Fantasy – but make it gay. Is that so much to ask? While the majority of the world’s most celebrated fantasy novels are generally centered around the manly exploits of mainly cishet men, there are a few choice titles where other genders and sexualities are involved. As the queer community continues to become more visible in modern society, the demand for literature that represent us has equally grown. Like Gondor, we’re calling for literary aid, and like Rohan, these authors have answered. Here are the 10 best queer fantasy books for adults.
The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles is easily one of the most devastatingly beautiful novels that I’ve ever had the pleasure of sobbing through. It’s a retelling of The Iliad by Homer, centered around the love affair between the demigod Achilles and his companion Patroclus. While the original myth sadly leaves much to the imagination, Miller makes up for Homer’s unwillingness to really go there. Like the hobbit’s tale that Bilbo is writing, Miller goes there and back again by narrating the story of Achilles and Patroclus’ doomed love in aching, glorious detail. And yes, like lovers in pretty much any Ancient Greek affair, this pair is indeed doomed. Just like in Homer’s sea-faring epic Odysseus, it’s not the ultimate destination that matters, the journey is where the true beauty lies.
The Priory of the Orange Tree
The TLDR of Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree is that a pair of sapphics stop the world from being destroyed by a giant dragon god. Like Chappell Roan at the VMA’s, Queen Sabran of the Kingdom of Inys suits up for battle against an apocalyptic monstrosity that threatens to swallow the world in fire. Her armor? A lady-in-waiting who secretly belongs to an ancient order of mages trained to combat the return of The Nameless One – a dragon god so horrible that no one even bothered to christen it. As Sabran and her lady-in-waiting Ead Duryan set out on their quest to stop the god of destruction’s return, they begin a slow burn romance soon to burn hotter than hottest dragon flame.
The Black God’s Drums
The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark is a steampunk alternate history novel set in a world where the American Civil War was fought to a draw, and New Orleans is a neutral territory between the Union and the Confederacy. Jacquelin aka “Creeper” is a young woman living in the Free City of New Orleans, and ekes out a living with the help of the orisha of storms – a Yoruba storm spirit that has granted her blessing. After learning that the Confederacy is keen on tracking down a divine superweapon known as The Black God’s Drums, she teams up with a one-legged lesbian airship captain in order to prevent the South from winning the war. It’s a story of two queer Black women teaming up to battle white supremacists with the help of ancient magic and steampunk gadgetry – a swashbuckling caper with more impact than many full length fantasy series.
The House In the Cerulean Sea
Linus Baker, protagonist of TJ Klune’s The House In The Cerulean Sea, lives an interesting life on paper. He’s a caseworker for a government agency responsible for the welfare of magical children. The problem? Paper is the only thing he deals with. Linus’ life is a bureaucratic nightmare, one filled with endless filings and forms instead of any real heart to heart work with the people that his agency is charged with helping. All that changes when Linus is assigned to monitor the titular house by a cerulean sea, and report back on the magical children who live there under the guardianship of a charismatic caretaker. As Linus begins to get to know the children and their surrogate father figure better, he soon realizes that his chosen family has been staring him in the face the whole time. A slow burn romance between a burned out office worker and a man with a magical secret, what more could you ask for?
Gideon the Ninth
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth is a gothic, sapphic, necromantic space opera set in a faraway star system where nine planets each compete for the favor of a Dune-like Emperor. Each of these planets is ruled by a House of necromancers, who practice their own unique brand of death magic. The heiress of the Ninth House, a woman named Harrowhark “Harrow” Nonagesimus, is called away to a gothic manor house on a distant planet to serve in a series of dangerous trials for the Emperor – and she knows just who to bring with her. Enter Gideon – an indentured servant and swordfighter desperate to escape her life of servitude to the Ninth House, who sees a spacefaring adventure with Harrow as a way out. While the two begin the story as bitter enemies, they’ll need to learn to depend on one another in order to survive – and maybe fall for each other in the process.
She Who Became The Sun
Shelley Chan Parker’s She Who Became The Sun is a retelling of the story of one of China’s most famous leaders – the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming Dynasty. After taking on her dead brother’s identity, a young orphan girl sets out to inherit the destiny of greatness that was foretold to belong to her deceased sibling… cause he isn’t using it anymore. Now rechristened, Zhu Chongba slowly rises through the ranks of the Chinese resistance movement, eventually becoming an esteemed general in the fight against Mongolian rule. As Zhu’s position rises, she begins a fraught romance with the daughter of a court official, who helps her navigate the dangers of society’s upper echelons. As the pair grow closer, Zhu Chongba begins to examine her complex relationship with love and gender identity, rejecting traditional gender roles in favor of the pursuit of ultimate power.
The Book Eaters
The Book Eaters is a devourable novel by Sunyi Dean, centered around young woman with a literal literary appetite. Far out on the Yorkshire moors lives Devon, daughter of a mysterious family for whom books are a food group. After eating a text, these book eaters are able to retain all the information stored therein. While her brothers are spoon-fed stories of adventure, she’s forced to subsist on a meager diet of cautionary fairy tales that her family deems suitable for young women who will someday be married off. Devon is not content to chow down on traditional gender role content, and breaks away from her claustrophobic existence after her son is born with a rare form of hunger – one that can only be sated by eating human minds. While on the run with her child, Devon reflects on the fact that her family starved her of a certain kind of love – a sapphic love that she was once forced to bury in order to fit in.
Spear
A sapphic retelling of the Arthurian legend, Nicola Griffith’s Spear is the story of a young woman’s quest to become a knight at King Arthur’s Round Table. After taking the name of a fabled spear owned by divine beings, young Peretur sets out on a quest across the land, spurred on by magical visions of a lady that may or may not dwell in a lake. After tracking down Arthur and meeting the Nimue (The Lady of The Lake herself) the two women realize that Arthur’s chief sorcerer Merlin is corrupting the king to seek out untold power – and that the pair will someday rule the land as tyrants unless someone stops them. Peretur just so happens to be that someone, and her advisor-turned-lover Nimue is here to help her along.
Swordspoint
A foundational work of queer fantasy, Swordspoint is Ellen Kushner’s story of two queer lovers attempting to survive in a bloody world. The streets of Riverside are as dangerous as Elizabethan England, one where noblemen are content to stab each other over the smallest of perceived slights. One of the best swordsmen in the city is Richard St. Vier, who has managed to stay alive through his undisputed skill. He makes a living fighting duels on behalf of nobles, but the situation gets thorny when his mercurial lover Alec becomes involved in a political plot. This story is essentially what would happen if Romeo never met Juliet and instead fell for the volatile Mercutio, and the emotional fallout that passionate love would provoke in a bloodthirsty society.
The Devourers
Warren Zevon got it wrong, the werewolves are NOT in London, but instead on the streets of Kolkata. Indra Das’s The Devourers is the story of a college professor who has a chance encounter with the supernatural on the night of a full moon. Professor Alok is met by a man who claims to be part werewolf, and attempts to prove it by providing the professor with a collection of skin-bound scrolls containing lycanthropic history. As the professor works to translate the scrolls from an ancient language, he finds that they contain more than just dry history – they read like a dark romance novel! A really messed up romance novel between a shapeshifting werewolf and his lover – who spent their days chowing down on the populace of 17th century India. Their bloody and brutal tale of love tugs at Professor Alok’s own queer heartstrings, and he begins to undergo an internal transformation as turbulent as the subjects of his work.
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