Female fantasy authors

[navybrandt]

So all of my favorite fantasy authors are male (Sanderson, Martin, Erikson, Jordan, Brett, Abercrombie, Rothfuss), but I have yet to find a female author that I love. These are people that I will read just about anything they write, but haven't found a female author that I can get into like their male counterparts. Two, that I've read recently are Elizabeth Hayden and Robin Hobb. Their books were fine but hardly left me craving more. I don't really like young adult dystopian novels such as The Hunger Games and Divergent, and Harry Potter was... meh.

 

1. Can anyone recommend a female author that can reach the heights of the great male fantasy authors listed above?

2. Will fantasy always be dominated by male authors?

3. Is it just me or do others notice the same phenomenon?

[Bort]

I know of a few fantasy authors who are female, and who could potentially rank up there with the others you've named.

 

Robin Hobb - I know you've said you read some of her work, but it didn't leave you wanting more, but I recommend going back to her. Check out the Farseer trilogy, the Liveship Traders, then the Tawny Man trilogy. They are easily her best work, but if you didn't start with Assassin's Apprentice, then I can see it making little sense. If you read the Soldier's Son series, then I can understand why you wouldn't want to go back. Avoid this one, it's just not very well written, unlike her Fitz and Fool books.

 

Trudi Canavan - Author of the Black Magician trilogy, a standalone prequel, and a sequel trilogy. Also, check out the Age of the Five trilogy.

[Joe ST]

A few recs from me:

• N.K. Jemisin is an AMAZING author
• Kristen Britain - Green Rider
• Diana Wynne Jones - from what I've heard also really awesome
• Mary Robinette Kowal - friend of Brandon's
• Ann Leckie - awesome scifi which won the Hugo
• Anne McCaffrey - classic dragons
• Marissa Meyer - Cinder/Scarlet/Cress, really great re-imagined fairytales
• Naomi Novik - Temarare, dragons during Napoleans times - Uprooted, a cute fantasy
• Maggie Stiefvater - american teens searching for olde-english magics
• Megan Whalen Turner - political intrigue fantasy

I'd also second Borts suggestions

[Bort]

Naomi Novik. I knew there was a name I was trying to remember when I was adding my reply.

 

I've heard good things about Uprooted, but have never read it. I own most of the Temeraire series though. Napoleonic wars with a dragon based air force. It's an interesting concept, and Naomi writes it well.

[navybrandt]

I'll give a few of these a try. Probably start with Naomi Novik. I'll update with my opinion later (in about a month as I'm a slow reader). Thanks.

[Gabriele]

If you want an intricate multi-book series, try Janny Wurts' Mistwraith books.

 

Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series is quite fun, too. A bit more SciFi-ish is the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedmann, with fae powers of an alternate earth planet. I loved Lois MacMaster Bujold's Curse of Chalion and its - standaloneish - sequels (and by the everstorm, write the last two in that series already. Me wants ).

Edited June 14, 2015 by Gabriele

[Delightful]

I second Naomi Novik, I love the Temeraire books.

Officially YA, Tamora Pierce. Her Alannah books on re-read aren't as good as when I fell in love with them at age ten, but she improved massively with each books - Protector of the Small and Tricksters Choice/tricksters queen being among my favourite books in general. I've read most of her books multiple times.

Isobelle Carmody (obernewtyn and darkfall series' among others, those are the best and, last I checked, still unfinished.)

I also read Kate Forsyth at one point but I don't remember how good those were.

[navybrandt]

I think re-reads are what really do it for me. When I re-read my favorite authors, I pick up on many things that I missed the first time through, but some books just don't have that "pick it up and read it again" quality.

 

I just started a class that's going to take a lot more time than anticipated, so it might be a while before I give you any feedback. I plan to try Naomi Novik this Summer though.

[Briar King]

I love Robin Hobb's Fitz books. I read 1-3 of Noviks and that was enough for me. I never started 4 even though I received 1-4 as a gift. Book 2 was the only one of the 3 I really liked.

I will mention Colleen McCulloughs Masters of Rome books but they are Historical Fiction. These are some of the best books I've ever read and you can tell Rome was her passion as you read. If you like Rome then odds are this will greatly please you.

[PeterAhlstrom]

I love Uprooted so much. It's a very different type of book from her Temeraire books, but it's also very different from something like Brandon's books.

 

I really liked Blood's Pride by Evie Manieri. I haven't gotten to the next book yet but it's on my to-read pile.

 

Los McMaster Bujold mainly writes great fun science fiction, but her fantasies are also very good. Definitely read The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls. Chalion made me cry harder than any book I've ever read, and Paladin is all-around a bit better book (and won the Hugo). Her Sharing Knife books are also quite good, though more relationship-focused (still, the magic & villain-force-of-nature is very cool), but you must consider the four books to actually be two books that each got split in half. They're not quite as satisfying individually.

 

Robin Hobb got mentioned; her Liveship books are my favorite. They have a broader scope, a more epic feel, which may appeal more to Brandon fans than the Fitz books.

 

CJ Cherryh mostly writes science fiction but her Fortress fantasy books are also very good. Fortress in the Eye of Time is the first one; it takes a while to get into but it really pays off. (I found her Russian fantasy books starting with Rusalka to be a bit too opaque for me.) Her Foreigner series is fantasy-like science fiction and is now at 16 books. (I only read the first 4 or so.)

 

I love love Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton, which is about dragon society. I didn't like her book Among Others, which is about being a teenager who loves to read science fiction books (plus some thrown-in magic). Those are the only two of hers I've read so far.

 

I thought N.K. Jemisin's 100,000 Kingdoms was excellent, but I haven't gotten to her other books yet.

Edited June 16, 2015 by PeterAhlstrom

[Gabriele]

The historical fantasy novels by Katherine Kurtz (Deryni series) and Judith Tarr (The Hound and the Falcon, etc.) are worth checking out, or rather, hunting down because most of the stuff is unfortunately out of print, though most of Tarr's books are avaliable as ebooks. 

[PeterAhlstrom]

Oh right, I wanted to mention another series of CJ Cherryh's. If you liked Brandon's story Sixth of the Dusk, then you should read CJ Cherryh's Rider at the Gate and Cloud's Rider. These two books have a magic system very similar to Sixth of the Dusk. Technically they are science fiction, in that it's a lost colony of humans who are stuck on an alien planet, but it's not very technological at all. Instead of psychic birds, there are psychic horses. Like the birds in Sixth of the Dusk, the horses mask the minds of the people from the predators in the wild who can sense minds.

[Briar King]

Yes Kurtz is good. If you've ever watched The Tudors it has the same feeling as the show but with magic. I need to finish that one day. Only read bk 1 and part of 2 but it was a great read.

[navybrandt]

I'm actually finishing Robin Hobbs 3rd Fitz book right now and I like it a lot more than the first two. I think being stuck with a single POV character is what is keeping me from loving it, but I still like it a lot. Peter said her Liveship books feel more Epic, so those are going on the "to read soon" list. I've never read Cherryh (hard to believe since she's so popular), so I'll pick something up by her too. The Historical Fiction genre is pretty good and I like it almost as much as Epic Fantasy. I'm actually recommending Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series to my wife.

[maxal]

I'm actually finishing Robin Hobbs 3rd Fitz book right now and I like it a lot more than the first two. I think being stuck with a single POV character is what is keeping me from loving it, but I still like it a lot. Peter said her Liveship books feel more Epic, so those are going on the "to read soon" list. I've never read Cherryh (hard to believe since she's so popular), so I'll pick something up by her too. The Historical Fiction genre is pretty good and I like it almost as much as Epic Fantasy. I'm actually recommending Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series to my wife.

 

Liveship has a multi-POV format.

[Gabriele]

I'm actually finishing Robin Hobbs 3rd Fitz book right now and I like it a lot more than the first two. I think being stuck with a single POV character is what is keeping me from loving it, but I still like it a lot. Peter said her Liveship books feel more Epic, so those are going on the "to read soon" list. I've never read Cherryh (hard to believe since she's so popular), so I'll pick something up by her too. The Historical Fiction genre is pretty good and I like it almost as much as Epic Fantasy. I'm actually recommending Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series to my wife.

If you like historical fiction, too, you should check out Sharon Kay Penman's books. She's written about Richard III and several books dealing with our favourite dysfunctional family besides the Tudors: the Plantagenets aks the devil's brood. 

Edited June 17, 2015 by Gabriele

[Wolven]

So all of my favorite fantasy authors are male (Sanderson, Martin, Erikson, Jordan, Brett, Abercrombie, Rothfuss), but I have yet to find a female author that I love. These are people that I will read just about anything they write, but haven't found a female author that I can get into like their male counterparts. Two, that I've read recently are Elizabeth Hayden and Robin Hobb. Their books were fine but hardly left me craving more. I don't really like young adult dystopian novels such as The Hunger Games and Divergent, and Harry Potter was... meh.

 

1. Can anyone recommend a female author that can reach the heights of the great male fantasy authors listed above?

2. Will fantasy always be dominated by male authors?

3. Is it just me or do others notice the same phenomenon?

I've always thought Elaine Cunningham was pretty good.  Not as good as the male names you've mentioned, but still pretty good.  She writes in the Forgotten Realms universe.  Two different series.  One based around The Harpers and another based around a young female drow.

 

I also really enjoyed the Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey.  It is set in an alternate history of medieval Europe.  It reads almost like the memoirs of the main character, so if your not into that style you might not like it.  Also, it is quite a bit more adult than your usual fantasy.  After all, the main character is basically a prostitute spy.  Although, in this world, if your of the right faith, prostitution is considered an act of of worship.  Anyway, it's pretty good.  

Edited June 21, 2015 by Wolven

[Guest]

Sara Douglass' "The Wayfarer Redemption" is pretty good IMO. Be aware it uses Prophesy, which I know some people have a serious hate towards.

Robin Hobby is good as well. I found Tawny Man much better than the first Fitz series.

[Bort]

I've always thought Elaine Cunningham was pretty good.  Not as good as the male names you've mentioned, but still pretty good.  She writes in the Forgotten Realms universe.  Two different series.  One based around The Harpers and another based around a young female drow.

 

I also really enjoyed the Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey.  It is set in an alternate history of medieval Europe.  It reads almost like the memoirs of the main character, so if your not into that style you might not like it.  Also, it is quite a bit more adult than your usual fantasy.  After all, the main character is basically a prostitute spy.  Although, in this world, if your of the right faith, prostitution is considered an act of of worship.  Anyway, it's pretty good.  

 

I remember reading Elaine Cunningham. She was pretty good. Arilyn Moonblade in Elfshadow and Elfsong, and Lireal Baenre (or something close to this) in the Daughter of the Drow series. If you are into the Forgotten Realms, then I'd recommend these too. She also did a book in the New Jedi Order series, Traitor, I think it was.

[Briar King]

It was Dark Journey.

[Pestis the Spider]

I have the same problem as the OP here. I'm looking for this good epic fantasy books with vast world, probably travel, fights and general epicness. I'm asking, because I am also interested in reading a book like this of a female author, because, to be honest, I've barely seen any, not to mention good ones. I've read some of the books you suggested in this thread, and I generally was not amazed. 

 

Long, long post in which I complain about books is hidden in spoiler. Do not read if you do not want to see something negative about your favourite books, and if you can't stand complaining. You've been warned.

 

Robin Hobb's Fitz series is brilliant and I love it but it's not exactly the type of book, I'm looking for. Too much focus on one character and too much fairy-tale-like elements (though it's possible that Polish translation actually exaggerated them. I have yet to read the Liveship series, and I have really high hopes for it. 

 

Novik's Temeraire series I've read only 3 books. I think they're... flat. I think flat is a good word. Both plot wise and character wise. Maybe they are somehow enjoyable, but not enough to make me read the next ones in the series. I've also looked through Uprooted and read first few chapters. Well, I have to admit the book managed to offend me because of my strong emotional attachment to polish culture. I will give it a try someday, because I really hope that my opinion got twisted, because of just looking through the book, not actually reading it, but after reading first few chapters I already know that this is not a book I would classify as 'amazing'. And all Novik's books are total YA. I'm serious. 

 

Jemisin's 100,000 Kingdoms is well overhyped and overrated. I don't know where all this love for this book comes from. It is the most plotless book I've read in the long time, and it has none of the epicness of the books of the authors mentioned in the original post of this thread. It's basically just a romance of the heroine with this "guy of dark past and roots", and it all happens in just one castle, and it truly reminds me more of Twilight than any other book I've read.

 

Trudi Canavan is also not that good, or at least I don't think so. The Age of Five is just this type of series where the all the fantasy world is made just to look nicely in the background of multiple romantic relationships, and create unrealistic problems for them, so the series can be longer. Of course all of these relationships involve the same main heroine, because why not. Eh. Her Black Mage trilogy is actually better. But it's kind of simple and YA-ish. 

 

And Ann McCaffrey is a classic. This sort of classic I've never been able to read, because of the unbelievable and terribly annoying... everything. Especially the main characters. 

 

I mean, ok. Everything above is just my opinion, and possibly you think differently. That's fine. What I want to say is that I'm simply struggling to find the book of the female author that I would like. 

 

I've also once read Carol Berg's Rai-Kirah trilogy. It was a loooooong time ago. I remember it as good, but I also know that I really hated the ending, which I'm not going to spoil now. 

 

I've also heard that Le Guin's Earthsea is really good. It's a classic, and I have it on my 'to read' list. What do you think about it? 

 

So, I'm stuck. I'll check the books you've suggested to OP, but I don't expect a lot. By experience I know that there are amazing female fantasy authors, but they just seem not to write these epic fantasy books, but different fantasy books. 

 

Also I noticed that female authors' books with female protagonist are usually worse than the ones with male protagonist. I don't know why that is. But I did notice that books with female protagonist usually end up as a romance books with fantasy elements just as an extra addition. And I did not notice such difference between female and male protagonists in books written by male authors. Again, I don't know why. Just my experience.

 

Please, don't eat me. I don't want to sound sexist, or anything. I know quite a lot of the good female fantasy authors, but I noticed that there is less of them than male ones, and that they are basically non-existent in the epic fantasy genre and I truly regret that it is so. But they seem to be the majority of YA fantasy book authors, for some reason. I just don't know what's going on.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[navybrandt]

Yes, please don't recommend any romance books that happen to be in a fantasy setting. Some romance is great but that shouldn't be the point of the whole book. I'm still finishing up the third Fitz book and will try Novik next. I'm also reading some good books on Game Theory and Logistics!

[Briar King]

I bought 1-4 of Gabaldon's Outlander books cause the show was awesome. They are up next after I finish Rome 6&7.

[Gabriele]

I bought 1-4 of Gabaldon's Outlander books cause the show was awesome. They are up next after I finish Rome 6&7.

The first three were a fun enough read (I picked them up years ago) but they are heavy on romance. 

[Briar King]

That's what many of us on Malazan feared when we started watching show and hadn't read books. That show was mostly awesome so Quick Tidal and I bought the 1st few. He just got done with 2 and really enjoyed it.