Awesome! So for YA fantasy is would recommend: Tamora Pierce (her first few books are classic YA but they gain in complexity over time as she becomes a better writer, great stories, great author, love her)
T Kingfisher (some fairy tale rewrites and some original stories, no duds so far, love her work, the raven and the reindeer is the snow queen but with lesbians!)
Robin McKinley (I love her work, but she’s a great divider, you either love her or hate her style, lol)
Susan Cooper (her famous series does have a male protagonist but I love it so she gets a free pass)
Heather Tomlinson (fairy tale retellings. Love Toads and Diamonds about two sisters set in India)
Althea Kontis (more fairy tales, series not finished but still very good)
Naomi Novik (Uprooted specifically. So good, her Temeraire series is also good but I stopped a few books in because I got bored so…)
Caitlin Rubino-Bradway (her only book so far is Ordinary Magic which was great! I don’t know why there aren’t others :(
Patricia Wrede! (The enchanted forest chronicles is a classic but the rest of her books are pretty great including the 13th child series which was fantastic)
Jessica Day George (great author but not a fan of the Tuesdays in the castle series, not bad but not great, the rest of her stuff is pretty awesome (still fairy tales, I’m sensing a pattern in my reading habits))
Sarah Beth Durst (her latest series is not YA but the rest of her stuff is and it’s great)
K M Shea (more fairy tales rewritten! Lol. Only one meh book in the series Wild Swans, the rest are romancy but still enjoyable)
Malinda Lo (lesbian retelling of Cinderella!)
Honor Raconteur (not strictly YA themed but she’s self published and reads a little young, still really good and getting better with each book, would be unbelievably good with a great editor, but is phenomenal considering the lack)
MCA Hogarth (very much enjoyed the Rosepoint series and the mindtouch series but is very clearly a furry and into the gender stuff so not recommended without reservation, lol)
Sherwood Smith (love her stuff, some YA some not, all enjoyable though her earlier stuff reads very young)
Kirsten Miller (her Kiki strike series is great! Love it)
Caroline Stevermer (college of magics is one of my favorite books, all her stuff is great though)
Mercedes Lackey (her Valdemar series is a classic and I loved it when I was younger. Reading it 15 years later, it’s still good but not as good as I remember lol)
Rachel Neumeier (the black dog series is good, but all of her stand alone books are fantastic and innovative, great stories and really great writing)
Diana Wynna Jones (a legend! Wrote howl’s moving castle, love her so much, my one reservation is the beginning of the crestomancy series which is good but not amazing but it gets much much better so still worth a read)
I think that might be it for YA, I have modern fantasy, classic fantasy, modern sci go recommendations as well but this post is already super long! I’ll add the others later I think.
janainaart
theartofmadeline
origamiaround
germansingergirl
yousharknotpass
ellievsbear
jbbartram-illu
