We scoured the world of lesbian science fiction and found you the best of the best for this list of the Top 10 Lesbian Science Fiction.
We decided to include series as singular picks because, you know, we here at The Lesbian Review are super indecisive and don’t play by the rules.
1 On Deception’s Edge series by Lise MacTague Published by Bella Books
Chosen by Brooklyn
Depths of Blue by Lise MacTague
Torrin is a smuggler who is always looking for the next big score. When she hears about a civil war, on a relatively isolated planet, she can’t help but see the money she can make.
Jak is one of the best snipers in the male-only army. Hiding the fact that she is a woman is not always easy but it is necessary. Little does she know that her mission to kill an off world smuggler will lead to big decisions and an unexpected attraction.
This novel is about the life and death adventure of the two women who need to fight their way through enemy territory, battle fatigue and the local wildlife. And that is only the first half of the novel.
I often find sci-fi novels to be over written with too much explanation of the world, the history, the technology and even the wildlife. Lise MacTague has a really refreshing take on this genre. Her world is well created and different enough to make it interesting. Before you know it, you are transported to a blue world with a raging civil war. This is absolutely a must-read novel. It has everything you could want in a novel including: a decent length, fantastic writing, a good pace, an unexpected turn or two, great characters and a romance.
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[tweetthis]Depths of Blue by Lise MacTague made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi[/tweetthis]
Heights Of Green by Lise MacTague
Jak is brought back to Torrin’s home planet, Nadierzda, and it couldn’t be more different than her home planet of Haefen. All she has ever known is men and war. While Torrin is her lover, she is busy setting up a business venture, so Jak finds a group of women she can relate to — Nadi’s militia. She is recruited to help teach some of the women long range shooting.
Torrin is totally occupied pursuing the biggest opportunity of her life. This could mean her planet’s completion of terraforming and money in the bank. She also needs to find out who it was that set her up on the Haefen mission. While trying to sort out who may be trying to kill her, one of Torrin’s ex-girlfriends makes a pass at her just as Jak walks in.
Believing that Torrin has cheated on her, Jak enlists with the militia to occupy her time and forget about Torrin. But during a mission Jak goes missing and Torrin begins a desperate race against time to try and find Jak before it is too late.
Heights Of Green by Lise MacTague is definitely an action book and Lise did an amazing job keeping me on the edge, focusing more on the plot but at the same time having that struggle in Jak and Torrin’s relationship.
If you didn’t read Depths Of Blue, read it now. Then get going on Heights Of Green because you will want to read all three of the novels in this trilogy.
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[tweetthis]Heights Of Green by Lise MacTague made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi [/tweetthis]
2 Slow River by Nicola Griffith Published by Ballantine Books
Chosen by Lise MacTague
The reader is first introduced to Lore Van Oest when she leaps naked from the back of a moving van to escape her kidnappers. As the scion of a wealthy family who are in the bioremediation business, she was captured and held for a ransom that never came. Unable to go back to the family who betrayed her, Lore hooks up with the morally bankrupt Spanner. Survival requires Lore to make difficult and very questionable decisions. She decides to make a break with street life and go straight, but finds that not all is well on that path either. In fact, the stakes are much higher than they ever were when she was with Spanner. She not only has herself to worry about, but thousands of people in London. Can she save them while keeping herself hidden from her family?
This is a book that stays with you. I’ve read it multiple times since the late 1990s; each time the book’s footprint in my head lingers. There’s so much to recommend it. The dystopian future in this near-future London seems very plausible, and many of the futuristic touches are downright prophetic. Beautiful writing and a truly unique narrative structure make this a must-read for anyone who loves lesbian sci-fi.
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[tweetthis]Slow River by Nicola Griffith made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi[/tweetthis]
3 Reintegration by Eden S. French
Chosen by Lise MacTague
Lexi Vale, a cyborg with a smart mouth and attitude for miles is about to become the most sought-after person in the slums surrounding the Codist enclave of Foundation. She is the only recipient to have survived the process of having a computer chip codenamed Project Sky implanted in her brain. Now that the Codists know of her existence, they want her back to find out how she survived. Lexi is reasonably certain the process will end in her death.
Mineko Tamura is the daughter of high-ranking Codists. Unable to stand her people’s strict ways and rigid social structures, she is trying to undermine their plans, which involves tipping Lexi off. She stays behind to keep an eye on her parents and the other Codists who so desperately want to bring Lexi in, but can she escape the effects of their indoctrination.
Meanwhile, Lexi is on the run. She hasn’t been around for as long as she has and with as smart a mouth as she has without making more than one enemy. Unfortunately, enemies and former friends are all Lexi has to turn to. Can she escape the Codists with her brain intact? Will those helping her tire of her smartassery? And can Mineko hold on to her own sense of self long enough to make Lexi’s escape attempt succeed.
This book is amazing. If you want something that feels like no other lesfic scifi novel you’ve ever read, you can look no further. The author’s unique voice and ample talents in world-building and character-creation make this a more than worthwhile read, and one of my very favorites.
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[tweetthis]Reintegration by Eden S. French made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi [/tweetthis]
4 Rulebreaker by Cathy Pegau Published by Carina Press
Chosen by Tara
Liv Braxton is a thief, with bank heists and smash and grabs as her specialty. She’s running out of money and her literal partner in crime, Cal, has just told her he’s quitting the game when her ex-husband shows up with an offer too good to refuse. He’s bringing her in on a job with some big league criminals, and if she can pull off her role, she’ll walk away with 50 million (and if she can’t, she’s probably dead).
The Grey brothers have gotten her a job as an assistant to R.J. Talbot, Vice President of Research and Development at the Exeter Mining Company. It puts her in the perfect position to steal information about filtration system development that they’re keeping private but are legally required to share, which the Greys can use to extort Exeter. If she has to seduce openly lesbian R.J., that’s fine by the Greys. Whatever it takes to get the files.
How on earth was this Cathy Pegau’s first book? It’s very well written with a compelling, well-paced plot, and there are some excellent twists in there. I dare you to find another full-length book this fun at a price this good. I’m so glad I read Rulebreaker and I can’t wait to read Deep Deception.
Brooklyn’s Note – Tara contacted me and said, “Hey I felt like you would have really loved this book and should review it but it was so good I kept it to myself.” So I know this is a good book. That has never happened before and quite frankly I’m sad I didn’t get to review it!
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[tweetthis]Rulebreaker by Cathy Pegau made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi[/tweetthis]
5 The Chronicles of Alsea by Fletcher Delancey Published by Ylva Publishing
Chosen by Brooklyn and Tara
The Caphenon by Fletcher DeLancey
Alsea might be used to celestial stones falling from space, but aliens are an entirely different story. When Alsea’s Lancer, Andira Tal, gets the call that a spaceship has landed not too far from the largest city on the planet, everything changes for its people.
Ekatya Serrado, Captain of the Protectorate Fleet’s ship Caphenon, has survived the crash landing along with most of a skeleton crew, and their news isn’t good. She may have saved them from a Voloth invasion, but there are almost certainly more coming and their destructive capabilities are beyond imagining.
From chapter one this book takes off with a bang! I loved the drama, the action, the unique points of view the author uses, and the mysteries within the story. I also loved that this is just an excellent sci-fi novel. Yes, there’s a lesbian relationship in there, but The Caphenon can stand up to anything in the mainstream sci-fi genre.
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[tweetthis]Check it out The Caphenon by Fletcher DeLancey made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi [/tweetthis]
Without a Front – The Producer’s Challenge by Fletcher DeLancey
Weeks after the end of The Caphenon, Lancer Andira Tal is nowhere close to relaxing or basking in the glory of winning the battle against the Voloth. There are questions of what to do with the Voloth prisoners of war, some are calling Tal a war criminal for allowing empathic attacks during the battle, and there’s the small matter of every caste having an opinion about what to do with the matter printer technology.
Tal has been meeting with delegates from all of the castes to allay their fears about the matter printers when the producer caste’s delegate is replaced. Raiz Salomen Opah may be beautiful, but she has a biting tongue and isn’t afraid to let anyone know how little she agrees with Tal, convinced that the matter printers will devastate the producers. One day, their barb trading leads to a challenge: Tal will work Salomen’s farm for a whole cycle, and Salomen will accompany Tal in her work for a cycle.
The Producer’s Challenge is beautifully written. Although it has much more romance than The Caphenon, I would still classify it as a sci-fi novel rather than a romance. Without a Front – The Producers Challenge is an excellent sci-fi novel with a romance that made me do a little happy dance. I highly recommend it, but be sure to have your copy of Without a Front – The Warrior’s Challenge ready so you can dive immediately into it.
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[tweetthis]Without a Front – The Producer’s Challenge by Fletcher DeLancey made this #Top10 [/tweetthis]
Without a Front – The Warriors Challenge by Fletcher Delancey
And to be honest, you don’t even need to read this review, trust and believe this book is fantasticle.
The third book picks up in the hospital with Tal recovering from the plasma blast. Salomen and Tal are bonded to each other, without a front between them. Herot has run off without a trace and is now a wanted man.
Inside information has tipped Tal off to corruption within the Council and now she must figure out how deep it goes.
Mayhem is mounting. Will Tal be overthrown? Can she find Herrot in time before he meets his demise? Or will her own actions be her downfall? Chaos is crashing in from all sides.
If you’re looking to get into a quality series look no further. The Chronicles of Alsea delivers with just the right amount of action, intrigue, and romance.
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[tweetthis]Without a Front – The Warriors Challenge by Fletcher Delancey made this#Top 10 [/tweetthis]
6 Return to Isis by Jean Stewart Published by Bella Books
Chosen by Brooklyn and Lise MacTague
Return to Isis is a science fiction novel about Whit, a woman on a spy mission for Freeland when the brutal forces of Elysium find her.
She is saved by Amelia, a battered and destitute farmer and doesn’t feel like she can leave the farmer to a certain death. There is danger, action and romance in this one. Each turn of the page leads to new information that helps piece together the story of Amelia, a young serf whose life is turned upside down when a ship crash lands in her potato fields. Together, she and Whit, make an escape from the hell hole that is Elysium back to Freelandia.
What is unsettling to Whit, the Freeland Warrior, is that this simple peasant is more capable than any Elysium. Who is this girl anyway, and where did she come from?
I was never bored reading this book. There was a bounty of characters; Stewart did a stunning job of developing some of the supporting roles. If you are looking for a book with action this is it.
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[tweetthis]Return to Isis by Jean Stewart made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi [/tweetthis]
7 The Tea Machine by Gill McKnight Published by Ylva Publishing
Chosen by Brooklyn
The Tea Machine by Gill McKnight is a tale about time travel. Its theme centers on the butterfly effect and alternate realities.
In 1862 London, Millicent’s brother, Hubert, has invented a machine that makes time travel possible. When Millicent accidentally triggers the time machine, she finds herself smack dab in the middle of a space squid battle in an alternate future, in the year of 1957. She runs into Sangfroid, an Imperial Space Corps Marine who was sent to evacuate the ship. When Millicent becomes the cause of Sangfroid’s death she takes on the task of ensuring the survival of the Space Marine. During her multiple attempts into the future a few unexpected passengers travel back with Millicent.
When Hubert and Millicent find out that the Roman Empire in Sangfroid’s time line did not perish, but thrived and advanced beyond comprehension, they know something has gone incredibly wrong with time traveling. They must find and fix the cause of the butterfly effect before it’s too late and the London they know becomes an industrial wasteland.
This is a fun and exciting book with a bit of a puzzle to it. It’s mainly focused on the action and the plot but there was just the right amount of romance. I’m curious to see what the next book in the series has in store.
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[tweetthis]The Tea Machine by Gill McKnight made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi [/tweetthis]
8 Night Vision by Karin Kallmaker Published by Bella Books
Chosen by Brooklyn and Sheena
Julia wakes up every night with terrible nightmares. They are so real that she feels like she is living them, like she is the woman who is crying for help and trying to escape her captors.
She tries everything she can to get the rest that she so desperately needs but even sleeping pills do not work for long. Eventually Julia resorts to a support group for sleep problems. There she discovers other lesbians in the group who are having similar experiences. The women band together to solve the mystery behind their insomnia and maybe they will be able to save the captive woman in time.
Night Vision is an excellent read. It is dark. It is claustrophobic and it will sit with you. But, oh, the journey is so worth it. And while the end is not traditionally happy it is satisfying in its own way.
Yes. This book is worth it.
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[tweetthis]Night Vision by Karin Kallmaker made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi[/tweetthis]
9 A Time Before Now by Missouri Vaun Published by Bold Strokes Books
Chosen by Tara and Sheena
A Time Before Now by Missouri Vaun is the novel I was waiting for from Missouri Vaun. It feels like she has finally hit her writing groove. Don’t get me wrong. I have enjoyed her other books, but this one stand head-and-shoulders above the rest. Her characters are deeper, her events are more explored and it really makes one feel.
A Time Before Now is about Vivian and Ida. We met these characters in her first novel, All Things Rise, as Cole’s aunts. This time Vaun has taken us back in time to tell us the story of how they met and the personal struggles that came with that journey.
At the beginning of the novel Vivian is working on a farm, she is contemplating leaving her horrid boss behind when his sister comes on to her. Her gut keeps telling her to leave but her hormones won’t listen until a nasty incident that forces her to leave with nothing much to her name and a terrible burn.
Ida is heading back home to her brother and his wife and child (Cole). Ida left after her mother died and now feels the call of home again. She joins a family who is traveling in the same direction in order to be a little safer. One night a woman (Vivian) approaches them and asks to share their campfire. She offers a rabbit for dinner and is welcomed. Ida feels an instant attraction and is more than happy to get to know the new arrival but Vivian is deeply damaged by her former lover and is unwilling to let herself feel her attraction to Ida.
The novel follows their journey back to Ida’s farm and then what happens once they reach the farm. Throughout, there is the internal battle that rages in Vivian.
This is on my must-read list. If you enjoyed her previous novels, you will enjoy this even more. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I read this and took the journey with Ida and Vivian.
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[tweetthis]A Time Before Now by Missouri Vaun made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi[/tweetthis]
10 Freya’s Tears by D. Jordan Redhawk Published by Bella Books
Chosen by Lise MacTague
The book opens with betrayal and old-fashioned piracy. The crew is forced to heave-to and their cargo is stolen out from under them. In more than a bit of a financial bind, they head off to find another cargo. However, word of their plight has spread and the best jobs have dried up. The ship’s captain, Els, is doing her best to provide for her crew who still haven’t been paid, but is failing miserably. Meanwhile, her lover, Bennie, manages to track down a job. Els is initially suspicious, as Bennie doesn’t share her compunctions on transporting human cargo, but is talked into it.
They bootstrap their ship and its new cargo of medical tissues out into space, but things start going wrong. Els has every reason to suspect that Bennie is carrying on with another member of the crew, but can’t bring herself to believe it. Then the human tissue they’re transporting turns out to be all-too-human, and in the worst possible way. Confronted with a choice between finishing the job and heading for the nearest planet where she can get justice for her cargo, Els chooses the latter. Not only does she have to fight her deteriorating ship and the members of the crew who want to see the cargo delivered at all costs, but the situation is further complicated when the cargo’s owners show up, and they’re not happy.
This is the kind of book I love to happen across. It is so up my alley, it could have been written with me in mind. The characters are well-rounded and each has their own feel, which is no easy feat with so many of them. The story is tightly plotted and leaves no hanging threads. What I liked the most was the sense of claustrophobia Redhawk is able to evoke through her tight view of the main character.
It is a great, nail-biting story. If you like adventures in space and lesbians—and their relationships—in peril, then you should buy it now.
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[tweetthis] Freya’s Tears by D. Jordan Redhawk made the Top 10 best #lesfic Sci-fi[/tweetthis]
BONUS: Rabbits Of The Apocalypse by Benny Lawrence published by Bedazzled Ink
Chosen by Sheena and Brooklyn
In the remote desert town of Lafontaine, Casey Prentice has been trying to survive the endtimes by keeping her head down, refusing to give a damn about anyone except her younger sister Emily and wingman Malice Hiroyama. But that ceases to be an option when a powerful and mysterious entity known as the Anastasian League descends on the town. Casey uncharacteristically, and unwisely, offers shelter to Pax, one of the League’s escaping prisoners. In doing so, she invites a whole new kind of danger into her life. Because the town of Lafontaine has a secret … and if the League discovers it, then the apocalypse will be the least of Casey’s worries
Benny Lawrence has a wit, charm and smart writing style that is tough to compete with. I love her novels and this one was no exception.
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[tweetthis]Rabbits Of The Apocalypse by Benny Lawrence made the bonus on this #Top10[/tweetthis]
