10 best fantasy books with female leads, ranked
Fantasy can be a real sausage fest, a bunch of Chosen One dudes yanking each other’s magic swords (if you know what I mean). Thankfully, since the days of King Arthur, female authors have carved a place for themselves in this niche and survived and thrived in the fantasy sphere, and leading lights like Ursula K. Le Guin and N.K. Jemisin have influenced the genre to be about more than young men who dream of glory.
While modern fantasy is chock-full of brilliant female characters, these are the 10 best fantasy books with female protagonists, ranked.
10. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
The second book of Ursula K. Le Guin’s genre-defining Earthsea cycle, The Tombs of Atuan shifts perspective away from its usual suspect, the wizard extraordinaire Ged, to tell the tale of a young woman raised in a cult. Taken from her parents as a child and stripped of everything including her name, the young woman is raised as the high priestess of the Nameless Ones, dark gods that haunt the titular Tombs of Atuan. As she is the only person allowed in the sacred tombs, she spends her young life navigating the pitch-dark corridors and mapping a way out. Her solitary life is interrupted by Ged, who seeks an ancient and powerful ring buried in the Tomb. The nameless woman must make a decision, stay in the nameless darkness she knows, or venture out into the world beyond and recover her lost name in the process.
9. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
The first book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass follows a 12-year-old girl on a quest to kill God. After discovering a metaphysical secret of the universe that a globe-dominating church would rather keep a secret, Lyra embarks on a dimension-hopping quest determined to know more—and she’s ready to topple Heaven to do it. Accompanying her on her quest are gay angels, talking polar bear warriors, and the shapeshifting daemon that serves as the living embodiment of her soul. How does she court the loyalties of so many beings? Lyra is a Chosen One, destined to elevate humanity beyond the church’s archaic ideas of sin and reintroduce humankind to its divinity. Naturally, she’s very persuasive.
8. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War is set in a world inspired by the bloodstained history of 20th-century China. Hailing from a backwater province with zero chance of social betterment, the young Rin shocks her society after being accepted into the nation’s most prestigious war college, much to the unsurprising chagrin of the rich noble kids already in attendance. To survive the rigors of academia (and the homicidal machinations of her classmates) Rin enlists the help of any college student’s secret weapon: drugs. Through the controlled use of hallucinogens, Rin awakens the ancient shamanic magic locked within her bloodline to turn the tide of the nation’s endless wars. In case you’re wondering, romance accounts for 0.1% of the plot—Rin is married to combat alone in this grimdark world.
7. Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Set in a dreamy almost-European land once settled by angels, Kushiel’s Dart is about a young courtesan kissed by the gods. After being sold into bondage (because yeah, even though this world is beautiful it’s still seriously messed up) Phèdre nó Delaunay is discovered to bear the mark of divinity, thus blessed to be able to experience pain as pleasure. She is purchased by a noble and trained in the arts of love and espionage to gain access to the realm’s halls of power and spy on the royals within. It’s kind of like a high-fantasy James Bond story about a woman who owes her powers not to MI6, but to angels above.
6. The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang is set in the bleak and brutal Empire of Kaigen, a realm inspired by the bloody days of feudal Japan. The story begins in a remote part of the country, where a young warrior named Mamoru is training to become a respected soldier in the empire’s army, fulfilling his family legacy of service to the throne as ice power-wielding samurai. His mother, Misaki, attempts to do her best as a new member of the legendary Matsuda family, raising a son in a male-dominated culture that so often denies her the respect she deserves. After all, she was once a skilled crime fighter in her teenage years but settled down to have children with Takeru, the leader of the Matsudas. Try as she might, when both the realm and her son are threatened, Misaki might not be able to keep her violent past behind her for much longer.
5. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun is a historical fantasy reimagining the rise of a famed Chinese emperor, who, in this version, is a young woman who has taken her dead brother’s identity. After joining the military and learning to fight, she rises through the ranks and becomes an esteemed general pivotal in China’s battle against Mongolian rule. Being a general has its perks, one of which is the ability to pursue a sapphic relationship with a woman of noble birth. She Who Became the Sun is a story of one woman’s rise from nothing to the pinnacle of society, the ruler of all China, simply because she was brave enough to seize the reigns of destiny and not let go.
4. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon is the story of two kingdoms: the dragon-fearing West and the dragon-loving East. The West has good reason to be afraid of firebreathers, considering that the nation is currently contending with the return of a dragon god so horrible that no one even had the guts to name it. The West’s ruler Queen Sabran has the unfortunate job of having to deal with the wyrm, but at least she’s got her magically attuned handmaid Ead to aid her. Meanwhile, across the sea, a young dragon rider faces exile for committing a cultural taboo, but may soon find a new purpose by helping the West fight dragonfire with dragonfire. When it comes to female fantasy ledas, this book dominates with an all-powerful trio.
3. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Gideon the Ninth is a gothic space opera fantasy by Tamsyn Muir, centered around the trials and tribulations (of which there are many) of the warrior Gideon, who has just unsuccessfully attempted to escape from the great House of space necromancers she’s forced to serve. In the star system that Gideon calls home, the Nine Houses compete with one another for the Emperor’s favor, raising warriors who will battle to serve in the Emperor’s personal guard. Gideon is unwillingly picked for the job and has to accompany a powerful necromancer to a ruined palace where the pair must compete against other tributes for a shot at interstellar glory. Despite the grim setting, things get nec-romantic between the story’s two female leads—just wait.
2. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
The first of N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance trilogy, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is the story of young Yeine, who, much to her surprise, has been named the next ruler of the world. Despite hailing from a distant land, Yeine is the granddaughter of the world’s current sovereign who rules from his throne in the floating city of Sky. Despite its whimsical name and lofty locale, Sky isn’t a high-minded place. It’s home to two other throne claimants jealous of Yeine’s newfound birthright, and a three-way power struggle is sure to ensue. To come out of this alive, Yeine will have to court the favor of the gods, which the royals of the world happen to rule over as well.
1. The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
The first of S.A. Chakraborty’s The Daevabad Trilogy, The City of Brass follows the life and times of con artist extraordinaire Nahri, who makes a living swindling Ottoman nobles out of their money by pretending to be a palm reader, a fortune teller, an exorcist, and so on. As it turns out, though, Nahri does have spiritual powers in the form of healing abilities and accidentally summons a djinn while trying to cleanse a spirit. The djinn recognizes that Nahri’s healing powers indicate she belongs to a royal bloodline and takes her to the mythical City of Brass where her ancestors once held sway. In Daevabad, Nahri must navigate the ever-shifting landscape of supernatural entities vying for control of the city and use all her street smarts to decide whether she wants to respect the powers that be or overthrow them.
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