#if you want to mold a sorcerer into a killing machine

[foxofninetales]

Recommended Reads: aroace-friendly science fiction and fantasy

As a librarian, a reader, and an aroace person myself, I’ve been toying with the idea of sharing some aroace sff recommendations for a while.  This list is limited to what I have personally read and I know there are a LOT more wonderful books out there that would appeal to aroace readers (please comment if you have a rec to add!), but if you’re looking for something good to read, this might be a place to start!

These books all fit two criteria:

1) No or minimal/fade-to-black sexual content.  ACE PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO READ SMUT ARE VALID.  However, I wanted this list to be able to appeal to a wide range of ace readers.

2) Non-romantic relationships that are as strong or stronger than the romantic ones (though there may also be romantic relationships in some of these books).  ARO PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO READ ROMANCE ARE ALSO VALID.  However, I wanted this list to be emotionally satisfying to a wide range of aro readers.

This list also only includes books that I enjoyed enough to reread at least once, and usually many times.  This is the Good Stuff, is what I'm saying.

Also, if you a fanfic reader who is trying to get into reading more non-fanwork materials, there are several novella recommendations on this list that would be a great place to start.  In fact, my top pic for that purpose would be the first one on the list:

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. 

Lets get the obvious one out of the way first, shall we?  These are excellent, solid, space-opera style adventures, but what drives them is Murderbot, who may be THE most relatable protagonist I will ever encounter.  This is not just because Murderbot is clearly, explicitly ace, but because.... well, the first few lines of the first novella explain it better than I ever can.

"I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don’t know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure."

The stories follow the titular Murderbot as it investigates the mysteries of its past, tries to figure out what it wants from its future, and is dragged kicking and screaming into feeling emotions.  The series currently consists of five novellas and a novel.  Start with the first novella, All Systems Red.  Also, while there is absolutely no smut (Murderbot would be horrified) this series is -definitely- competency porn.

(I'm going to throw in a side-recommendation for Martha Wells in general. She's got an amazing gift for three-dimensional characters and deep emotional bonds whether romantic or not.  I've been a Martha Wells fan for YEARS and am thrilled to see her finally getting the recognition she deserves.  I enjoy all of her works, but I'll throw out a particular recommendation for "Wheel of the Infinite" (in which a badass, older WOC causes trouble on purpose while a really hot warrior dude follows her around holding her flower) and the “Fall of Ile-Rien” trilogy (which features delicious world-building and a not-explicity-stated but pretty obvious OT3 endgame that should be satisfying to Leverage fans).)

The Penric and Desdemona series by Lois McMaster Bujold.

I don't know exactly what you call the relationship between a sweet-natured young sorcerer and the ancient, multi-personalitied demon who lives in his mind, but it definitely doesn't fall into the standard romance mold.  This series of novellas is up to 9 books so far (start with Penric's Demon), and it's full of satisfying relationships with new and recurring characters. The setting in the Five Gods fantasy world, which is my favorite Bujold universe and has one of my favorite explorations of religion in fantasy, ever - in fact, the staggeringly overwhelming love the gods have for people is one of the non-romantic loves that clinches this series for me.  

(Again, another general recommendation for Bujold, with the proviso that she's been writing for a long time, so some of her earlier stuff, though progressive for the time, isn't quite on par with how we might think or phrase things today (but it's very clear she was TRYING).  She's another one with a gift for writing intense characters and relationships, and her romantic relationships oddly tend to be the weakest.  If you like the Penric and Desdemona series, definitely check out her other books set in the same Five Gods world, which are AMAZING.)

The Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie

Another obvious pick, but no less recommended for all that.  This is yet another of those works that illustrates the ace person's dilemma at having a lot of their representation in media be in the form of non-human characters; on the one hand, we really should get more diverse representation than that, but on the other hand, ANDROIDS ARE COOL.  Or, in this case, artificial intelligences, in the form of One Esk Nineteen, the last lingering remnant of what was one a vast and powerful battleship.  Part action-thriller, part political intrigue, part musing on the nature of personhood and what and who can love.  SO much competency porn.  Start with Ancillary Justice.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

When the entire royal family dies in an airship accident, a neglected and forgotten prince finds himself the emperor of the elves, forced to negotiate the complexity of court dynamics powered almost solely by his dogged determination to be a good person.  Maia and his struggle to balance the detachment of the throne with his desperate need for emotional connection are the beating heart and soul of this story.  Fair warning, I read a review once that described this book as having approximately 3/4 of an action scene, and they weren't wrong, but Maia's deep emotional longing pulled me along as strongly as any plot.  I think this book would have a lot of appeal for xianxia/wuxia fans, both in the general pacing, the clear influences on the worldbuilding, and the whump service.

(An ace heads-up: If you are not into kinky smut, use caution if you seek out any of the works by this author under her other pen-name.)

The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

Megan Whalen Turner is a tricksy, tricksy sneak of an author who will have you finish a book and immediately reread it while shrieking "that was foreshadowing!" and "it was right there in front of my face!" the whole time.  She also likes to rip you heart out and stomp on it.  With hobnailed boots.  You may not quite believe me as you are reading the first book of the series (The Thief), which is lighter and a little more juvenile in tone, but trust me on this one, read through chapter 3 of the second book and You Will Understand.  You may also hate me.  

The setting is an ancient Crete/Grece/Persia type minimal-magic fantasy world that is painted with vivid strokes. The focal characters and focal relationships change between the various books, but they all rotate around the central character of Eugenides.  I can't say too much about him without spoiling things, but let's just say that he is a sneaky bastard in all the best ways, and definitely delivers on the competency porn.  He is also a whump magnet, so if that is your thing, MWT knows all the tropes you love and delivers them with care.  

The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire

One of the positives to come out of the ebook revolution is the resurgence of the novella as a viable format; I think this is the third novella series on this list!  This series toys with the idea of those children who fell into otherworld fantasy adventures, and asks - what happens when those children come home?  Starting with Every Heart a Doorway, these interlinked tales rotate around Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, where all those kids who suddenly go mad and start babbling about talking lions and magical wardrobes are packed off by their uncomprehending families.  The tone is almost fairytale-like, with a definite undercurrent of horror, but the characters are raw and real.   Not only is there explicit ace representation, there is also copious representation of various gender identities, sexualities, and neurodivergences; it's basically the author waving a sign that screams YOU ARE VALID for six books so far.  

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

By golly, Maggie Stiefvater can write.  And I'm not just talking plots, or characters, or themes, I'm talking about the sheer mechanics of verbal structure.  I'm talking about writing where you stagger from an achingly poetic sentence that you reread six times for the sheer beauty of it, only to encounter an acrobatic convolution of words that hits you with all the delicate force of a mugger with a baseball bat.  

Though it could nominally be called urban fantasy, "The Raven Cycle" straddles the line between reality and unreality, an epic quest and a coming-of-age story surrounding one boy's singleminded quest to pull magic into the world as he hunts for the lost Welsh king Glendower in the rolling Virginia hills.  Though there are two strong romances that help drive the story, the non-romantic relationships between the tightly entwined main characters are every bit as important and visceral in their longing.  Start with The Raven Boys, and keep in mind that she is currently publishing a followup series.

The Web Shifters series by Julie Czerneda

Non-romantic emotional attachments are the driving force for this space adventure series (start with Beholder's Eye).  Esen is a web shifter, one of the last of a mysterious species that can shift into any alien form.  Tasked to preserve and record alien cultures, young Esen's strict training on non-intervention doesn't survive her first solo mission and contact with a lone, struggling human. Czerneda is a biologist in her non-writerly life, and it really shows, because she can write aliens better than just about anyone I've encountered.  Her aliens don't come across as alien, but as they would be viewed through their own eyes, warts and tentacles and all.  Esen's delight in her various bodies as she moves from form to form makes self-love and love of nature in all its weirdness some of the unusual loves of this delightful series.

(If you like these books, you will also enjoy Czerneda's other works - I'll throw out a a particular recommendation for the "Species Imperative" series.)

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho

Oh, god, I'm just a novella whore now, aren't I?  The author herself described this book as being inspired by the characters and relationship of Baze and Chirrut from Rogue One, and I'm not sure if anything I could say could sell the book any harder than that.  This delightful miniature wuxia-inspired adventure isn't part of a series, alas, but *eyes Zen Cho* that could totally happen in future, right?  Please?  It involves a country under invader rule, a group of bandits who may or not be the good guys, stolen temple artifacts, and a whole lot of queerness.

The Wayfarers Series by Becky Chambers

What do we want?  Found family!  When do we want it?  Set in the far future!  If a hodgepodge of misfit characters working together to make a stronger whole is your jam, this is where it's at.  The tone shifts throughout the series, from the finding-your-place adventure of the first The Long Way to Small Angry Planet, to the later Record of a Spaceborn Few which I can only describe as "very little happens but in the most life-affirming way".  What all of them have in common is a fervent embracing of emotion and relationships of all kinds - from romantic to familial, from friendship to loyalty to loss.

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon

This one's awarded an honorary spot for being one of the earliest - possibly the earliest? - depictions of an explicitly aroace character in fantasy, and one who isn't just a side-character but the main protagonist of the whole series.  (Start with Sheepfarmer's Daughter, or look for the omnibus published under the series name.) This is a coming-of-age military fantasy in the classic mold.  It has some of the issues you might expect from a trilogy written in the 1980s, but it has great characters and relationships and deserves respect for what it did.

#aroace #aromanticism #asexuality #book recommendations #book recs #science fiction #fantasy