Female author sci-fi/fantasy READING CHALLENGE

100 Sci FI

This year one of the things I've been really working on is being more efficient with my time.  There are so many adventures to plan, activities to get done and sometimes it doesn't seem like there's enough time in the day!  And then I find myself scrolling through Facebook... again.  To stay accountable to myself and be better about my organization I have started using Habitica and Wunderlist.  I find Habitica is perfect for my immediate things to do and Wunderlist for stuff that is a little further out.  (No, I'm not sponsored by either, I just find them useful!)

I'm in a reading group on Habitica and someone shared a link to:“100 Must-Read Sci-Fi / Fantasy Novels by Female Authors” article on Book Riot and loved reading through it.  There are so many books on that list I've been meaning to get around to or have never heard of before!  Since I'm a huge sci-fi / fantasy fan, this seemed like a fantastic candidate for a reading challenge.

The challenge will be to read as many of the books as you can and then to discuss!  This should be nice since it will vary on authors, types of books and popular / more obscure.  I love that there is a great diversity of authors! So without further ado…


  1. Read the article or see my list of all the books below.
  2. Books are to be read before the end of 2017.  Feel free to join for one, six or all!
  3. Sign up for the challenge by leaving a comment here Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter etc.  Also include if you're going to keep track of your reading anywhere.  You certainly don’t have to sign up, but I’d love to keep in touch!  
  4. If you can’t remember the book, it doesn’t count!
  5. Check in on Twitter by using #R2DChallenge, I’ll be using that hashtag when I am reading one of the books.   - and/or -
  6. Comment on the review for each book (linked on the list below as I read them) to keep in touch and see what other people are thinking.


At the end of the challenge, I will plan on having a chat session and have a giveaway for participants!  TBD on what the prize will be, but I will brainstorm something fun.



  1.  "Alanna: The First Adventure" by Tamora Pierce
  2. "The Alchemy of Stone" by Ekaterina Sedia
  3. "Among Others" by Jo Walton
  4. "Ancillary Justice" by Ann Leckie
  5. "Ancient, Ancient" by Kiini Ibura Salaam
  6. "The Antelope Wife" by Louise Erdrich
  7. "Arrows of the Queen" by Mercedes Lackey
  8. "Ash" by Malinda Lo
  9. "Assassin’s Apprentice" by Robin Hobb
  10. "The Pyramid Waltz" by Barbara Wright
  11. "Biting the Sun" by Tanith Lee
  12. "The Blazing World" by Margaret Cavendish
  13. "The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter
  14. "Boneshaker" by Cherie Priest
  15. "Brown Girl in the Ring" by Nalo Hopkinson
  16. "Cast in Shadow" by Michelle Sagara
  17. "China Mountain Zhang" by Maureen F. McHugh
  18. "Chorus of Mushrooms" by Hiromi Goto
  19. "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer
  20. "The Crystal Cave" by Mary Stewart
  21. "The Darkangel" by Meredith Ann Pierce
  22. "Daughter of Smoke & Bone" by Laini Taylor
  23. "Daughter of the Blood" by Anne Bishop
  24. "Daughter of the Forest" by Juliet Marillier
  25. "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris
  26. "Deathless" by Catherynne M. Valente
  27. "The Devil’s Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen
  28. "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K. Le Guin
  29. "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis
  30. "Dragon Sword and Wind Child" by Noriko Ogiwara
  31. "Dragonflight" by Anne McCaffrey
  32. "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
  33. "The Etched City" by K.J. Bishop
  34. "The Female Man" by Joanna Russ
  35. "Flesh and Spirit" by Carol Berg
  36. "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld" by Patricia A. McKillip
  37. "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley
  38. "The Ghost Bride" by Yangsze Choo
  39. "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore
  40. "The Handmaid’s Tale" by Margaret Atwood
  41. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone" by J.K. Rowling
  42. "The Hearing Trumpet" by Leonora Carrington
  43. "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" by James Tiptree Jr.
  44. "Hild" by Nicola Griffith
  45. "His Majesty’s Dragon" by Naomi Novik
  46. "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende
  47. "The House on the Lagoon" by Rosario Ferré
  48. "Howl’s Moving Castle" by Diana Wynne Jones
  49. "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
  50. "Ink" by Sabrina Vourvoulias
  51. "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
  52. "The Island of Eternal Love" by Daína Chaviano
  53. "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke
  54. "Karen Memory" by Elizabeth Bear
  55. "The Killing Moon" by N.K. Jemisin
  56. "Kushiel’s Dart" by Jacqueline Carey
  57. "Luck in the Shadows" by Lynn Flewelling
  58. "Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link
  59. "The Mirror Empire" by Kameron Hurley
  60. "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  61. "Moving the Mountain" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  62. "Mr. Fox" by Helen Oyeyemi
  63. "My Christina & Other Stories" by Mercè Rodoreda
  64. "My Soul to Keep" by Tananarive Due
  65. "Native Tongue" by Suzette Haden Elgin
  66. "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
  67. "Parable of the Sower" by Octavia Butler
  68. "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" by Aimee Bender
  69. "The Queen of the Tearling" by Erika Johansen
  70. "The Raven Boys" by Maggie Stiefvater
  71. "The Red" by Linda Nagata
  72. "Redemption in Indigo" by Karen Lord
  73. "Rosemary and Rue" by Seanan McGuire
  74. "Salt Fish Girl" by Larissa Lai
  75. "The Second Mango" by Shira Glassman
  76. "Shards of Honor" by Lois McMaster Bujold
  77. "Shikasta" by Doris Lessing
  78. "The Snow Queen" by Joan D. Vinge
  79. "Slave to Sensation" by Nalini Singh
  80. "So Far from God" by Ana Castillo
  81. "Sorcerer to the Crown" by Zen Cho
  82. "Soulless" by Gail Carriger
  83. "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell
  84. "The Speed of Dark" by Elizabeth Moon
  85. "Spirits of the Ordinary" by Kathleen Alcala
  86. "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel
  87. "A Stranger in Olondria" by Sofia Samatar
  88. "Sunshine" by Robin McKinley
  89. "Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell
  90. "Swordspoint" by Ellen Kushner
  91. "The Thief" by Megan Whalen Turner
  92. "Valor’s Choice" by Tanya Huff
  93. "War for the Oaks" by Emma Bull
  94. "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson
  95. "Who Fears Death" by Nnedi Okorafor
  96. "Wicked As They Come" by Delilah S. Dawson
  97. "Woman on the Edge of Time" by Marge Piercy
  98. "The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and Other Stories" by Vandana Singh
  99. "The Wrath and the Dawn" by Renée Ahdieh
  100. "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L’Engle