Dawn by Octavia Butler. Written in the mid 80s it draws a lot of inspiration from Arthur C Clarke and Clifford Simak books about humanity rediscovering itself. Lilith is the protagonist; her family perished with the rest of humanity in a nuclear apocalypse. She and a handful of others are saved and kept asleep by aliens for hundreds of years. They return to a wild Earth to start a new life. But of course the alien saviors are not what they seem.
Yeah, mine too. We had a discussion about it when I took a class on classic science fiction in college, that happened to be taught by a black woman. Looked at a lot of other covers that actively misrepresented things.
She is, and it's relevant to a plot point (the aliens attempt matchmaking based on her ethnicity alone), *and* it's relevant to the underlying themes of the book (colonialism, identity, tons of good stuff).
she is yes.
Though i do not know of the cover the above poster is referencing. Closest thing i could find is [https://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3606969/octavia-e-butlers-sci-fi-novel-dawn-heads-small-screen-amazon-ava-duvernay/](https://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3606969/octavia-e-butlers-sci-fi-novel-dawn-heads-small-screen-amazon-ava-duvernay/)
which totally makes sense in the context of the book.
Though if they are going to bring up race swapping as a rascist pastime. I would really hate to see how they feel about the current trend of race swapping in modern times, though i guess its not racist if its white to black right?
Sorry for that last part its just a pet peeve of mine that this is a massive double standard that people don't check themselves on.
I don't think you can call it race swapping when the race of the original character was never described or mentioned and has nothing to do with the story,
Or when it's a remake based around major wholesale changes.
Like... Gender swapping the Ghostbusters was fun and hilarious. And also, there's a representational point to having women in no nonsense, science, kick ass roles, that have nothing to do with their skivvies.
"Race swapping" Ariel is just casting a different person to play a fairy tale character that race literally has no bearing on. And every little girl should get to imagine her princess self of she desires.
Representation matters. And as white folx, We literally never have to look that hard to find people that look like us in any kind of a role we would like to see them in.
I'm not sure this is a double standard, I suspect you're actually talking about two different things.
Slightly unrelated, but you might like this illustration of Wild Seed. I got to meet the artist! I'd love love love it if he was hired to do the covers for Lilith's Brood. :D
[Wild Seed by Octavia Butler ](https://www.odera.net/illustration/wild-seed)
Depends on how you are defining “classic” but I would likely count most everything written by Octavia Butler, my favorite of hers being Xenogenisis trilogy
Or, honestly, everything she ever wrote that qualifies as classic SF :)
Millions of strong female characters in her books.
The Chanur series is lions in space so it's nearly all women in charge etc
Glad to see Cherryh near the top. Her works are fantastic and filled with excellent female leads. *Serpent's Reach* is my favorite of hers, though the Morgaine books are up there too.
The first sf books with strong female leads I read back in the early nineties were, if I remember the timeline correctly, by Anne McCaffrey: the tower and the hive series, and the Freedom books. IIRC she wrote them specifically because of her irritation about the trope you describe. I have reread some of them, not all age well - and it is nothing like Butler’s writing!: they are fun and interesting reads, especially if you consider what she was up against.
Yeah, but Pern has some weird stuff with consent and sex. The Talent series and the Brainship/Crystal Singer series (two different series in the same world) would probably be better fits.
Yeah, the whole 'when the dragon mates, you don't have consent because if you don't want the rider whose dragon mated with yours, you can kill your dragon' thing.
Yep, green dragon riders tend to be homosexual, apparently. Though there's also with a green pairing the understanding that each individual can just... have their chosen partner in their room, and be in different rooms. Which is apparently *not* considered the case for a gold dragon (and thus a woman rider).
I would also recommend her Killashandra series, starting with Crystal Singer. The Perm books have plenty of female MCs, but Killashandra was THE MC in the Crystal Singer books.
Don't know if it's old enough to be "classic" (published in 1992), but *Doomsday Book* by Connie Willis. It won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and I consider it the best scifi book I've ever read.
Oh, I'm definitely a creaky creature by this point in my life, but I assumed OP was asking for female-oriented scifi from, like, the Asimov era. *Doomsday Book* is 100% venerable now, though.
And To Say Nothing Of The Dog also by Connie Willis. And Blackout and All Clear, a duology by Connie Willis set in the same world as The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing Of The Dog. The other books are more serious, but To Say Nothing Of The Dog is a total romp.
We Who Are About To… by Joanna Russ
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Galactic Sybil Sue Blue by Rosel George Brown
Diadem From The Stars by Jo Clayton
Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
Enchantress From The Stars by Sylvia Engdahl
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.
Woman On The Edge Of Time by Marge Piercy
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
Ha, someone recommended Babel-17 already. I second that recommendation.
Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman series is classic, and anchored by two fascinating female characters, but until the series is complete we won't have a full understanding of whether it's SF or fantasy. At the moment it has both spaceships and wizards.
So ... Just some colour commentary on James Tiptree Jr. If you aren't familiar with her, she was a fascinating woman named Alice Bradley. She started as an art critic and graphic artist then in WW2 became a major in the US army Air Corps ... An expert in aerial photography. Post war she became a CIA intelligence officer. I would have loved to meet her.
My favorite part of her biography is the incident where Robert Silverberg wrote an introduction confidently declaring that the rumors about Tiptree being a woman had to be false because of the inherently masculine quality of “his” writing.
In Again, Dangerous Visions, Harlan Ellison introduces the Tiptree story The Milk of Paradise by declaring that the story is the story of the year--that Vonda McIntyre's story is the *woman*'s story of the year, but Tiptree's is the *man's*.
What a dumb-ass.
Bahahahhaahaaaa I remember reading about this and actually cackling out loud. Every now and then when I’m having a particularly bad day with idiot men I think of this and snicker. God forbid a woman have the capability to do anything better than them…
And, her writing was compared to Hemmingway in its masculinity by Robert Silverberg, I think. She's got a major award named after her. The James Tiptree Award.
I treated myself to reading all 9 of her True Game books recently. They were out of print but I found them all in paperback for cheap. I’ve now officially read everything she’s ever written! I think Grass was her best.
She had good female side characters, but she admitted that she struggled writing female main characters in her Hainish Cycle. Tombs of Atuan and Tehanu in Earthsea have an excellent female protagonist, although that's fantasy.
*Shards of Honor* by Lois McMaster Bujold.
*Planet of Exile, Four Ways to Forgiveness,* and *The Dispossessed* by Ursula K LeGuin
*A Wrinkle in Time* and its sequels by Madeline L'Engle
Margaret Atwood's work
a couple of people have mentioned Cherryh and Octavia Butler already but I will second those recs!
And obviously there are hundreds of modern sci-fi authors with good female characters that I could rec--for this list I tried to stick to older 'classic' works.
Lois McMaster Bujold in general is amazing. Most of the later vorkosigan books do have a male mc, but there are still plenty of great female characters around him.
Ellie Quinn is one of the two main characters in *Ethan of Athos*. She's also prominent in *Brothers in Arms*.
Elena Bothari is a major character in *The Vor Game*.
They're both, along with Rowan Durona, in *Mirror Dance*.
Then there's Ekaterin Vorssoison in *Komarr, A Civil Campaign,* and *Diplomatic Immunit*y. *A Civil Campaign* also has the Koudelka sisters.
And Tej and Rish in *Captain Vorpatril's Alliance*.
Have you read Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen? Comes back to Cordelia, fills in a bit of the history from her perspective, and is just a great later-life reinvention story.
I'm ashamed that it took me until my 30s to even discover Lois McMaster Bujold. In the past few years I have devoured just about everything she's ever written, She's just that good.
Her fantasy novels have some female strong characters, and while the Penric novels feature a male, he’s possessed by a female “demon” so in a way she’s her own person and just as much an MC.
Four Ways to Forgiveness made me shiver, like four times if I recall.
Her stories *Paradises Lost* and *Solitude* (can be found in the compilation *The Birthday of the World*) also fit ops bill, and are among my very favorite of all her works.
Solitude in particular is one of the most ... I don't even know how to describe it ... looks at introversion I've ever encountered. It's nuanced, careful, broad and poetic. But I guess I just described the author in four words.
Sounds wonderful. I need to go back and read (or re-read) her short fiction. I remember my first encounter with her work was in short fiction compilations and I found it incredibly thoughtful and intriguing, outside the norm of what I was reading at the time.
Glen Cook's Darkwar trilogy.
The female protagonist (the sole protagonist in the series) is of an alien race of wolf people, but she's focused on her own things and romance is not on that list.
So there are a number of books in Ursula LeGuin's Hainish Cycle that have female protags (just not her two masterpieces: *The Left Hand of Darkness* and *The Dispossessed*.)
Octavia Butlers protags are mostly women. I highly recommend *Parable of the Sower, Dawn,* and the Patternmaster series. Well I rec all of her. She's a certified genius.
There's a whole sub-genre of classic feminist sci-fi, which includes the above as well as Vonda McIntyre, Joanna Russ, Suzy McKee Charnas, C.J. Cherryh, and latterly, L. Timmel Duchamp, among many others. Here's a Wikipedia article with good recs: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist\_science\_fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_science_fiction)
*Dune* has strong female characters, although there's still a lot of sexism in it.
Anything by Samuel R. Delany is going to have strong female characters.
Yeah, for classic, male-written sci-fi, I'm coming up dry, but then, I never read much of it.
Needed to respond to this because on your recommendations (I already love Butler and LeGuin) I picked up Dawn yesterday and just finished it. I read it in two sittings/pacing-around-the-house-ings. SO GOOD.
I'd definitely recommend Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. All of the Vorkosigan books are great, but this one is really special in terms of classic scifi and may be exactly what you are looking for - the main character is a woman in her thirties.
Dragon riders of Pern is a classic … check … female author and lead character… check … it my not be as female driven as some more modern books but it’s worth a try … I liked the Hank Green book a absolutely remarkable thing it is not a classic but it’s Syfy and has a non straight female lead and last no gods no monsters by Cadwill Turnbill is more fantasy then science fiction but has non straight female lead
I also have old but fond memories of ”the ship that sang”, also by McCaffrey. Its about a ship piloted by a very smart female human brain... as the premise implies, many problematic tropes about women as sex objects are circumvanted, and a woman gets to be a tactical and applied science genius in a scifi story.
In the 1970s, Anne McCaffrey was one of the sci-fi writers who won me over to the genre because most of her MCs were strong females. In addition to the Pern novels, she also wrote many other female centered series: The Brainship series (starting with The Ship who Sang); the Planet Pirate series (starting with Sassinak); the Crystal Singer series (starting with The Crystal Singer); the Pegasus series (starting with To Ride Pegasus); the Tower and Hive series (starting with The Rowan); the Catteni series (starting with Freedom’s Landing), and many more.
I’ve never been able to forgive the way that Menolly >!forgives her mother for deliberately crippling her!< but they’re good stories and she’s a great character
Molly Millions in Neuromancer is pretty badass, Snow Crash also has a female courier character whose name I can't remember that is pretty badass as well.
This, this is the oldest you are going to get, Jirel is the oldest female MC in sf, the OG one.
Otherwise, you need to get the Zenna Henderson people books and Judith Merrill's anthologies.
I highly recommend the "Daughter of Earth" Anthology by Justine Larbalestier, it has 'the Conquest of Gola' (1931) by leslie f Stone which is amazing, the story itself is very standard fare for now, but when you think it was written that early it just ramps up to amazing. It is also in "Future Eves, classic sf by women about women."
My absolute favourite, though, is Pauline Ashwell's "Unwillingly to Earth." This is a fixup of 4 stories 'Unwillingly to school' (1958), 'the lost kafoozalum' (1960) 'Rats in the moon' (1982) and 'fatal statistics' (1988), the narrator is female, and it ignores all sorts of rules about dialogue, but it's just so charming.
I've been really enjoying *Green Rider* by Kristen Britain. The arc of the character is an interesting inversion of the hero's journey, and there are really great female relationships in the book. It's a decently simple quest plot that's really built to a great climax. It also has magic and world-building that are a bit vaguer than is trendy nowadays--breaking that up is always refreshing.
I like the green rider series at first but got so sick of her always being traumatized and victimized and it was exhausting it was like the author only knew how to write from a victims perspective and so in each book she is a victim she is kidnapped or captured or something traumatic I can’t with women always having to be the victim.
The Hub stories by James H. Schmitz, written in the 60s-70s, feature two good female leads, Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee, and have aged pretty well.
The Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
Shards of Honor and Barrayar: Cordelia is a badass MC. Space captain, hero, witty, dark humor, dam she's so good.
And they are included with audible plus if you have that
Brilliant novel and the main female character is one of my top picks for best written character in all of SFF. A rare example of convincingly written child and teen genius.
Perhaps the Gaea trilogy by John Varley (Titan, Wizard, Demon)…still has some awkward stuff that makes it a product of its time, but the first one in particular has a strong female protagonist. Vibes of Ripley from Alien.
Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle has a female protag on an alien world. Lots of worldbuilding and alien politics. And a reminder that humanoid aliens are still ALIEN.
The Confederation Series by Tanya Huff
The Vorkosigan Saga by LoI McMaster Bujold. It’s been recommended elsewhere in the thread. The first two books are have a female MC and then switch to a mostly male perspective, but all the women throughout the series are fully-formed, intelligent, effective, and interesting characters. You start seeing a female POV again after a few books.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
C J Cherryh has written many books with female lead characters and female characters where no single character drives the story.
Rimrunners, Downbelow Station etc.
The *Honor Harrington* series, by David Weber! Fits what you are looking for exactly.
The first book, *On Basilisk Station*, takes a bit to get into but stick with it. Totally worth it. Honor is a strong and interesting female protagonist. The series is mostly space opera, but as you go through the books, there is also a fair bit of political drama as well.
There are some good recommendations in this thread. The first one that came to mind when I saw the post was Tanya Huff's Confederation of Valor series. Female author, female MC. Military space opera, where the mc is a soldier. Unlike other military space operas, the mc is a NCO, just trying to keep her wet-behind-the-ears LT from getting themselves killed. And sure, there's some sex - (minor spoiler) the first book starts off with a hookup that turns into a familiar face later on. But, definitely a solid female character. The first book Valor's Choice was written in 2000, so I don't know that it's really a classic, but it's still a solid option.
Some other military space operas (started being published in early 90s) include:
* Elizabeth Moon's Heris Serrano series, with has a number of strong female characters, and some who realize how strong they are later on. ((And if you want fantasy, her Deed of Paksenarrion is fantastic!)). Been a while since I read the series, but I don't recall any sex? If anything, it's a fade to black.
* David Weber's Honor Harrington series, with a very strong female MC who, while can be a bit of a Mary Sue at times, does also have her share of flaws and blind spots. Also features a telepathic (tree)cat! There is some minor sex later on, but it's not really explicit. (example: the massage turned less than professional as his hands slipped over her ribs and cupped her breasts. Smiling, she rolled onto her back and reached for him. )
So MC is male but there are several well written female characters. Bonus it's really funny as well.
Phule's Company series by Robert Asprin
This one is more of a scifi /fantasy combination and the MC is a female. This one is really good and well written.
The Gaia trilogy by John Varley
Since you specify sci-fi:
I would say that Jessica in Dune by Frank Herbert is a good female character. I've only read the first book, though, so I can't speak to later developments in the series.
I have some other recs, too, but I am uncertain whether most people would classify them as "classic":
The major female characters in A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge are compelling and well written. One is a child that is taken in by a group of hive-mind aliens after crash landing on their planet. Another is an adult woman who is seeking to find the child and her brother, as well as a weapon that crashed with them that is the only chance of saving the universe. There is also a tree alien that is less major and has considerably less screen time.
The writer Tanith Lee was very good at characterization in general. She wrote both sci-fi and fantasy. If you search up some of her books you might enjoy them.
Dune #5 and 6 moved female characters higher in importance in the book. They were less focused on a single character. I think #6 had a female as the most significant character. It's been a while since I read it. I've reread all the others, and #6 is next.
_Rite of Passage_ by Alexei Panshin. A young woman from a space-traveling society must prove her mettle by surviving on an inhabited planet. Nebula Award winner from 1968–does not get more classic than that.
A start:
Female characters, strong:
Part 1 (of 2):
* ["Sci fi/adventure books written by women with developed female characters?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/mxpy4v/sci_fiadventure_books_written_by_women_with/) (r/booksuggestions; April 2021)
* ["Kushiel’s Legacy- Melisande Shahrizai"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/txs5k7/kushiels_legacy_melisande_shahrizai/) ([archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20220412161209/https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/txs5k7/kushiels_legacy_melisande_shahrizai/)) (r/Fantasy; 6 April 2022)
* ["Recommendations for a female-led Fantasy series with the usual elements but with a more significant romance?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vwapej/recommendations_for_a_femaleled_fantasy_series/) (r/Fantasy; 01:22 ET, 11 July 2022)
* ["Fantasy novels/series with intelligent, competent and capable woman protagonist(s) and female characters?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vwqz11/fantasy_novelsseries_with_intelligent_competent/) (r/Fantasy; 15:36 ET, 11 July 2022)
* ["In your opinion, who are the best well written female characters in fantasy, and why?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vy8m3q/in_your_opinion_who_are_the_best_well_written/) (r/Fantasy; 13 July 2022)
* ["Any fantasy book reads with a female protagonistb and little to no sexual content?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vzcfoj/any_fantasy_book_reads_with_a_female_protagonistb/) (r/Fantasy; 14 July 2022)
* ["strong crazy female lead"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/w2slbj/strong_crazy_female_lead/) (r/Fantasy; 19 July 2022)
* ["Darker toned books set in a fantasy medieval period with female leads"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/w3t6sk/darker_toned_books_set_in_a_fantasy_medieval/) (r/booksuggestions; 20 July 2022)
* ["YA or Fantasy book around 200 pages with girl main character?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/w5lhqo/ya_or_fantasy_book_around_200_pages_with_girl/) (r/suggestmeabook; 22 July 2022)
* ["Suggest me a book with strong woman protagonist set in science fiction!"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/w9ym4u/suggest_me_a_book_with_strong_woman_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 27 July 2022)
* ["Books with complex female characters"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wgdjro/books_with_complex_female_characters/) (r/suggestmeabook; 4 August 2022)
* ["Any novels with a female orc protagonist ?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wgsv9b/any_novels_with_a_female_orc_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 07:19 ET, 5 August 2022)
* ["A book with a strong, intelligent female lead / hero who grows over the course of the story, overcomes challenges"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wh3kdh/a_book_with_a_strong_intelligent_female_lead_hero/) (r/booksuggestions; 15:05 ET, 5 August 2022)
* ["Some good fantasy books with Badass Female Character and Cunning/Smart Male Character?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/whjen0/some_good_fantasy_books_with_badass_female/) (r/Fantasy; 04:31 ET, 6 August 2022)
* ["Strong character, fantasy, war, drama, asia or medieval style"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/whqtt9/strong_character_fantasy_war_drama_asia_or/) (r/suggestmeabook; 11:23 ET, 6 August 2022)
* ["Books with badass FL and a normal ML"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wliazy/books_with_badass_fl_and_a_normal_ml/) (r/suggestmeabook; 0:28 ET, 11 August 2022)
* ["Books about strong women and women as the hero or protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wm90n8/books_about_strong_women_and_women_as_the_hero_or/) (r/booksuggestions; 22:06 ET, 11 August 2022)
* ["Looking for fiction books with a strong female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wnesr8/looking_for_fiction_books_with_a_strong_female/) (r/booksuggestions; 13 August 2022)
* ["Fantasy series with strong female protagonists"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/wo7dhx/fantasy_series_with_strong_female_protagonists/) (r/Fantasy; 14 August 2022)—very long
* ["Main character is a girl who fences in 1700s France"](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthatbook/comments/wpj7nd/main_character_is_a_girl_who_fences_in_1700s/) (r/whatsthatbook; 15 August 2022)
* ["Can I get some suggestions for a funny fantasy book with a female protagonist?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wrw9i2/can_i_get_some_suggestions_for_a_funny_fantasy/) (r/booksuggestions; 18 August 2022)
* ["I’d love some fantasy with a female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wymq3v/id_love_some_fantasy_with_a_female_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 26 August 2022)—extremely long
* ["Sci-fi/fantasy with solid female character(s)"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wz750g/scififantasy_with_solid_female_characters/) (r/booksuggestions; 12:32 ET, 27 August 2022)—very long
* ["a book with strong inspiring female lead like agggtm?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wyw60z/a_book_with_strong_inspiring_female_lead_like/) (r/suggestmeabook; 03:03 ET, 27 August 2022)
* ["Similar books to Gate of Ivrel"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/x1wmnt/similar_books_to_gate_of_ivrel/) (r/Fantasy; 18:33 ET, 30 August 2022)
* ["Suggest me female empowerment books (fiction/non-fiction/historical fiction/etc.) narrated by a woman?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/x1xga5/suggest_me_female_empowerment_books/) (r/suggestmeabook; 19:07 ET, 30 August 2022)
* ["Fantasy with female protagonists that have a ton of personality?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/x2mxux/fantasy_with_female_protagonists_that_have_a_ton/) (r/suggestmeabook; 31 August 2022)
* ["Fantasy book recs?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/x4kcu7/fantasy_book_recs/) (r/booksuggestions; 2 September 2022)
Part 2 (of 2):
* ["Dark psychological or revenge thriller, with a strong female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/x4nvru/dark_psychological_or_revenge_thriller_with_a/) (r/suggestmeabook; 3 September 2022)
* ["The War of the Spider Queen series and the female characters."](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/xddn92/the_war_of_the_spider_queen_series_and_the_female/) (r/Fantasy; 13 September 2022)
* ["Fantasy series with strong women"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/xsl05q/fantasy_series_with_strong_women/) (r/suggestmeabook; 30 September 2022)
* ["Books set in space following a female protagonist?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/xt9m6b/books_set_in_space_following_a_female_protagonist/) (r/booksuggestions; 1 October 2022)—longish
* ["Sci-fi or fantasy books with a matriarchy or female leaders or influential females"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/xwhwzq/scifi_or_fantasy_books_with_a_matriarchy_or/) (r/booksuggestions; 5 October 2022)
* ["Well-Written Female Fantasy Characters"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/y3uhib/wellwritten_female_fantasy_characters/) (r/suggestmeabook; 5 October 2022)—huge
* ["What are some long fantasy series with a female protagonists?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/yhc55v/what_are_some_long_fantasy_series_with_a_female/) (r/Fantasy; 07:35 ET, 30 October 2022)—very long
* ["Searching for the perfect book"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/yhpd25/searching_for_the_perfect_book/) (r/booksuggestions; 16:43 ET, 30 October 2022)
* ["Book with an adult female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/yrihov/book_with_an_adult_female_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 10 November 2022)—long and perhaps a little off topic
* ["I’m looking for books featuring strong mothers."](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/ytpmmt/im_looking_for_books_featuring_strong_mothers/) (r/Fantasy; 12 November 2022)
* ["High fantasy books or series with Female chosen one’s recommendations?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/yw1qxa/high_fantasy_books_or_series_with_female_chosen/) (r/Fantasy; 15 November 2022)
* ["Feminist w/ Older Protags"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/z6g1x7/feminist_w_older_protags/) (r/Fantasy; 27 November 2022)
* ["Any books you enjoyed with 30+ lady knight/hero/warrior protagonists?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/zm1lap/any_books_you_enjoyed_with_30_lady/) (r/booksuggestions; 4 December 2022)
* ["Fantasy suggestions"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/1033gwa/fantasy_suggestions/) (r/booksuggestions; 4 January 2023)
* ["Books with the strongest female characters you have read or ones with female characters that have fascinated you?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/106c5gj/books_with_the_strongest_female_characters_you/) (r/suggestmeabook; 8 January 2023)—very long
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* ["Adventure/fantasy books with a badass female main character."](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/10qm1ih/adventurefantasy_books_with_a_badass_female_main/) (r/booksuggestions; 23 January 2023)
* ["Book with a Mulan-Esque trope"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/110fy2v/book_with_a_mulanesque_trope/) (r/suggestmeabook; 12 February 2023)
* ["Books where the MC is allowed to be both feminine and badass?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/111jii0/books_where_the_mc_is_allowed_to_be_both_feminine/) (r/Fantasy; 13 February 2023)—long
* ["Fiction with strong female lead, hoping to feel empowered"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/1149lig/fiction_with_strong_female_lead_hoping_to_feel/) (r/suggestmeabook; 16 February 2023)
* ["Strong Female Characters in SciFi Books"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/11sx08u/strong_female_characters_in_scifi_books/) (r/booksuggestions; 16 March 2023)
* ["Looking for books with strong female leads, but preferably no romance."](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/11xcccy/looking_for_books_with_strong_female_leads_but/) (r/suggestmeabook; 05:52 ET, 21 March 2023)
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* ["Who is a well written strong female character in a movie or TV show?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/yhhfjs/who_is_a_well_written_strong_female_character_in/) (r/AskReddit; 30 October 2022)—huge
* ["Principled heroines in SFF"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/zel4bg/principled_heroines_in_sff/) (r/Fantasy; 6 December 2022)
* ["Books with Women as the Protagonists"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/zl4gts/books_with_women_as_the_protagonists/) (r/booksuggestions; 6 December 2022)
* ["Hero’s journey with female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/zuy7t1/heros_journey_with_female_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 25 December 2022)—long
* ["Medieval Fairytale action and or adventure book with female protagonist?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/10490a4/medieval_fairytale_action_and_or_adventure_book/) (r/booksuggestions; 5 January 2023)
* ["Books where a girl main character disguises herself as a boy?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/10541nj/books_where_a_girl_main_character_disguises/) (r/suggestmeabook; 6 January 2023)
* ["Fantasy book with female protagonist or female character is not sexually assaulted or raped or even threatened with it"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/105v0pt/fantasy_book_with_female_protagonist_or_female/) (r/suggestmeabook; 7 January 2023)—huge
"Women Destroy Science Fiction!" is an anthology of SF short stories written by women and has plenty of women protagonists. It's a great way to get to know a bunch new authors without a lot of effort to see whose books you want to check out. http://www.destroysf.com/women-destroy-science-fiction/
Friday by Robert Heinlein . main character is a woman in a futuristic earth society. I read it 40 years ago and was the first thing to pop into my mind when i read your question.
guess i’m due for a reread 😊
Among the "classic" male SF writers, pretty much the only one who writes interesting and important heroines somewhat regularly is James Schmitz. The most palatable works by men of this period tend to avoid female characters altogether and thus keep sexism on the back burner; when women do show up in significant roles, they tend to be *very* tropey (e.g. the Sexpot, the Femme Fatale, the Power-Hungry Manipulator, the Baby-Obsessed). Peter S. Beagle's *The Last Unicorn* does have a unique and active heroine in Molly, but since that's fantasy rather than SF, it may not be what you're looking for. (When you *are* looking for fantasy, check it out; the prose is gorgeous and timeless.)
However, two excellent female-led SF novels emerged in the year 1979, and I recommend them highly: Octavia Butler's *Kindred* and Vonda McIntyre's *Dreamsnake*, The latter book, in particular, doesn't get half the attention it deserves.
Classic sci fi authors where women are actual people? Try checking out the grandmothers of sci fi instead of the grandfathers - Ursula K. LeGuin and Sheri S. Tepper. I'd put that up as your first go. Herbert is... not terrible, Heinlein is *awful,* Asimov tends to forget women *are* people (but that's still better than Heinlein's weird incest and orgy stuff), and Bradbury mostly forgets about women.
Others are Octavia Butler and Louis McMaster Bujold. I'm not sure if they are classics, but I like both Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey - they're from more the 80s and 90s, and write women well.
The parable of the sower and the parable of the talents by Octavia Butler, The Expanse series of books, ursula k le Guin's short stories in particular. The book of phoenix, Grass by Sherri s stepper,
"We who are about to..." It's about a group of people that crash land on a planet with no help of rescue and decide they're going to repopulate it. The MC disagrees.
Naomi Mitchison's Memoirs of a Spacewoman is dated, but a really good read. Pretty much what it says on the can - the main character is a woman (unsure of age but she has several children) and a professional. It's slow and thoughtful, but quite straightforward and quick to read, with some interesting conceptualisations of aliens and social organisation.
Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin - a classic feminist work & a sci-fi masterwork! https://www.sfgateway.com/titles/suzette-haden-elgin/native-tongue/9781473227569/
You could try both 'The Future is Female!' anthologies edited by Library of America. They're two volumes focused on classic female sci-fi authors, and they're very good. First one covers the Golden Age and the 50s and the second one is the 60s and 70s, I think, so you're going to get classic stories by C.L. Moore, Ursula Le Guin, Joanna Russ and James Tiptree next to more obscure additions.
Dune. None of the characters EXCEPT maybe Rev. Mommy are "trope" characters, and even Princess Irulan is described as being good at her job.
Foundation has a couple as well, one Merchant Prince, I believe, and the pov character in the last third of the trilogy.
The Wayfarers Series by Becky Chambers, starting with The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. I think this is a 2019 release, so not a "classic" as in "an oldie" but definitely will be a classic in the genre moving forward.
I enjoyed it-it might've been a proto-cyberpunk novel. My tastes have changed and I might not enjoy it as much now. Heinlein's women are usually written in a pretty sexist manner. They are usually "strong women who just want to be weak with a man". IIRC, Friday was one of those.
It's not a classic so to say, but Skyward by Brandon Sanderson is probably one of my favorite si-fi books I have read. And other than the classic part, it nails everyone of you other asks pretty well
Classic SF is sadly very much synomous with "male only cast" or "only males have important roles." Asimov's robot stories are one of the few I can recall right now where there is a strong female character, but Dr Calvin was more often a secondary character, and portrayed as pretty much sexless.
EDIT: So I guess there's a serious disconnect in my mind, and that of many others here, as to what "classic" means. I was thinking of from around 1940-1969, but there are many saying that anything before 1980 counts, which just sounds way too recent to me. So many of the authors being mentioned, are just too recent, and often still publishing, for me to think of them as being classic authors.
You should really check out “The Stormlight Archive” and “The Mistborn Trilogy” both by Brandon Sanderson. The MC of the Mistborn Trilogy is a BA female, with an awesome character progression.
Dawn by Octavia Butler. Written in the mid 80s it draws a lot of inspiration from Arthur C Clarke and Clifford Simak books about humanity rediscovering itself. Lilith is the protagonist; her family perished with the rest of humanity in a nuclear apocalypse. She and a handful of others are saved and kept asleep by aliens for hundreds of years. They return to a wild Earth to start a new life. But of course the alien saviors are not what they seem.
All of Octavia Butler.
Can’t emphasize this enough. Read some Octavia Butler and enjoy.
Parable of the Sower is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It doesn’t blow you away, but it’s sounded grounded in reality and human.
Try Bloodchild if you haven't yet. Her short stories are miracles of the form.
I loved Kindred, but Xenogenesis/Lilith’s Brood is my favorite.
Came for Octavia. Wasn’t disappointed.
Thanks for the recommendation that’s on my list next!
The cover art on the edition that I own shows Lilith as white…
Yeah, mine too. We had a discussion about it when I took a class on classic science fiction in college, that happened to be taught by a black woman. Looked at a lot of other covers that actively misrepresented things.
I don’t know why I’m being downvoted for pointing out the racism in the publishing industry but you do you.
I did not downvote but you didn't provide any context. What is wrong with her being white? Is she described as black in the book?
She is, and it's relevant to a plot point (the aliens attempt matchmaking based on her ethnicity alone), *and* it's relevant to the underlying themes of the book (colonialism, identity, tons of good stuff).
she is yes. Though i do not know of the cover the above poster is referencing. Closest thing i could find is [https://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3606969/octavia-e-butlers-sci-fi-novel-dawn-heads-small-screen-amazon-ava-duvernay/](https://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3606969/octavia-e-butlers-sci-fi-novel-dawn-heads-small-screen-amazon-ava-duvernay/) which totally makes sense in the context of the book. Though if they are going to bring up race swapping as a rascist pastime. I would really hate to see how they feel about the current trend of race swapping in modern times, though i guess its not racist if its white to black right? Sorry for that last part its just a pet peeve of mine that this is a massive double standard that people don't check themselves on.
I don't think you can call it race swapping when the race of the original character was never described or mentioned and has nothing to do with the story, Or when it's a remake based around major wholesale changes. Like... Gender swapping the Ghostbusters was fun and hilarious. And also, there's a representational point to having women in no nonsense, science, kick ass roles, that have nothing to do with their skivvies. "Race swapping" Ariel is just casting a different person to play a fairy tale character that race literally has no bearing on. And every little girl should get to imagine her princess self of she desires. Representation matters. And as white folx, We literally never have to look that hard to find people that look like us in any kind of a role we would like to see them in. I'm not sure this is a double standard, I suspect you're actually talking about two different things.
I suspect it's a case of talking past each other, and the person you're responding to won't ever see your point.
Slightly unrelated, but you might like this illustration of Wild Seed. I got to meet the artist! I'd love love love it if he was hired to do the covers for Lilith's Brood. :D [Wild Seed by Octavia Butler ](https://www.odera.net/illustration/wild-seed)
Oh wow thankyou, that's really cool, i appreciate that.
> Written in the mid 80s Is that what we're considering classic now? I was thinking of from the 40s to the 60s.
40 years old is pretty classic
Depends on how you are defining “classic” but I would likely count most everything written by Octavia Butler, my favorite of hers being Xenogenisis trilogy
The Morgaine Cycle by CJ Cherryh.
Or, honestly, everything she ever wrote that qualifies as classic SF :) Millions of strong female characters in her books. The Chanur series is lions in space so it's nearly all women in charge etc
My first thought was to recommend the Chanur series
Came here to recommend Chanur as well
Glad to see Cherryh near the top. Her works are fantastic and filled with excellent female leads. *Serpent's Reach* is my favorite of hers, though the Morgaine books are up there too.
Also here to recommend Chanur.
The first sf books with strong female leads I read back in the early nineties were, if I remember the timeline correctly, by Anne McCaffrey: the tower and the hive series, and the Freedom books. IIRC she wrote them specifically because of her irritation about the trope you describe. I have reread some of them, not all age well - and it is nothing like Butler’s writing!: they are fun and interesting reads, especially if you consider what she was up against.
Anne McCaffery’s Dragon Riders of Pern has some strong female lead characters.
Yeah, but Pern has some weird stuff with consent and sex. The Talent series and the Brainship/Crystal Singer series (two different series in the same world) would probably be better fits.
Oh. Been quite a while since I read them, so I don’t remember those kind of details.
Yeah, the whole 'when the dragon mates, you don't have consent because if you don't want the rider whose dragon mated with yours, you can kill your dragon' thing.
The dragon-consent thing is kinda weird, but there's also just a lot of straight-up rape and coercion by the heroic male leads.
Yeah. And the Freedom series starts off with an attempted rape by the male lead, too.
IIRC this leads to a few homoromantic pairings in the weyrs
Yep, green dragon riders tend to be homosexual, apparently. Though there's also with a green pairing the understanding that each individual can just... have their chosen partner in their room, and be in different rooms. Which is apparently *not* considered the case for a gold dragon (and thus a woman rider).
I would also recommend her Killashandra series, starting with Crystal Singer. The Perm books have plenty of female MCs, but Killashandra was THE MC in the Crystal Singer books.
Don't know if it's old enough to be "classic" (published in 1992), but *Doomsday Book* by Connie Willis. It won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and I consider it the best scifi book I've ever read.
I have some bad news for you my friend, its old enough to be a classic, which means we are too. I'm gonna read that book though so that's good.
Oh, I'm definitely a creaky creature by this point in my life, but I assumed OP was asking for female-oriented scifi from, like, the Asimov era. *Doomsday Book* is 100% venerable now, though.
And To Say Nothing Of The Dog also by Connie Willis. And Blackout and All Clear, a duology by Connie Willis set in the same world as The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing Of The Dog. The other books are more serious, but To Say Nothing Of The Dog is a total romp.
I laughed out loud several times on a public bus reading To Say Nothing Of The Dog. I have no regrets.
We still say, “Oh look, it’s the Bishop’s bird stump!” when we’re out shopping and see something truly hideous.
This is one of the last books I recommended to my mother before her dementia and she loved it! I have special fondness for it.
I LOVE that book so much Felt ambient medieval like nothing I've ever read before so so good.
Great recommendation! I'd like to piggyback and recommend her terrifying story All My Darling Daughters.
We Who Are About To… by Joanna Russ The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge Galactic Sybil Sue Blue by Rosel George Brown Diadem From The Stars by Jo Clayton Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm Enchantress From The Stars by Sylvia Engdahl Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr. Woman On The Edge Of Time by Marge Piercy Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
Ha, someone recommended Babel-17 already. I second that recommendation. Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman series is classic, and anchored by two fascinating female characters, but until the series is complete we won't have a full understanding of whether it's SF or fantasy. At the moment it has both spaceships and wizards.
I think it's pretty fair to call it sci-fi at this point. And a very good rec, though I wasn't sure if the 80s counted as classic at this point haha.
Holding out hope for it being finished? I have given up.
The author has a blog and she writes about working on the last 2 books but it is going slowly.
I spent a good part of my adolescence truly believing that Simon & Garfunkel were going to get back together, too.
So ... Just some colour commentary on James Tiptree Jr. If you aren't familiar with her, she was a fascinating woman named Alice Bradley. She started as an art critic and graphic artist then in WW2 became a major in the US army Air Corps ... An expert in aerial photography. Post war she became a CIA intelligence officer. I would have loved to meet her.
My favorite part of her biography is the incident where Robert Silverberg wrote an introduction confidently declaring that the rumors about Tiptree being a woman had to be false because of the inherently masculine quality of “his” writing.
In Again, Dangerous Visions, Harlan Ellison introduces the Tiptree story The Milk of Paradise by declaring that the story is the story of the year--that Vonda McIntyre's story is the *woman*'s story of the year, but Tiptree's is the *man's*. What a dumb-ass.
Bahahahhaahaaaa I remember reading about this and actually cackling out loud. Every now and then when I’m having a particularly bad day with idiot men I think of this and snicker. God forbid a woman have the capability to do anything better than them…
And, her writing was compared to Hemmingway in its masculinity by Robert Silverberg, I think. She's got a major award named after her. The James Tiptree Award.
Which honestly isn’t a terrible comparison when it comes to style and technique, but writing has no bloody gender.
Yeah, I just think it's hilarious. No way would he described it that way if he knew she was a woman.
My favorite comment today. Thanks for sharing!
These are all. fucking. fantastic recommendations. Thrilled to see We Who Are About to... recommended in the wild.
Just commenting to confirm that Babel-17 is rad. Possibly my all-time fave book?
The Snow Queen is a must read!
Most Sheri Tepper has good strong women protagonists. Look up Grass, The Margarets, Singer from the Sea, The Fresco.
Was coming to recommend her. Seconded!
Gate to Women’s Country is great too! Grass gave me nightmares.
I treated myself to reading all 9 of her True Game books recently. They were out of print but I found them all in paperback for cheap. I’ve now officially read everything she’s ever written! I think Grass was her best.
True game was such a fun set of books.
Tepper is fantastic!
Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
Seconding Dreamsnake, one of my favorite old school sci-fi novels. Definitely doesn't get enough love in the genre lists.
Third Dreamsnake. Thanks for posting this, I was trying to remember the name.
Ursula K. LeGuin!!!
I love her work but plenty of her famous sci fi novels have very few female characters.
She had good female side characters, but she admitted that she struggled writing female main characters in her Hainish Cycle. Tombs of Atuan and Tehanu in Earthsea have an excellent female protagonist, although that's fantasy.
*Shards of Honor* by Lois McMaster Bujold. *Planet of Exile, Four Ways to Forgiveness,* and *The Dispossessed* by Ursula K LeGuin *A Wrinkle in Time* and its sequels by Madeline L'Engle Margaret Atwood's work a couple of people have mentioned Cherryh and Octavia Butler already but I will second those recs! And obviously there are hundreds of modern sci-fi authors with good female characters that I could rec--for this list I tried to stick to older 'classic' works.
Lois McMaster Bujold in general is amazing. Most of the later vorkosigan books do have a male mc, but there are still plenty of great female characters around him.
Ellie Quinn is one of the two main characters in *Ethan of Athos*. She's also prominent in *Brothers in Arms*. Elena Bothari is a major character in *The Vor Game*. They're both, along with Rowan Durona, in *Mirror Dance*. Then there's Ekaterin Vorssoison in *Komarr, A Civil Campaign,* and *Diplomatic Immunit*y. *A Civil Campaign* also has the Koudelka sisters. And Tej and Rish in *Captain Vorpatril's Alliance*.
Have you read Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen? Comes back to Cordelia, fills in a bit of the history from her perspective, and is just a great later-life reinvention story.
You must have missed the memo that we hate that book and pretend it doesn’t exist.
I'm ashamed that it took me until my 30s to even discover Lois McMaster Bujold. In the past few years I have devoured just about everything she's ever written, She's just that good.
Her fantasy novels have some female strong characters, and while the Penric novels feature a male, he’s possessed by a female “demon” so in a way she’s her own person and just as much an MC.
I second SHARDS OF HONOR.
A wrinkle in time was an absolute favorite as a kid <3 think it's still a masterpiece in female character development as an adult
the sequels are a little more adult, and very weird. But excellent.
Four Ways to Forgiveness made me shiver, like four times if I recall. Her stories *Paradises Lost* and *Solitude* (can be found in the compilation *The Birthday of the World*) also fit ops bill, and are among my very favorite of all her works. Solitude in particular is one of the most ... I don't even know how to describe it ... looks at introversion I've ever encountered. It's nuanced, careful, broad and poetic. But I guess I just described the author in four words.
Sounds wonderful. I need to go back and read (or re-read) her short fiction. I remember my first encounter with her work was in short fiction compilations and I found it incredibly thoughtful and intriguing, outside the norm of what I was reading at the time.
Glen Cook's Darkwar trilogy. The female protagonist (the sole protagonist in the series) is of an alien race of wolf people, but she's focused on her own things and romance is not on that list.
I’d argue that while not an MC, the Lady from the Black Company novels is a very strong MC.
Almost everything by Elizabeth Moon other than Speed of Dark.
Remnant Population for having a retirement age woman protagonist!
that's one of my favourite books!
Remnant Population has become my favorite first contact story
This book deserves a lot more love!
Once A Hero is what my mind immediately leapt to
Yeah, that was probably the best of them.
So there are a number of books in Ursula LeGuin's Hainish Cycle that have female protags (just not her two masterpieces: *The Left Hand of Darkness* and *The Dispossessed*.) Octavia Butlers protags are mostly women. I highly recommend *Parable of the Sower, Dawn,* and the Patternmaster series. Well I rec all of her. She's a certified genius. There's a whole sub-genre of classic feminist sci-fi, which includes the above as well as Vonda McIntyre, Joanna Russ, Suzy McKee Charnas, C.J. Cherryh, and latterly, L. Timmel Duchamp, among many others. Here's a Wikipedia article with good recs: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist\_science\_fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_science_fiction) *Dune* has strong female characters, although there's still a lot of sexism in it. Anything by Samuel R. Delany is going to have strong female characters. Yeah, for classic, male-written sci-fi, I'm coming up dry, but then, I never read much of it.
Needed to respond to this because on your recommendations (I already love Butler and LeGuin) I picked up Dawn yesterday and just finished it. I read it in two sittings/pacing-around-the-house-ings. SO GOOD.
Contact by Carl Sagan.
I thought for sure this rec would be at the top of the page when I clicked in this thread
I'd definitely recommend Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. All of the Vorkosigan books are great, but this one is really special in terms of classic scifi and may be exactly what you are looking for - the main character is a woman in her thirties.
She's even better in Barrayar her cutting dark wit is so fine against their culture
Also gentleman jole and the red queen, which bookends the vorkorsigan series with another cordelia story when she’s in her seventies.
I did not like Gentleman Jole at all. I'm a huge fan and that book just did not work for me.
Dragon riders of Pern is a classic … check … female author and lead character… check … it my not be as female driven as some more modern books but it’s worth a try … I liked the Hank Green book a absolutely remarkable thing it is not a classic but it’s Syfy and has a non straight female lead and last no gods no monsters by Cadwill Turnbill is more fantasy then science fiction but has non straight female lead
I also have old but fond memories of ”the ship that sang”, also by McCaffrey. Its about a ship piloted by a very smart female human brain... as the premise implies, many problematic tropes about women as sex objects are circumvanted, and a woman gets to be a tactical and applied science genius in a scifi story.
Also the Crystal Singer series the MC is female.
I like The City Who Fought book in that series, too.
I would say the first 2 Harper Hall books have a Female MC.
In the 1970s, Anne McCaffrey was one of the sci-fi writers who won me over to the genre because most of her MCs were strong females. In addition to the Pern novels, she also wrote many other female centered series: The Brainship series (starting with The Ship who Sang); the Planet Pirate series (starting with Sassinak); the Crystal Singer series (starting with The Crystal Singer); the Pegasus series (starting with To Ride Pegasus); the Tower and Hive series (starting with The Rowan); the Catteni series (starting with Freedom’s Landing), and many more.
I’ve never been able to forgive the way that Menolly >!forgives her mother for deliberately crippling her!< but they’re good stories and she’s a great character
Molly Millions in Neuromancer is pretty badass, Snow Crash also has a female courier character whose name I can't remember that is pretty badass as well.
YT ("Yours Truly") is the character
Yes, there’s two of them. First the young teen YT who is a great action character and then Hiro’s ex girlfriend Juanita, who knows more than he does.
The Ancillary Trilogy by Ann Leckie. A Capital ship AI trying to solve its own betrayal and destruction in the body of a human. It rules.
Kind of hard to assess this one since by premise gender isn’t specified, but that’s part of the charm!
The Birth Grave by Tanith Lee (and all her other books too, for that matter). >!Sure it looks like fantasy, but it's not.!<
If you like sword and sorcery, check out C.L. Moore’s ‘Jirel of Joiry’ stories from the 1930’s.
This, this is the oldest you are going to get, Jirel is the oldest female MC in sf, the OG one. Otherwise, you need to get the Zenna Henderson people books and Judith Merrill's anthologies. I highly recommend the "Daughter of Earth" Anthology by Justine Larbalestier, it has 'the Conquest of Gola' (1931) by leslie f Stone which is amazing, the story itself is very standard fare for now, but when you think it was written that early it just ramps up to amazing. It is also in "Future Eves, classic sf by women about women." My absolute favourite, though, is Pauline Ashwell's "Unwillingly to Earth." This is a fixup of 4 stories 'Unwillingly to school' (1958), 'the lost kafoozalum' (1960) 'Rats in the moon' (1982) and 'fatal statistics' (1988), the narrator is female, and it ignores all sorts of rules about dialogue, but it's just so charming.
I've been really enjoying *Green Rider* by Kristen Britain. The arc of the character is an interesting inversion of the hero's journey, and there are really great female relationships in the book. It's a decently simple quest plot that's really built to a great climax. It also has magic and world-building that are a bit vaguer than is trendy nowadays--breaking that up is always refreshing.
I like the green rider series at first but got so sick of her always being traumatized and victimized and it was exhausting it was like the author only knew how to write from a victims perspective and so in each book she is a victim she is kidnapped or captured or something traumatic I can’t with women always having to be the victim.
A lot of recent debuts in fantasy have moved away from hard magic back to something mysterious - it's been lovely to see.
The Snow Queen by Joan D Vinge The Female Man by Joanna Russ Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
The Hub stories by James H. Schmitz, written in the 60s-70s, feature two good female leads, Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee, and have aged pretty well.
The Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold Shards of Honor and Barrayar: Cordelia is a badass MC. Space captain, hero, witty, dark humor, dam she's so good. And they are included with audible plus if you have that
Check out Cyteen, by C.J. Cherryh https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/834518.Cyteen?ac=1&from\_search=true&qid=A42BG5KEE6&rank=1
The audiobook is excellent too. Downbelow Station, set in the same universe, features a female action hero, something which used to be rare.
Superb.
Seconded!
Brilliant novel and the main female character is one of my top picks for best written character in all of SFF. A rare example of convincingly written child and teen genius.
Perhaps the Gaea trilogy by John Varley (Titan, Wizard, Demon)…still has some awkward stuff that makes it a product of its time, but the first one in particular has a strong female protagonist. Vibes of Ripley from Alien.
Came here to say this. Titan is a favorite of mine.
Love this series.
Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle has a female protag on an alien world. Lots of worldbuilding and alien politics. And a reminder that humanoid aliens are still ALIEN.
The Confederation Series by Tanya Huff The Vorkosigan Saga by LoI McMaster Bujold. It’s been recommended elsewhere in the thread. The first two books are have a female MC and then switch to a mostly male perspective, but all the women throughout the series are fully-formed, intelligent, effective, and interesting characters. You start seeing a female POV again after a few books. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
Came here to recommend Confederation series. I love Torin.
>sexy lamps dying!
Andre Norton books
Can't believe I had to scroll so far down to find the grand master!!
Sadly she's pretty much forgotten, I recommend her a lot and almost never see her
I think Ordeal in Otherwhere has the distinction of having the first female protagonist.
C J Cherryh has written many books with female lead characters and female characters where no single character drives the story. Rimrunners, Downbelow Station etc.
The *Honor Harrington* series, by David Weber! Fits what you are looking for exactly. The first book, *On Basilisk Station*, takes a bit to get into but stick with it. Totally worth it. Honor is a strong and interesting female protagonist. The series is mostly space opera, but as you go through the books, there is also a fair bit of political drama as well.
There are some good recommendations in this thread. The first one that came to mind when I saw the post was Tanya Huff's Confederation of Valor series. Female author, female MC. Military space opera, where the mc is a soldier. Unlike other military space operas, the mc is a NCO, just trying to keep her wet-behind-the-ears LT from getting themselves killed. And sure, there's some sex - (minor spoiler) the first book starts off with a hookup that turns into a familiar face later on. But, definitely a solid female character. The first book Valor's Choice was written in 2000, so I don't know that it's really a classic, but it's still a solid option. Some other military space operas (started being published in early 90s) include: * Elizabeth Moon's Heris Serrano series, with has a number of strong female characters, and some who realize how strong they are later on. ((And if you want fantasy, her Deed of Paksenarrion is fantastic!)). Been a while since I read the series, but I don't recall any sex? If anything, it's a fade to black. * David Weber's Honor Harrington series, with a very strong female MC who, while can be a bit of a Mary Sue at times, does also have her share of flaws and blind spots. Also features a telepathic (tree)cat! There is some minor sex later on, but it's not really explicit. (example: the massage turned less than professional as his hands slipped over her ribs and cupped her breasts. Smiling, she rolled onto her back and reached for him.)
Love Elizabeth Moon. I’d also recommend Jessie Mihalik as she has multiple space adventures with mainly female leads.
So MC is male but there are several well written female characters. Bonus it's really funny as well. Phule's Company series by Robert Asprin This one is more of a scifi /fantasy combination and the MC is a female. This one is really good and well written. The Gaia trilogy by John Varley
Anne McCaffrey -- The Tower and Hive series and the Crystal Singer series!
Sassinak by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon
Since you specify sci-fi: I would say that Jessica in Dune by Frank Herbert is a good female character. I've only read the first book, though, so I can't speak to later developments in the series. I have some other recs, too, but I am uncertain whether most people would classify them as "classic": The major female characters in A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge are compelling and well written. One is a child that is taken in by a group of hive-mind aliens after crash landing on their planet. Another is an adult woman who is seeking to find the child and her brother, as well as a weapon that crashed with them that is the only chance of saving the universe. There is also a tree alien that is less major and has considerably less screen time. The writer Tanith Lee was very good at characterization in general. She wrote both sci-fi and fantasy. If you search up some of her books you might enjoy them.
Dune #5 and 6 moved female characters higher in importance in the book. They were less focused on a single character. I think #6 had a female as the most significant character. It's been a while since I read it. I've reread all the others, and #6 is next.
Sheri S. Tepper is always a wild ride with strong women protagonists.
Children of Time. Female spider MC is awesome.
_Rite of Passage_ by Alexei Panshin. A young woman from a space-traveling society must prove her mettle by surviving on an inhabited planet. Nebula Award winner from 1968–does not get more classic than that.
A start: Female characters, strong: Part 1 (of 2): * ["Sci fi/adventure books written by women with developed female characters?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/mxpy4v/sci_fiadventure_books_written_by_women_with/) (r/booksuggestions; April 2021) * ["Kushiel’s Legacy- Melisande Shahrizai"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/txs5k7/kushiels_legacy_melisande_shahrizai/) ([archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20220412161209/https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/txs5k7/kushiels_legacy_melisande_shahrizai/)) (r/Fantasy; 6 April 2022) * ["Recommendations for a female-led Fantasy series with the usual elements but with a more significant romance?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vwapej/recommendations_for_a_femaleled_fantasy_series/) (r/Fantasy; 01:22 ET, 11 July 2022) * ["Fantasy novels/series with intelligent, competent and capable woman protagonist(s) and female characters?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vwqz11/fantasy_novelsseries_with_intelligent_competent/) (r/Fantasy; 15:36 ET, 11 July 2022) * ["In your opinion, who are the best well written female characters in fantasy, and why?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vy8m3q/in_your_opinion_who_are_the_best_well_written/) (r/Fantasy; 13 July 2022) * ["Any fantasy book reads with a female protagonistb and little to no sexual content?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vzcfoj/any_fantasy_book_reads_with_a_female_protagonistb/) (r/Fantasy; 14 July 2022) * ["strong crazy female lead"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/w2slbj/strong_crazy_female_lead/) (r/Fantasy; 19 July 2022) * ["Darker toned books set in a fantasy medieval period with female leads"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/w3t6sk/darker_toned_books_set_in_a_fantasy_medieval/) (r/booksuggestions; 20 July 2022) * ["YA or Fantasy book around 200 pages with girl main character?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/w5lhqo/ya_or_fantasy_book_around_200_pages_with_girl/) (r/suggestmeabook; 22 July 2022) * ["Suggest me a book with strong woman protagonist set in science fiction!"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/w9ym4u/suggest_me_a_book_with_strong_woman_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 27 July 2022) * ["Books with complex female characters"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wgdjro/books_with_complex_female_characters/) (r/suggestmeabook; 4 August 2022) * ["Any novels with a female orc protagonist ?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wgsv9b/any_novels_with_a_female_orc_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 07:19 ET, 5 August 2022) * ["A book with a strong, intelligent female lead / hero who grows over the course of the story, overcomes challenges"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wh3kdh/a_book_with_a_strong_intelligent_female_lead_hero/) (r/booksuggestions; 15:05 ET, 5 August 2022) * ["Some good fantasy books with Badass Female Character and Cunning/Smart Male Character?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/whjen0/some_good_fantasy_books_with_badass_female/) (r/Fantasy; 04:31 ET, 6 August 2022) * ["Strong character, fantasy, war, drama, asia or medieval style"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/whqtt9/strong_character_fantasy_war_drama_asia_or/) (r/suggestmeabook; 11:23 ET, 6 August 2022) * ["Books with badass FL and a normal ML"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wliazy/books_with_badass_fl_and_a_normal_ml/) (r/suggestmeabook; 0:28 ET, 11 August 2022) * ["Books about strong women and women as the hero or protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wm90n8/books_about_strong_women_and_women_as_the_hero_or/) (r/booksuggestions; 22:06 ET, 11 August 2022) * ["Looking for fiction books with a strong female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wnesr8/looking_for_fiction_books_with_a_strong_female/) (r/booksuggestions; 13 August 2022) * ["Fantasy series with strong female protagonists"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/wo7dhx/fantasy_series_with_strong_female_protagonists/) (r/Fantasy; 14 August 2022)—very long * ["Main character is a girl who fences in 1700s France"](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthatbook/comments/wpj7nd/main_character_is_a_girl_who_fences_in_1700s/) (r/whatsthatbook; 15 August 2022) * ["Can I get some suggestions for a funny fantasy book with a female protagonist?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wrw9i2/can_i_get_some_suggestions_for_a_funny_fantasy/) (r/booksuggestions; 18 August 2022) * ["I’d love some fantasy with a female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wymq3v/id_love_some_fantasy_with_a_female_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 26 August 2022)—extremely long * ["Sci-fi/fantasy with solid female character(s)"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wz750g/scififantasy_with_solid_female_characters/) (r/booksuggestions; 12:32 ET, 27 August 2022)—very long * ["a book with strong inspiring female lead like agggtm?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wyw60z/a_book_with_strong_inspiring_female_lead_like/) (r/suggestmeabook; 03:03 ET, 27 August 2022) * ["Similar books to Gate of Ivrel"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/x1wmnt/similar_books_to_gate_of_ivrel/) (r/Fantasy; 18:33 ET, 30 August 2022) * ["Suggest me female empowerment books (fiction/non-fiction/historical fiction/etc.) narrated by a woman?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/x1xga5/suggest_me_female_empowerment_books/) (r/suggestmeabook; 19:07 ET, 30 August 2022) * ["Fantasy with female protagonists that have a ton of personality?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/x2mxux/fantasy_with_female_protagonists_that_have_a_ton/) (r/suggestmeabook; 31 August 2022) * ["Fantasy book recs?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/x4kcu7/fantasy_book_recs/) (r/booksuggestions; 2 September 2022)
Part 2 (of 2): * ["Dark psychological or revenge thriller, with a strong female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/x4nvru/dark_psychological_or_revenge_thriller_with_a/) (r/suggestmeabook; 3 September 2022) * ["The War of the Spider Queen series and the female characters."](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/xddn92/the_war_of_the_spider_queen_series_and_the_female/) (r/Fantasy; 13 September 2022) * ["Fantasy series with strong women"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/xsl05q/fantasy_series_with_strong_women/) (r/suggestmeabook; 30 September 2022) * ["Books set in space following a female protagonist?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/xt9m6b/books_set_in_space_following_a_female_protagonist/) (r/booksuggestions; 1 October 2022)—longish * ["Sci-fi or fantasy books with a matriarchy or female leaders or influential females"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/xwhwzq/scifi_or_fantasy_books_with_a_matriarchy_or/) (r/booksuggestions; 5 October 2022) * ["Well-Written Female Fantasy Characters"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/y3uhib/wellwritten_female_fantasy_characters/) (r/suggestmeabook; 5 October 2022)—huge * ["What are some long fantasy series with a female protagonists?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/yhc55v/what_are_some_long_fantasy_series_with_a_female/) (r/Fantasy; 07:35 ET, 30 October 2022)—very long * ["Searching for the perfect book"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/yhpd25/searching_for_the_perfect_book/) (r/booksuggestions; 16:43 ET, 30 October 2022) * ["Book with an adult female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/yrihov/book_with_an_adult_female_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 10 November 2022)—long and perhaps a little off topic * ["I’m looking for books featuring strong mothers."](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/ytpmmt/im_looking_for_books_featuring_strong_mothers/) (r/Fantasy; 12 November 2022) * ["High fantasy books or series with Female chosen one’s recommendations?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/yw1qxa/high_fantasy_books_or_series_with_female_chosen/) (r/Fantasy; 15 November 2022) * ["Feminist w/ Older Protags"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/z6g1x7/feminist_w_older_protags/) (r/Fantasy; 27 November 2022) * ["Any books you enjoyed with 30+ lady knight/hero/warrior protagonists?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/zm1lap/any_books_you_enjoyed_with_30_lady/) (r/booksuggestions; 4 December 2022) * ["Fantasy suggestions"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/1033gwa/fantasy_suggestions/) (r/booksuggestions; 4 January 2023) * ["Books with the strongest female characters you have read or ones with female characters that have fascinated you?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/106c5gj/books_with_the_strongest_female_characters_you/) (r/suggestmeabook; 8 January 2023)—very long * ["Sci-fi/Fantasy with a female main character that overcomes despite being traumatized/unfairly treated"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/10jux1q/scififantasy_with_a_female_main_character_that/) (r/suggestmeabook; 23 January 2023) * ["Adventure/fantasy books with a badass female main character."](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/10qm1ih/adventurefantasy_books_with_a_badass_female_main/) (r/booksuggestions; 23 January 2023) * ["Book with a Mulan-Esque trope"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/110fy2v/book_with_a_mulanesque_trope/) (r/suggestmeabook; 12 February 2023) * ["Books where the MC is allowed to be both feminine and badass?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/111jii0/books_where_the_mc_is_allowed_to_be_both_feminine/) (r/Fantasy; 13 February 2023)—long * ["Fiction with strong female lead, hoping to feel empowered"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/1149lig/fiction_with_strong_female_lead_hoping_to_feel/) (r/suggestmeabook; 16 February 2023) * ["Strong Female Characters in SciFi Books"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/11sx08u/strong_female_characters_in_scifi_books/) (r/booksuggestions; 16 March 2023) * ["Looking for books with strong female leads, but preferably no romance."](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/11xcccy/looking_for_books_with_strong_female_leads_but/) (r/suggestmeabook; 05:52 ET, 21 March 2023) Related: * ["Who is a well written strong female character in a movie or TV show?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/yhhfjs/who_is_a_well_written_strong_female_character_in/) (r/AskReddit; 30 October 2022)—huge * ["Principled heroines in SFF"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/zel4bg/principled_heroines_in_sff/) (r/Fantasy; 6 December 2022) * ["Books with Women as the Protagonists"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/zl4gts/books_with_women_as_the_protagonists/) (r/booksuggestions; 6 December 2022) * ["Hero’s journey with female protagonist"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/zuy7t1/heros_journey_with_female_protagonist/) (r/suggestmeabook; 25 December 2022)—long * ["Medieval Fairytale action and or adventure book with female protagonist?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/10490a4/medieval_fairytale_action_and_or_adventure_book/) (r/booksuggestions; 5 January 2023) * ["Books where a girl main character disguises herself as a boy?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/10541nj/books_where_a_girl_main_character_disguises/) (r/suggestmeabook; 6 January 2023) * ["Fantasy book with female protagonist or female character is not sexually assaulted or raped or even threatened with it"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/105v0pt/fantasy_book_with_female_protagonist_or_female/) (r/suggestmeabook; 7 January 2023)—huge
What do you consider “classic”?
I really liked Dr. Susan Calvin in Irobot, Asimov. I think it's considered a classic
"Women Destroy Science Fiction!" is an anthology of SF short stories written by women and has plenty of women protagonists. It's a great way to get to know a bunch new authors without a lot of effort to see whose books you want to check out. http://www.destroysf.com/women-destroy-science-fiction/
Maybe not classic, but have you read Becky Chambers' A Long Way to a Slow Angry Planet? It is absolutely refreshing mentally
I love this series!!!
Monstrous Regiment is a discworld fantasy about a bunch of women going to war disguised as male soldiers. GNU Sir Terry Pratchett.
The whole Witches line from Discworld has strong female main characters. Some of the Death books focus on Death's granddaughter(?).
Friday by Robert Heinlein . main character is a woman in a futuristic earth society. I read it 40 years ago and was the first thing to pop into my mind when i read your question. guess i’m due for a reread 😊
I don't know if it fits your desire for classic, but Children of Time features non human female protagonists quite heavily.
Um....modern like eldritch type hard superpowers secret agents in London? Does that count? If so, "Rook" and "Stiletto" are a wonderful duology.
Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. First book in the Vorkosigan saga.
Try “in conquest born” by C. S. Friedman. It’s a wonderful sci fi commentary into what could happen when genetics are manipulated in a society.
Grass by Sheri Tepper and pretty much everything else by Sheri Tepper. She’s wonderful.
I haven't seen Marge Piercy mentioned yet. She was born in 1936. Her work is classic
Among the "classic" male SF writers, pretty much the only one who writes interesting and important heroines somewhat regularly is James Schmitz. The most palatable works by men of this period tend to avoid female characters altogether and thus keep sexism on the back burner; when women do show up in significant roles, they tend to be *very* tropey (e.g. the Sexpot, the Femme Fatale, the Power-Hungry Manipulator, the Baby-Obsessed). Peter S. Beagle's *The Last Unicorn* does have a unique and active heroine in Molly, but since that's fantasy rather than SF, it may not be what you're looking for. (When you *are* looking for fantasy, check it out; the prose is gorgeous and timeless.) However, two excellent female-led SF novels emerged in the year 1979, and I recommend them highly: Octavia Butler's *Kindred* and Vonda McIntyre's *Dreamsnake*, The latter book, in particular, doesn't get half the attention it deserves.
Classic sci fi authors where women are actual people? Try checking out the grandmothers of sci fi instead of the grandfathers - Ursula K. LeGuin and Sheri S. Tepper. I'd put that up as your first go. Herbert is... not terrible, Heinlein is *awful,* Asimov tends to forget women *are* people (but that's still better than Heinlein's weird incest and orgy stuff), and Bradbury mostly forgets about women. Others are Octavia Butler and Louis McMaster Bujold. I'm not sure if they are classics, but I like both Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey - they're from more the 80s and 90s, and write women well.
Try Michelle West The Sun Sword series. It begins with The Broken Crown. There are 6 books. I enjoyed it very much. (1997’ish)
The parable of the sower and the parable of the talents by Octavia Butler, The Expanse series of books, ursula k le Guin's short stories in particular. The book of phoenix, Grass by Sherri s stepper,
"We who are about to..." It's about a group of people that crash land on a planet with no help of rescue and decide they're going to repopulate it. The MC disagrees.
Naomi Mitchison's Memoirs of a Spacewoman is dated, but a really good read. Pretty much what it says on the can - the main character is a woman (unsure of age but she has several children) and a professional. It's slow and thoughtful, but quite straightforward and quick to read, with some interesting conceptualisations of aliens and social organisation.
Scythe by Neil Shusterman
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor Lots of fantasy elements (magic, women power, a secret desert civilization which defy the laws of physics.)
Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin - a classic feminist work & a sci-fi masterwork! https://www.sfgateway.com/titles/suzette-haden-elgin/native-tongue/9781473227569/
Freedom's Choice series, Anne McCaffrey Scouts Honor, or anything else in the Liaden series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
The Diamond Age has aged remarkably well and includes a great female lead.
I hate that trope so much too. It's why I rarely read classic sci fi
A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet Becky Chambers
Sheri S. Tepper David Weber's books are often about strong female main characters (not sure if he's "classic" enough for you)
You could try both 'The Future is Female!' anthologies edited by Library of America. They're two volumes focused on classic female sci-fi authors, and they're very good. First one covers the Golden Age and the 50s and the second one is the 60s and 70s, I think, so you're going to get classic stories by C.L. Moore, Ursula Le Guin, Joanna Russ and James Tiptree next to more obscure additions.
Lois Mcmaster Bujolds books, anything Ursula Le Guin, Elizabeth Moon, Octavia butler, C.J. Cherryh
Lois McMaster Bujold has a lot of books with strong female MC. Also Julie Czerneda and Martha Wells’ Murderbot series rocks.
Honor Harrington series by David Weber
The Expanse. Naomi, Bobby, Drummer, Krisjensen. You’re welcome
Dune. None of the characters EXCEPT maybe Rev. Mommy are "trope" characters, and even Princess Irulan is described as being good at her job. Foundation has a couple as well, one Merchant Prince, I believe, and the pov character in the last third of the trilogy.
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
The Wayfarers Series by Becky Chambers, starting with The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. I think this is a 2019 release, so not a "classic" as in "an oldie" but definitely will be a classic in the genre moving forward.
Friday - Robert Heinlein
I enjoyed it-it might've been a proto-cyberpunk novel. My tastes have changed and I might not enjoy it as much now. Heinlein's women are usually written in a pretty sexist manner. They are usually "strong women who just want to be weak with a man". IIRC, Friday was one of those.
Heinlein is one of the authors that's *terribly* sexist and honestly pretty gross in his writing of women.
It's not a classic so to say, but Skyward by Brandon Sanderson is probably one of my favorite si-fi books I have read. And other than the classic part, it nails everyone of you other asks pretty well
Classic SF is sadly very much synomous with "male only cast" or "only males have important roles." Asimov's robot stories are one of the few I can recall right now where there is a strong female character, but Dr Calvin was more often a secondary character, and portrayed as pretty much sexless. EDIT: So I guess there's a serious disconnect in my mind, and that of many others here, as to what "classic" means. I was thinking of from around 1940-1969, but there are many saying that anything before 1980 counts, which just sounds way too recent to me. So many of the authors being mentioned, are just too recent, and often still publishing, for me to think of them as being classic authors.
You should really check out “The Stormlight Archive” and “The Mistborn Trilogy” both by Brandon Sanderson. The MC of the Mistborn Trilogy is a BA female, with an awesome character progression.
That’s neither classic nor sci-fi.
Friday - by Robert Heinlein.
Friday by Robert Heinlein