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Please list any books you can find where the main character(s) is(are) NOT Caucasian. Supporting characters should not be considered unless they spend nearly as much time within the story as the protagonist. An example of this would be a partner or love interest.
We're also only tracking races that appear on Earth, in real life. So no angels, goblins, fairies, or what have you. (Although a Hispanic angel would be ok, obviously, just not a character that's only an angel.)
These books can be for any age group and also in any of the sub-genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and paranormal romance.
Please, no manga, manhwa, or manhua, since those are almost always written by someone who is Asian and/or contains Asian characters - this list would be over-run with thousands of titles and become useless. Graphic novels are ok though, because it's much more rare to find non-Caucasian characters written into Western comics.
Also, there is a very useful tool that can be used when adding books to this list, and although it's optional, it would really help people when looking for any specific type of character or when they're wondering why a particular book was added to this list. If you take a glance at my votes (Shannon - your [sometimes friendly] list creator) you'll see the optional box underneath each book and that I've tried to put what race the characters are to the best of my knowledge and (sometimes poor) memory. You can also check to see if other people have added info in the optional box by clicking on "xxx people voted" below each book on the list. If you've read the book(s) you've added to this list, taking the time to say what the characters' race is will really help make this list an even better resource.
We're also only tracking races that appear on Earth, in real life. So no angels, goblins, fairies, or what have you. (Although a Hispanic angel would be ok, obviously, just not a character that's only an angel.)
These books can be for any age group and also in any of the sub-genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and paranormal romance.
Please, no manga, manhwa, or manhua, since those are almost always written by someone who is Asian and/or contains Asian characters - this list would be over-run with thousands of titles and become useless. Graphic novels are ok though, because it's much more rare to find non-Caucasian characters written into Western comics.
Also, there is a very useful tool that can be used when adding books to this list, and although it's optional, it would really help people when looking for any specific type of character or when they're wondering why a particular book was added to this list. If you take a glance at my votes (Shannon - your [sometimes friendly] list creator) you'll see the optional box underneath each book and that I've tried to put what race the characters are to the best of my knowledge and (sometimes poor) memory. You can also check to see if other people have added info in the optional box by clicking on "xxx people voted" below each book on the list. If you've read the book(s) you've added to this list, taking the time to say what the characters' race is will really help make this list an even better resource.
Tags:
african, african-american, american-indian, arab, asian, bi-racial, bipoc, biracial, brazilian, characters, chinese, diversity, egyptian, fantasy, filipino, hispanic, horror, indian, interracial, interracial-romance, japanese, korean, latina, latino, middle-eastern, mongolian, multi-cultural, multicultural, native-american, non-caucasian, paranormal, paranormal-romance, people-of-color, pnr, poc, race, racial-diversity, romance, science-fiction, south-american, thai, vietnamese
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Comments Showing 1-50 of 223 (223 new)
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CJ - It's only a Paper Moon
(new)
Jun 27, 2011 08:03AM
Jo Walker anyone?
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I don't really think Monk's Allie Beckstrom series counts. Zayvion is not the main character, Allie is. And she's a white girl. Zay comes and goes far too much to be considered the lead.
Hey, Floozy, you added The Companion, and as far as I can tell the characters are both from England and are white? It looks like only the villain is Egyptian.
If we're just talking protags, War for the Oaks doesn't work, either. Phouka isn't the main character, Eddi is, and she's white.
Is Phouka the love interest or spend nearly as much time in the story as the Eddi?
Eh, he's the love interest, but he's more than that. Definitely not the protagonist, but he is her friend, roomie, mentor, and finally love interest.He's the #1 supporting character. Just depends on how strict you're sticking to the "non-Caucasian protag" part. :)
Well, there are other books included where the non-white person is the love interest, actually, quite a few, so I'll continue to include them. I don't want to get TOO picky, and I think as long as we're not adding series where the character is barely in the book (like Floozy's Devon Monk example,) then I think the list will be fine.
I've only read the 1st Allie Beckstrom, but I think Zayvion is the love interest, at least later in the series. She was just saying he's definitely not the lead.
I'll have to leave it up to you guys to decide if it counts or not. I haven't read that series at all, or most of the ones listed, really. I just tried to make educated guesses.
Yep, I just went and checked and they hook up in #2, he's "the man she loves" in #3, and her "lover" in #7. Definite love interest. Flooze was just saying what I said about War for the Oaks. The non-white character was the love interest, not the protagonist, and we thought we were just including non-white protags.
So you want non-white main characters, not just the singular main character. :)
Correct. That's why I had in the description (before) that the main character(s) could be either the hero or heroine, provided they spent an equal amount of time in the story. It's a semantics issue that I'm aware of, but the title of this list is already so long that I figure having the description underneath would suffice. I've updated it now to be more coherent.Plus, if I changed "protagonists" to "main characters," people would still think the same thing. And if I just changed it to "characters" then we'd get a bunch of books with minor characters being included. It's a hard one to properly title, so that's where the description comes in handy.
So, I've read Angels' Blood, but I can't remember who was a different race. I forget, is Elena Hispanic?
No, her last name is Devereaux and she has white blonde hair. I can't think of who it would be in that book. Maybe one of the other archangels?
Yeah, lol, I was thinking that, so I added a bit more to the description. I remember her being really tan though, so maybe she's part-something?
From the description I read of The Companion, the heroine is half Egyptian, half English, and neither group accepts her as their own.
I don't know about Angel's Blood, but Danielle listed some ethnicities from Psy-Changelings in another thread:"Mine to Possess has a part Black hero with a White heroine.
Hostage to Pleasure has a part Black heroine with a White hero.
Slave to Sensation has a heroine who is part East-Indian and White hero.
Blaze of Memory has a hero who is part East Indian."
In Angels' Blood Elena is part Morrocan on her mother's side. So she has dark skin, but white blond hair and pale eyes. Does that count?
Yup, it does! I just couldn't for the life of me remember that.
In the psy-changelings, race is a non-issue, so lots of people are of mixed race. Clay from Mine to Possess is part Egyptian, not black.
Max Shannon from Bonds of Justice is part Asian.
Sascha from Slave to Sensation has some Japanese from her mom's side, and some Indian from her father's side.
I keep thinking I should have more to add to this list, but I think I've voted for all I've read (and liked). It's sad how white the book world is.
The point of this list is more of a way to keep track of the books we find, and not so much the ones we "liked." I keep the books I read that I enjoyed at the top of the list so they get counted for more, but 90% of the books that I added are ones that I haven't read.I wish there was a different list-type for this sort of thing, just so we had a way to list books without ranking them, but it is what it is.
Oh I like that they are ranked, otherwise it would soon end up as shelves in groups, which get terribly unorganized when there's a lot of books on them.But I'll add the books on my tbr as well :)
Yeah, I didn't say that I didn't like them being ranked, just that I wish there was an unranked option as well.
I still need to rank mine, the ones I've read are all willy nilly with the ones I added that I haven't read.
Yeah, I don't like them ranked either but what can you do..
I think if it's first person we want the narrator to be the non-Caucasian in question, LOL. (Zayvion and heroine hook up in book one, btw, LOL. Spoiler! It was lame anyway. The stars circled and everything.)
new_user wrote: "I think if it's first person we want the narrator to be the non-Caucasian in question, LOL."It's a bit hard to tell that unless we've read the book.
I don't really want to be super strict with which books are added, and I like calling out the love interest if they're not Caucasian. Interracial romances are hot, so as long as they're not a minor character, I want them on the list!
new_user wrote: "(Zayvion and heroine hook up in book one, btw, LOL. Spoiler! It was lame anyway. The stars circled and everything."Oops. And I read the first book--shows you how memorable it was. ;)
What about Anthologies where one of the stories features a non-Caucasian protagonist?
Okidoki! I thought I'd ask before I added any.
Deva wrote: "Better not forget about Alexandra Keller and Margrit Knight."It would help if you said what book or series they're in!
Deva wrote: "Jo Walker (Walker Papers) isn't white?"She's part Native American.
The heroine in Tanner's Scheme is Asian American.I can't seem to find anything about the second book, although I'm guessing from the cover she's Asian as well?
ok thank you do you know if there are anymore books by lora leigh with different ethnicties in them?
I've never read her before, so I couldn't tell you. I only found that one out through random searches. Are you trying to find a specific ethnicity for a challenge or something?
Hey I'm looking for a good book, preferably a series to read. I really liked L.A. Banks' Vampire Huntress series because there were so many characters of color. Any suggestions please?
I don't think "Mara, Daughter of the Nile" belongs on this list. It isn't paranormal. (:
Emily wrote: "I don't think "Mara, Daughter of the Nile" belongs on this list. It isn't paranormal. (:"I've removed it. Thanks!
Is there some sort of supplementary list, maybe in one of the groups, that says what sort of non-Caucasian character is included in each of these books? Some of those books I read years ago, and I wouldn't have picked them for this list.
Nope, sorry. Was there a specific one you were wondering about?
In theory people can add a reason to a book they vote on, but I don't think a lot of people have done that here.
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