Fantasy with Queer Characters

📚 Fantasy/dystopian trilogy
🏳️‍🌈 Very small romantic subplot that has a queer dynamic
🎧 Full cast audiobook

Plot: Earth’s history is broken out into Seasons; huge disasters where the people had to scrape their way back to bring back civilization. And now, Earth magic users are considered too dangerous to live freely out of fear for triggering the next horrible event. But on a single day, 3 horrible events happen. We follow 3 characters as they navigate a world-ending natural disaster and 2 huge family blow ups.

This series has: semi post-apocalyptic Earth, 3 POVs, prejudice, super minor romantic subplot, 3 Hugo Awards

📚 Romantic fantasy duology
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic
🐣 YA
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: She was turned into a Reaper years ago; she lost her family, her future, and her life when her best friend betrayed her. Her best friend happens to be the daughter to an organized crime family. Reapers may be plaguing 1920s Harlem, but they’re predictable… until they’re not. And then our two girls must join forces – and face their pasts – in order to figure out what’s going on.

This duology has: vampires (Reapers), second chances, friends to enemies to lovers, jazz-age Harlem setting

📚 Romantic fantasy duology
🏳️‍🌈 Queer romance, nonbinary main character
🎧 Dual-narrated audiobook

Plot: The humans betrayed dragons long ago and banishing them from the world, and the dragons have remained pissed. The last male dragon returns with a plan to take over the planet, when he accidentally ties himself to a thief. The two then have to work together, the dragon fully planning on killing them in the end, when a relationship develops and motivations change.

This duology has: dragons, reluctant allies, mysterious histories

📖 Romantic fantasy series – 2 of 5 books out
🏳️‍🌈 Multiple romances, 1 sapphic with a potential pan love triangle

Plot: This follows 3 women on the continent struggling with power over their own lives.
– Nova’s first memory was crawling out of a grave. Since then she’s been the weapon of choice for the royals, tortured into submission. They offer her a continent-shifting task & she barters for her freedom.
– Elaia is a princess who has lost most of her family & watched her father disappear into nothingness in grief. She has taken on the burden of ruling, of everything, & is tired.
– Syrena takes over after the sudden & tragic death of her brother & was unprepared to lead.

This series has: feminine rate galore, mages/witches and human magic, political maneuvering like crazy, dark themes, slowwwwww burn romances

📖 Romantic fantasy series – 2.5 of 5 books out
🏳️‍🌈 Multiple romances and they’re all queer in 1 way or another
❤️‍🔥 Has spice
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: Humans & dragons lived together peacefully until the Fae brutally defeated them in a war hundreds of years ago. They killed all the dragons except some, who they bred, enslaved, & tortured for sport. & their punishment for the humans was a deadly trial every quarter century went dozens of humans are selected to participate. This year, best friends with a shit ton of history & baggage get selected, but they’re not going down without a fight. But survival doesn’t just include making it through the trials, it means surviving hot trainers, hot fellow contestants, hot princes, and trying to do enough to survive but not enough to catch the eyes of the evil in charge.

This series has: feminine rage, triggers GALORE, so many magical beings (elves, fae, humans, dragons, direwolves, etc.), deadly trials, imperialism/fascism, rebellions

📖 Romantic fantasy trilogy – 2 of 3 books out
❤️‍🔥 Has spice (lower)
🏳️‍🌈 FMC is pan, prominent side character is nonbinary
🎧 Duet-narrated audiobook

Plot: Elyria — famed war hero of the fae & war criminal to the humans — is no longer fighting the war of 250 years ago that shaped the realm. These days she fights her mental battle, dealing with her trauma with all the good stuff like sex, drinking, & general avoidance. This doesn’t go great for her in a few ways, but things take a turn for the worse when her dead ex boyfriend’s sister decides to enter herself into the deadly trials of the Crucible, which is the reason she has a dead ex boyfriend in the first place.

This trilogy has: WELL DONE deadly trials, humans, fae, dwarves, & more magical creatures, found family, gods/prophecies/lore, SLOWWW burn, he’s the human and she’s the old fae, YEARNNNNNNING

📕 Romantic historical fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 MM romance
🎧 Duet-narrated audiobook

Plot: A Puerto Rican iron worker in 1910s finds himself working for a circus after building a massive water tank for them. Little did he know the water tank was meant to hold a real life merman. After acquiring the merman, he finds himself not psyched about having helped contain this beautiful creature but also a little enthralled with spending time with him.

This book has: mer people and humans, circus setting, themes of racism/prejudice, story of immigrants, soooooo sweet, beautiful writing

📕 Romantic fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic romance
❤️‍🔥 Has spice (lower)
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: Tales are the magic that runs England, & the tale of the knight & the witch is one of the most famous. The knight & the witch meet, fall on love, & must ruin one another in every lifetime. But what if they don’t want to do that this time? What if a mystery assassin is chasing them & they want to figure that out instead?

This book has: beautiful themes of generational storytelling/colonialism/immigration/propaganda, longing, fairytale retellings, so many magical creatures

📕 Romantic fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 MM romantic subplot
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: The people are suffering under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne dynasty. Two warriors, who couldn’t be more different, find themselves transporting the matriarchal god of the current evil ruling dynasty in her attempt to right her family’s wrongs.

This book has: the most ambitious writing (1st, 2nd, and 3rd POVs), so so unique, an ending that will stick with you

📕 Historical fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 Queer-normative, somewhat genderless world
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: She is the memory keeper for her people & has held their memories exclusively since she was 14, knowing & experiencing generations of trauma, while they live blissfully unaware of their history.

This book has: mer-esque people, themes of legacy/Black trauma(s)/white supremacy, GREAT audio

📕 Romantic fantasy standalone short story
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: Two sisters keep the magic of their home & lands alive through their song. They live on the edge of Faerie & are no stranger to some of the magic that bleeds through. But between a Faerie interest & a man attempting to court, their lives will be upheaved in one way or another.

This book has: an extremely lovely audiobook with singing, queer rep (nonbinary character) and a romantic subplot, story of sisterhood, really lovely writing

📕 Romantic historical fantasy standalone
❤️‍🔥 Low low low spice
🏳️‍🌈 Bi MMC
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: Ellory has the brains to attend any prestigious university but not the money to pay for it. One day she gets a letter stating she has earned a mystery scholarship to an Ivy League school & she goes. But her school experience is off; she’s got an arrogant academic rival, Déjà vu out the wazoo, & she’s trying to juggle life/class/work when she finds out the school has an odd mystery to it.

This book has: page-turning mystery, Memento vs. The Craft vs. The Covenant a little vibes, low fantasy, academia setting, secret societies, academic rivals to lovers

📕 Book 1 in Magical Realism series of interconnected standalones
❤️‍🔥 Spicy
🏳️‍🌈 MM romance
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: She watched her father die at the hands of a mysterious woman, & now she’s in the hunt to find ber. Luckily she is a very trusted detective consultant, so her work helps her on this hunt while she tries to solve existing crimes. But she finds a trend in crimes she thinks ties to her father’s murderer, & she is as angry as she is intrigued.

This book has: crime procedural/Sherlock Holmes vibes, tons of supernatural lore (vampires, demons, werewolves, zombies, etc.), Van Helsing adaptation, centered around the 1900 Worlds Fair in Paris, monster x monster hunter

📕 Fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 Very minor sapphic romantic subplot
🎧 Full cast audiobook

Plot: This follows the life of Medusa, from before she was the cursed stone-visioned woman of lore and then after.

This book has: Greek mythology, Medusa’s origin story, naive FMC, betrayals, trials, check your triggers

📕 Romantic fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic
📧 Not published anywhere, just accessible via ML Wang’s newsletter

Plot: Chi is one of the wives to the most powerful man on the steppe. & he has sent her to help retrieve his next wife the prophecies claim will have the heir that saves the world. But when she meets the nun-turned-wife-to-be & they begin their journey, things go wrong/awry & fast.

This book has: unique politics and gem-based magic, bodyguard trope, super surprisingly fun banter (ML Wang usually makes me cry), really easy-to-root-for characters

📕 Romantic historical fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: She watched her father die at the hands of a mysterious woman, & now she’s in the hunt to find ber. Luckily she is a very trusted detective consultant, so her work helps her on this hunt while she tries to solve existing crimes. But she finds a trend in crimes she thinks ties to her father’s murderer, & she is as angry as she is intrigued.

This book has: crime procedural/Sherlock Holmes vibes, tons of supernatural lore (vampires, demons, werewolves, zombies, etc.), Van Helsing adaptation, centered around the 1900 Worlds Fair in Paris, monster x monster hunter

📕 Romantic fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic
❤️‍🔥 Spicy
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: The Richter family is suspicious to many because of their presumed witch ties. But the first daughters of the Richter family specifically are both blessed with the strongest magic but also cursed. When a demon notices the first daughter’s soul, she wants to consume it. & is willing to do basically anything tk have it. Over & over again. 

This book has: historical fantasy vibes starting in 1500s England, “I’ll love you in any lifetime” vibes, witches and demons, witch x witch hunter

📕 Romantic historical fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 MM romantic storyline (but not an MM Romance)
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: This follows the lives of Achilles & Patroclus starting when they meet as children. Patroclus an exiled prince & Achilles the half god boy who is interested in him. This follows them over the years as they become the best of friends while training then lovers. Then in their journey to the war against Troy after they discover a prophecy. 

This book has: Greek mythology, beautiful prose, coming of age-ish, prophecies,

📕 Romantic fantasy horror standalone
🏳️‍🌈 MM romantic subplot
🐣 YA
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: Andrew, his twin Dove, & their best friend Thomas are going into senior year at their boarding school, & things get off to a weird start with access to the forest around the school now suddenly & strictly forbidden. Andrew has always been the writer, while Thomas turns his writing into beautiful drawings, & Dove keeps them both in line, but something happened to challenge the trio’s bond & also now weird, creepy things are happening at school. One day, Andrew follows Thomas into the woods & finds him fighting a monster… straight off the page of one of Thomas’s drawings. 

This book has: dark academia, asexual rep, neurodivergent rep, beautiful writing, spooky gothic setting

📕 Romantic fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 Polyamory
❤️‍🔥 Spicy
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: Constanta, Dracula’s wife, writes letters to him throughout their life spent together, from how he made her through hundreds of years of experiences together.

This book has: gorgeous writing, vampires, toxic toxic toxic relationships, triggers galore

📕 Romantic fantasy horror standalone
🏳️‍🌈 MM romantic subplot, bisexual MC
🐣 YA
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: Evander was adopted by a rich businessman & has been living, mostly locked away undergoing treatments for his illness in his guardian’s mansion ever since. & there’s really only 1 main rule he must live by, which is to never be alone with his guardian’s grandson Laurie. But when something happens to his guardian, he finds himself in close proximity with Laurie for the first time since they were kids & Laurie tried to kill him.

This book has: autism rep, botanical horror, beautiful writing, spooky gothic setting

📕 Romantic historical fantasy standalone
🏳️‍🌈 Queer & straight romance: characters regenerate into new relationships each lifetime
🐣 YA
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: Evelyn & Arden are cursed to know, love, & kill each other in every life before they turn 18, for some mysterious reason only Arden knows. But one year, Evelyn doesn’t want to give up. Her sister is dying of cancer & she needs to live beyond her 18th birthday in order to have a procedure to save her life.

This book has: fated mates with a twist, “I’ll love you in any lifetime” vibes, tons of different cultures/time periods referenced, reincarnation, curses, really lovely writing

📕 Book 3 in Into Darkness series of interconnected standalones
🏳️‍🌈 Bi MMC, polyamory
❤️‍🔥 Spicy
🎧 Duet-narrated audiobook

Plot: He hates the rich because his rich father abandoned him & his mom & has built a secret criminal empire with one end goal in mind; to take down dad. But be needs an in to the inner circle, & she’s just the target in mind. 

This book has: enemies to lovers, fake dating, really funny, trauma galore

📕 Romantic dystopian
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic
🎧 Full cast audiobook

Plot: The US has introduced a Gladiator-style fighting league to its prison system, where prisoners can choose to fight for their freedom (but most often to the death) in a stadium vs. deal with what comes with the prison system. There’s a growing opposition to this, but there are also fighters doing anything they can to stay alive. Including 2 women who are in love with each other & are both working their ways toward freedom.

This book has: dystopian USA, political commentary and critique out the wazoo (prison industrial complex, de-humanization of entertainment figures, slave experiments, political propaganda, capitalism, etc.), VERY good audiobook, likable characters, general brutality

📖 Incomplete sci-fi series
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic characters
🎧 Solo-narrated audiobook

Plot: Gideon has hatched a plan to escape the life of servitude she was raised in on the Ninth. However as she’s about to escape, Harrow, the girl responsible for much of her dismay & acting leader catches her. Plan foiled, Gideon must now help Harrow win some dangerous trials in exchange for Harrow’s rise in ranks & Gideon’s freedom.

This book has: sci-fi and fantasy elements, necromancy, bone magic, hilarious protagonist, badass women, planetary politics, trial and mystery