That does not focus on race, and is not in a historical or space opera setting.
I’m looking for an extremely specific type of fiction that I’ve been having a hard time finding. I’m not sure why I’m having a difficult time finding novels that fit such a specific bill when there’s so many books out there, so I’ve come to Reddit in hopes of getting some help ㅠㅠ
Books I enjoyed for various reasons, but missing certain things that I wish it had.
– The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (I love the nihilistic and super morally gray aspect of everything in this novel, from the setting to the characters. It’s super bleak and a reflection of our reality. I didn’t really like all the political jargon or the space opera aspect though, and the MC is a male)
– Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan (Really loved the cyberpunk and super depressing setting of this novel, and how it’s based off our reality. I also really liked the diversity of the characters, and how the main one we follow is a female. However I didn’t really like that it felt like the FMC didn’t feel like she was treated as “serious” as the male characters…)
– this one is not even written by an Asian author, but I enjoyed how Cinder in the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer is written. Mainly because her race isn’t the point of the book she’s in, and she’s treated as seriously as the men in the novel. Though I read this back in middle school so this YA style of writing isn’t probably ideal now that I’m in college. But I liked that Cinder was just a girl, who happened to be Asian but her race isn’t played up, and living in a sci fi setting. And she was NOT a damsel in distress, in fact I would argue that the ML interest was moreso lol.
I read a lot of translated C-novels (and occasionally Japanese and Korean ones as well, but I have the most preference for Chinese novels because I am Chinese and also I feel like they tend to skew more “mature/serious” on average) and although reading Asian novels directly from Asia gets rid of the “race becomes a big point” factor, I find that a lot of Asian novels really like to make the women (especially MCs) as a damsel in distress or at least, it feels like they’re not written to be taken as seriously as the typical male protagonists in these types of darker novel settings.
Basically, I want a novel that feels as dark and has the same depth as media such as
– Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
– William Gibson novels
– Cyberpunk 2077 (both the anime and game, love the character Rebecca in particular)
– Ghost in the Shell (1995 anime)
– Perfect Blue (1997 anime)
– Dorohedoro (2020 anime, I like how the FMC is treated like your typical shounen protagonist, also the author is a woman!)
– VA11 HALL-A (2016 indie game, I love the “don’t give a fuck, I’m just trying to survive in this shitty world” attitude of the FMC)
With an East Asian female protagonist that is taken seriously, where her race is not the point of the novel, and in a “the world is fucked” type of setting (like cyberpunk, sci-fi, dystopia, apocalypse, but NOT space opera please…) that is NOT historical. Romance or not, I don’t really care.
Ideally would love to read translated (fan translation or even MTL is fine) novels directly from Asia, but I’m open to non-Asian novels that happen to fit this bill as well (but with western authors, comes with the risk of feeling that Asianboo…like some certain novels I’ve been recommended, cough).
TLDR: please give me (ideally East Asian) novel recs of an East Asian Female protagonist in a depressing environment setting (sci fi and dystopia but not space opera and no historical setting), and where her race isn’t a big deal and she is treated seriously (aka written kinda like how typical male protagonists are written).
Sorry for the long post, I think I’ve been losing my hair over trying to find novels that fit similar to these traits OTL (I’m starting to consider writing my own dang novel to get this craving out of my body LOL)
by mildlyupsethours