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This is mainly for anyone reading this thread looking for a strong female lead character in a fantasy setting. I skimmed through most of the post in this thread, and I do not believe this small but excellent series was mentioned (only two books):
Stephen R. Donaldson's Mordant's Need series
The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through
Female lead all the way. Two very good reads for sure.
Later,
Mazra
A member of my gamer group (and friend for over 20 years) refuses to read any book written by a woman, has a woman as the heroine, or even as a primary character. He even chafes at having a woman playing at our table, but he keeps his mouth shut (Mostly. He still grumbles under his breath about it).
Here's a quote from him: "Women should not be the hero and get the reward at the end of a story. The hero should get the woman as part of HIS reward."
Yeah. That's my bud.
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Dude, your bud is a dud. :-)
Traci Harding - The Mystique Trilogy, or the Ancient Future Trilogy
AMAZING books
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A member of my gamer group (and friend for over 20 years) refuses to read any book written by a woman, has a woman as the heroine, or even as a primary character. He even chafes at having a woman playing at our table, but he keeps his mouth shut (Mostly. He still grumbles under his breath about it).
Here's a quote from him: "Women should not be the hero and get the reward at the end of a story. The hero should get the woman as part of HIS reward."
Yeah. That's my bud.
...In the interest of not starting a flame war, I won't mention the thoughts I'm having about your "bud" right now. Suffice to say he would not enjoy what I would wish to see done to him.
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...In the interest of not starting a flame war, I won't mention the thoughts I'm having about your "bud" right now. Suffice to say he would not enjoy what I would wish to see done to him.A member of my gamer group (and friend for over 20 years) refuses to read any book written by a woman, has a woman as the heroine, or even as a primary character. He even chafes at having a woman playing at our table, but he keeps his mouth shut (Mostly. He still grumbles under his breath about it).
Here's a quote from him: "Women should not be the hero and get the reward at the end of a story. The hero should get the woman as part of HIS reward."
Yeah. That's my bud.
I just hope he ended up as part of the reward for a woman, rather than a...
On second thought, I don't think I'll go there either.
...In the interest of not starting a flame war, I won't mention the thoughts I'm having about your "bud" right now. Suffice to say he would not enjoy what I would wish to see done to him.
He's an odd little fellow, that's for sure. He's never without at least three concealed knives on his person, and even had a gun tucked into the back of his trousers at a friend's wedding. We joked that when the pastor asked if anyone objected to the union of the bride and groom we'd all tackle him if he stood up to speak.
Most of my friends (in fact 99% of them, I'd say) are normal, workaday folks with families, mortgages, etc., though we have another who is pretty eccentric, but he's off in a whole 'nuther direction. He (the subject of this post) has advanced degrees in mathematics and works for minimum wage bagging groceries. In fact, those are the only kinds of jobs he's ever had that I know of. He recently had to cut his hair and shave his beard for the first time in almost 20 years in order to keep his job, and it nearly traumatized him.
Oh, and he missed the first game of our new campaign because his pickup caught fire and burned to the ground on his way to our FLGS. He did manage to save his gaming stuff, though.
No one has mentioned Red Sonja?
This is unacceptable.
Back on topic: Alyx, the main character of Picnic on Paradise and several short stories by Joanna Russ, is pure awesome.
No one has mentioned Red Sonja?
This is unacceptable.
6 months after this thread died down, someone started another thread, titled Fantasy novels featuring strong women (or women that aren't constantly abused). It included this post, which included the following quote:
R E Howard's Red Sonya of Rogatino is nothing like the abomination Red Sonja created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith.... Set historical Europe and In the story, Red Sonya is a gun-slinging warrior woman of Polish-Ukrainian origin with a grudge against the Ottoman sultan.
There's a reason I never mentioned Red Sonja, though. I'm not a fan of Howard. I've never read "The Shadow of the Vulture", and anyway, I've gotten the impression that story is historical fiction, not fantasy, and furthermore, the OP mentioned a preference for books over short stories.
The only version of Red Sonja I've ever liked all that much was that of Roy Thomas, and the OP said "I've fallen a bit out of touch with the books that have been coming out", giving us (or at least me) the impression that this thread is supposed to be about BOOKS, not comics. I read a couple of the Red Sonja books back in the early 1980s, and while they had a few good moments, they were nothing to write home about. I've never heard anyone say that any of those books were particularly good.
Am I to understand, Doomed Hero, that you would like to recommend some Red Sonja books?
Well, she's sort of the original strong female lead. I happen to really like Howard, so I guess it's just a difference in taste.
Admittedly, my favorite rendition of Red Sonja is from the graphic novels, which weren't Howard.
Well, books are preferable, but other formats are fine too. Really, it's not just for me, I'd like to have a reference place for anyone who wants this kind of thing since it can be very tough to find on your own.
By those arguments Wonder Woman doesn't count as a "strong female lead".
Can't we appriciate a character's historical relevance and be glad for how far they (and we) have come?
Regardless of the original concepts, the characters are good and the stories are worth reading.
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+1 for The Deed of Paksenarion trilogy. One of my favorite fantasy reads. I usually reread this trilogy once a year..sometimes more :P
And, I also agree with many that it is the perfect series for saying "Paladin". (though also gives good arguement for making the paladin a prestige class...)
The second series features more of the side characters, though, I am a fan of the rogue Arvid, and have enjoyed learning more of him.
Elizabeth Moon's Gird novel "Surrender None" Is actually from the stand point of a male lead, though Gird's daughter is a very strong central character.
Strange, I can think of TONS of scifi and urban fantasy with strong female protaganists, but with fantasy...not so much.
I enjoyed LE Modesitt's Spellssong cycle series, but it has been so long, I am uncertain if she was a "strong" character or not. As with many of his series', the protagonist often weilds great power, but more often than not are tossed willy nilly into situations where their abilities are not enough.
Anyway, I will think on this a bunch more.
Greg
"Paladin" by CJ Cherryh.
Pretty much all of her SF have strong females, to be honest.
"Best Served Cold" by Joe Abercrombie has a strong female lead too. It's kind of a cross between "Azure Bonds" and "The Crow."
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I like the Terry Pratchett Witches books (Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords & Ladies, Masquerade, and Carpe Jugulum(. He also has a young adult series about Tiffany Atkins (may be spelling the last name wrong) set in the Discworld.
Hrm...has anyone mentioned Five Twelfths of Heaven? By Melissa Scott.
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The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. (And Octavia Butler's stuff, which helped inspire it.)
Posting, forgive me if some of these are repeats because I honestly can't be arsed to read 121 other responses just o give my recommendations:
Terry Pratchet's Discworld (Specifically the Susan books, and the Witches books. Monstrous Regiment also has a strong female protagonist.)
Elizabeth Haydon's Symphony of Ages (Though the series just abruptly ENDED when she promised a new book somewhere about 5 years ago. -.-)
Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Trilogy (which I picked up just to gauge his writing style when I heard he would be picking up writing the Wheel of Time novels, and immediately loved.)
Ann McCaffrey's Pern novels (not all of them have female protagonists, but a surprising number do, including the very first few)
Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey's Elvenbane novels (sadly never will be continued due to Norton's death in 2005, but the 4 [3?] books are still very good.)
Mercedes Lackey's Free Bards novels (though I've never finished them)
Philip Pulman's His Dark Materials trilogy
Simon R. Green's Blue Moon and Hawk and Fisher series' (Series order goes like this: Blue Moon Rising, which leads into the Hawk and Fisher stories, starting with Swords of Haven [containing the stories Hawk and Fisher, Winner Take All, and God Killer], continuing with Guards of Haven [containing the stories Wolf in the Fold, Guard Against Dishonor, and The Bones of Haven] and finally concluding with Beyond The Blue Moon).
Blue Moon Rising is somewhat of your traditional High Magic/Low Fantasy sword and sorcery epic, with quite a few twists and a sarcastic protagonist that constantly pokes fun at all of the overused tropes in the genre. The Hawk and Fisher stories are basically medieval crime novels in a Low Magic/Low Fantasy setting with the same characters (never explicitly stated, so heavily alluded to it's impossible not to pick it up), and Beyond The Blue Moon combines the crime drama with the High Magic (sorta) bit of the first book, and it occurs in teh same place as the first.
*Takes a breath*
Yeah that one's hard to explain. If you don't read them in the right order they're completely WTF.
If you like urban fantasy, Jacqueline Carey's "Dark Currents" is real good.
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"Paladin" by CJ Cherryh.
Pretty much all of her SF have strong females, to be honest.
I really liked her Gate series, with her heroine Morgaine.
You know about the fourth book, right DQ? (Not being part of the original trilogy, it sorta gets lost in the shuffle sometimes.)
You know about the fourth book, right DQ? (Not being part of the original trilogy, it sorta gets lost in the shuffle sometimes.)
Yes, it was actually the first one I read. Someone gave to me as a gift, and then I searched for the others in used book stores (they were out of print at the time, but thankfully have come back into print since).
I found the Morgaine cycle kind of annoying. The plot seemed identical in all 4 books (I think I read all 4 books): Hero meets heroine, hero gets separated from heroine, hero deals with annoying small-fry politics, hero rejoins heroine, hero and heroine go through gate.
I also consider Morgaine more fantasy (with just some sci-fi flavor), and I'm not a huge fan of her fantasy, usually.
But I'm a HUGE fan of CJ Cherryh's science fiction!!!!!!!!!!
:-D
One of my all time favorite series. I'd love to play in a game set in that setting. Not with those specific characters. It could easily involve another group on the same quest Morgaine was on. It would be hard to get the atmosphere right though.You know about the fourth book, right DQ? (Not being part of the original trilogy, it sorta gets lost in the shuffle sometimes.)Yes, it was actually the first one I read. Someone gave to me as a gift, and then I searched for the others in used book stores (they were out of print at the time, but thankfully have come back into print since).
Have you guys seen the (out of print so far as I know) short story collection Visible Light? It's got a sort of crypto-prequel to the Morgaine books.
Dan, I'm not speaking to you because you're a heathen for not liking Morgaine. Just kidding, I'd love to babble at you about the Cyteen series, or the Chanur stuff, but the thread topic asks specifically for fantasy.
DIfferent author, but the Chronicles of Tornor by Elizabeth A. Lynne fit the bill.
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I'm sure someone's already recommended the series starting with "Black Blade Blues" by J. A. Pitt. But it's still worth a read.
And if you want a really strong, really truly awesome female hero, try eluki bes shahar's series that starts with "Hellflower". I cried at the end of the trilogy because there are certain fates worse than death...
Another interesting urban fantasy is "Princess of Wands" by John Ringo. The heroine is a rather ordinary Southern housewife in her mundane life. In her secret job, she seems to find herself fighting a lot or rather vicious demons. The sequel "Queen of Wands" was recently published.
Another interesting urban fantasy is "Princess of Wands" by John Ringo. The heroine is a rather ordinary Southern housewife in her mundane life. In her secret job, she seems to find herself fighting a lot or rather vicious demons. The sequel "Queen of Wands" was recently published.
Wait, John Ringo of OH JOHN RINGO NO fame (warning: no NSFW images, but the subject is NSFW and likely to be triggering for some) wrote something with a strong female character? This is like hearing that the dude who wrote the Gor stuff wrote something with a strong female heroine. If it's true, I think my head will explode.
One of my all time favorite series. I'd love to play in a game set in that setting. Not with those specific characters. It could easily involve another group on the same quest Morgaine was on. It would be hard to get the atmosphere right though.You know about the fourth book, right DQ? (Not being part of the original trilogy, it sorta gets lost in the shuffle sometimes.)Yes, it was actually the first one I read. Someone gave to me as a gift, and then I searched for the others in used book stores (they were out of print at the time, but thankfully have come back into print since).Have you guys seen the (out of print so far as I know) short story collection Visible Light? It's got a sort of crypto-prequel to the Morgaine books.
Dan, I'm not speaking to you because you're a heathen for not liking Morgaine. Just kidding, I'd love to babble at you about the Cyteen series, or the Chanur stuff, but the thread topic asks specifically for fantasy.
DIfferent author, but the Chronicles of Tornor by Elizabeth A. Lynne fit the bill. ** spoiler omitted **
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Well now I know those books exist and I can never unknow it.
Returning to the original topic.
Back in the day I read a series of books by Maggie Furrey. She wrote a series called the Artefacts of Power. They were pretty good, and I remember the protagonist being a pretty strong character. I have fond memories of those books but don't want to reread them because they might not hold up.
Another interesting urban fantasy is "Princess of Wands" by John Ringo. The heroine is a rather ordinary Southern housewife in her mundane life. In her secret job, she seems to find herself fighting a lot or rather vicious demons. The sequel "Queen of Wands" was recently published.Wait, John Ringo of OH JOHN RINGO NO fame (warning: no NSFW images, but the subject is NSFW and likely to be triggering for some) wrote something with a strong female character? This is like hearing that the dude who wrote the Gor stuff wrote something with a strong female heroine. If it's true, I think my head will explode.
I'm afraid it's true. I liked Princess better than Queen, but they both made nice fluffy reads.
Terry Pratchet's Discworld (Specifically the Susan books, and the Witches books. Monstrous Regiment also has a strong female protagonist.)
I'd like to offer another nod to the Discworld. I think the vast majority of my favourite female leads are from various Discworld novels. Terry Pratchet is, imho, very good at writing female protagonists who are more than stupid fanservice.
He write his female protagonists like they were *gulp* actual people.
I found the Morgaine cycle kind of annoying. The plot seemed identical in all 4 books (I think I read all 4 books): Hero meets heroine, hero gets separated from heroine, hero deals with annoying small-fry politics, hero rejoins heroine, hero and heroine go through gate.
I also consider Morgaine more fantasy (with just some sci-fi flavor), and I'm not a huge fan of her fantasy, usually.
As this was a thread about what books have strong female heroines in fantasy, I intended my original response to be an add-on suggestion of a fantasy series with a strong female heroine in a fantasy series. (Although, actually, it IS much more sci-fi than it appears at first glance. But it is sci-fi told from the perspective of a man from a basically medieval world, which makes it feel like fantasy, until you figure out what's really going on.)
I wasn't asking everyone to like it or judge it, just throwing in my suggestion to the list.
I found the Morgaine cycle kind of annoying. The plot seemed identical in all 4 books (I think I read all 4 books): Hero meets heroine, hero gets separated from heroine, hero deals with annoying small-fry politics, hero rejoins heroine, hero and heroine go through gate.
I also consider Morgaine more fantasy (with just some sci-fi flavor), and I'm not a huge fan of her fantasy, usually.
As this was a thread about what books have strong female heroines in fantasy, I intended my original response to be an add-on suggestion of a fantasy series with a strong female heroine in a fantasy series. (Although, actually, it IS much more sci-fi than it appears at first glance. But it is sci-fi told from the perspective of a man from a basically medieval world, which makes it feel like fantasy, until you figure out what's really going on.)
I wasn't asking everyone to like it or judge it, just throwing in my suggestion to the list.
Just to clarify: you're saying solar-powered laser pistols aren't fantasy? :P
I've read most of the first series in The Noble Dead Saga, which features a strong female lead with a bit of a fragile background (she's a dhampir. I'm not giving away anything you wouldn't find out early in the first book).
It's co-written by a husband and wife team, so you've got some female perspective on the author side.
They're not among my favorite fantasy series', but the premise of the first two or three books was good.
Robert E. Howard is one of my favorite authors and that ceratainly doesn't fit what you're looking for, so tastes vary.
Don't know if anybody mentioned it, but there are strong female characters throughout Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
Which is, for the most part, FANTASTIC.
Just to clarify: you're saying solar-powered laser pistols aren't fantasy? :PI found the Morgaine cycle kind of annoying. The plot seemed identical in all 4 books (I think I read all 4 books): Hero meets heroine, hero gets separated from heroine, hero deals with annoying small-fry politics, hero rejoins heroine, hero and heroine go through gate.
I also consider Morgaine more fantasy (with just some sci-fi flavor), and I'm not a huge fan of her fantasy, usually.
As this was a thread about what books have strong female heroines in fantasy, I intended my original response to be an add-on suggestion of a fantasy series with a strong female heroine in a fantasy series. (Although, actually, it IS much more sci-fi than it appears at first glance. But it is sci-fi told from the perspective of a man from a basically medieval world, which makes it feel like fantasy, until you figure out what's really going on.)
I wasn't asking everyone to like it or judge it, just throwing in my suggestion to the list.
It's the fairly common trope of fantasy with a science fiction gloss. It's got elves, a magic sword, time travel gates and a low tech setting. A fallen civilization that left artifacts that no one really understands behind. It reads like fantasy. It deals with fantasy themes and tropes.
As a complete aside, my first exposure to it, long before I found the books was a write up in Dragon of Morgaine as a D&D character. Mostly the sword caught my eye back then.
Spoilered for the sake of those who want an on-topic thread:
Reading the description of the master gate in Well of Shiuan it became appartent to me that: 1) Stonehenge is Earth's master gate; 2) She's already been here because the thing don't work no more; 3) The qhal are so similar to elves because they colonized the british isles in prehistory. I'm not saying that will convince you to enjoy the books, but at that point I was back into anthropology-as-science-fiction territory.
Oh, so this is where Lord Dice and Comrade Jeff go to get away from me.
I agree with Bad Sintax. Best Served Cold is the shiznit!
I forget if I mentioned it upthread or not, but "Azure Bonds" by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak has a strong heroine. She even gets called a warrioress once.
Once.
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I can't recommend the Empress Trilogy by Karen Miller. I'm all for strong female characters. Yet as one reads more of the series the main character comes across as a nutcase imo. Infecting one of the make characters with a magical form of a STD. Making him sterile. Just so he does not get someone else pregnant with the Chosen Child. Killing her first child love interest simply because of prophecy and/or she does not approve of his choice. In front of him. With the live interest being pregnant. It's the only series which made me wonder if the author had some sort of mental health issues. Only read if you can find used or receive as a gift.
Thanks for the thread necro, Memorax. :)
Given, like, two years to think it over since I last posted in this thread, I'll whole-heartedly recommend Picnic on Paradise by Joanna Russ and The Northern Girl by Elizabeth A Lynne.
There is an English translation of the Moribito novels. The main character Basla is a fantastic female lead, strong sensible spear fighter.
on the Anita Blake books. I really enjoyed them up until Obsidian Butterfly. After that book the series just.... went places I wasn't interested in following anymore. I liked the series best when it was primarily a detective series.
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People have recommended Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson already. I would also like to recommend Warbreaker and Elantris by him, since both have female leads (both have multiple POVs, but in each case 50% are female) that are strong.
The word "strong" is somewhat ambiguous in this context, as in - what exactly is a "strong character"? For those in the books I recommend, the answer will be "smart, proactive, resourceful". Most aren't combat oriented, if that's important.
The liveship traders by Robin Hobb is very recommendable for the same reason, though I admit the second half of the third book was so bad that I couldn't finish the series. Great first two books, though.
Many of Stephen Kings' books have interesting female leads... though I hesitate to call most of them strong, since Kings' characters tend to be very flawed. in his series THE DARK TOWER, though, there's a very impressive female main character.
Game of Thrones is a very obvious recommendation, as it has some of the most formidable (male and female) characters ever told about in our genre.
And finally, when it comes to impressive female protagonists, I feel like all of Terry Pratchett's witch books simply cannot be recommended enough. Weatherwax is just a genuinely awesome old lady, and we don't get enough of those most of the time.
yeah you can't go wrong with a Granny Weatherwax story. Old lady so hard she can catch a sword bare handed and won't bleed until she's damn good and ready.
Plus Nanny Ogg is a keeper.
Start at Wyrd Sisters and go from there
While your at it get Wee Free Men. Tiffany Aching is like Granny Weatherwax in training