The characters are derived from the story of real-life ancient Indian king Chandra Gupta and completely Indian. Golden Fire, by Jonathan Fast, is more mainstream historical fiction, but it has enough romance in it to probably count. Hope Adams, who appears in Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld urban fantasy novels, notably Personal Demon, is half-Indian. The Red Heart of Jade, a paranormal by Marjorie Liu features Mirabelle Lee, who I believe is Chinese (but I could be wrong it’s been a while since I’ve read the book). The Duke of Shadows a historical by Meredith Duran stars Julian, also part Indian. Loving a Lost Lord, a historical by Mary Jo Putney has a half-Indian hero, Adam (though I wouldn’t recommend this book and almost threw it across the room).įire on the Wind, a historical by Barbara Dawson Smith has Damien, a half-Indian hero. The China Bride, a historical by Mary Jo Putney has a half-Chinese half-Scottish heroine, Troth. The Wild Child, a historical by Mary Jo Putney has an Indian secondary character, Kamal, and a half-Indian secondary character, Jena.

But since the majority of multicultural fiction features the trope… sigh. I’m not a huge fan of the “exotic half” in genre fiction, which often seems to make characters of color slightly more “accessible” for readers while also fetishizing their ethnicity to some extent.

Anne McAllister, Antonides’ Forbidden Wife, featuring Ally, half Japanese.

Jade Lee, The Concubine, historical set in China featuring two Chinese protagonists.

Meljean Brook, Demon Moon featuring Savi Murray, of Indian descent.

Eileen Wilks, Tempting Danger featuring Lily Yu, of Chinese descent.

This is not to say that you can’t disagree with them, but let’s keep the comments as civil as possible. Please also be respectful of other people’s recommendations. Please note whether the book is a young adult (YA) or romance as well as whether the multicultural characters are main or secondary. In light of the very gracious post by Handyhunter about cultural appropriation, it seems that we should compile a list of books that feature multicultural characters.

Jane If You Like / Need A Rec! Asian hero / Asian-American / If You Like / multicultural 87 Comments

A Bed of Spices by Barbara Samuel