No supporting roles here. LGBTQ Main character energy only!
This year, our Pride 2024 reading list is all about “main character energy.” Yes LGBTQ characters can be the chosen one in an epic fantasy novel. Yes, a bisexual woman can unravel a world-changing mystery. Of course, a non-binary traveler can explain all of humanity to a robot. You bet a group of queer thieves can pull off an impossible heist. The LGBTQ community really can do it all.
When most people think of LGBTQ literature, stories focused on coming out, love, and queer identity come to mind. All of those stories are important, especially for people who are coming to terms with who they are or want to learn more, or see themselves in those narratives. Many times these are the stories book lists focus on during Pride.
But what about the stories that aren’t about love or that don’t center around a character coming out or learning that they are LGBTQ? What about the stories showing queer people just living their lives before getting swept up into the plot?
Here is a list of eight books that feature LGBTQ main characters taking the reigns as they answer the call to adventure. These books show that LGBTQ characters thrive in every category, adding diversity, depth, and a unique perspective to the stories and the genres we love.
Let's get started with these LGBTQ Main Character Energy Books!
Six of Crows
by Leigh Bardugo
Tv Show adaptation into the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone -- Season 2 streaming now!
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price--and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. . . .
The Crows are some of the best characters to come out of the Shadow and Bones series. This duopoly gives this diverse group of thieves the chance to shine as the main characters in their own story. Offering great LGBTQ representation - emphasis on the B, this book embodies the phrase “be gay, do crimes.”
LGBTQ Representation
The Crows are some of the best characters to come out of the Shadow and Bones series. This duopoly gives this diverse group of thieves the chance to shine as the main characters in their own story. Offering great LGBTQ representation - emphasis on the B, this book embodies the phrase “be gay, do crimes.”
Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
LGBTQ Representation
Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo famously had seven husbands during her time in the limelight, but, it turns out she wasn’t as straight as people thought. Though Evelyn’s story of remaining a main character in Hollywood is told through the lens of her straight relationships, her truth is revealed through her story of queer love.
The City We Became
by N K Jemisin
Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a "glorious" story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City.
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power. In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her. In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels. And they're not the only ones.
LGBTQ Representation
Like most cities in America, the LGBTQ community is part of the lifeblood of New York City. Jemisin creates a beautiful image of New York City through the lives of her six main characters. Naturally, this includes several members of the LGBTQ community as New York wouldn’t be the city it is today without them.
Absolutely Remarkable Thing
by Hank Green
THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
In his wildly entertaining debut novel, Hank Green--cocreator of Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and SciShow--spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined.
LGBTQ Representation
What makes this book LGBTQ? The main character, April May, is bisexual. She is just an everyday twenty-three-year-old bi woman who happens to stumble across a giant robot, go viral, and become the face of a world-changing discovery. Everyone in the LGBTQ community has had days like that, right?
The Free People's Village
by Sim Kern
USA TODAY BESTSELLER
Official IndieNext Selection
In an alternate 2020 timeline, Al Gore won the 2000 election and declared a War on Climate Change rather than a War on Terror. For twenty years, Democrats have controlled all three branches of government, enacting carbon-cutting schemes that never made it to a vote in our world. Green infrastructure projects have transformed U.S. cities into lush paradises (for the wealthy, white neighborhoods, at least), and the Bureau of Carbon Regulation levies carbon taxes on every financial transaction.
LGBTQ Representation
Historically, the LGBTQ community has been on the front lines fighting for human rights and freedoms for groups worldwide. This remains true in Kern’s alternative 2020 timeline where saving a community and enacting real change falls on the shoulders of a queer punk rock band.
Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Becky Chambers
Winner of the Hugo Award
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.
LGBTQ Representation
Chamber’s main characters, a non-binary tea monk named Dex, and a robot named Mosscap, have many important discussions about humanity and sentient machines. Their conversation about what defines gender is relatable to many in the LGBTQ community.
Black Sun
by Rebecca Roanhorse
From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Resistance Reborn comes first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.
LGBTQ Representation
Featuring a wide range of LGBTQ identities, this epic adventure of apocalyptic prophecies, pre-Colombian American mythologies, magic, and danger showcases just how important it is to embrace your true identity. It could save the world.
Priory of the Orange Tree
by Samantha Shannon
The New York Times bestselling "epic feminist fantasy perfect for fans of Game of Thrones" (Bustle).
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY:
AMAZON (Top 100 Editors Picks and Science Fiction and Fantasy) * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY * BOOKPAGE
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction--but assassins are getting closer to her door.
Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.
LGBTQ Representation
A more than popular book with plenty of characters, not just the main that are within the LGBTQ. You don't need to be anything other but an ally to the community when you read this. Well, that and a strong respect for hardworking women and the beauty they hold!
The Curse of Penryth Hall: A Mystery
by Jess Armstrong
"A delightful debut." -People
Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning Debut
After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She's always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she'd never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible. Thus begins her visit to Penryth Hall.
LGBTQ Representation
This representation is underplayed and maybe a bit more subtle than other LGBTQ main characters. However, there's no denying Ruby's love for Tamzyn, the women who couldn't be more different than her. Tamzyn is the damsel in distress and Ruby will do anything to save her. Even if it means painfully overlooking her love and the past they shared together.