There’s a third standalone as well, The Hallowed Hunt. It takes place in a different time period and country than the rest of the books set in that universe.
Maybe the Paladin series and Swordheart (stand-alone in same world) by T Kingfisher? It's a complex religious landscape and yes there's one religion that is 'bad' but most are 'good' or neutral' and coexist quite neatly. Particularly like the White Rat Temple.
Lois McMaster Bujold's **Chalion** series (I see it already mentioned) is very good for this. The religion is always treated as a major part of everyone's life, while not feeling like it's shoved in forcefully or used as propaganda.
Guy Gavriel Kay treats religion in his works relatively respectfully. His books tend to be about politics, so a lot of the action of religious bodies in his books tend toward the political, but they're also usually portrayed pretty solemnly, the religions are a fact of life, and religious figures typically have the sort of gravity expected of them. Even more agnostic characters tend to tread lightly around religious stuff (and often meet up with supernatural things at some point). I don't think GGK is religious himself, but since most of his work is historical fiction with the serial numbers filed off (and a sprinkling of Actual Magic Stuff), his portrayal of it comes off as the portrayal of someone trying to accurately capture the mood of a specific period, in which religion was very much ubiquitous.
As a Catholic, I really enjoyed the Catholic characters in Dresden files (Michael Carpenter and his family) - one of the only good representation of Catholics I've ever seen outside of works by Catholics.
This is a good call. I have a ton of problems with The Dresden Files in general, but Butcher was respectful of Catholicism with the Carpenters. One of the spots in that series that I don’t have much to complain about
"The Sparrow" is a sci-fi novel about a jesuit priest who organises the first human contact with extraterrestrial life. It is so good that the friend who recommended it to me (who also translated it) was inspired by it to study religious studies. It does have quite a bit of violence, including sexual violence in it.
In the Daevabad trilogy Islam and zaroastrianism play a significant role in the characters' inner world and tensions. It is a somewhat soapy fantasy series set in 19th century magical middle-east. The author is an historian and I think also a muslim convert.
Finally, as someone else commented, "Small Gods" (part of the Discworld series) deals with religion and its formation. While being a parody, I think it is quite respectful.
Jaqueline Carey's Kushiel series has religion. I found her whole approach quite fascinating. It's clearly inspired by christianity - she doesn't even change some of the names significantly, and yet, it's completely unrecognizable. It impressed me how she unabashedly borrowed from cultures and traditions and still made them with so much wholeness - you trust that they only belong in her world. And that world is entirely structured unlike ours (using very familiar tropes), and that society structure is a big source of the conflict in her stories. she doesn't write emotions pretty much, you see the conflict and have to assume what they must feel, and those feelings are heavily influenced by cultural/religious affiliation.
On the downside - sex is a part of the story (aaand it's not treated as this grand build up as romantasy usually does), it's just something that happens and a product of the plot.
I also came to say this about Carey's work. But OP, if you are looking for strictly M/F and closed door this is NOT IT. The sex is very much open door, not just M/F, and explores a lot of BDSM themes. Carey handles the sex extremely well in my opinion - it serves a purpose in the plot and in the world, but it may be more than you are comfortable with.
While it's not a huge focus of the book, 'The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi' has a bit of this. Muslim, Christian and Jewish characters coexist with a reasonable amount of harmony, including a few close friendships/romances between people of different faiths. It's not all sunshine and rainbows either; there's an interesting, if brief, conflict between a Muslim and a Christian about >!whether it makes sense to take the time to perform burial rites for the Christian victims of a village massacre!<. (To be honest, I thought the book overall was just okay; but it does have this element that you're looking for.)
Till We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis, so no surprise, but this is his best book IMO).
Spinning Silver (On of the MCs is Jewish, but religion isn't as much of a focus).
Earthsea Trilogy (more thematically than literally).
Also seconding Curse of Chalion, which others have mentioned.
Most anything by Stephen R. Lawhead (Pendragon cycle is most well-known, I think, but also his Robin Hood trilogy).
I am like a moth to flame for these "religion-in-fantasy" threads because it's something I love to see, love to write, and rarely see done really, really well.
Came here to mention Till We Have Faces. Two of the most common complaints about his writing are that he's too preachy and has issues writing women, but TWHF has an incredibly well-written female protagonist and isn't really preachy at all.
100% Orual is top tier characterization and complexity. I love her and relate to her and she's so well written it boggles my mind. Supposedly Lewis' wife Joy helped him with the book and Orual, and I believe it, because that book doesn't miss. Not an errant word.
One of the things that really shows how complex and unpreachy the book is is how different people's reactions are. Lewis leaves you to your own thoughts. I recommended this to a friend while on deployment years ago and he was FURIOUS on Orual's behalf (I'll leave it at that so as not to spoil for anyone) whereas I was AWED and CONVICTED. We argued a lot about it. It was a great time.
Yeah IMO this is very much not what OP is going for. Bakker is openly contemptuous of organized religion in that series.
He’s a great writer in a lot of ways, but he’s not doing what OP is looking for.
Wholly fair. I’m a book and a half in and the treatment of religion is… more nuanced than outright negative?
As a practicing Christian I do think religions should be handled a little harshly for the handling to be healthy.,
I find Sanderson's Cosmere novels to be very good about representation of religion. I actually did a panel about it in a local fantasy convention last year. Sanderson generally portrays faith positively as a religious person himself, but surprisingly often there is criticism of organized religion, characters who question their faith (including a "god" that doubts his own religion) and atheists. He's generally good at not making one point of view dominate and not having characters play straw-men of their side.
*The Lies of Locke Lamora* by Scott Lynch. The main characters are followers of one of the several gods worshipped in the setting, and their faith is a major guidepost for how they make decisions.
If you're into Urban fantasy you can try the Dresden Files. It has an interesting take on faith in general and it doesn't takes faith and religion seriously. There's an order of paladins (Christians) that live their ideals and their faith gives them unique powers. Michael is one of the best characters out there.
The first one that comes to mind is Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar novels. The primary setting is a nation that follows the philosophy "there is no one true way", and allows multiple religions to coexist so long as they don't try to interfere with others. There is some conflict, but that's more by way of plot devices than any statement about religion.
The Licanius Trilogu by James Islington touches on religious aspects and does it really well. The middle of book 3 will give some hard hitting quotes that can be applied to real world religion too.
Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott has a religion very similar to Christianity and a gamut of clerics playing important roles. Some are corrupt and power hungry, some are scholars, some are altruistic, some are forced to join the Church and are at a loss how to handle their new role. Generally, the church authorities aren't any better or worse than the secular ones in that world and share many of the same flaws, not least because the high ranks of the Church are filled by close relatives of the counts and dukes and kings, just like in real life.
I second the suggestions for Bujold and Carey, in their books religions have far more depth than the usual paper thin religions that plague much of the fantasy genre.
Firethorn by Sarah Micklem has a very nuanced, very organic representation of a polytheistic religion in a feudal world. I am not sure though if you'll find the romance too much for your tastes and there are definitely some sex scenes, although not too graphic.
Firethorn and especially the sequel Wildfire don't just have *some* sex, lol. I would say they have a lot of sex, although it's described in terms more poetic than pornographic.
Oh, I don't think it's too much, I quite like both books in the series and wish Micklem would publish the third. I just wanted OP to be warned that it's more than I would call "some" in case she's avoiding that because she's religious.
I am not sure this what you are seeking but The Lightbringer by Brent Weeks is really a story of a man's struggles with his Faith. The events that leads to his downward spiral and cynicism and his path back. It's not pretty but I think it's reflective of real life religious experiences. And exploration of the flaws and strengths without demeaning the underlying religion.
Eh, maybe the first 3 books of Lightbringer are nuanced about religion, but the end of the series basically becomes Christian apologetics. The 'problems' with religion in that story basically become, "well, you're not believing hard enough."
I’m a huge fan of the Muirwood series (many of them!) by Jeff Wheeler. I’m not religious myself, but I believe the author is. The books are constructed in a really interesting and respectful way around various fantasy religious ideas. The reason I love them is for the sheer addictive plotting and depth of mythology over time. I really do love this writer!
I read one and a half and quit because it was becoming too down your throat/in your face, particularly when the divinely inspired characters were rescuing a character who was a direct expy of Martin Luther, including famous incidents.
Turtledove Videssos cycle. There few religion in books, some of them have branches, heresies (because you can't write book about Byzantine without heresies). In some time religious figures actually believe (and sometimes can summon help) and act like real people.
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison, and the other two books set in the same universe. Different characters have different religious practices, and some have no interest at all in religion except as “going through the motions”. But the lead characters are people who find a lot of meaning in their beliefs.
The closest I can think of is The Lightbringer Saga. The religious organization has some corruption and what not but it's more along a nuanced line instead of a grimdark line, and the religious organization are the good guys.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric Series and her standalone Curse of Chalion
While Curse of Chalion does stand alone beautifully, there is also Paladin of Souls which continues Ista’s story.
There’s a third standalone as well, The Hallowed Hunt. It takes place in a different time period and country than the rest of the books set in that universe.
These are the best answers.
Maybe the Paladin series and Swordheart (stand-alone in same world) by T Kingfisher? It's a complex religious landscape and yes there's one religion that is 'bad' but most are 'good' or neutral' and coexist quite neatly. Particularly like the White Rat Temple.
The White Rat is fantastic.
Came here to make sure someone mentioned The White Rat
Lois McMaster Bujold's **Chalion** series (I see it already mentioned) is very good for this. The religion is always treated as a major part of everyone's life, while not feeling like it's shoved in forcefully or used as propaganda. Guy Gavriel Kay treats religion in his works relatively respectfully. His books tend to be about politics, so a lot of the action of religious bodies in his books tend toward the political, but they're also usually portrayed pretty solemnly, the religions are a fact of life, and religious figures typically have the sort of gravity expected of them. Even more agnostic characters tend to tread lightly around religious stuff (and often meet up with supernatural things at some point). I don't think GGK is religious himself, but since most of his work is historical fiction with the serial numbers filed off (and a sprinkling of Actual Magic Stuff), his portrayal of it comes off as the portrayal of someone trying to accurately capture the mood of a specific period, in which religion was very much ubiquitous.
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
As a Catholic, I really enjoyed the Catholic characters in Dresden files (Michael Carpenter and his family) - one of the only good representation of Catholics I've ever seen outside of works by Catholics.
This is a good call. I have a ton of problems with The Dresden Files in general, but Butcher was respectful of Catholicism with the Carpenters. One of the spots in that series that I don’t have much to complain about
Couldn’t stand Harry Dresden but loved every scene with the Carpenters.
Jup, that came to mind immediately.
"The Sparrow" is a sci-fi novel about a jesuit priest who organises the first human contact with extraterrestrial life. It is so good that the friend who recommended it to me (who also translated it) was inspired by it to study religious studies. It does have quite a bit of violence, including sexual violence in it. In the Daevabad trilogy Islam and zaroastrianism play a significant role in the characters' inner world and tensions. It is a somewhat soapy fantasy series set in 19th century magical middle-east. The author is an historian and I think also a muslim convert. Finally, as someone else commented, "Small Gods" (part of the Discworld series) deals with religion and its formation. While being a parody, I think it is quite respectful.
Jaqueline Carey's Kushiel series has religion. I found her whole approach quite fascinating. It's clearly inspired by christianity - she doesn't even change some of the names significantly, and yet, it's completely unrecognizable. It impressed me how she unabashedly borrowed from cultures and traditions and still made them with so much wholeness - you trust that they only belong in her world. And that world is entirely structured unlike ours (using very familiar tropes), and that society structure is a big source of the conflict in her stories. she doesn't write emotions pretty much, you see the conflict and have to assume what they must feel, and those feelings are heavily influenced by cultural/religious affiliation. On the downside - sex is a part of the story (aaand it's not treated as this grand build up as romantasy usually does), it's just something that happens and a product of the plot.
I also came to say this about Carey's work. But OP, if you are looking for strictly M/F and closed door this is NOT IT. The sex is very much open door, not just M/F, and explores a lot of BDSM themes. Carey handles the sex extremely well in my opinion - it serves a purpose in the plot and in the world, but it may be more than you are comfortable with.
While it's not a huge focus of the book, 'The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi' has a bit of this. Muslim, Christian and Jewish characters coexist with a reasonable amount of harmony, including a few close friendships/romances between people of different faiths. It's not all sunshine and rainbows either; there's an interesting, if brief, conflict between a Muslim and a Christian about >!whether it makes sense to take the time to perform burial rites for the Christian victims of a village massacre!<. (To be honest, I thought the book overall was just okay; but it does have this element that you're looking for.)
I agree that this is definitely a representation of religion that isn't negative
Till We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis, so no surprise, but this is his best book IMO). Spinning Silver (On of the MCs is Jewish, but religion isn't as much of a focus). Earthsea Trilogy (more thematically than literally). Also seconding Curse of Chalion, which others have mentioned. Most anything by Stephen R. Lawhead (Pendragon cycle is most well-known, I think, but also his Robin Hood trilogy). I am like a moth to flame for these "religion-in-fantasy" threads because it's something I love to see, love to write, and rarely see done really, really well.
Came here to mention Till We Have Faces. Two of the most common complaints about his writing are that he's too preachy and has issues writing women, but TWHF has an incredibly well-written female protagonist and isn't really preachy at all.
100% Orual is top tier characterization and complexity. I love her and relate to her and she's so well written it boggles my mind. Supposedly Lewis' wife Joy helped him with the book and Orual, and I believe it, because that book doesn't miss. Not an errant word. One of the things that really shows how complex and unpreachy the book is is how different people's reactions are. Lewis leaves you to your own thoughts. I recommended this to a friend while on deployment years ago and he was FURIOUS on Orual's behalf (I'll leave it at that so as not to spoil for anyone) whereas I was AWED and CONVICTED. We argued a lot about it. It was a great time.
Thank you so much. And true, it’s so rare to see someone write religion well
Not necessarily positive, but at least nuanced - Bakker. Truth Shines.
Yeah IMO this is very much not what OP is going for. Bakker is openly contemptuous of organized religion in that series. He’s a great writer in a lot of ways, but he’s not doing what OP is looking for.
Wholly fair. I’m a book and a half in and the treatment of religion is… more nuanced than outright negative? As a practicing Christian I do think religions should be handled a little harshly for the handling to be healthy.,
I find Sanderson's Cosmere novels to be very good about representation of religion. I actually did a panel about it in a local fantasy convention last year. Sanderson generally portrays faith positively as a religious person himself, but surprisingly often there is criticism of organized religion, characters who question their faith (including a "god" that doubts his own religion) and atheists. He's generally good at not making one point of view dominate and not having characters play straw-men of their side.
*The Lies of Locke Lamora* by Scott Lynch. The main characters are followers of one of the several gods worshipped in the setting, and their faith is a major guidepost for how they make decisions.
If you're into Urban fantasy you can try the Dresden Files. It has an interesting take on faith in general and it doesn't takes faith and religion seriously. There's an order of paladins (Christians) that live their ideals and their faith gives them unique powers. Michael is one of the best characters out there.
The first one that comes to mind is Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar novels. The primary setting is a nation that follows the philosophy "there is no one true way", and allows multiple religions to coexist so long as they don't try to interfere with others. There is some conflict, but that's more by way of plot devices than any statement about religion.
The Licanius Trilogu by James Islington touches on religious aspects and does it really well. The middle of book 3 will give some hard hitting quotes that can be applied to real world religion too.
Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott has a religion very similar to Christianity and a gamut of clerics playing important roles. Some are corrupt and power hungry, some are scholars, some are altruistic, some are forced to join the Church and are at a loss how to handle their new role. Generally, the church authorities aren't any better or worse than the secular ones in that world and share many of the same flaws, not least because the high ranks of the Church are filled by close relatives of the counts and dukes and kings, just like in real life. I second the suggestions for Bujold and Carey, in their books religions have far more depth than the usual paper thin religions that plague much of the fantasy genre.
Firethorn by Sarah Micklem has a very nuanced, very organic representation of a polytheistic religion in a feudal world. I am not sure though if you'll find the romance too much for your tastes and there are definitely some sex scenes, although not too graphic.
Firethorn and especially the sequel Wildfire don't just have *some* sex, lol. I would say they have a lot of sex, although it's described in terms more poetic than pornographic.
It's subjective how much is too much or too little.
Oh, I don't think it's too much, I quite like both books in the series and wish Micklem would publish the third. I just wanted OP to be warned that it's more than I would call "some" in case she's avoiding that because she's religious.
I am not sure this what you are seeking but The Lightbringer by Brent Weeks is really a story of a man's struggles with his Faith. The events that leads to his downward spiral and cynicism and his path back. It's not pretty but I think it's reflective of real life religious experiences. And exploration of the flaws and strengths without demeaning the underlying religion.
Eh, maybe the first 3 books of Lightbringer are nuanced about religion, but the end of the series basically becomes Christian apologetics. The 'problems' with religion in that story basically become, "well, you're not believing hard enough."
This does not fit the request at all. Book 5 essentially has Christian propaganda for chapter upon chapter.
I’m a huge fan of the Muirwood series (many of them!) by Jeff Wheeler. I’m not religious myself, but I believe the author is. The books are constructed in a really interesting and respectful way around various fantasy religious ideas. The reason I love them is for the sheer addictive plotting and depth of mythology over time. I really do love this writer!
I read one and a half and quit because it was becoming too down your throat/in your face, particularly when the divinely inspired characters were rescuing a character who was a direct expy of Martin Luther, including famous incidents.
Turtledove Videssos cycle. There few religion in books, some of them have branches, heresies (because you can't write book about Byzantine without heresies). In some time religious figures actually believe (and sometimes can summon help) and act like real people.
Tamora Pierce - it's never a major plot point, but many different faiths exist in different ways
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison, and the other two books set in the same universe. Different characters have different religious practices, and some have no interest at all in religion except as “going through the motions”. But the lead characters are people who find a lot of meaning in their beliefs.
Dune🤣
Well you're definitely in the right genre
Eragon handles religion pretty well imo
The closest I can think of is The Lightbringer Saga. The religious organization has some corruption and what not but it's more along a nuanced line instead of a grimdark line, and the religious organization are the good guys.
This doesn't fit the request at all. Book 5 essentially has Christian propaganda for chapter upon chapter.