top five women in fantasy
Dec. 8th, 2009 05:23 pmKristin Briana recently posted about her list of top 5 YA girls. Here's mine for women in fantasy.
5. Mina from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance chronicles.
A God convinced that she ishuman, Mina raises an unstoppable army to serve what she believes is the One True God.
4. Alexia of Okrannel from Michael A. Stackpole's DragonCrown War Cycle.
She's a princess of a fallen nation and leads an army to reclaim it.
3. Alanna of Tortall from Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet.
She sabotages the patriarchy and becomes a knight, and then turns down the King when he asks her to marry him because she knows the life of a tamed wife isn't for her.
2. Surreal SaDiablo from Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy.
She's a prostitute and an assassin, she plays a part in Jaenelle's rescue from Briarwood, and she doesn't hesitate to plop someone's decapitated head into a bucket.
1. Sioned from Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince series.
Why? She's smart, sassy, and the cornerstone of Rawn's many autonomous female characters. She makes difficult, heartbreaking decisions in the first book that influence the next five. The series follows her from a young woman to old age, and she just gets more badass with time.
5. Mina from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance chronicles.
A God convinced that she ishuman, Mina raises an unstoppable army to serve what she believes is the One True God.
4. Alexia of Okrannel from Michael A. Stackpole's DragonCrown War Cycle.
She's a princess of a fallen nation and leads an army to reclaim it.
3. Alanna of Tortall from Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet.
She sabotages the patriarchy and becomes a knight, and then turns down the King when he asks her to marry him because she knows the life of a tamed wife isn't for her.
2. Surreal SaDiablo from Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy.
She's a prostitute and an assassin, she plays a part in Jaenelle's rescue from Briarwood, and she doesn't hesitate to plop someone's decapitated head into a bucket.
1. Sioned from Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince series.
Why? She's smart, sassy, and the cornerstone of Rawn's many autonomous female characters. She makes difficult, heartbreaking decisions in the first book that influence the next five. The series follows her from a young woman to old age, and she just gets more badass with time.
Sioned glanced over her shoulder. "Do you think this castle--any castle--could hold me if I wanted to leave?" [...] "It seems to me that what peopole call 'insane' are things they neither know nor understand--nor could possibly guess at. Such is the fate of those cursed by a total lack of imagination..."I wish I could pick more than five. I wanted to include more off-the-beaten path books and heroines, but it's a little difficult without the memory cues a full bookcase would provide. I didn't include Jaenelle Angelline or Karla of Glacia because I'm sure people are tired of hearing me gush over the Black Jewels. Phedre no Delaunay de Montreve is also pretty high up there, as well as Rani Trader from Mindy L. Klasky's Glasswrights' Guild. And Talyn from Holly Lisle's Talyn, and...
"Tell me or I will lock this castle--"
With a little shrug, she replied, "You're becoming predictable--not a healthy quality in a prince. Good night."