Fair representation has always been an important factor in any art form, and science fiction is no exception. Here are some of the best sci-fi novels with a gripping female lead to keep the playing field level.
Female leads in science fiction books
There are many sci-fi novels out there with strong female protagonists and antagonists, for that matter. They are not necessarily all written by women either. Here is a small selection of the vast library of science fiction with female leads.
A Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
This book and subsequent books have made huge waves in the world of modern science fiction. They have garnered a lot of attention and have been made into a smash hit TV series. Margaret Atwood successfully captures the paranoia and historical oppression of women around the world and has artfully brought it to life in this female-led science fiction novel.
The book digs deep into a future dystopia, not far from our current timeline, in which a patriarchal society has turned women into a breeding slave class. Women around New Gilead are used solely for producing children for the ruling class, losing all autonomy over their lives and bodies. The book looks at the way women fight back against the new society, taking back freedoms and fighting against the powers.
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
If you’re looking for some young adult fiction with a strong female lead, then The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a perfect place to start. She takes inspiration from numerous sources, such as Battle Royal, and repackages it for a much younger Western audience. The results are a future of great class divide, rebellion, and, of course, the brutal fight for survival. The collection of books is all told from the perspective of an inspirational female lead who leads the people to revolution.
The Hunger Games is a tale told many times through sci-fi, but Suzanne Collins successfully brought the concept to the masses. A future with an oppressive ruling class sits atop a downtrodden population. The class divide has become far too great to ever merge. In the world of The Hunger Games, the poor, divided into districts, are used as entertainment. However, Katniss’s determination pulls the divided people together to rise up against oppression.
The Female Man – Joanna Russ
This wild science fiction book has four female leads, all living parallel lives in different universes. The book looks at the lives of four women, all living in very different worlds. As each woman comes across to visit the other’s universe, they change their perceptions of their own. Every universe has opposing environments, governments, and situations that deeply affect each woman. This feminist sci-fi novel by Joanna Russ is a must-read for anyone looking for a strong female lead in sci-fi.
The four women in The Female Man come from four separate universes. The first is akin to our own world of the 1970s. The second is from a world where the Great Depression never ended and the Second World War never happened. This results in a universe with no significant feminist movement. The third is a world where all men have died out, and women use technology to breed. The fourth is a world in which women and men are at war.
Kindred – Octavia E. Butler
This is a novel often used in studies and on many universities’ reading lists. It is an in-depth and eye-opening look into black history in America. The time-traveling female protagonist jumps backward and forward through time, experiencing the life of an African woman over many different time periods. Her perspective, due to being a modern woman of the time, is changed and challenged as she witnesses life throughout American history.
Through the medium of time travel, this book explores how attitudes have changed over time. Dana, the female lead, has the attitude of a modern woman if faced with the atrocities of the past. The book delves into many key issues, such as race, gender, and power.
Doomsday Book – Connie Willis
Time travel is always a great setting for any science fiction book. In this one, our female lead returns to the past using typical sci-fi technology. The book itself is almost a historical novel as Kivrin travels back to medieval times, exploring life as it was then. However, this is further than people have ever traveled before, and there are risks associated with it. Through a narrative that jumps forward and backward through time, this sci-fi book tells the tale of the future and the past.
Kivrin is able to travel back to the 14th century. However, things go a little awry as both the person who sent her back falls ill and Kivrin arrives during the Black Plague. While her contact back in the present time struggles with an influenza epidemic, Kivrin has to deal with one back in time. She is vaccinated against it, but due to the circumstances, she misses her opportunity to return to the present time. Doomsday Book follows our female sci-fi lead as she tries to make her way back to her timeline.
A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle
A science fantasy coming-of-age film split over many universes is always going to be a recipe for a great sci-fi novel. A Wrinkle in Time is a fantastic trip through L’Engle’s wonderful sci-fi imagination as the three characters endeavor to save the female lead’s father. The narrative gives plenty of space for exploring the characters’ development into adulthood and the challenges they face along the way. The book has been adapted for the screen twice. However, both times have hardly managed to make much of themselves. Just another one to add to the list of terrible sci-fi film adaptations.
The three characters use the Tesseract to embark on a journey through space and time. With the guiding hand of two mysterious beings, they witness the world of good and evil. As they make their way to different worlds and universes, they have to help in the war between light and dark. They are on a quest to find Meg Murray’s father, but there is much more to discover.
Parable of The Sower – Octavia E. Butler
Sci-fi often loves to strip humans of their emotions. A common trope of modern science fiction is to have humans reduced to almost machine-like coldness. However, the female lead in this sci-fi book suffers from the complete opposite. In Parable of The Sower, we have a character who has hyperempathy, a condition that makes her incredibly receptive to the emotions of those around her.
The world has begun to fall to climate change, and social inequality is at an all-time high. Humans are becoming victims of their own tribal instincts, and disorder is growing across the world. Lauren Olamina, our female protagonist, lives in a community with her family. However, when they are killed and her community sacked by the raiders, she begins to make her journey north, looking for work. During her journey, she begins to develop a religion based on the idea of traveling to new planets, to begin again.
A Long Way to A Small Angry Planet – Becky Chambers
This sci-fi book is the debut of Chambers and the first in a wonderful series of novels. Although it focuses on many of the members of the ship’s crew, the central character is Rosemary Harper, a female clerk. Chambers takes the typically vast world of sci-fi and condenses it down to the size of a single ship. In this book, we get to enjoy the ins and outs of on-board life. A Long Way to A Small Angry Planet is a beautiful observation of human nature as the crew members interact with one another and build beautiful relationships.
Sci-fi doesn’t need to be galaxy-spanning and generational in its storytelling. Sometimes, it can exist in a tiny microcosm and still use all the elements of the genre. This book is a wonderful one to pick up if you’re looking for something full of love and deep and fascinating characters but still want something a little futuristic. The rest of the books in this trilogy are equally fascinating in their exploration of the human and not-so-human psyche.
Grass – Sheri S. Tepper
A plague has started to sweep across the populated galaxy, killing 100% of the people who catch it. However, the theocracy that rules denies that it is real, falling back on its typical willful ignorance. However, there is a world out there that appears completely resistant to the plague, and it is here that we meet our female sci-fi protagonist. Marjorie Westriding Yrarier must travel to the planet to uncover the secrets of the planet’s immunity.
However, in her quest, she has a number of revelations about the world she was raised in. Over the course of the book, she starts to rebel against the patriarchy she was a part of. As Marjorie Westriding Yrarier becomes acquainted with the planet, she finds out a lot about herself and starts to become a woman of her own volition. The book is a fascinating exploration of world-building, political and societal criticism and equestrian sports.
A Memory Called Empire – Arkady Martine
The Mayan culture is already steeped in fascinating history and mystery. In this book by Martine, traditional Mayan culture is translated into a fascinating sci-fi world with a brilliant female lead. Using a crime fiction-style narrative, the Mayan culture in the book is brilliantly expanded on, mixing ancient history with many of the trappings of science fiction. The crossover works incredibly well, blending the practices of the Mayans in an alien and futuristic setting.
Mahit Dzmare is an ambassador for her own planet. She carried with her the memories of the ambassador before her, but due to his murder, they are 15 years out of date. As she becomes embedded in the mysteries surrounding the previous ambassador’s death, she becomes wrapped up in the potential overthrow of the current emperor. This book perfectly combines fantasy elements with science fiction, appealing to fans of both genres.
