Rec me some SF & F?

[luzula]

I'm ordering a big batch of science fiction and fantasy books from Sweden's SF & F bookstore, and I need a few more books to get over the free freight limit. I'm getting the rest of Karen Traviss' "Wess'Har" series (annoyingly, part 2 is out of print and I had to order it second hand from the US). And I'm also probably getting Jo Walton's "Among Others". But I'd love some recs as to what else I should get!

I'm in the mood for:
- interesting female characters
- interesting world-building
- not sure how to phrase this, but: books that deal with political issues, or environmental issues. Or characters who want to do the right thing, or struggle with various allegiances.

I'm not in the mood for:
- books where the main plot is a romance
- epic high fantasy

but if you have something so good that it will transcend my mood, just rec it anyway!

Have not read Robin McKinley's various fairy tale rewritings and am curious about them. If you have opinions about them, please share!

Comments

[medrin]

The incestuous rape and other Bad Things happen in the beginning of the book, and it's not written in such a way that it drags you down as a reader. But it's still, you know, incestuous rape. What I like most about the book is the language and the way it's told. Very fairytale-ish. (There is.. something with the language. At first I though that it was a translation or something. But it's not. But just now when I was looking through it I realised what it was. There is no contractions in the book (I feel very smart for realising this *after* I read the whole thing))

As for the handmaid's tale, yeah, I get you. Once is enough for that book, I don't think I would read it again. But its a good thing to have read it.