I’m looking for a thriller or mystery with little to no romance. Preferably a badass woman between 25 to 45 years old. I don’t want a Game of Thrones level of characters and world building.
The only thing I’ve read that is close to this is Dead Silence.
Thanks!
Edit: I’m hoping to find female authors. Unless there is a male author that you highly recommend.
by Helpful-Ambition-97
16 Comments
– The Echo Wife
– The Space Between Worlds
– 22 Murders of Madison May
– The Original
Kim Harrison’s hollows series is scifi/fantasy
Artemis I don’t think the main character’s age is mentioned but definitely scifi
Dresden files is scifi/fantasy but mostly fantasy
*Shards of Honor*-Lois McMaster Bujold.
Political intrigue/plotting /war/romance. The sequel *Barrayar* is even better, one of the most gripping and thrilling stories I’ve ever read.
Cordelia Naismith is a truly marvelous character.
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley
“The body you are wearing used to be mine.”
So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm (There is a couple perspectives briefly, but the main character is a woman)
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
Wool (The Silo Series) by Hugh Howey (There are some male perspectives, but the main character is a badass woman named Jules)
I agree with someone’s recommendation of The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey, too!
Parable of the sower – Octavia Butler
The Power – Naomi Alderman
If you’re willing to drop the character’s age requirement, His Dark Materials (Golden Compass) has an amazingly well written young female protagonist. Fantasy/Sci-Fi… very little love stuff until the end
I feel like I comment this on every post but the silo series is really good and I believe fits what you’re looking for
As a start, see my:
* [Female Characters, Strong](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18e8uzf/female_characters_strong/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
* [Diversity Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1apxwff/diversity_fiction/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
* [SF/F: Detectives and Law Enforcement](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18dim6z/sff_detectives_and_law_enforcement/) list of Reddit recommendation threads and books (one post).
John Scalzi’s *Interdependency* series is court politics and internecine battles taking place in an outer-space sci-fi setting. Most of its main characters are bad-ass women. The court politics doesn’t come off the periphery to take center stage until the second book.
The first book is ***The Collapsing Empire***.
Be aware it contains considerable expletive language.
Fluency by Jen Foehner Wells – first book in a series. A small amount of romance, IIRC, but not much and a strong female lead in her 30s or 40s, I believe. Highly recommend.
Mystery of Ireta and planet pirate series both by Anne McCaffrey. Not sure of the reading order but I’m sure there’s a list somewhere. Mostly I think you need to read Death of Sleep and then Sassinak first.
DoS- is the story of a woman trying to find her daughter after waking up from cold sleep after several decades.
Sassinak- as a child her colony was raided by pirates and sold. She escapes and joins The Fleet in order to exact revenge not just against the pirates but the whole syndicate.
No romance in either story.
We Who Are About To… by Joanna Russ
Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin. Graphic novel (you can find it with all 12 comic issues in one).
Female MC and female author. Very interesting world and plot (a murder mystery mixed with politics and ethics).
It’s technically a green lantern story but I didn’t realize that (or have prior knowledge of the lore) before reading and didn’t feel it affected my reading experience. Seems to be a self-contained story apart from the DC Universe.
Expendable by James Alan Gardner. Meet the amazing Festina Ramos, sent to on dangerous missions because her looks deem her expendable,
Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot, protagonist has a gf but she’s a pretty minor character