Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by the lovely crew at The Broke and The Bookish
Top Ten Authors who Write Fabulous Kick-butt Heroines
So, when I sat down to think of ten kick-butt heroines I realized that I was coming up with authors rather than their characters. There are some pretty amazing ladies out there writing pretty amazing heroines. (Not to say that there aren’t awesome gentlemen doing the same!) So, I kind of changed the prompt 🙂 Now, I can’t miss characters like Katniss (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins), Hermione (Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling), Tris (Divergent by Veronica Roth), Megan Chase (The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa), and Karou (Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor). They are kick-butt ladies written by some of my very favorite authors. However, I had to draw the line somewhere! Also, I apparently associate kick-butt-ness with fantasy or paranormal series. Sue me.
1. Tamora Pierce: I basically could have done a top ten kick-butt heroine list made up of only her characters. Alanna is the first character that came to mind when I saw this topic. Start with Alanna: The First Adventure.
2. Cinda Williams Chima: I am finishing up the final book in the Seven Realms quartet (Actually, I am taking a break because even though I COULD NOT WAIT for its release I don’t want it to end!!!) Raisa ana’Marianna is one of my all time favorite characters ever. She is strong and imperfect and basically wonderful. Why have you not read The Demon King yet?!?!?
3. Kristen Cashore: First she graced us with Katsa. Then she gave us Fire. Finally, Bitterblue. I cannot wait to she who Cashore will introduce us to next! (If you’ve read Graceling you can see how cheesy I am with the whole “graced us” thing! For those of you who haven’t, I don’t know if we can be friends.)
4. Sherwood Smith: Again, read anything by her and you’ll see what I mean. Ignore the terrible covers and start with Crown Duel. You can thank me later.
5. Melissa Marr: Um, I’d just like to point out that Aya is literally in a fight to the death style fight club. That’s pretty fierce. And she wasn’t even the first of Melissa Marr’s characters I thought of! Read Wicked Lovely and tell me you don’t think a boy with a lip ring is totally schmexy afterwords.
6. Robin McKinley: Yeah… read ALL THE THINGS!!! I adore Robin’s fairy tale retellings but I think The Hero and The Crown and The Blue Sword are my favorites of her’s. Aerin and Harry are heroines you won’t soon forget.
7. Sarah Rees Brennan: If you’ve met Mae and Sin you totally know what I’m talking about (Start with The Demon’s Lexicon for an introduction!) And sure, Kami and Mel may have less combat experience but they are still totally kick-butt. Meet Kami in Unspoken (one of my top three of the year so far!) and Mel in Team Human (Be prepared to laugh!)
8. Holly Black: Her characters have to be tough to survive Holly’s style of faeries from her Modern Faerie Tales series. I really love Kaye… and Val! Don’t even get me started on her. Also check out The Curse Workers series. It’s one of my all time favorites ever!
9. Cindy Pon: Ai Ling from Silver Phoenix is pretty much amazing. And she loves food more than I do. This impresses me. Also, way to not let convention dictate your life! Making your own decisions is cool!
10. Megan Whalen Turner: Sometimes I forget that The Queen’s Thief series actually starts with Gen’s story and follows much of his life. The Queen of Attolia totally stole the show for me. I don’t want to say too much or I’ll spoil the books but she is a lady to stand in awe of!
So, there you have some of my very favorite ladies who write some of my very favorite fictional ladies. What about you? Which kick-butt heroines do you love?
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