books outside the binary

September 7, 2023 9:14 PM

Please recommend books with nonbinary, genderqueer, agender protagonists/major supporting characters! Any genre, written for any age. Thank you!
posted by azalea_chant to Media & Arts (38 answers total)

Alternate history novella River of Teeth and its sequel Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey. A delightful ensemble cast, and one of the main characters is nonbinary.
posted by Suedeltica at 9:22 PM on September 7, 2023

Currently reading On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden, young adult-ish science fiction, a webcomic first but also released as a graphic novel. Has a nonbinary major supporting character.
posted by sigmagalator at 9:50 PM on September 7, 2023

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders if you count non-humans (it's sci fi).

Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve is a charming teen/YA novel with a genderqueer zombie.
posted by bluedaisy at 9:56 PM on September 7, 2023

Light from Uncommon Stars, about a transgender violinist mentored by a nice demon who wants her soul.
posted by mullacc at 10:04 PM on September 7, 2023 [7 favorites]

The monk and robot books from Becky Chambers, delightful. First one is A Psalm for the Wild Built. (not churchy).
posted by Iteki at 10:36 PM on September 7, 2023 [5 favorites]

Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler is probably the most influential/best-known genderqueer sci-fi work. Plus it's amazingly written and utterly absorbing. The gender...differences? nuances? (it's hard to be specific without spoilers, and it's a trilogy that slowly unfolds so I don't want to ruin anything) are central to everything.
posted by underclocked at 11:18 PM on September 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

The Tensorate series by Neon Yang definitely has core nonbinary characters, and I recall An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon having gender nonconforming main characters who aren't strictly binary, though it's been a while since I read it and I can't remember all the details.
posted by terretu at 12:32 AM on September 8, 2023

Came here to repeat Light From Uncommon Stars. Wish I could read it for the first time again.
posted by chr1sb0y at 2:24 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley. Also one of his other novels, Pilgrim - if I recall correctly, the main character changes genders in a similar way as Orlando by Virginia Woolf.

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson. Many of Winterson’s novels feature characters who don’t conform to gender stereotypes, but the main character in this one is a bit more directly nonbinary.
posted by eviemath at 2:32 AM on September 8, 2023

All Systems Red and the entire Murderbot series. Muderbot is fascinating, complex, endearing and genderless.

Seconding Becky Chambers Monk and Robot but also her Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet . Characters are often nonbinary, genderless or are sequential hermaphrodites.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:56 AM on September 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

DarlingBri got here before me, but I support their recommendations. The books are very well written as well. Here is an interview and conversation with both of the writers, worth a listen, but I don't recall if they touch on gender identity specifically.
posted by Harald74 at 3:35 AM on September 8, 2023

Best answer: Two kids picture books:
Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
Neither by Airlie Anderson
posted by AbelMelveny at 3:41 AM on September 8, 2023

Also:

Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch takes places in a genderless society and most of the characters are ungendered.
posted by AbelMelveny at 3:51 AM on September 8, 2023

Leckie's The Raven Tower is a phenomenal fantasy novel with a trans male protagonist; this is extremely unusual and weird to many of the characters and completely unremarkable and boring to others.
posted by Tomorrowful at 4:21 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun and sequel are extremely about the performance of gender, including a transmasc character and a (period-appropriate) eunuch. They're not cheerful books but they are very good.

Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric novellas are about a man who has a female demon living in his head (and occasionally taking over his body. They are charming and the genderfuckery is mild but delightful, except in Mira's Last Dance, in which case the genderfuckery is the point. (I don't recommend jumping straight to it, though, it'd be dreadfully confusing.)

Elizabeth Bear's The Stone and the Skull (and sequels) has a trans woman and an AFAB person who now identifies as a golem as two of the viewpoint characters. (The latter I'd describe as agender and asexual though not necessarily aromantic, although they wouldn't use those words.)
posted by restless_nomad at 4:52 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Orlando by Virginia Woolf - "The book describes the adventures of a poet who changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history. Considered a feminist classic, the book has been written about extensively by scholars of women's writing and gender and transgender studies."
posted by belladonna at 5:17 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang--a retelling of the story of Joan of Arc with Pacific Rim vibes and diverse characters. Written by a non-binary author.

"This is the story of Misery Nomaki (she/they) – a nobody from a nowhere mining planet who possesses the rare stone-working powers of a saint. Unfortunately, these saint-like abilities also manifest in those succumbing to voidmadness, like that which killed Misery’s mother. Knowing they aren’t a saint but praying they aren’t voidmad, Misery keeps quiet about their power for years, while dreaming and scheming up ways off their Forge-forsaken planet."
posted by divka at 5:33 AM on September 8, 2023

Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness is about an ambassador to a planet whose inhabitants have no fixed sex.

I'd also second the recommendation for Octavia Butler's Lilith's Brood series (which I've also heard called Xenogenesis).
posted by number9dream at 5:53 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

There is a graphic novel called Gender Queer about the author's experience with understanding their gender (a very popular book for banning!). There is a minor NB character in the middle-grade Witchlings books by Claribel A. Ortega. One of the main characters is NB in Love and Other Disasters, a queer rom-com by Anita Kelly.
posted by SeedStitch at 6:02 AM on September 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

Finna by Nino Cipri is a sci-fi multiverse story set in an alternate version of Ikea. The main protagonist is nonbinary (as is the author).
posted by mbrubeck at 7:01 AM on September 8, 2023

Of course all of the graphic novels and young adult novels of Alice Oseman (creator of Heartstopper).
posted by eviemath at 7:09 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

I am currently reading (and loving) Light from Uncommon Stars, and the main character is binary trans as far as this nonbinary reader can tell halfway through the book.
posted by advicepig at 7:26 AM on September 8, 2023

Response by poster: Thank you all for your recs so far! I'd extra appreciate some mystery, romance, or realistic fiction recs - there's a lot set in other worlds and that's great but I'd like some set in our world too!

A couple examples: Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore and Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly.
posted by azalea_chant at 7:33 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Two excellent books I've read lately (adult fiction): Sarah Thankam Mathews' "All This Could Be Different" has a nonbinary best friend and a protagonist who is gender nonconforming (but is at some points antagonistic to the idea of nonbinary identity, so recommend with caution). M. Crane's "I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself" has a protagonist that does some low-level gender musing, and a nonbinary & trans couple become quasi-main characters (important, recurring, though perhaps not the most primary).

On preview: ATCBD is realistic fiction, IKMETM is.. I don't know, realistic but also a little dystopian. Both have relationships/sex/love but not in a sweeping, throw-your-cares-away romance way; both also deal in trauma and are often rather dark.
posted by wormtales at 7:44 AM on September 8, 2023

It's been a while, and it may be dated, but I remember the Weetzie Bat books opening some of these doors for me.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:46 AM on September 8, 2023

One of the leads in KJ Charles’s “An Unsuitable Heir” is genderfluid. It’s Victorian-era romance with a Victorian sensation novel vibe, and is the third in a series. You might be able to read it on its own, but story-wise, it’ll definitely be best to read in order. It’s an actual trilogy, not one of those romance series that’s only loosely connected by common characters.
posted by duien at 7:56 AM on September 8, 2023

Best answer: Unmasked by the Marquess is a regency romance novel by Cat Sebastian with a nonbinary main character.

The Table Topped series by Alex Silver are romances about a tabletop RPG group. Several of the books center on nonbinary or genderfluid main characters.

The Love Study by Kris Ripper is another contemporary romance with a nonbinary main character.

It Goes Like This is a YA novel about a group of four friends who were in a band as teens; one of the four is nonbinary.

Geek Out: A Collection of Trans and Genderqueer Romance features short stories about nonbinary and/or genderqueer people.

A couple of YA romances with nonbinary supporting characters: As You Walk on By by Julian Winters, and I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston.
posted by mbrubeck at 8:23 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I recently read Grave Expectations by Alice Bell, a mystery with a non-binary character in it. Alex isn't the main POV character, but is one of the top 4 main characters if that makes sense, along with a teenage ghost, a woman who sees dead people and a skeptical ex-cop. It was fluffy and enjoyable and funny, even if the mystery itself wasn't the cleverest thing in the world.
posted by Athanassiel at 8:54 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta is charming as all hell and has an NB love interest. Also seconding I Kissed Shara Wheeler - I adored that book.
posted by restless_nomad at 9:30 AM on September 8, 2023

Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides has an Intersex main character. It's realistic fiction with a lot of Greek references and 20th century American historical events.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 9:54 AM on September 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The Riley Reynolds series are cute early chapter books about a nonbinary kid.

Rabbit Chase is a modern gentle kids Alice in Wonderland retelling graphic novel about a nonbinary kid by Elizabeth Lapensee

Picture books I recommend:
Born Ready: The True Story of A Boy Named Penelope by Jodie Patterson

My Rainbow by Trinity and DeShanna Neal

My Dad Thinks I'm a Boy?! by Sophie LaBelle

When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff and Kaylani Juanita

Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

My Maddy by Gayle E Pitman

YA romance: Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

Adult fiction: Didn't Nobody Give a Shit about Carlotta by James Hannaham

The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya
posted by lizard music at 10:19 AM on September 8, 2023

Minor correction: I misremembered Finna above. The nonbinary character is the secondary protagonist, not the main character.
posted by mbrubeck at 10:40 AM on September 8, 2023

The Shamud in Jean Auel's The Valley of Horses.

L Frank Baum's John Dough and the Cherub; they also go to ozma's bday party in The Road to Oz.
posted by brujita at 4:36 PM on September 8, 2023

My absolute favorite is Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl. The protagonist is a shapeshifter who can change genders at will, but is queer no matter their gender. It takes place in the early 90s and is sort of a bildungsroman/picaresque as we follow the main character through various queer scenes of the 90s - Provincetown, the Michigan Womyn's Festival, San Francisco. Such a fun read.

Also, Casey McQuiston writes fun queer romances and their last two books have non-binary supporting characters, I believe.
posted by lunasol at 4:37 PM on September 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

In the second book of the Serpent Gates duology (The Thousand Eyes by A.K. Larkwood), there's a nonbinary character who's a tween shithead with tremendous magical power, and I love them. The first book is also very gay.

T. Kingfisher writes a lot of mainly-heterosexual romances (Clockwork Boys, Swordheart, the Saints of Steel) with the same nonbinary bit character popping up occasionally; I wish she would do more with how nonbinary people fit into her worldbuilding, but the character themself is a lawyer for the Church of the White Rat and a big sweetie. She also did What Moves The Dead, which is horror with a nonbinary protagonist.
posted by 26thandfinal at 2:57 PM on September 9, 2023

In Self by Yann Martel (author of Life of Pi) the protagonist spontaneously changes sexes multiple times..like he starts off as a man and slowly his pebis shrinks and disappears and then one day she starts menstruating. Eventually her female genitalia disappears and he grows a penis again.

The protagonist just goes with it. Using the pronouns and seemingly living the life associated with their current anatomy.

I wouldn't have thought of Julian from "Julian is a Mermaid" as outside the binary. I think he's just a boy who likes/wants to be a mermaid. But if you feel like that book fits you should know that I saw in a bookstore recently that there's a sequel so you can look for that too.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:43 PM on September 9, 2023

"All those explosions were someone else's fault" has a nonbinary protagonist. They don't change their name/pronouns until the sequel, but are obviously genderqueer.
posted by elizabot at 9:00 PM on September 9, 2023

Grease Bats by Archie Bongiovanni is a comic book with a genderqueer main character.

Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall is a romance that has a supporting character who is gender queer, who stars in the next book in the series (along with another non-binary character).

The Avant-guards graphic novels have non-binary people among their cast of characters (it rotates the story line among several on a basketball team in college).

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Denver is realistic fiction (sometimes more realism than I want).

Sophie Labelle has a lot of comics with non-binary supporting characters (and a trans main character) many of which collected in book form.

The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon is speculative fiction, but the non-binary supporting characters are human. It was really refreshing to have that much they/them in the middle of good scifi.
posted by blueberry monster at 6:51 PM on September 15, 2023