At least, the queer books published this year that I read and remember reading. You may need to jog my memory.
This piece’s working title was “Queer Books I Read in 2024.” Before I realised that, actually, it’s not so much queer books as sapphic books: the number of non-romance novels that I encountered with queer men in a protagonist role is… well, to be charitable, somewhat limited.
My writing is limited, too! The vast majority of is free to read and will remain so, but if you enjoy these sorts of posts, your support on Patreon or as a paying subscriber through WordPress is what subsidises me to write more of them. And you can also find me on BlueSky. If you enjoy reading this, please share it!
Queerness is a complicated word, and a complicated state of being. Often, now, to say a book is “queer” means that it features a primary relationship between queer characters — either between men or between women — or that it focuses on the experience of a trans person. But “queer” describes, too, an orientation towards a normative social construction of sexuality and gender, among other things.
The novels that interest me most are ones that deconstruct or destabilise some aspect of normative experience: that interrogate, in some fashion, the expectations of the genre. There’s a place here for wish-fulfilment fantasy, but also a place for the re-examination of gendered or sexual hierarchies through the lens of queer experience. This re-examination — along with the wish-fulfilment aspect — is part of why I’m personally drawn more to stories involving queer women than ones involving queer men: stories involving queer men don’t have to deal with the same weight of historic expectation about a woman’s place in the narrative, or in society. (SFF books where a major protagonist is nonbinary are still sufficiently rare that it’s difficult to generalise about their concerns.) But, honestly, I like what I like, and I can analyse both the material and my liking of it through several lenses
Here is my list of queer novels from 2024. (I did read some books that weren’t in some sense recognisably queer. Those are not included.) It is divided into:
- Books I Loved
- Books I Enjoyed
- Books I Read That Have Some Good Points
- It Hurt Me, But Maybe You’ll Like It
- Books I Still Want To Read, Damnit
Books I Loved
In no particular order, mind you.
John Wiswell, Someone You Can Build A Nest In:
There’s a monster. She’s very relatable. She wants to lay her eggs in someone. But is that really what you do to someone you love? Oops! She loves the awkward scion of a monster-hunting family. Abusive humans are the real monsters.
~~~
Jenn Lyons, The Sky on Fire:
Do you like wild and detailed worldbuilding, power-hungry dragons who rule the world (are the dragons a metaphor?), and a competent crew of misfits with competing goals set upon a heist with dire stakes? Read The Sky on Fire, I can’t believe how little buzz it’s got this year.
~~~
Aliette de Bodard, Navigational Entanglements:
Science fiction novella in which a crew of misfits from rival clans must hunt down an invisible and murderous space jellyfish from a different dimension before it can create a mass casualty event. Tensions rise when their despised team leader is found dead in a locked room. Romance! Action! Self-realisation! Politics! Murder! It has something for everyone.
~~~
Hana Lee, Road to Ruin:
Debut novel that mixes fantasy with the postapocalyptic atmosphere of Mad Max: Fury Road. Courier Jin has been bringing letters across the wasteland between two would-be lovers, and falling in love with both of them. When one of them is threatened, she helps them go on the run. Peril! Motorbikes fueled by magic! Desperate chases!
~~~
Django Wexler, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying:
First book in a new series. I love it far too much to be coherent, so here’s the blurb:
“Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time.
This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side.”
~~~
Kerstin Hall, Asunder:
I loved it to pieces. I think it’s the best novel of the year. Read Molly Templeton’s review over at Reactor:
“This story sits just under the skin, a tangle of questions about faith and shame and what a person does with the power they have—or that is given to them. It is, immersively and emotionally, about survival: how a person survives, what they do to survive, what they endure while surviving, and where the choices they make in order to survive wind up taking them. I can’t shake Karys and her choices out of my head, and frankly, I don’t want to.”
It’s big and weird and visceral and intimate: a novel about survival and making bad life choices because all the other ones are worse.
~~~
Melissa Caruso, The Last Hour Between Worlds:
And probably my favourite novel of the year. I adore it. It’s so much fun. This is what I said about it in my review for Locus:
“If I tell you that I love The Last Hour Between Worlds to pieces, that I read it when I was miserably sick and it took me entirely out of myself from the first page to the last, that’s probably not quite enough information to constitute a proper review. Melissa Caruso’s latest novel, her first departure from the setting of her previous trilogies, is a time-bending triumph, a compelling adventure that descends through ever-weirder layers of reality.”
~~~
Books I Enjoyed
I’m just going to quote the cover copy on these. They’re all good books that didn’t hit me quite so hard in the narrative kinks as the books I loved.
Ruth Long, The Book of Gold
“A desperate thief. A magical book. And a heist for the ages.
There’s only one thing notorious thief Lyta loves more than a big score: her little brother, Kit. But when Kit is arrested for producing seditious pamphlets, he stands to lose not only his printing press, but possibly his life.
In exchange for her brother’s freedom, Lyta strikes a daring bargain with the king -she will steal the infamous Book of Gold: a mysterious manuscript reputed to be hiding vast magical power within.”
~~~
Yoon Ha Lee, Moonstorm
“Hwa Young was just ten years old when imperial forces destroyed her home, among the rebel clans of the Moonstorm. Now, years later, she is a citizen of the very empire that orphaned her, dreaming of getting back out among the stars and piloting a lancer-the fleet’s deadliest, most advanced fighting craft.
When a rebel attack leaves Hwa Young stranded on an imperial starship, her dreams become a reality. A military ship has no space for civilians, and the fleet badly needs lancer pilots-and Hwa Young and her friends are quick to volunteer for the demanding programme.
But training is nothing like what they expected, and secrets-like the fate of the fleet’s previous lancer squad, and deeper truths about the rebellion itself-are mounting up. When Hwa Young uncovers a conspiracy that puts their entire world at risk, she’s forced to choose between a past she’s put behind her and an empire she no longer trusts.”
~~~
Sophie Burnham, Sargassa
“In an alternate present where the Roman Empire never fell, Roma Sargassa-or North America-is under Roman rule, and always has been. And the Imperial Historian has just been murdered.
His low-caste son, Arran, and his noble-born daughter, Selah, the new Imperial Historian, are left to pick up the pieces-setting them on a collision course with an undercover rebel group who are determined to steal an ancient artefact called the Iveroa Stone, expose the truth behind the so-called democratic society, and overthrow the Roman Empire.
As Selah begins to unravel the Stone’s mysteries alongside her friends and allies, she must decide what to do with a world-shattering discovery: Roma has not always ruled in Sargassa, as the history books say. And if the Roman Empire could be toppled once, what’s to stop the Sargassans from doing it again?
Equal parts political intrigue, queer romance, and revolution, Sargassa explores gender, sexuality and the racism and classism inherent in the system.”
~~~
Hannah Kaner, Sunbringer
The second volume of a trilogy. It worked less well for me than the first.
“Godkiller Kissen sacrificed herself to save her friends. But gods cannot be destroyed so easily – and neither can godkillers.
Young noble Inara and her little god of white lies, Skedi, seek answers to the nature of their bond. But secrets they uncover could determine the outcome of the war.
Meanwhile, Elogast has been charged with destroying King Arren, the man he once called friend, who has now entered into an unholy pact with the most dangerous of them all.
The kingdom is on the brink of destruction. What will they each sacrifice to save it?”
~~~
Rebecca Fraimow, Lady Eve’s Last Con
“Ruth Johnson and her sister Jules have been small-time hustlers on the interstellar cruise lines for years. But then Jules fell in love with one of their targets, Esteban Mendez-Yuki, sole heir to the family insurance fortune. Esteban seemed to love her too, until she told him who she really was, at which point he fled without a word.
Now Ruth is set on revenge: disguised as provincial debutante Evelyn Ojukwu and set for the swanky satellite New Monte, she’s going to make Esteban fall in love with her, then break his heart and take half his fortune. At least, that’s the plan. But Ruth hadn’t accounted for his older sister, Sol, a brilliant mind in a dashing suit… and much harder to fool.
Sol is hot on Ruth’s tail, and as the two women learn each other’s tricks, Ruth must decide between going after the money and going after her heart.”
~~~
Aliette de Bodard, In the Shadow of the Ship
“Nightjar, sentient ship and family matriarch, looms large in Khuyên’s past. Disappearances drove teenage Khuyên from it, but death will steer her back. Now an adult and a magistrate, Khuyên came for her maternal grandmother’s funeral but finds herself unwittingly reliving her past on the decaying Nightjar. Children are still disappearing as her childhood friends once did; and worse, her beloved Cousin Anh vanishes after pleading for her help. Khuyên sets out to save Anh alongside Thảo, a beautiful and mysterious woman who seems to know more than she should about Khuyên and the ship. But saving Anh requires doing what Khuyên couldn’t do before: face her family, face the ship, face her own hopes and fears for the future–a future that might well include Thảo, but only if Khuyên can stop listening to the critical voice in her head. A voice that sounds an awful lot like Nightjar’s…”
~~~
Sarah Rees Brennan, Long Live Evil
“When her whole life collapsed, Rae still had books. Dying, she seizes a second chance at living: a magical bargain that lets her enter the world of her favourite fantasy series.
She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom on the brink of war. Home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional character: the Once and Forever Emperor. He’s impossibly alluring, as only fiction can be. And in this fantasy world, she discovers she’s not the heroine, but the villainess in the Emperor’s tale.
So be it. The wicked are better dressed, with better one-liners, even if they’re doomed to bad ends. She assembles the wildly disparate villains of the story under her evil leadership, plotting to change their fate. But as the body count rises and the Emperor’s fury increases, it seems Rae and her allies may not survive to see the final page.”
~~~
Books I Read That Have Some Good Points
Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, The Principle of Moments
Time travel. Space opera. Chosen Ones. Long-lost siblings. Disaster gay boy in love with a disaster prince. It has everything, including the kitchen sink.
~~~
Charlotte Bond, The Fireborne Blade
Old-school sword-and-sorcery with modern sensibilities but a little one-note.
~~~
Emily Hamilton, The Stars Too Fondly
As long as you never think too deeply about any of what’s going on, this is an entertaining found family space rom-com.
~~~
Suzan Palumbo, Countess
There’s a reason The Count of Monte Cristo is so long. Riffing off it at novella length is ambitious, and ends up feeling like the prologue to a much longer book.
~~~
It Hurt Me, But Maybe You’ll Like It
Saara El-Arifi, Faebound
Neither the worldbuilding nor the characters worked very well for me. Do you like DRAMA and no one talking to each other like sensible people and absolutely terrible relationship choices because SO HOT? Go for it.
~~~
Meredith Mooring, Redsight
I still don’t know what was going on in this book. And I didn’t like it.
~~~
Books I Still Want To Read, Damnit
Tasha Suri, The Lotus Empire
The third book in an epic fantasy trilogy where no one is a hero and everyone is burning shit down.
~~~
August Clarke, Metal from Heaven
From the blurb:
“Metal From Heaven is a caustic, dizzying eco-fantasy that addresses labor politics, corporate greed, and the relentless grind of capitalism, while also embodying a visceral lesbian revenge quest against the people and institutions who control and oppress the helpless.”
~~~
Sascha Stronach, The Sunforge
From the blurb:
“[A] magic-wielding pirate crew uncovers an age-old fight between the gods that threatens their world.”
I still haven’t read The Dawnhounds, the first book, and I want to.
~~~
Malka Older, The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles
Another second book where I haven’t read the first. I really need time to catch up. It sounds so good.
~~~
Gabrielle Buba, Saints of Storm and Sorrow
From the blurb:
“In this fiercely imaginative Filipino-inspired fantasy debut, a bisexual nun hiding a goddess-given gift is unwillingly transformed into a lightning rod for her people’s struggle against colonization.”
~~~
Justinian Huang, The Emperor and the Endless Palace
From the blurb:
“In the year 4 BCE, an ambitious courtier is called upon to seduce the young Emperor–but quickly discovers they are both ruled by blood, sex and intrigue.
In 1740, a lonely innkeeper agrees to help a mysterious visitor procure a rare medicine, only to unleash an otherworldly terror instead.
And in present-day Los Angeles, a college student meets a beautiful stranger and cannot shake the feeling they’ve met before.
Across these seemingly unrelated timelines woven together only by the twists and turns of fate, two men are reborn, lifetime after lifetime. Within the treacherous walls of an ancient palace and the boundless forests of the Asian wilderness to the heart-pounding cement floors of underground rave scenes, our lovers are inexplicably drawn to each other, constantly tested by the worlds around them.
As their many lives intertwine, they begin to realize the power of their undying love–a power that transcends time itself…but one that might consume them both.”
~~~
That’s it for me for now. I hope to be back soon with a post about the books I’m definitely looking out for in 2025.
On a personal level, I’m trying to get things in order to celebrate a secular Giftmas with my three-year-old, and he’s already gotten so excited he pulled a curtain rail out of the wall. Wish me luck.
κῆπος τῶν βιβλιοθηκῶν | a garden from the libraries 
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