31 Must-Read Books with Trans and Non-Binary Characters

Recently updated on August 2nd, 2024 at 01:54 pm

Searching for books with trans and non-binary characters? These trans and non-binary books will stay with you long after you finish reading.

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You can’t beat that feeling of seeing yourself reflected in a book. But finding books with trans and non-binary characters is tricky.

Whether you love reading LGBTQ+ books or simply want to add diversity to your bookshelves. I’ve got you!

Many incredible books feature trans characters, from enemies to lovers romance to ya and contemporary books

Read on for books with trans and non-binary characters

The best books with trans and non-binary characters

YA books with trans and non-binary characters

1. Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker

A low-stakes fantasy with an adorable romance between a witch and a non-binary werewolf.

We follow Nova, a teen witch working at her Nana’s magical bookshop. She helps them loan out spell books. But she also investigates supernatural occurrences in her local town.

One day, she is tasked to investigate reports of a white wolf in a nearby forest. She then discovers her childhood best friend,  Tam, fighting a demon werewolf.  

2. Spellhacker by M.K. England

A magical heist with a diverse cast of characters, including a non-binary love interest.

Set in a world where magic ( known as maz) was once freely available. But an earthquake unleashed a deadly plague. And now maz is a tightly controlled and expensive commodity.

We follow Diz who runs an illegal maz siphoning business with her three best friends. They get offered one last massive heist that could change everything.

3. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Aiden Thomas writes compelling fantasy books with transgender characters. Cemetery Boys follows Yadriel whose traditional Latine family has problems accepting his true gender.

Yadriel is determined to prove himself. So he performs a ritual to become a Brujo. He performs a ritual. And then he sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin.

But he actually summons Julian Diaz. The school’s resident bad boy. And he won’t go quietly. But the longer Julian stays, the less Yadriel wants him to leave.

4. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Legendborn features a non-binary side character alongside a diverse cast of queer characters.

Legendborn is a fast paced ya fantasy book with an action packed plot and plenty of twists and turns. We follow Bree Mathews. After the death of her mother, she wants to avoid family memories. So, she joins a residential program for gifted high school students.

But then she witnesses a magical attack on her first night. A flying demon feeding on human energy. A Mage tries to wipe her memory. But he fails. And instead Bree unlocks new memories of her mother’s death.

5. On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

A profound graphic novel about a group of misfits featuring lifelong friendships. It also has a fantastic non-binary side character

We follow Mia. She joins a team in the deepest reaches of space rebuilding broken-down structures. As a new member, she gets to know her team. It also flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student. 

The non-binary side character, Ell is excellent. The novel features little homophobia, making it a comforting and refreshing read. There is, I believe, an incident of misgendering. But this is immediately addressed.

6. The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

Searching for transgender fantasy books? Then you need to pick up some of Aiden Thomas’ work. Sunbearer trials is a thrilling urban fantasy with a transgender main character.

It’s set in a world where the Mexican Gods and Goddesses are real. They had children … the semidioses.

As each new decade begins, the Sun’s power must be replenished to that Sol can keep travelling along the sky and keep the Obsidian gods at bay. Ten semidioses aged between thirteen and eighteen are chosen as the most worthy to compete in The Sunbearer Trials.

7. The Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender

Kacen Callendar is one of my top authors. Infinity Alchemist is a spellbinding novel about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward unexpected love and unimaginable power.

We follow Ash Woods. For Ash, practicing Alchemy is a crime.

Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic―so when Ash is rejected by the Lancaster Mage’s College, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret.

When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he’s about to be arrested―but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash’s secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power.

8. Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

An incredible ya romance. This follows a character coming to terms with their gender identity.

Felix has never been in love.  And he is desperate to experience it.

An anonymous student starts sending him transphobic messages. And the student publicly posts Felix’s deadname.  Along with photos of him before his transition.

Felix decides to plot revenge. But his catfishing lands him in a love triangle.

9. Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper is a bestselling graphic novel about a friends-to-lovers romance in a school. It has an incredible mtf transgender side character.

We follow Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson. Charlie Spring is an openly gay student in year 10.  And he meets Nick Nelson a soft-hearted rugby player in year 11.  They quickly become friends. But could there be something more?

10. Dreadnought by April Daniels

Dreadnought is a YA Superhero book featuring a transgender main character.

We follow Danny. Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky, Danny was trying to stop people from finding out she’s transgender. But then Dreadnought passes his mantle to her and the superpowers transform Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be.

Now she can’t hide that she’s a girl.

11. I wish you all the Best by Mason Deaver

Mason Deaver writes incredible books with transgender representation. I Wish You all the best is an honest depiction of the complexity of coming out as a non-binary person.

We follow Ben De Becker as they come out as nonbinary to their parents. Ben is then thrown out of their house. And they struggle with anxiety coupled with their parents’ rejection.  Ben becomes friends with Nathan who takes Ben under his wing.

The depiction of mental health struggles in this book is perfect. You can feel how this is an own voices book. 

12. The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta

A cozy fantasy books with agender characters. This has lovely baking imagery paired with romance and magic.

Teenage baker Syd sends ripples of heartbreak through Austin’s queer community when a batch of post-being-dumped brownies turns out to be magical—and makes everyone who eats them break up.

Searching for books with trans and non-binary characters? You’ll love this cozy read.

 13. Peter Darling by Austin Chant

A magical queer Peter Pan retelling. Peter returns to Neverland as an adult and falls in love with Captain Hook.

The Lost Boys say Peter went back to England because of Wendy Darling. But Wendy is an old life he left behind.

Neverland is his real home.

Peter returns to Neverland ten years later. And he’s surprised to find a Neverland that no longer needs him. The only person who truly missed Peter is Captain Hook, who is delighted to have his old rival back

14. Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith

An adorable coming of age romance featuring a ftm transgender main character.

Pony just wants to fly under the radar during senior year. Tired from all the attention he got at his old school after coming out as transgender, he’s looking for a fresh start at Hillcrest High. But it’s hard to live your best life when the threat of exposure lurks down every hallway and in every bathroom.

Georgia is beginning to think there’s more to life than cheerleading. She plans on keeping a low profile until graduation…which is why she promised herself that dating was officially a no-go this year.

Then, on the very first day of school, the new guy and the cheerleader lock eyes. How is Pony supposed to stay stealth when he wants to get close to a girl like Georgia? 

15. The Ghosts We Keep by Mason Deaver

Mason Deaver writes some of the best books with trans and non-binary character. The Ghosts We Keep is a profound contemporary that deals with grief.

When Liam Cooper’s older brother Ethan is killed in a hit-and-run, Liam has to not only learn to face the world without one of the people he loved the most, but also face the fading relationship with his two best friends.

Feeling more alone and isolated than ever, Liam finds themself sharing time with Marcus, Ethan’s best friend, and through Marcus, Liam finds the one person that seems to know exactly what they’re going through, for the better, and the worse.

16. The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

In this dual POV, we follow Flora and Evelyn. Flora takes on the identity of Florian to earn the respect of the crew. For a former starving orphan, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival.

But as pirates prepare to sell passengers into slavery, Flora is drawn to Lady Evelyn Hasegawa. She’s en-route to a dreaded arranged marriage.

Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian.

17. LakeLore by Anna-Marie McLemore

A young adult novel about  two non-binary teens pulled into a magical world under a lake. It features queer, non-binary Latine characters and ADHD representation.

Everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world underneath it, an ethereal landscape rumored to be half-air, half-water. But Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia are the only ones who’ve been there. Bastián grew up both above the lake and in the otherworldly space beneath it. Lore’s only seen the world under the lake once, but that one encounter changed their life and their fate.

18. The Witch King by H.G Edgmon

Are you a fan of fae? Then you need to pick up this incredible trans ya fae book.

To save a fae kingdom, a trans witch must face his traumatic past and the royal fiancé he left behind. This debut YA fantasy will leave you spellbound.

Wyatt would give anything to forget where he came from—but a kingdom demands its king.

19. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

A gripping ya fantasy book featuring nonbinary and trans characters.

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow.

20. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

Are you a fan of horror? You need to read this book. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is an incredible YA horror novel about Silas, an autistic trans boy in 1800s England

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing.

This is quite graphic – please read the trigger warnings.

Trans books for adults

21. The Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhouse

The Black Sun is the first book in the Between Earth and Sky Trilogy. It centres queerness at the heart of the novel. And this is paired with magic and political intrigue.

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

I love how casually the novel portrays queerness. The novel also features a non-binary characters using the neo pronouns xe and xir.

22. Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly

Love & Other Disasters is an adorable romance on a reality cooking show. It also features an adorable non-binary love interest.

Dahlia Woodson is recently divorced and on the verge of bankruptcy. She’s ready to reinvent herself on the popular reality competition show Chef’s Special. But the first memorable move she makes is falling flat on her face. She’s focused on winning, until she meets someone she might want a future with more than she needs the prize money.

After announcing their pronouns on national television, London Parker has enough on their mind without worrying about the klutzy competitor stationed in front of them. London must prove the trolls wrong, and falling in love was never part of the plan.

23. She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

She Who Became The Sun is an epic historical fantasy. Pitched as Mulan meets Song of Achilles.

Set in a famine-stricken village in China in the year 1345.  Two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, is only as expected.

But then a bandit attack orphans the children. And Zhu Chongba dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice.

24. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

An incredible sci-fi book with a diverse cast of characters. The characterisation is incredible and the book launches you into the beautifully written world.

Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She’s used to the names.

Aster lives in the low-deck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, the Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster, who they consider to be less than human.

25. Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Let’s be honest – you couldn’t write a post on books with trans and non-binary characters without mentioning Detransition, Baby.

A whipsmart debut about three women—transgender and cisgender—whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires around gender, motherhood, and sex.

This is a profound read about love and motherhood. Highly recommend picking this up.

26. Light from Uncommon Stars by by Ryka Aoki

An incredible sci-fi fantasy about coming of age, life and friendship.

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.

When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.

27. The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

A literary fiction featuring a non-binary main character. A profound book about identity, sexuality, and the need to live the life you want.

Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, Vivek finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men.

But Vivek’s closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens—and Osita struggles to understand Vivek’s escalating crisis.

 28. A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

A Psalm for the Wild Build is more science-fiction. But she writes the most comforting and inclusive books.

Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend. Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. 

A cozy read if you’re after books with trans and non-binary main characters.

 29. Every heart a doorway by Seanan McGuire

A dark fairytale with a hidden world. It features an asexual character and a transgender side character.

Every Heart a Doorway is about children who slipped through time or into another realm – through a rabbit hole, wardrobe or doorway and find themselves somewhere else. But nobody else believes them. Except for Eleanor West who runs a home for Wayward Children.

The story is enchanting and the style of writing is eerie. It also has a diverse cast including an asexual protagonist.

30. The Prospects by K.C Hoffman

Fan of a sports romance? This sports romance features a trans character and ADHD representation.

We follow Gene Ionescu, a baseball player. He loves his team and his career as the first openly trans player in professional Baseball. He has everything he’s ever let himself dream of. Until his former teammate and rival gets traded to his team.

If you’re searching for books with trans and non-binary characters, then you’ll love this cute romance.

31. Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander

TJ Alexander writes adorable romance books with diverse, queer characters. Highly recommend checking out their work.

Eli Ward hasn’t been back to his suffocating hometown of New Port Stephen, Florida, in ages. Post-transition and sober, he’s a completely different person from the one who left years ago. But when a scandal threatens his career as a TV writer and comedian, he has no choice but to return home for the holidays.

Searching for books with trans and non-binary characters? You need to read this romance.

This post was all about books with trans and non-binary characters

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