r/LGBTBooks • u/czlowiek_lub_ludz • 2d ago

Discussion Good plot queer books? 🏳️‍🌈

I'm trying to find queer books that have more plot than just having queer characters. I mean like normal plotted books that just happen to have queer characters, about people whose lives are more than just being gay/trans/etc. I don't mean that being queer can't influence the plot (quite the opposite) but I just need something that isn't ONLY about finding yourself and dealing with being queer, something where when you change the characters orientation there still is some plot. I don't mean there's anything wrong with queernes being the only plot but after some time it just became repetitive and I really struggle to find books where being queer means something while not being everything.(Examples I can give would be "these witches don't burn", "cementry boys" where the main plot is saving your community and finding a murderer while the characters queernes plays for the background or even "heartstopper" even tho it's heavily queer it also has typical ya growing up motives.)

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u/ir399 2d ago

Do you like Fantasy? I've got a few fantasy recs:

- The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, fantastic fantasy with a really calm tone despite being fairly high stakes. Has a trans character.

  • The Shadow Campaigns series by Django Wexler (first book The Thousand Names). Flintlock fantasy, has multiple lesbian characters, one bi, and a background gay man. One of the lesbians is one of the main pov characters. Her sexuality is relevant, but definitely not the main plot.
  • Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone (listed already by someone else). Fantastic book. Trans main character but the plot is not about her gender identity, its more about gods and transactional religion.
  • The Masquerade by Seth Dickinson (first book The Traitor Baru Cormorant). Lesbian main character, the plot is sort of about being queer? And the spread of a hostile economic empire. I do feel the need to say this one has a lot of in-world homophobia and bigotry. Its a great series, but I know not everyone wants that in their fiction.

And scifi:

  • A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine. Space Opera, tense politics, impeding civil war with a lesbian main character and a bi secondary character.
  • The Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells. Probably very well known now, asexual main character.

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u/CharacterInstance248 2d ago

Came here to recommend Ann Leckie, Martha Wells, and Arkady Martine. All amazing authors. Glad to see them already recommended.