Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Goodreads | AmazonGenre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Character w/ Disability: Supporting Character
Disability: Scars / Physical Differences
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: No
Notes: Olli has malformed arms and legs.
← Back to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books With Disability Masterlist // Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Representation of physical disabilities is hard to find, especially in sci-fi/fantasy, so my goal is to make a list containing as many sci-fi/fantasy books with physically disabled and chronically ill characters as possible.
List below can be filtered by genre, character, or disability. You can also check this list of all disability tags. If you’re looking for a specific book, it should come up if you use the blog search in the sidebar.
Since I have not read all of these books myself, I cannot guarantee that all the information is correct. I also cannot promise that these books have good representation of disability. If you find incorrect info, if I’ve used incorrect language, etc., feel free to email me to let me know!
If multiple books in a series are about the same character and the same disabilities (i.e. no changes), I only include one entry in the list.
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Submitting Books:
Because of my own disabilities, I can’t promise if/when I’ll get around to adding submitted books, but if you would like to let me know of a book, email metaphorsandmoonlight (at) gmail (dot) com. Include what info you can about 1) what disabilities*, 2) which characters (main, side, love interest), 3) if it’s a spoiler, and 4) if it’s cured or magically fixed. All should be sci-fi/fantasy, but let me know if it’s also YA, MG, children’s, LGBT+, graphic novel, or anthology.
*I’m only adding books with physical disabilities and illnesses. There was a time when I thought I might expand it, but I don’t think that will happen now. If a book has physical and other disabilities, feel free to mention it.
Disability: Scars / Physical Differences
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: No
Notes: Olli has malformed arms and legs.
Disability: ME/CFS
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: No
Disability: Missing Digits, Missing One Eye / Blindness in One Eye
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: No
Notes: Love interest is missing one eye. *MINOR SPOILER* Main character cuts off pinky. *END SPOILER*
Disability: Anosmia
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: No
Disability: Blindness
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: Assisted by Magic / Supernatural Ability, No
Notes: Character uses magic to help with certain things, like shooting, but is still unable to see.
Disability: Autism, Diabetes, Unknown
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: Assisted by Magic / Supernatural Ability, No
Notes: Main character is autistic. Love interest is diabetic and uses future technology to regulate insulin, so that's only briefly mentioned. Supporting character has a disability that causes partial paralysis/drooping on one side of their face and body and uses a future technology to help but still has pain, especially in the cold.
Disability: Autism, Missing One Eye / Blindness in One Eye
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: No
Notes: Autism Spectrum, Fictional Mental Disability (Lost), Missing Eye
Disability: Limp / Cane / Mobility, Unknown
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: No
Notes: One of the mainc characters has a bad limp and the other main character has a fainting illness. Both are mentioned multiple times throughout the series and are a big part of the characters.
Disability: Blindness
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: No
Disability: Aspergers, Autism, Limp / Cane / Mobility, Mutism, Scars / Physical Differences, Scleroderma
Is It Cured or Paranormal?: No, Yes
Notes: Protagonist: Scars, Scleroderma that turns out to be paranormal in nature (skin turning to stone) but is not cured, limp. Supporting character 1: Aspergers. Supporting character 2: Selective mutism.