Palmer
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 10th May 2016
Goodreads

Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer—a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.

The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labelling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life.

And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life...

I always see people complaining these books are too long and the worldbuilding is too complicated… aka, perfect for me!

She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1) by Shelley Parker-Chan
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Secondary World No Magic
Representation: Chinese-inspired cast and setting, genderqueer MC
Published on: 20th July 2021
Goodreads

Two-time British Fantasy Award WinnerAstounding Award WinnerLambda Literary Award FinalistHugo Award FinalistLocus Award FinalistOtherwise Award Finalist

"Magnificent in every way."—Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

"A dazzling new world of fate, war, love and betrayal."—Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister

She Who Became the Sun reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor.

To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything

“I refuse to be nothing…”

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future her brother's abandoned greatness.

One of my book-besties has been on at me to read this for years and years, so even though it’s very low-magic (by all accounts), I’m going to give it a try!

The Ordinary (Irion/Hormling, #2) by Jim Grimsley, Donato Giancola
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Bi/pansexual autistic MC
Goodreads

Jim Grimsley's novels and short stories have been favorably compared to the works of Samuel R. Delany, Jack Vance, and Ursula K. Le Guin. Now he unleashes an ambitious and audacious collision between science and magic.
The Twil Gate links two very different realms. On one side of the portal is Senal, an advanced technological civilization of some thirty billion inhabitants, all cybernetically linked and at war with machine intelligences many light-years away. On the other side is Irion, a land of myth and legend, where the world is flat and mighty wizards once ruled.
Jedda Martele is a linguist and trader from Senal. Although fascinated by the languages and cultures of Irion, she shares her people's assumption that Irion is backward and superstitious and no match for her homeland's superior numbers and technology. But as the two realms march inevitably toward war, Jedda finds herself at the center of historic, unimaginable events that will challenge everything she has ever believed about the world--and herself.
The Ordinary is a powerful and entrancing tale of magic, science, and the mysterious truth that binds them together.

I know Kirith Kirin can be read as a standalone… But learning that there’s actually two sequels?! Yeah, I NEED to continue on with this series!

Sleep No More (October Daye, #17) by Seanan McGuire
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 5th September 2023
Goodreads

October is very happy with her life as the second daughter of her pureblood parents, Amandine and Simon Torquill. Born to be the changeling handmaid to her beloved sister August, she spends her days working in her family’s tower, serving as August’s companion, and waiting for the day when her sister sets up a household of her own. Everything is right in October’s Faerie. Everything is perfect.

Everything is a lie.

October has been pulled from her own reality and thrown into a twisted reinterpretation of Faerie where nothing is as it should be and everything has been distorted to support Titania’s ideals. Bound by the Summer Queen’s magic and thrust into a world turned upside down, October has no way of knowing who she can trust, where she can turn, or even who she really is. As strangers who claim to know her begin to appear and the edges of Titania’s paradise begin to unravel, Toby will have to decide whether she can risk everything she knows based on only their stories of another world.

But first she’ll have to survive this one, as Titania demonstrates why she needed to be banished in the first place—and this time, much more than Toby’s own life is at stake.

I am SO MAD that after 16 books and uncountable novellas, I managed to fall behind in this series – I was doing so well! And I really want to catch up and go back to reading new instalments as they’re released! So Sleep No More – I’M COMIN’ ATCHA!

Mating Flight: A Non-Romance of Dragons by Bard Bloom, Tod Wills
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: F/M/M polyamory
Published on: 4th July 2015
Goodreads

It's finally time for Jyothky and eight other misfit adolescent dragons to go off to an unexplored, dragon-free universe and decide who will marry whom. They're astral dragons, mighty and arrogant, with devastating breath weapons and vast magical powers, and they're not even there to conquer the place. What kind of trouble could the natives possibly be — even civilized and technologically sophisticated natives? Or the mind-controlling parasite worms, or the undead god, or any of Hove's other surprises?…Maybe quite a lot of trouble, but not as much as they will bring upon themselves.

I mean, anything subtitled ‘a non-romance of dragons’ sounds immediately excellent to me! I’ve been craving some less-traditional dragon stories, and I suspect this will do BEAUTIFULLY.

Warchild (Warchild, #1) by Karin Lowachee
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 1st April 2002
Goodreads

The merchant ship Mukudori encompasses the whole of eight-year-old Jos's world, until a notorious pirate destroys the ship, slaughters the adults, and enslaves the children. Thus begins a desperate odyssey of terror and escape that takes Jos beyond known space to the homeworld of the strits, Earth's alien enemies. To survive, the boy must become a living weapon and a master spy. But no training will protect Jos in a war where every hope might be a deadly lie, and every friendship might hide a lethal betrayal. And all the while he will face the most grueling trial of his lifebecoming his own man.

Another that’s been on my tbr pretty much forever, AND I’ve now read and loved the author’s dragons, AND this series is a deeply beloved fave of one of my book besties. Time to get to it!

The Queens of Innis Lear (Innis Lear, #1) by Tessa Gratton
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 27th March 2018
Goodreads

A KINGDOM AT RISK, A CROWN DIVIDED, A FAMILY DRENCHED IN BLOOD

Tessa Gratton's debut epic adult fantasy, Queens of Innis Lear, brings to life a world that hums with ancient magic, and characters as ruthless as the tides.

The erratic decisions of a prophecy-obsessed king have drained Innis Lear of its wild magic, leaving behind a trail of barren crops and despondent subjects. Enemy nations circle the once-bountiful isle, sensing its growing vulnerability, hungry to control the ideal port for all trade routes.

The king’s three daughters―battle-hungry Gaela, master manipulator Reagan, and restrained, starblessed Elia―know the realm’s only chance of resurrection is to crown a new sovereign, proving a strong hand can resurrect magic and defend itself. But their father will not choose an heir until the longest night of the year, when prophecies align and a poison ritual can be enacted.

Refusing to leave their future in the hands of blind faith, the daughters of Innis Lear prepare for war―but regardless of who wins the crown, the shores of Innis will weep the blood of a house divided.

Tessa Gratton is one of my fave authors, and after adoring The Mercy Makers (if you haven’t read it yet, READ IT) I have even more incentive to finally get to this. It doesn’t hurt that the same book bestie who loves Warchild loves this too!)

A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane
Genres: Fantasy, Science Fantasy, YA
Representation: Latino MC
Published on: 22nd October 2013
Goodreads

It's not scientists who find the first signs of life on Mars. It's wizards.
Young wizards Kit Rodriguez and Nita Callahan manage to wangle their way onto an elite team sent to investigate the mysterious, long-sought "message in a bottle" that holds the first clues to the secrets of the ancient Martian race. But not even wizardry is enough to cope with the strange events that start to unfold when the "bottle" is uncorked and life emerges once more to shake the Red Planet with its own terrifying and magnificent brand of magic.
The good news is that the Martians seem friendly. The bad news is that now they're free to pick up where they left off on some old plans that could change the shape of more than one world...and they don't mind using their well-intentioned rescuers to achieve their goals. Kit's growing fascination with all things Martian unexpectedly enmeshes him in a terrible, age-old conflict -- turning him into both a possible key to its solution, and a tool which in the wrong hands could threaten the whole human race.
Only Kit can stop the threat...and only Nita can tell for sure whose side he's on. But she's got her own problems. Nita finds herself facing a completely unexpected enemy that she can't conquer without giving up everything that matters to her. And if she does, she risks becoming far less than human. Or far more...

Very like the October Daye books, the So You Want to Be a Wizard series is one I really want to continue with. Time to get back to it!

Ancestral Night (White Space, #1) by Elizabeth Bear
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Queer MC
Published on: 5th March 2019
Goodreads

“Outstanding…Amid a space opera resurgence, Bear’s novel sets the bar high.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A space salvager and her partner make the discovery of a lifetime that just might change the universe in this wild, big-ideas space opera from Hugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear.

Halmey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz are salvage operators, living just on the inside of the law...usually. Theirs is the perilous and marginal existence—with barely enough chance of striking it fantastically big—just once—to keep them coming back for more. They pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human and alien vessels. But when they make a shocking discovery about an alien species that has been long thought dead, it may be the thing that could tip the perilous peace mankind has found into full-out war.

Energetic and electrifying, Ancestral Night is a dazzling space opera, sure to delight fans of Alastair Reynolds, Iain M. Banks, and Peter F. Hamilton—“Bear's ability to create breathtaking variations on ancient themes and make them new and brilliant is, perhaps, unparalleled in the genre” (Library Journal, starred review).

I badly need to read more Sci Fi, and I already love Elizabeth Bear’s Fantasy, so it only seems sensible to try out her Sci Fi too, yes?

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer Black albino MC
Published on: 4th May 2021
Goodreads

A triumphant, genre-bending breakout novel from one of the boldest new voices in contemporary fiction

Vern--seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised--flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world.

But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes.

To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future--outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it.

Rivers Solomon's Sorrowland is a genre-bending work of Gothic fiction. Here, monsters aren't just individuals, but entire nations. It is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in American fiction.

It is simply outrageous that I haven’t gotten to this yet, especially given how much I’ve loved Solomon’s other books! It is PAST time!

Jack of Thorns (Inheritance, #1) by Amelia Faulkner, A.K. Faulkner
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay MC
Published on: 13th May 2016
Goodreads

Laurence Riley might be able to see the future, but he can't see a way to fix his messed-up life. He can't control anything—not his supernatural talents, not his drug addiction, and not his violent ex-boyfriend. Laurence needs help and he knows it. A lifelong pagan, he turns to his god... and he gets Jack. Jack can help Laurence tame his powers and take control of his life. But it comes at a price: Laurence will need to keep him fed with regular offerings of sex. For the old Laurence, that would've been a pleasure. Problem is, Laurence has met Quentin.

Quentin is devastatingly handsome, way out of Laurence's league (like British nobility levels of out-of-his-league), and unbearably chaste. If that weren’t enough to keep Laurence away, Quentin's wild telekinesis is even more uncontrollable than Laurence's precognition. But Laurence doesn't want anyone else, and Jack is getting hungry.

Then Laurence foresees a glimpse of Jack's true plan. It will leave a trail of death across San Diego--and Laurence has been helping him do it. The past has taught him that the future can't be changed. But if Laurence and Quentin can't stop Jack, there won't be any future at all.

Jack of Thorns is the first book in a dark urban fantasy series where X-Men meets The Magicians.

I’ve been hearing amazing things about this series for years from other fans of The Tarot Sequence, and I’m determined to give it a proper try! (My previous attempts bounced right off the prologue – maybe I should just skip it…)

Mister Impossible (Dreamer Trilogy, #2) by Maggie Stiefvater
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Gay MC
Published on: 18th May 2021
Goodreads

Something is happening to the source of the dreamers' power. It is blocked. Diminished. Weak. If it goes away entirely, what will happen to the dreamers and those who depend on them?

Ronan Lynch isn't planning to wait and find out. Backed by his mentor, Bryde, he is ready to do what needs to be done to save the dreamers and the dreamed . . . even if it takes him far from his family and the boy he loves.

Jordan Hennessy knows she will not survive if the dreaming fails. So she plunges into a dark underworld in order to find an object that may sustain her.

Carmen Farooq-Lane is afraid of the dreamers -- which is why she's agreed to hunt them down. The closer she gets, though, the more complicated her feelings become. Will the dreamers destroy the world . . . or will the world be destroyed trying to eliminate the dreamers?

In the remarkable second book of The Dreamer Trilogy, Maggie Stiefvater pushes her characters to their limits -- and shows what happens when they start to break.

Am I heartbroken Stiefvater’s said she’s leaving Fantasy for the foreseeable future? Oh hells yes. But that somehow makes it feel even more important to go finish the Dreamer trilogy at last!

The Moonstone Covenant by Jill Hammer
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MCs, F/F/F/F group marriage
Published on: 12th November 2024
Goodreads

The story of four women who set out to uncover the secret origins of an intricate, magical city—and to change its fate.

Istehar Sha'an, whose unique powers allow her to communicate with trees and books, has led her community of refugee forest people to a remarkable place. In the archipelago-city of Moonstone, the Sha'an people find themselves in an extraordinary, multicultural metropolis that houses the the world's all-encompassing repository of wisdom. But in their search for a new home, the refugees soon garner the suspicion of Moonstone's locals, who forbid their magical practices. And when a hostile prince makes a bid to inherit the city's rule from his father, Istehar and her people realize they may be faced with exile—or worse. Meanwhile, Istehar has married three wives of Moonstone—a brave warrior librarian, a subtle-minded former concubine, and a tenacious apothecary who has spent years trying to solve her parents' murder. Driven by magical intuition and guided by a mysterious book, Istehar and her wives embark on a journey that will transform not only their lives, but the city of Moonstone itself.

Another one I’ve been trying to read for years and years. I love everything about this one; doesn’t it sound amazing???

Unicorn Mountain by Michael Bishop
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 1st June 1988
Goodreads

Unicorns roam the uplands of Libby Quarrels' mountain ranch. When Libby takes the AIDS-afflicted Bo Gavin out of exile in Atlanta to live with her in Colorado, she sees no connection between his disease and the fantastic secret she guards. But it so happens the unicorns suffer from a plague of their own, and the alternate world that touches the high country has unleashed magic sinister as well as marvelous. While Libby's Indian ranch hand Sam is stalked by his wife's headless ghost, his estranged daughter has visions that propel her toward the grueling Sun Dance ritual, where an encounter with the spirit world may decide the fate of both the unicorns and the people whose lives they've touched.

I am always craving Adult books featuring unicorns – there aren’t nearly enough of them. So it’s PAST time I pick up this classic!

Children of Time (Children of Time, #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 4th June 2015
Goodreads

A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?

WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.

Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?

As I said above, I really need to be reading more Sci Fi, and Tchaikovsky is another author who’s Fantasy I’ve enjoyed before. Re Children of Time, I’ve been promised genuinely alien aliens and spiders, so I’m trying this (of his MANY Sci Fi offerings) first!

Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8; City Watch, #1) by Terry Pratchett
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 1st August 1989
Goodreads

This is where the dragons went. They lie... not dead, not asleep, but... dormant. And although the space they occupy isn't like normal space, nevertheless they are packed in tightly. They could put you in mind of a can of sardines, if you thought sardines were huge and scaly. And presumably, somewhere, there's a key...

This is going to be my final attempt to fall in love with Discworld – I read a few when I was younger, but have bounced off everything I’ve tried as an adult. Everyone I’ve discussed this with does seem to think the City Watch arc is the best fit for me, though, so I’m hopeful!

The Pride of Chanur (Chanur, #1) by C.J. Cherryh
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 5th January 1982
Goodreads

When Tully, a fugitive from a spaceship captured by the arrogant, thieving, rodent-like Kif, takes refuge on the Pride of Chanur, a merchant vessel belonging to a clan of the lion-like Hani, Pyanfar Chanur, its captain, gives him shelter, in spite of all the dangers she and her crew will face.

I’ve loved this author’s Foreigner series (which I highly recommend if Sci Fi of Manners sounds interesting to you) and want to check out the rest of her bibliography. And Pride of Chanur, by FAR, was the one recommended to me!

This Alien Shore (Alien Shores, #1) by C.S. Friedman
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Representation: Neurodivergent MCs
Published on: 1st September 1998
Goodreads

This lauded work of science fiction and New York Times Notable Book of the Year explores a universe where genetic mutations have allowed certain individuals to traverse the stars.

It is the second stage of human colonization--the first age, humanity's initial attempt to people the stars, ended in disaster when it was discovered that Earth's original superluminal drive did permanent genetic damage to all who used it--mutating Earth's far-flung colonists in mind and body.

Now, one of Earth's first colonies has given humanity back the stars, but at a high price--a monopoly over all human commerce. And when a satellite in Earth's outer orbit is viciously attacked by corporate raiders, an unusual young woman flees to a ship bound for the Up-and-Out.

But her narrow escape does not mean safety. For speeding across the galaxy pursued by ruthless, but unknown adversaries, this young woman will discover a secret which is buried deep inside her psyche--a revelation the universe may not be ready to face....

A future where only neurodivergent people can navigate through space?! Meaning the whole human race depends on them?! GIMME!

Have you read any of these? Do you have anything picked out for your next year’s tbr? Let me know!

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