Fat Main Characters in Speculative Fiction

Not that long ago I would not have been able to make this post. I’d have been lucky to find a single YA book with a fat protagonist at all, let alone one that was science fiction or fantasy. And finding one that was anything other than a cis straight white girl? That was a fever dream.

Honestly even this list is not great in a lot of areas of diversity. Most of these characters are queer, but all of them are cis and only one is non-white. We still have a long, long way to go but I want to celebrate the little bit of rep we do have. So let’s get into the list!

Out of the Blue by Jason June

This is dual POV and one of my favourite things about this book is the way Sean’s love interest describes his body. It’s so loving and wonderous and such a contrast to the way a lot of fantasy tends to go about handling its fat characters. I honestly just overall liked how the narrative talked about Sean and his body, you can tell that a lot of care went into it and I really appreciated it.

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

This was the first spec fic novel I read featuring a fat main character, and it’s also one of my favourite books. Undead Girl Gang really digs into trauma, and it’s quite a heavy book, but I really love it and its protagonist Mila makes the story so much fun.

A Dark and Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell

If you saw my autobuy authors post you would know that despite this being Sarah Hollowell’s debut she’s already got me hooked. Derry very quickly became near and dear to my heart, and she is probably my favourite protagonist on this list. This book is eerie in a way that made me desperate for more.

Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly deVos

I’m a sucker for zombie media. Tell me there are zombies in something and I am immediately down to clown. I thought this was such an interesting take on zombies. It’s not the best book, but honestly, can anything beat Dread Nation in terms of zombie YA? This is a fun, entertaining, ridiculous romp that happens to centre several fat characters.

Wench by Maxine Kaplan

This is the only second-world fantasy on this list, and for that, it holds a special place in my heart. Tanya was such a fun protagonist and her adventures were so exciting. I loved how sure of herself she was, and she really did not let anyone make her second guess herself. The ending was also very cute and I think it really fit the characters!

Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson

In the interest of honesty, I did not love this book. The garbled knock-off English in the secondary POV was incredibly hard for my dyslexic brain to understand, but I loved watching Andra be a real person in the midst of a completely unreal scenario.

Did I miss any spec fic with a fat main character? Have you read any of these books? I’d love to know!