My recommendations skew towards fantasy, rather than simply fiction:
The Water Outlaws, by S. L. Huang, is a queer retelling of Water Margin, which is one of the Four Classic Chinese Novels (and one of the earliest written works in Mandarin). In this version, the 108 bandits on Mount Liang who rebel against the Emperor are mostly queer women.
Black Water Sister, by Zen Cho, is about a closeted lesbian who, after finishing university, moves from America back to Malaysia, where the ghost of her dead grandmother embroils her in a conflict with a local deity and a corrupt land developer.
The City of Brass (and subsequently The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold), by S. A. Chakraborty, which is about a woman from 19th century Cairo getting pulled into an ancient conflict between warring factions of djinn, ifrit and marid.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi, again by Shannon Chakraborty, about a middle-aged retired pirate legend in the 12th century who has to leave her daughter behind to hunt across the Indian Ocean for a girl from Aden who has been kidnapped by a Frankish mercenary.
The Daughters of Izdihar, by Hadeer Elsbai, is about a woman with the power to weave water, a power that is frowned upon the wider society. When her family arranges her marriage, she is sent to the city, and falls in with a group of radical feminists who are fighting for women to get the vote.
Markswoman and Mahimata by Rati Mehrotra is about Kyra, a woman in the Order of Kali who has been trained as a Markswoman, a fighter sworn to serve as the blade that keeps the peace. But more than peace, Kyra wishes to avenge her murdered family.
Give The Dark My Love and Bid My Soul Farewell, by Beth Revis, is about a young girl from a small town who leaves home on a scholarship to study medical alchemy. When a plague (potentially magical in origin) starts sweeping the nation, the wealthy med students are insulated from the danger. But Nedra's family lives where the sickness is ravaging, and she will stop at nothing to learn what she needs to find a cure. Even if that requires studying the forbidden magic of necromancy.
Seafire, Steeltide, and Stormbreak by Natalie Parker, which is about an all-lady crew of pirates fighting a rebellion against a cruel warlord who has control of the only known livable archipelago in a post-apocalyptic world.
A Thousand Steps Into the Night, by Traci Chee, about an innkeeper's daughter who struggles to embody the feminine ideals of domesticity and servitude, until she is cursed by a demon and sets off on a quest to find the cure.
Also by Traci Chee, the Sea of Ink and Gold trilogy is for a younger audience (as an educator I read a lot of stuff for a wide spread of ages) but I still recommend it, because it is an absolutely fantastic set of books that employs a little post-modernism to question, what is a book? In this trilogy, they live in a world with no writing, until the protagonist starts to unravel the mystery of the mysterious rectangular object that her father died to keep hidden and the world-shaping magic that is reading.
Sofi and the Bone Song, by Adrienne Tooley, is about a girl who is raised in a kingdom rife with magic, where in order to protect the artistic integrity of music from being automated by magic, only a select few are licensed to publicly perform. Sofi has trained her whole life to take over her father's position as the nation's only licensed lutist, but her dreams are snatched away at the last minute by a girl who has never played the lute before. Now Sofi is determined to expose this girl as a fraud who used magic to play music and steal her place; but to do this, she has to get close to her, and learn what it is that makes music worth playing.
Eight Will Fall, by Sarah Harian is more of an ensemble, but the lead is a woman. Eight criminals are sentenced to descend into darkness below to confront and defeat an ancient evil threatening their kingdom. If successful, they'll earn their freedom.
The Cold is in Her Bones, by Paternelle van Arsdale, is a story inspired by Medusa. Milla lived her whole life isolated on her family's farm, until a girl from the nearby village, Iris is sent to live with them. Back in the village, a demon is possessing girls and it seems no one is safe. But when Iris is taken, Milla must set out to find her, and break the demon's curse.
The Boneless Mercies, by April Genevieve Tucholke, is a retelling of Beowulf but with a band of women warriors hunting the mythical beast.
Katy Rose Pool's trilogy, There Will Come A Darkness, As The Shadow Rises, and Into The Dying Light is an ensemble, but one of the main characters (and most compelling), is the legendary assassin known as the Pale Hand of Death, because all of her victims are left with no marks of violence, only a pale handprint. This is more of a classic epic fantasy: prophecies about the end of the world, that just may implicate the Pale Hand. But she has her reasons for killing: without stealing the life from the living, the illness that plagues her sister can't be stopped. But despite choosing only those who the Pale Hand deems deserving of death, her sister is unable to accept that her life is prolonged at the expense of others.
These are just the ones I have handy, but I am always happy to recommend more (this goes for anyone out there, and not just for fantasy, I have a lot of recommendations for theory as well).
My recommendations skew towards fantasy, rather than simply fiction:
The Water Outlaws, by S. L. Huang, is a queer retelling of Water Margin, which is one of the Four Classic Chinese Novels (and one of the earliest written works in Mandarin). In this version, the 108 bandits on Mount Liang who rebel against the Emperor are mostly queer women.
Black Water Sister, by Zen Cho, is about a closeted lesbian who, after finishing university, moves from America back to Malaysia, where the ghost of her dead grandmother embroils her in a conflict with a local deity and a corrupt land developer.
The City of Brass (and subsequently The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold), by S. A. Chakraborty, which is about a woman from 19th century Cairo getting pulled into an ancient conflict between warring factions of djinn, ifrit and marid.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi, again by Shannon Chakraborty, about a middle-aged retired pirate legend in the 12th century who has to leave her daughter behind to hunt across the Indian Ocean for a girl from Aden who has been kidnapped by a Frankish mercenary.
The Daughters of Izdihar, by Hadeer Elsbai, is about a woman with the power to weave water, a power that is frowned upon the wider society. When her family arranges her marriage, she is sent to the city, and falls in with a group of radical feminists who are fighting for women to get the vote.
Markswoman and Mahimata by Rati Mehrotra is about Kyra, a woman in the Order of Kali who has been trained as a Markswoman, a fighter sworn to serve as the blade that keeps the peace. But more than peace, Kyra wishes to avenge her murdered family.
Give The Dark My Love and Bid My Soul Farewell, by Beth Revis, is about a young girl from a small town who leaves home on a scholarship to study medical alchemy. When a plague (potentially magical in origin) starts sweeping the nation, the wealthy med students are insulated from the danger. But Nedra's family lives where the sickness is ravaging, and she will stop at nothing to learn what she needs to find a cure. Even if that requires studying the forbidden magic of necromancy.
Seafire, Steeltide, and Stormbreak by Natalie Parker, which is about an all-lady crew of pirates fighting a rebellion against a cruel warlord who has control of the only known livable archipelago in a post-apocalyptic world.
A Thousand Steps Into the Night, by Traci Chee, about an innkeeper's daughter who struggles to embody the feminine ideals of domesticity and servitude, until she is cursed by a demon and sets off on a quest to find the cure.
Also by Traci Chee, the Sea of Ink and Gold trilogy is for a younger audience (as an educator I read a lot of stuff for a wide spread of ages) but I still recommend it, because it is an absolutely fantastic set of books that employs a little post-modernism to question, what is a book? In this trilogy, they live in a world with no writing, until the protagonist starts to unravel the mystery of the mysterious rectangular object that her father died to keep hidden and the world-shaping magic that is reading.
Sofi and the Bone Song, by Adrienne Tooley, is about a girl who is raised in a kingdom rife with magic, where in order to protect the artistic integrity of music from being automated by magic, only a select few are licensed to publicly perform. Sofi has trained her whole life to take over her father's position as the nation's only licensed lutist, but her dreams are snatched away at the last minute by a girl who has never played the lute before. Now Sofi is determined to expose this girl as a fraud who used magic to play music and steal her place; but to do this, she has to get close to her, and learn what it is that makes music worth playing.
Eight Will Fall, by Sarah Harian is more of an ensemble, but the lead is a woman. Eight criminals are sentenced to descend into darkness below to confront and defeat an ancient evil threatening their kingdom. If successful, they'll earn their freedom.
The Cold is in Her Bones, by Paternelle van Arsdale, is a story inspired by Medusa. Milla lived her whole life isolated on her family's farm, until a girl from the nearby village, Iris is sent to live with them. Back in the village, a demon is possessing girls and it seems no one is safe. But when Iris is taken, Milla must set out to find her, and break the demon's curse.
The Boneless Mercies, by April Genevieve Tucholke, is a retelling of Beowulf but with a band of women warriors hunting the mythical beast.
Katy Rose Pool's trilogy, There Will Come A Darkness, As The Shadow Rises, and Into The Dying Light is an ensemble, but one of the main characters (and most compelling), is the legendary assassin known as the Pale Hand of Death, because all of her victims are left with no marks of violence, only a pale handprint. This is more of a classic epic fantasy: prophecies about the end of the world, that just may implicate the Pale Hand. But she has her reasons for killing: without stealing the life from the living, the illness that plagues her sister can't be stopped. But despite choosing only those who the Pale Hand deems deserving of death, her sister is unable to accept that her life is prolonged at the expense of others.
These are just the ones I have handy, but I am always happy to recommend more (this goes for anyone out there, and not just for fantasy, I have a lot of recommendations for theory as well).
That's a lot of books. Thank you synopsis of each as well.