For some odd reason I’ve really been craving some good science fiction books. I’m usually a fantasy girl all the way through, but I do stray to various other genres. Science Fiction is the one genre that I have a hard time liking–not because I feel the genre is filled with poor writers, but more because it feels like there aren’t a lot of science fiction stories with strong female characters in the starring role.
I own more fantasy books than I care to admit, and in comparison I think I have approximately two science fiction books. (As a side note, I don’t count dystopian books as straight up sci fi.) I’ve been trolling Goodreads, hoping for excellent titles, but since I don’t really know of any female science fiction series, I don’t know where to get started.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
My search for books aside, I have good news to share about the MBRC sequel! I’ve written 104 Microsoft Word pages, or 52,000 words. I’m hoping to finish it up in another 50-40 pages, so I should be finished by the end of the first week in September. I’m a little nervous about this sequel since it’s been so widely requested, but I have to compliment the champions who won the Name Game contest. The characters matched to their names–Baobab, a fairy; Harrison, a goblin; and Grogrintork, a dwarf–are my favorites in the batch of new characters you get to meet.
That’s all for today, Champions! Thank you for reading, I will see you next week!
Thank you everyone for the recommendations! I wasn’t able to read at all last week to my great disappointment–I was more than a little obsessed with finishing MBRC 2–but I am hopeful I will get to start reading your recommendations this week. I’ve already bought a few of them and placed holds at my local library for a few others. I am especially excited because I can’t wait to discover what you consider great science fiction!
Janet Edwards Earth Girl trilogy is insanely good. I’ve just finished the last book and I didn’t want it to end. It has a awesome female lead and some romance on the side.
I’ll throw in a seconding of Linnea Sinclair’s “Games of Command” and add another of her books, “Finders Keepers.”
Other good SciFi reads with female leads are Ilona Andrews Kinsmen short stories, “Silent Blade” and “Silver Shark,” and Rachel Aaron’s Paradox trilogy (writing as Rachel Bach) was INSANELY good. Sara Creasy’s Scarabaeus books were well written and Michael R. Hicks’ latest In Her Name books center around the first empress’s story, but the rest of the series is just as well written even if it has male leads. Another epic series with a female lead, if you like military SciFi, is Jean Johnson’s Theirs Not To Reason Why series.
Sylvia Engdahl’s “Enchantress from Beyond the Stars” is an excellent sci-fi / fantasy blend, with a heroine who must learn her strength. I am eagerly awaiting the release of Stephanie Ricker’s “The Cendrillon Cycle” — the Cendrillon world is introduced in the short story “A Cinder’s Tale” in the “Five Glass Slippers” anthology
I am VERY excited about these possibilities. Thank you for the titles and authors, everyone! Since I know I have some fellow Shannon Hale readers here, I’ll admit her newest book–Dangerous–is what piqued my interest in sci fi.
Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair. It’s a Sci Fi with a strong female lead. Has a good bit of romance as well! The Accidental Goddess by the same author is really fantastic as well. 🙂
I’m like you – I prefer fantasy to sci-fi, but I’ve started getting into it thanks to my beautiful kindle. Some series that I enjoy are (in no particular order):
the Cassidy Jones books by Elise Stokes. It reads kind of like a comic book story (super heroes rather than spaceships), but well-written and very funny.
I just finished the Purgatory series by Amy Harmon, a two-book time-travel story. It was very good, in spite of some (unnecessary language), and the second book is like an episode of Doctor Who – completely convoluted and mind-boggling, in a good way.
Breath of Life by Christine Pope is a sci-fi version of Beauty and the Beast (!). She also has a straight fantasy version called Dragon Roses.
The Saving Mars series by Cidney Swanson is an fun and interesting YA take on space colonization.
The Nexus books by J. Craft Mitchell is more of an ensemble piece, but it does follow a pretty strong female in a futuristic espionage story.
The Journals of Kara and Jason is kind of an odd, younger-adult book. The first half is told in alternating journal entries by the main characters (some of them are quite funny), and the second half switches to third person a few years later. There’s some really clever twists at the end.
Timebound is the beginning of a time-travel series by Rysa Walker. I haven’t read the rest of the series (I tend to get the beginnings of series for free or cheap and don’t always follow through on the rest of the series), but the first book is good, and has a decent amount of closure.
My all-time favourite sci-fi book is Arena by Karen Hancock. It’s basically Pilgrim’s Progress, but with a female lead. And aliens. Her book The Enclave is also good.
Enjoy, and good luck with your reading quest!
I’d suggest Calculated Risk by K S Ferguson. Kama is an awesome female lead. You could also try the Touchstone trilogy or And All the Stars, both of which are written by Andrea K Host.
Across the Universe is pretty good and has a female lead. The Academy is wonderful too but it focuses more on gender than science. Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow are both amazing but they don’t have female leads. All of these books are totally worth reading.
Oohh, I’ve read Ender’s Game and Ender’s shadow and I did enjoy them, but I have not read Across the Universe or The Academy. I shall get onto that!