| Russ Allbery > Reviews > Reading Lists | James Nicoll's 100 SF/F Books > |
On May 2nd, 2016, BookRiot published a list by Nikki VanRy of the 100 best SF and fantasy novels by female authors (in her subjective take).
Some caveats about this list: Steele only listed at most one book per author, and always listed the first book of a series. In multiple cases (Bujold, for instance), the first book of the series is weaker than subsequent entries, which explains a few of the low ratings here.
The original list was alphabetical by title, so I've preserved that order although I list author first.
| Tamora Pierce | Alanna: The First Adventure | |
| Ekaterina Sedia | The Alchemy of Stone | |
| Jo Walton | Among Others | 10 out of 10 |
| Ann Leckie | Ancillary Justice | 10 out of 10 |
| Kiini Ibura Salaam | Ancient, Ancient | |
| Louise Erdrich | The Antelope Wife | |
| Mercedes Lackey | Arrows of the Queen | 7 out of 10 |
| Malinda Lo | Ash | 7 out of 10 |
| Robin Hobb | Assassin’s Apprentice | |
| Barbara Wright | The Pyramid Waltz | 6 out of 10 |
| Tanith Lee | Biting the Sun | |
| Margaret Cavendish | The Blazing World | |
| Angela Carter | The Bloody Chamber | |
| Cherie Priest | Boneshaker | 8 out of 10 |
| Nalo Hopkinson | Brown Girl in the Ring | |
| Michelle Sagara | Cast in Shadow | |
| Maureen F. McHugh | China Mountain Zhang | 8 out of 10 |
| Hiromi Goto | Chorus of Mushrooms | |
| Marissa Meyer | Cinder | |
| Mary Stewart | The Crystal Cave | |
| Meredith Ann Pierce | The Darkangel | |
| Laini Taylor | Daughter of Smoke & Bone | |
| Anne Bishop | Daughter of the Blood | 7 out of 10 |
| Juliet Marillier | Daughter of the Forest | |
| Charlaine Harris | Dead Until Dark | 7 out of 10 |
| Catherynne M. Valente | Deathless | |
| Jane Yolen | The Devil’s Arithmetic | |
| Ursula K. Le Guin | The Dispossessed | 8 out of 10 |
| Connie Willis | Doomsday Book | 8 out of 10 |
| Noriko Ogiwara | Dragon Sword and Wind Child | |
| Anne McCaffrey | Dragonflight | 7 out of 10 |
| Sabaa Tahir | An Ember in the Ashes | |
| K.J. Bishop | The Etched City | |
| Joanna Russ | The Female Man | 6 out of 10 |
| Carol Berg | Flesh and Spirit | |
| Patricia A. McKillip | The Forgotten Beasts of Eld | |
| Mary Shelley | Frankenstein | |
| Yangsze Choo | The Ghost Bride | |
| Kristin Cashore | Graceling | |
| Margaret Atwood | The Handmaid’s Tale | |
| J.K. Rowling | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone | 3 out of 10 |
| Leonora Carrington | The Hearing Trumpet | |
| James Tiptree Jr. | Her Smoke Rose Up Forever | |
| Nicola Griffith | Hild | 8 out of 10 |
| Naomi Novik | His Majesty’s Dragon | 7 out of 10 |
| Isabel Allende | The House of the Spirits | |
| Rosario Ferré | The House on the Lagoon | |
| Diana Wynne Jones | Howl’s Moving Castle | |
| Suzanne Collins | The Hunger Games | 8 out of 10 |
| Sabrina Vourvoulias | Ink | |
| Cornelia Funke | Inkheart | |
| Daína Chaviano | The Island of Eternal Love | |
| Susanna Clarke | Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell | 8 out of 10 |
| Elizabeth Bear | Karen Memory | |
| N.K. Jemisin | The Killing Moon | |
| Jacqueline Carey | Kushiel’s Dart | 9 out of 10 |
| Lynn Flewelling | Luck in the Shadows | |
| Kelly Link | Magic for Beginners | |
| Kameron Hurley | The Mirror Empire | |
| Marion Zimmer Bradley | The Mists of Avalon | |
| Charlotte Perkins Gilman | Moving the Mountain | |
| Helen Oyeyemi | Mr. Fox | |
| Mercè Rodoreda | My Christina & Other Stories | |
| Tananarive Due | My Soul to Keep | |
| Suzette Haden Elgin | Native Tongue | |
| Erin Morgenstern | The Night Circus | |
| Octavia Butler | Parable of the Sower | 9 out of 10 |
| Aimee Bender | The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake | |
| Erika Johansen | The Queen of the Tearling | |
| Maggie Stiefvater | The Raven Boys | |
| Linda Nagata | The Red | |
| Karen Lord | Redemption in Indigo | |
| Seanan McGuire | Rosemary and Rue | 8 out of 10 |
| Larissa Lai | Salt Fish Girl | |
| Shira Glassman | The Second Mango | |
| Lois McMaster Bujold | Shards of Honor | 4 out of 10 |
| Doris Lessing | Shikasta | |
| Joan D. Vinge | The Snow Queen | 6 out of 10 |
| Nalini Singh | Slave to Sensation | |
| Ana Castillo | So Far from God | |
| Zen Cho | Sorcerer to the Crown | |
| Gail Carriger | Soulless | 7 out of 10 |
| Mary Doria Russell | The Sparrow | 8 out of 10 |
| Elizabeth Moon | The Speed of Dark | 9 out of 10 |
| Kathleen Alcala | Spirits of the Ordinary | |
| Emily St. John Mandel | Station Eleven | |
| Sofia Samatar | A Stranger in Olondria | |
| Robin McKinley | Sunshine | 9 out of 10 |
| Karen Russell | Swamplandia! | |
| Ellen Kushner | Swordspoint | 9 out of 10 |
| Megan Whalen Turner | The Thief | |
| Tanya Huff | Valor’s Choice | |
| Emma Bull | War for the Oaks | |
| Shirley Jackson | We Have Always Lived in the Castle | |
| Nnedi Okorafor | Who Fears Death | |
| Delilah S. Dawson | Wicked As They Come | |
| Marge Piercy | Woman on the Edge of Time | 5 out of 10 |
| Vandana Singh | The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and Other Stories | |
| Renée Ahdieh | The Wrath and the Dawn | |
| Madeleine L’Engle | A Wrinkle in Time | 6 out of 10 |
Ratings for books that don't have a review are based on my memory of the book. The rating may well change if I get a chance to read the book again.
| Russ Allbery > Reviews > Reading Lists | James Nicoll's 100 SF/F Books > |