GIVE ME BOOKS WITHOUT ROMANTIC SUBPLOT!

[Rockblossom]

The classic aro/ace female heroic character is Paks from Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion

http://smile.amazon.com/Deed-Paksenarrion-Novel-Baen-Fantasy/dp/0671721046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447613915&sr=8-1&keywords=deed+of+paksennarion

[Pikachu27]

That awkward moment when you can't think of a single female-protagonist novel without romance. If you're not dead set on a female protagonist, I would definitely recommend Holes by Louis Sachar. But do not, I repeat do not read the companion novel Small Steps. It was god awful and I still can't believe it was from the same author.

Trying to do that with movies.. or comics.. or most types of media.

Practically nothing comes up. D:

I thought it would be so easy to fire off recommendations. But nothing. I got nothing. Hm, except maybe Leftovers by Laura Wiess? I don't believe there was romance in there. I remember it being good, although admittedly it was a year ago.

[booksoversex]

I already saw someone mention The Book Thief and Matilda, and one advice (although it can seem a little humiliating) is to read books with kids as the main protagonist. One of my favourite books throughout time is To Kill A Mockingbird. It is a classic. No romance in it as far as I can remember, the protagonist/storyteller is a little girl.

I recommend the Earthsea-series by Ursula le Guin. Don't remember if all of them are without romance. The first is very male-centered, so much you almost can't believe a woman wrote it and still managed to overlook the fact that women exist, basically. The second, The tombs of Atuan, has a female protagonist and no romance that I can remember. Many readers actually are annoyed that there is no romance(!) because there are two characters of the opposite sex who form a strong connection, but 1) she is much younger than him, so this always disturbed me and 2) the strength of their relationship is that it is a friendship, based on trust. A great book for aros, I guess you could say :)

Oh, and The Girl With All The Gifts. Reading it now, so can't say for sure there's no romance in it, but there doesn't seem to be any and it's not logical, either, with the way the plot's going.

Northern Lights/The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman is one of my all-time favourites aswell! Lyra develops a romantic attraction in the latter books, if I remember correctly, but in this first one there is no romance to be found :)

In quite a few crime stories, this is not much in focus, but can't remember any obvious candidates right away.

[Jotari]

Terry Pratchett - Equal Rites

It was pretty funny, and the protaganist is a female.

Although she's also, what, eight?

Another Terry Pratchett book that comes to mind is Monstrous Regiment. Most of the main characters are young women who, for a variety of reasons, have disguised themselves as men to join the army. Two of them are a couple already, but beyond that there's not even a hint of a love interest - they all have more important things to worry about. ;)

Also the Tiffany Aching series: Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith (though I think the Wintersmith does try his hand with her), I Shall Wear Midnight, and The Shepherd's Crown

Terry Pratchett managed to get another book out there despite being dead! Wow I didn't know this and that news makes me profoundly happy. Especially since it's a Tiffany Aching book.

Also this list should contain everything you're looking for. It's not divided by gender but every example of all genders should logically be there (and if you see an example that's not on it then go ahead and add it)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoHuggingNoKissing

[Red_Willow]

For clarification, if there are characters other than the protagonist who have romantic interests and plotlines, would that cross it off the list?

I'm thinking of the Abarat series, by Clive Barker, which I haven't read in a while but I'm pretty sure the main character (female) doesn't have any romantic plotlines (though the series isn't finished so that might change). A number of important other characters do, in ways that are affect the plot because of how they act based on those feelings.

There is an important character who has romantic interest in the protagonist for a time, but she does not reciprocate. I can't recall at any time her thinking about/mentioning attraction to anyone at all.

Again, the series isn't finished so for all I know by the end she will have a love interest. I do know that Barker has a tendency to write about people with less visible sexualities, but that's not really a guarantee.

[Dodecahedron314]

For clarification, if there are characters other than the protagonist who have romantic interests and plotlines, would that cross it off the list?

I'm thinking of the Abarat series, by Clive Barker, which I haven't read in a while but I'm pretty sure the main character (female) doesn't have any romantic plotlines (though the series isn't finished so that might change). A number of important other characters do, in ways that are affect the plot because of how they act based on those feelings.

There is an important character who has romantic interest in the protagonist for a time, but she does not reciprocate. I can't recall at any time her thinking about/mentioning attraction to anyone at all.

Again, the series isn't finished so for all I know by the end she will have a love interest. I do know that Barker has a tendency to write about people with less visible sexualities, but that's not really a guarantee.

Whoa, I didn't know Abarat wasn't finished. I read the first few books in junior high school because there were only a few out at the time, I should get around to rereading those sometime.

[SamwiseLovesLife]

On 05/11/2015 at 6:45 PM, Morning Glory said:

There's also "The Sight" and "The Firebringer" (by David Clement-Davies)

I read these books as a teenager.. god they were incredible #rebuyingonkindle