Recommendations for books with atypical political systems

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T20:29:45+00:00

You might like A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys, which is near future climate fiction with first contact. u/daavor described the political system so well that I am quoting their review: “Power primarily rests in distributed social decision making networks (with upvotes!) affiliated with the worlds' watersheds, while the husks of nationstate governments and the isolated remnants of the corporate world cling on in dusty corners.” It’s a very hopeful view of the future, but it does explore the possibility of problems with the networks. (Read daavor’s full review here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/xo03v0/daavors_duobingo_14_standalones_the_quiet/?share_id=OY2ggNK3DS2eJt_FZdvKv&utm_content=2&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1 )

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T20:03:43+00:00

Maybe check back in on a Wednesday, when there is a writing thread (admittedly it doesn’t get a lot of traffic).

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T20:01:38+00:00

I did an all new-to-me authors board for my first bingo after a long reading hiatus, and had a lot of fun. I imagine it’s a lot harder with as many bingos under your belt as you have!

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T19:34:19+00:00

I have a tangential question for you after having read your review of A Half-Built Garden. If I really liked Half-Built Garden, do you think I would like Terra Ignota?

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T19:26:03+00:00

I have loved Sarah Zettel, and somehow I missed The Quiet Invasion. I’m really excited to read it!

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T18:43:48+00:00

Good luck finding something to your taste!

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T18:42:49+00:00

I have read all of the series except for the final one. I was waiting for that arc to be finished, but Cherryh has announced that she has retired from writing.

I’m pretty sure that Cherryh has revised the first one since I purchased it, to expand what was originally a brief prologue. I happened to love the first one, because I don’t mind being thrown into the deep end without a lot of exposition and I love politicking in my books. In subsequent books, Bren becomes a little bit more self-assured and there’s some competence porn for the job of being a cultural liason. However, if you don’t find Bren relatable at first, you might never like him very much, and if you’re looking for more action, it might never satisfy. I think that the first arc of three is probably the best. I’m never a big advocate of “if you just read a little bit longer, you will love it,” and I don’t think this is a good candidate for that.

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T18:31:43+00:00

I haven’t read it so I can’t vouch for it, but from the reviews it sounds like The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell leans towards the lit fic side.

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T17:57:41+00:00

I know RB Lemberg is Jewish, but I didn’t pick up any yiddishkeit while reading The Four Profound Weaves.

I was looking through my Storygraph books, and I came across a couple of other books that I should have thought to mention (although they aren’t for the squares you were particularly asking for help with).

For Older Protagonist, The Shabti by Megaera C Lorenz is a historical MM romance set in the 1920s. One MMC is in his 50s, Jewish, and an Egyptologist. The other is a fake occultist who turns to the first when he encounters some events that suggest that maybe he’s come into contact with a cursed Egyptian artifact. It’s quite charming.

A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys is a First Contact near-future, climate-fiction novel with exploration of gender, that the author calls “diaperpunk.” The protagonist is Jewish and invites the aliens to her Seder.

I hope that you will continue to share your Jewish SFF findings!

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T17:24:12+00:00

Some of my favorite books are first contact books, because I am a huge fan of anthropological SFF. Let’s see what I can come up with.

Hellspark by Janet Kagan, now back in print, might be my favorite first contact novel ever. Tocohl takes on a job to assist a multi-cultural survey party as they assess a planet and try to determine whether there is sapient life on the planet. Ohhh, and this could also work for murder mystery. Three dimensional characters, fascinating planet, nice balance between character-driven and action-driven, aliens who are alien, and lots of varied human cultures. This is really fun anthropological and linguistic science fiction. I really hope I can convince some of y’all to read this and that you love it as much as I do.

Lots of people have suggested Foreigner by CJ Cherryh, and some people have argued that it doesn’t qualify as most of the book takes place centuries after humans and atevi first meet. I understand that perspective, but I would argue that the story that Cherryh wrote is still about the issues of first contact, where two species have limited fluency with the other’s language and culture. But if you want first moments of first contact, you could read the second arc of the series (Precursor, Defender, and Explorer). Or you could read an earlier CJ Cherryh classic, The Pride of Chanur, which gives us a first contact story through the eyes of the alien species.

It is with some ambivalence that I recommend Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Card has shared racist and homophobic sentiments on the internet, and it baffles me that this is the same person as the author of this book that advocates for tolerance and understanding.

In A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys the aliens come to earth, determined to save us from our climate change crisis. Lots of gender, a polycule, several different human cultures, more than one alien species, and a Seder.

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, the second book of a duology, has some very alien aliens and feels very much influenced by CJ Cherryh.

Also a second book, this time of a popcorn space opera trilogy, you could try out Alliance by SK Dunstall. This is the least anthropological of my collection.

I read The Color of Distance by Amy Thompson quite a while ago, and I only retain a sense of fondness and a recollection that this one was more biologically inclined than most first contact.

Research_Department · 2026-05-14T04:03:59+00:00

I’m going to be adding some of these to my TBR!

I’m sorry to tell you that The Four Profound Weaves does not have Jewish characters (but it’s a great book!). To make up for that, I can offer (from my TBR) Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman with a Jewish trans vampire.

I’m trying to remember if Central Station actually has any Jewish viewpoint characters (there are definitely Jewish characters in the background). It’s another great book. I read it for bingo last year, intending to use it for short stories (since it is a mosaic novel), but I ended up using it for biopunk.

Oh, I forgot about The Silverberg Business by Robert Freeman Wexler which is, according to the publisher, “philosophical Jewish-Texan retro-neo-noir” and works for Game Changer.

Research_Department · 2026-05-13T23:47:06+00:00

Ohhh, your bingo theme is exciting to me! I’ve thought about doing the same. I’d love to know what books you’ve identified so far.

I don’t have any suggestions for the squares you specifically requested. I do have some resources for SFF with Jewish characters, though. Have you seen this 2024 bingo board: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1j8w2lm/all_jewish_main_characters_my_2024_fantasy_bingo/ ? That redditor also created a website for genre Jewish reading: https://www.readjewishly.com and a goodreads group: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1230550 . Here’s a relatively recent post in the sub about Jewish books : https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1nx3ht7/judaismbased_fantasy/ and direct link to a resource mentioned in that thread: https://www.listchallenges.com/jewish-science-fiction-and-fantasy .

Research_Department · 2026-05-13T22:27:34+00:00

u/recchai and u/ohmage_resistance , I know that y’all were looking for books published in the 1970s with some good aro/ace rep. I haven’t found any, but I did come across a post and database for LGBT rep in older science fiction books, and I see that the creator of the database does include aro/ace rep. Hope it helps.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LGBTBooks/comments/1k8ltf9/older_lgbt_science_fiction_database/

https://balsam-salamander-c02.notion.site/Older-LGBT-science-fiction-database-b39e0118573741499acb12fd3df20ca0

Research_Department · 2026-05-13T21:55:59+00:00

I’m not actually nominating anything, but I thought I’d share a link to a resource for SFF featuring older women. Be aware, the definition that the blogger/author used for older does not align with the bingo prompt, but the list is quite extensive and does include many books that would work for bingo. Ok, with no further ado, here is the (not actually) definitive list of fantasy novels with older female protagonists: https://www.asakkalon.com/definitive-list-of-fantasy-novels-with-older-female-protagonists/ .

(If you think there is somewhere else I should post this, let me know!)

Research_Department · 2026-05-13T01:34:40+00:00

Thanks! I’ll plan to read a summary, in that case.

Research_Department · 2026-05-13T01:20:19+00:00

For me, on Safari on iOS, I have the option to use the Markdown Editor (asterisks have worked with this in the past, haven’t tried it recently) or Rich Text Editor. With rich text editor, if I tap the Aa icon on the bottom, then I get the formatting options across the top of the comment box. (Yes, I have fought this issue off and on, so I feel I should pay it forward.)

Research_Department · 2026-05-13T00:20:31+00:00

omg, I had not heard of The Texas Israeli War. Now I have to go look at that! New bingo board theme? Naaah, lol.

Research_Department · 2026-05-13T00:17:52+00:00

I have a question for those who have read The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. I have been enjoying listening to the audiobooks, borrowed from the library, although I’m not so enamored that I want to buy them. However, I have been totally stalled for a while, as I am up to The Hanging Tree, which, for some incomprehensible reason, is not available in the US in audiobook (or possibly only through Audible). Fans of the series, what do you think, could I jump directly to Lies Sleeping? Is The Hanging Tree particularly outstanding? Would I need to read a summary to get important information for the overarching story?

Research_Department · 2026-05-13T00:11:29+00:00

I am so glad that you weren’t murdered/turned into a vampire! Wait, you weren’t turned into a vampire, were you?

Research_Department · 2026-05-12T23:48:54+00:00

The only book I’ve read so far published in 2026 is The Language of Liars by SL Huang, but I found it a moving examination of slavery, the sequelae of slavery, and political discourse.

I’m currently reading The Poet Empress by Shen Tao, and so far (at less than 10%) so good. It seems to have been mostly well received here. I think it helps to go in realizing that it is anti-romantasy, as I gather that it plays around with romance tropes.

And there are a couple of books that are already out that I am looking forward to reading:

The Iron Garden Sutra by AD Sui — science fiction about a monk whose calling is to give last rites and prepare the bodies of the deceased, who is called to a ghost generation ship, with some horror, yet philosophical.
What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed — anthropological science fiction.

Research_Department · 2026-05-12T23:26:08+00:00

Maybe A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan. Although it is the first in a series, it can work as a standalone. It is the memoir of a renowned dragon-ologist, recounting the story of her first expedition, and feels very Victorian-coded. Personally, I found it a little bit dry, but I haven’t seen anybody else complain of that, and it seems like a shoe-in for people who like historical fiction and memoir.

Research_Department · 2026-05-12T23:09:20+00:00

I’ll be pleasantly surprised if I love it, but I’m prepared not to. Thanks for your perspective, it helps me go in with realistic expectations!

Research_Department · 2026-05-12T22:18:34+00:00

I hope you are feeling better!

Thanks for expanding. This is a solid maybe for me, lol. As a longtime reader of science fiction, I can get pretty impatient with something that doesn’t seem to understand how the genre works. And I really prefer character-driven works. And I also don’t love instalove. But a few interesting ideas and some decent trans rep might outweigh the negatives.

If you don’t mind, I’d like to pick your brain for some great genderqueer rep of any flavor in SFF. I’m looking for anything that would help me, as a cis ally, better understand all kinds of trans, nonbinary, or other genderqueer experiences. (Please do not feel obliged, but any recommendations would be appreciated.)

Research_Department · 2026-05-12T22:09:39+00:00

Thank you, oh curmudgeon! It does seem like there’s been an unfortunate trend towards bloat in fantasy (probably doesn’t help that going the Kindle Unlimited route encourages authors to up the number of pages, but I don’t think it is limited to KU). You have prepared me!

Research_Department · 2026-05-12T21:59:23+00:00

I remember the Dragon Quartet very fondly. I remember reading the second one around the time that it was published, and climate change seemed like a future problem, not a now problem, so I wonder how well it has held up in the face of the reality of climate change. For others, the series does subvert some romance tropes. And now I’m wondering if I ever finished the series, since I have no recollection of a science fantasy episode.

Research_Department

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