Happy Bi Visibility Day! And of course the best way I know to celebrate is with a list of recs, so – TA DA! 16 SFF books featuring bi (or pan – it can be hard to tell which if characters don’t clearly label themselves!) characters! With a bonus extra book just because!
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Bi/Pansexual MC, disability, characters of colour, minor genderqueer character, secondary gay and lesbian characters
Goodreads
Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy?
As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured.
And, to her horror, compared to the other bodies strewn about, she’s the lucky one.
So, of course, then she gets laid off.
With no money and no mobility, with only her anger and internet research acumen, she discovers her suffering at the hands of a hero is far from unique. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks.
Because the key to everything is data: knowing how to collate it, how to manipulate it, and how to weaponize it. By tallying up the human cost these caped forces of nature wreak upon the world, she discovers that the line between good and evil is mostly marketing. And with social media and viral videos, she can control that appearance.
It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world.
A sharp, witty, modern debut, Hench explores the individual cost of justice through a fascinating mix of Millennial office politics, heroism measured through data science, body horror, and a profound misunderstanding of quantum mechanics.
Let’s start with superheroes – who aren’t, when you stop and think about it, very super at all. Hench is a brilliant, wry, hysterically funny counter to every superhero story ever, insightful and diverse and so clever! Anna would gut me for calling her a heroine, but she’s an amazing main character every millennial-and-under will be able to identify with all too well. Her superpowers are spreadsheets and Powerpoints; what more could you possibly need to know?
You can read my full review here!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: East-Asian coded cast, bisexual MCs, sapphic MC, trans secondary character
Goodreads
Four destinies collide in a unique fantasy world of war and wonders, where empire is won with enchanted steel and magical animal companions fight alongside their masters in battle.
A soldier with a curseTala lost her family to the empress’s army and has spent her life avenging them in battle. But the empress’s crimes don’t haunt her half as much as the crimes Tala has committed against the laws of magic... and her own flesh and blood.
A prince with a debtJimuro has inherited the ashes of an empire. Now that the revolution has brought down his kingdom, he must depend on Tala to bring him home safe. But it was his army who murdered her family. Now Tala will be his redemption—or his downfall.
A detective with a grudgeXiulan is an eccentric, pipe-smoking detective who can solve any mystery—but the biggest mystery of all is her true identity. She’s a princess in disguise, and she plans to secure her throne by presenting her father with the ultimate prize: the world’s most wanted prince.
A thief with a broken heartLee is a small-time criminal who lives by only one law: Leave them before they leave you. But when Princess Xiulan asks her to be her partner in crime—and offers her a magical animal companion as a reward—she can’t say no, and soon finds she doesn’t want to leave the princess behind.
This band of rogues and royals should all be enemies, but they unite for a common purpose: to defeat an unstoppable killer who defies the laws of magic. In this battle, they will forge unexpected bonds of friendship and love that will change their lives—and begin to change the world.
Another book that questions right and wrong and who are the good and the evil, The Steel Crow Saga is a standalone fantasy set in the aftermath of a war that has seen the Tomodonese empire broken. The last remaining member of the Tomodonese imperial family is being escorted back to claim his throne and make peace with the lands that were once his country’s vassal-states…but things get complicated. This is a fast-moving but still poignant and powerful fantasy where people make soul-pacts with animals or metal to accomplish incredible things, with worldbuilding lightly inspired by East Asia and incredibly compelling characters. If you’re looking for questions without easy answers and all different kinds of Fierce, this is your book!
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MCs, polyamory, M/F/F/M
Goodreads
A lyrical and dreamy reimagining of Dracula’s brides, A DOWRY OF BLOOD is a story of desire, obsession, and emancipation.
Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets.
With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.
Or maybe you prefer your bisexuals more gothic??? A Dowry of Blood is a retelling – or maybe it would be more accurate to call it a re-imagining – of Dracula, as told by his (first) wife Constanta, who embraces all vampirism has to offer, to the point of eventually outgrowing and overcoming her husband. This is a decadent, delicious short novel about becoming a monster – and revelling in it, unashamed.
You can read my full review here!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, secondary F/F, queernorm world
Goodreads
All martyrdoms are difficult.
Elfreda Raughn will avoid pregnancy if it kills her, and one way or another, it will kill her. Though she’s able to stomach her gruesome day-to-day duties, the reality of preserving the Sisterhood of Aytrium’s magical bloodline horrifies her. She wants out, whatever the cost.
So when a shadowy cabal approaches Elfreda with an offer of escape, she leaps at the opportunity. As their spy, she gains access to the highest reaches of the Sisterhood, and enters a glittering world of opulent parties, subtle deceptions, and unexpected bloodshed.
A phantasmagorical indictment of hereditary power, Star Eater takes readers deep into a perilous and uncanny world where even the most powerful women are forced to choose what sacrifices they will make, so that they might have any choice at all.
Perhaps you want to stray even closer to the fantasy/horror boundary than vampires? In that case, have a priestesshood of cannibalistic nuns, whose power keeps their sky-island nation afloat but transforms the men they dare to love into monsters. Star Eater manages to be both gorgeous and horrifying, brutal and beautiful in equal measure, with some really lovely worldbuilding and a toxic conspiracy deeply invested in keeping the system of power in place. One that’s going to have to fall if the crimes of the past are to be redeemed…
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, secondary M/M, secondary sapphic character, queernorm world
Goodreads
This Machiavellian fantasy follows a scholar's quest to choose the next ruler of her kingdom amidst lies, conspiracy, and assassination.
When the death of Iron Queen Sarelin Brey fractures the realm of Elira, Lysande Prior, the palace scholar and the queen’s closest friend, is appointed Councillor. Publically, Lysande must choose the next monarch from amongst the city-rulers vying for the throne. Privately, she seeks to discover which ruler murdered the queen, suspecting the use of magic.
Resourceful, analytical, and quiet, Lysande appears to embody the motto she was raised with: everything in its place. Yet while she hides her drug addiction from her new associates, she cannot hide her growing interest in power. She becomes locked in a game of strategy with the city-rulers – especially the erudite prince Luca Fontaine, who seems to shift between ally and rival.
Further from home, an old enemy is stirring: the magic-wielding White Queen is on the move again, and her alliance with a traitor among the royal milieu poses a danger not just to the peace of the realm, but to the survival of everything that Lysande cares about.
In a world where the low-born keep their heads down, Lysande must learn to fight an enemy who wears many guises… even as she wages her own battle between ambition and restraint.
Maybe political fantasy is your thing, but with less horror? The Councillor has been repeatedly described as Machiavellian fantasy; my personal caveat to that is, The Councillor is Machiavellian if Machiavelli wasn’t a dick. Gorgeous sex-positive worldbuilding combined with a careful, delicate dance to decide who should be the next monarch = a ridiculously delicious fantasy, with politics galore, a sprinkling of kink, people hurling fireballs, a love interest with Marvel!Loki vibes, and All The Secrets!
You can read my full review here!
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Disabled bisexual MC, M/M, polyamory/group marriage, queernorm setting
Goodreads
For the last twenty years, Esclin Aubrinos, arros of the Hundred Hills, has acted jointly with Alcis Mirielos, the kyra of the Westwood, and the rivermaster of Riverholme to defend their land of Allanoth against the Riders who invade from Manan across the Narrow Sea. He has long been a master of the shifting politics of his own people and his independently-minded allies, but this year the omens turn against him. The Riders have elected a new lord paramount, hallowed servant of the Blazing One, a man chosen and fated for victory.
The omens agree that Nen Elin, Esclin’s stronghold and the heart of Allanoth, will fall when a priest of the Blazing One enters its gates. Esclin needs a spirit-bonded royal sword, a talismanic weapon made of star-fallen iron, to unite the hillfolk behind him. But the same vision that called for the sword proclaimed that Esclin will then betray it, and every step he takes to twist free of the prophecies brings him closer to that doom.
If you prefer less fireballs with your politics, Water Horse features – as you might have guessed – more water-aligned magic, although there’s also a forest that will fuck invaders up. Allanoth, a realm reminiscent of ancient Ireland, has to deal with yearly invasions by the Riders, warriors from over the sea who worship a god of fire and healing and want to wipe out Allanoth’s pagan ways. The Arros – Esclin, king of the Hundred Hills – and the Kyra – Alcis, queen of the Westwood – have something to say about that, but these yearly wars are wearing away at Allanoth’s peoples. If you’d rather see a character with Marvel!Loki vibes as king rather than love interest, then you’re going to love silvertongued Esclin with his reputation for trickster-thinking and his ability to turn any table his enemy sets before him…
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Bisexual MC, achillean MC with OCD, M/M
Goodreads
This debut work of sociological science fiction follows a deadly battle for succession, where brother is pitted against brother in a singular chance to win power and influence for their family.
The cavern city of Pelismara has stood for a thousand years. The Great Families of the nobility cling to the myths of their golden age while the city's technology wanes.
When a fever strikes, and the Eminence dies, seventeen-year-old Tagaret is pushed to represent his Family in the competition for Heir to the Throne. To win would give him the power to rescue his mother from his abusive father, and marry the girl he loves.But the struggle for power distorts everything in this highly stratified society, and the fever is still loose among the inbred, susceptible nobles. Tagaret's sociopathic younger brother, Nekantor, is obsessed with their family's success. Nekantor is willing to exploit Tagaret, his mother, and her new servant Aloran to defeat their opponents.
Can he be stopped? Should he be stopped? And will they recognize themselves after the struggle has changed them?
Okay, so you love political machinations, but want less magic? Mazes of Power is the first in Wade’s sci fi series where most of society lives underground (the why is, as yet, unclear) and politics are everything. Wade’s worldbuilding is incredibly original and intricate, and even the least sympathetic of her characters are absolutely fascinating. Unlike most of the books on this list, this is very much not a queernorm society – it’s powerfully homophobic, in fact – but that doesn’t mean it has nothing to say about queerness.
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual MC, genderfluid love interest, F/F, NB/M
Goodreads
An orphan girl must face untold danger and an ancient evil to save her kingdom’s prince in this lush, romantic fantasy perfect for fans of Girls of Paper and Fire and Tess of the Road.
How can you live without your heart?
In the vast palace of the empress lives an orphan girl called Nothing. She slips within the shadows of the Court, unseen except by the Great Demon of the palace and her true friend, Prince Kirin, heir to the throne. When Kirin is kidnapped, only Nothing and the prince’s bodyguard suspect that Kirin may have been taken by the Sorceress Who Eats Girls, a powerful woman who has plagued the land for decades. The sorceress has never bothered with boys before, but Nothing has uncovered many secrets in her sixteen years in the palace, including a few about the prince.
As the empress’s army searches fruitlessly, Nothing and the bodyguard set out on a rescue mission, through demon-filled rain forests and past crossroads guarded by spirits. Their journey takes them to the gates of the Fifth Mountain, where the sorceress wields her power. There, Nothing will discover that all magic is a bargain, and she may be more powerful than she ever imagined. But the price the Sorceress demands for Kirin may very well cost Nothing her heart.
If spending a whole book underground is a bit much, how about spending a good chunk of it inside a mountain? Night Shine was pitched as Howl’s Moving Castle but queer, and honestly, that should be all you need to hear. But in fact Night Shine is so much more feral and strange than Howl’s Moving Castle, with a complex web connecting the cast, swoon-worthy worldbuilding, and a romance that’s all about being your truest wild self and revelling in Everything you are.
You can read my full review here!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, demisexual-coded sapphic MC, minor nonbinary character, queernorm world
Goodreads
A gripping, dark enemies-to-lovers LGBTQ+ YA fantasy about two girls who must choose between saving themselves, each other, or their sinking island home.
Every year on St. Walpurga's Eve, Caldella’s Witch Queen lures a boy back to her palace. An innocent life to be sacrificed on the full moon to keep the island city from sinking.
Lina Kirk is convinced her brother is going to be taken this year. To save him, she enlists the help of Thomas Lin, the boy she secretly loves, and the only person to ever escape from the palace. But they draw the queen’s attention, and Thomas is chosen as the sacrifice.
Queen Eva watched her sister die to save the boy she loved. Now as queen, she won't make the same mistake. She's willing to sacrifice anyone if it means saving herself and her city.
When Lina offers herself to the queen in exchange for Thomas’s freedom, the two girls await the full moon together. But Lina is not at all what Eva expected, and the queen is nothing like Lina envisioned. Against their will, they find themselves falling for each other as water floods Caldella’s streets and the dark tide demands its sacrifice.
From mountains to the sea: The Dark Tide is another book about queer girls and wildness, this time set on a Venice-like island city that will be devoured by the sea without a sacrifice from the Witch Queen. The prose and the magic alike are decadent and gorgeous, but this isn’t a story about being nice; it’s about being terrible, and how glorious that can be, how sometimes it’s exactly what you – and maybe the world – need.
You can read my full review here!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MCs, M/M or mlm, disability, anxiety
Goodreads
In a world of dwindling hope, love has never mattered more...
Captain Nathan J. Northland had no idea what to expect when he returned home to Lorehaven injured from war, but it certainly wasn't to find himself posted on an island full of vampires. An island whose local vampire dandy lord causes Nathan to feel strange things he'd never felt before. Particularly about fangs.
When Vlad Blutstein agreed to hire Nathan as Captain of the Eyrie Guard, he hadn't been sure what to expect either, but it certainly hadn't been to fall in love with a disabled werewolf. However Vlad has fallen and fallen hard, and that's the problem.
Torn by their allegiances--to family, to duty, and the age-old enmity between vampires and werewolves--the pair find themselves in a difficult situation: to love where the heart wants or to follow where expectation demands.
The situation is complicated further when a mysterious and beguiling figure known only as Lady Ursula crashes into their lives, bringing with her dark omens of death, doom, and destruction in her wake.
And a desperate plea for help neither of them can ignore.
Thrown together in uncertain times and struggling to find their place amidst the rising human empire, the unlikely trio must decide how to face the coming darkness: united as one or divided and alone. One thing is for certain, none of them will ever be the same.
It’s a very different kind of dark tide coming for the world in True Love Bites – one that, at least to begin with, is manifesting in sacred trees, not the waters. But that doesn’t immediately concern the main characters, who are more concerned with figuring out how their various disabilities and mental health issues fit together. That makes it sound very grim, but it absolutely isn’t – this is a very warm, loving story, even if there’s a great deal building in the background…
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, F/F, queernorm world
Goodreads
A charming historical fantasy with a tender love story at its core, from the author of Unnatural Magic.
Hard-drinking petty thief Dellaria Wells is down on her luck in the city of Leiscourt—again. Then she sees a want ad for a female bodyguard, and she fast-talks her way into the high-paying job. Along with a team of other women, she’s meant to protect a rich young lady from mysterious assassins.
At first Delly thinks the danger is exaggerated, but a series of attacks shows there’s much to fear. Then she begins to fall for Winn, one of the other bodyguards, and the women team up against a mysterious, magical foe who seems to have allies everywhere.
Delly isn’t so great staying in the background, although she does try. Between her over-enthusiastic apologies and the important-sounding Big Words she never hesitates to make up, there’s no way this book won’t have you giggling – after all, there’s even a haunted mouse skeleton that makes ominous BONG sounds when it feels the need to make its opinion known. Waggoner perfectly balances whimsy, humour and deep, meaty plot in this story that starts with a bodyguarding-gig and rapidly spirals out to become something much more serious.
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual Vietnamese-American MC, bisexual love interest, secondary M/M
Goodreads
Immigrant. Socialite. Magician.
Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society—she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.
But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.
Nghi Vo’s debut novel The Chosen and the Beautiful reinvents this classic of the American canon as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess, and introduces a major new literary voice.
Jordan doesn’t take life too seriously either, in this queer fantasy retelling of The Great Gatsby. I can assure you that you don’t need to have read The Great Gatsby to enjoy the hell out of this – I’ve never read Gatsby, and I loved every moment of The Chosen and the Beautiful. Vo’s prose is, as usual, absolutely spellbinding, which is only appropriate since magic drips off these pages. The decadence of the 1920s (at least for a certain social class) here takes the form not just of wealth but magic – although it’s not magic, really, that gets Jordan in trouble eventually…
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, secondary nonbinary character, queernorm world
Goodreads
Power always wins.
Imagine Camelot but in Gotham: a city where knights are the celebrities of the day, riding on motorbikes instead of horses and competing in televised fights for fame and money.
Imagine a city where a young, magic-touched bastard astonishes everyone by becoming king - albeit with extreme reluctance - and a girl with a secret past trains to become a knight for the sole purpose of vengeance.
Imagine a city where magic is illegal but everywhere, in its underground bars, its back-alley soothsayers - and in the people who have to hide what they are for fear of being tattooed and persecuted.
Imagine a city where electricity is money, power the only game worth playing, and violence the most fervently worshipped religion.
Welcome to a dark, chaotic, alluring place with a tumultuous history, where dreams come true if you want them hard enough - and are prepared to do some very, very bad things to get them . . .
"A riveting tragedy of blood and desire - and the coolest thing you'll read this year" ― Samantha Shannon, author of The Bone Season and The Priory of the Orange Tree
"The boldest, smartest, most adventurous fantasy I've read in ages - and it's really f**ing fun" ― Krystal Sutherland, author of Our Chemical Hearts
"Arthurian legend meets urban fantasy in a brilliant, bloody wild ride" ― Jay Kristoff, No.1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author
Magic isn’t celebrated in Blackheart Knights: instead it’s forbidden, with those who can wield it forced to wear monitoring bracelets and identifying tattoos. Eve has created a London – a Britain – that is a unique combination of old and modern, best embodied by her motorbike-riding knights and their televised tournaments. It’s King Arthur for people who love or hate King Arthur, with a bisexual wannabe-knight coming in to tear it all down.
You can read my full review here!
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Representation: Brown cast, bi/pansexual MCs, secondary asexual character, polyamory/group marriage
Goodreads
From the author of the Maradaine saga comes a new steampunk fantasy novel that explores a chaotic city on the verge of revolution.
Ziaparr: a city being rebuilt after years of mechanized and magical warfare, the capital of a ravaged nation on the verge of renewal and self-rule. But unrest foments as undercaste cycle gangs raid supply trucks, agitate the populace and vandalize the city. A revolution is brewing in the slums and shantytowns against the occupying government, led by a voice on the radio, connected through forbidden magic.
Wenthi Tung�t, a talented cycle rider and a loyal officer in the city patrol, is assigned to infiltrate the cycle gangs. For his mission against the insurgents, Wenthi must use their magic, connecting his mind to N�lia, a recently captured rebel, using her knowledge to find his way into the heart of the rebellion.
Wenthi's skill on a cycle makes him valuable to the resistance cell he joins, but he discovers that the magic enhances with speed. Every ride intensifies his connection, drawing him closer to the gang he must betray, and strengthens N�lia's presence as she haunts his mind.
Wenthi is torn between justice and duty, and the wrong choice will light a spark in a city on the verge of combustion.
Yes to motorbikes, not so much to knights? The Velocity of Revolution follows an undercover police officer infiltrating the rebellion that’s fighting against the country’s oppressive overlords – and they’re doing it using a magic that’s powered by their engines. This is dieselpunk at its best, set in a culture that is sex-positive in a way you’ve never seen before – and with seriously mouth-watering tacos. For real, don’t read this when you’re hungry!
You can read my full review here!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual Black MC, Lenape lesbian/two-spirit MC, Desi MC, secondary trans character
Goodreads
Five New Yorkers must come together in order to defend their city.
Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.
But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.
From motorbikes to the modern world we know! The City We Became is the story of what happens when NYC is ‘born’, becoming more than ‘just’ a city but a living entity. And since New York is obviously too much for one individual to embody, the city has not one but six avatars – although the first one is out for the count and MIA, and the other five are going to have to find him ASAP, while figuring out what being avatars of a city really means. And don’t forget the dimension-hopping Enemy out to kill them all before they can come into their power! That part’s kind of a big deal.
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual MC, past F/F
Goodreads
In the first book in a brilliant new fantasy series, books that aren't finished by their authors reside in the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, and it is up to the Librarian to track down any restless characters who emerge from those unfinished stories.
Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing—a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the library. When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and nervous demon courier Leto.
But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifyingly angelic Ramiel attacks them, convinced that they hold the Devil's Bible. The text of the Devil's Bible is a powerful weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell, so it falls to the librarians to find a book with the power to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell ... and Earth.
Hackwith’s characters are dealing with very different kinds of monster – not aliens from another dimension, but angels out to hunt them down. It’s all a misunderstanding, really! Kind of. Um. But there’s a library in Hell where all the books never written are shelved, and all the stories and religions are true, and what more could you want than badass librarians being Unimpressed and not-quite-Fallen angels out to win their way back into Heaven? Vikings? Damsels out to Cause Distress? A Hero that really needs to go back into his damn book? Because The Library of the Unwritten has all those too! Seriously, go read it!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, M/M, secondary achillean characters
Goodreads
Ox was twelve when his daddy taught him a very valuable lesson. He said that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.
Ox was sixteen when he met the boy on the road. The little boy who talked and talked and talked. Ox found out later the little boy hadn’t spoken in almost two years before that day, and that the little boy belonged to a family who had moved into the house at the end of the lane.
Ox was seventeen when he found out the little boy’s secret and it painted the world around him in colors of red and orange and violet, of Alpha and Beta and Omega.
Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his head and heart. The boy chased after the monster with revenge in his bloodred eyes, leaving Ox behind to pick up the pieces.It’s been three years since that fateful day—and the boy is back. Except now he’s a man, and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.
If The Library of the Unwritten sounds a little too busy for you, then Wolfsong is the slow, sweet, pull-you-under-and-sweep-you-away book you might be looking for. Klune’s fame has (rightfully!) exploded since The House in the Cerulean Sea, but you won’t find more Feels than in his Green Creek books. I’ve never been able to put into words what makes Wolfsong, in particular, so special, but an enormous part of it is the main character and narrator Ox, the way he thinks and speaks and the choices he makes. He’s special. He really is. This whole series is, and if you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to. You won’t find anything to easily match it.
Bonus
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, bisexual love interest, F/F
Published on: 5th October 2021
Goodreads
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The L Word in this fresh, sizzling rom-com by Lana Harper.
Emmy Harlow is a witch but not a very powerful one—in part because she hasn't been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her self-imposed exile has a lot to do with a complicated family history and a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical family in town and casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams.
But when a spellcasting tournament that her family serves as arbiters for approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy back. She's determined to do her familial duty; spend some quality time with her best friend, Linden Thorn; and get back to her real life in Chicago.
On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia Avramov—an all-around badass adept in the darker magical arts—who is fresh off a bad breakup . . . with Gareth Blackmoore. Talia had let herself be charmed, only to discover that Gareth was also seeing Linden—unbeknownst to either of them. And now she and Linden want revenge. Only one question stands: Is Emmy in?
But most concerning of all: Why can't she stop thinking about the terrifyingly competent, devastatingly gorgeous, wickedly charming Talia Avramov?
Payback’s a Witch isn’t out for another few weeks, but it’s a delicious fun read you definitely need to preorder! Harper’s prose is just descriptive enough to be beautiful but not too much to overwhelm the first-person narration of her main character Emmy – a witch who’s given up magic, but comes back to her magical hometown for the sake of family tradition. It’s just as much fun as the blurb makes it sound, but it’s also wonderfully heartfelt and emotionally honest, with adult characters actually treating each other like fellow adults for once! I love it. You’ll love it. Go preorder it!
[…] 23th was Bi Visibility Day. To celebrate this day, Sia @ Every Book a Doorway and Kat @ Bookish Blades recommended books with bi protagonists. Kat also shared her own story […]