These women are incredibly strong characters who audiences love to root for and who kids can look. Ive got 15 fantastic books and series you can pick up today to read all about powerful women warriors and. Books with strong female characters common sense media. The female lead is a clever and strong willed sorceress. I love reading a good series of fantasyfiction books, more especially when the main character or one of them is a woman and shes strong and independent, but still funny well ok, before she. Her books uniformly have strong female leads, and her most recent series is earth paranornal, rather than high fantasy, with very credible highschool protagonists. Shes also a shapeshifter who can transform into a coyote and her strong, independent nature deters her from shacking up with the alpha. I realise that there was a thread asking for a similar thing in the past, but id like to specify what im. The 12 best epic fantasy books like game of thrones. I love how katsa is practical and fastthinking, plus she can outwit. Read the topic about adventurefantasy romance with strong female lead. Adventurecentric ya fantasy novels with cool female leads.
Best strong female fantasy novels 3,317 books 17,915 voters best kickass female characters from ya and childrens fantasy and science fiction. Fury road opened, pretty much everyone agreed it was one of the best films of the year, and a new classic of the postapocalyptic genre. This list introduces some of the best female asskickers in the fantasy universe. There are plenty of great books featuring strong female main characters in compelling stories that are sure to appeal to boys as well as girls. Box office flops like elektra and catwoman didnt help.
Its an incredibly good novel, one of my alltime favorites. Im tired of seeing so many of the strong heroines in fantasy lists dominated by urban fantasy, a genre i dont like nearly as much as high or historical fantasy. To a lesser extent, anne mccaffrey wrote some of the pern books with strong female leads. While questing to find the top 10 female leads in fantasy anime, we wanted to emphasize the differences in these characters and really find a wide variety to show the breadth of possibilities. A warriors tale book 1 of the imago chronicles by lorna suzuki. It has taken a long time for women to get to a place where they are as respected as men, and we still have a long way to go, but its always nice to see strong and complex female leads take the reigns in video. Here are 12 kickass women from scifi and fantasy who are the best kind of strongtheir own. The 20 greatest female characters in scifi and fantasy. Sciencefiction including dystopian, apocalyptic, or postapocalyptic. Urban fantasy is a slippery sort of subgenre, but to me, calling a book urban fantasy means it is set in a modern, urban society with an overlay of fantasy elements e. If you like stephensons writing, his earlier novel, snow crash also features a very sm.
I especially love the tough, growingintoherself princess amari. High fantasy with female leads protoganists 403 books. It seems like every day the left is getting up in arms about something, and even books arent safe. But in a postwonder woman age, it cant be denied that audiences are craving films with powerful women who dont need saving by any guy. One note of disappointment, however the number of books on this list that are ya. Ultimate list 2020 by peter mcpherson updated may 9, 2020 04.
To celebrate this, ive compiled a list of 12 books that feature badass female characters. Hollywood used to believe that movies with strong female leads didnt sell. Weve selected a pile of books with universal appeal for kids of different ages and tastes, from bestselling picture books to. The deed of paksenarrion by elizabeth moon and the exile series by melanie rawn come to mind. Surely one of the best characters in film full stop, ripley certainly broke the mould for smart, strong, authoritative and independent female roles. What are some strong, nonsexualized female leads in. In so many fantasy stories female characters are the ones needing rescuing and are usually strong because of. Id like to see more adulttargeted high and historical fantasies with women as lead characters. Martins sprawling epic fantasy books take place in the kingdom of westeros, as different houses fight for the right to sit on the iron throne. Indeed, women often find greater representation in scifi and fantasy movies and shows than in any other genre. If you love fantasy and want a few recommendations on great new books to read that feature powerhouse women, check out our book list below. Well, right now olivia dunhamfauxlivia anna torv, from fringe series, comes to mind.
Whatever the reason, fantasy novels that feature strong women are something were wholeheartedly excited about at newinbooks. Female protagonists in science fiction and fantasy the. Sci fi books with strong female leads used to be hard to find. Luckily its becoming more and more common to see strong female leads in science fiction books.
The first book in a new fantasy series, jenna glass the womans war centers on two women with the power to shatter the glass ceiling. Roleplay gaming and fantasy novels have gone handinhand for most of their existence, but its a. A dose of fresh unknown world, the wonderfull and adventurous fantasy world. Here are some of the most popular fantasy books with a twist. Feminists, leftists, and liberals have started crusades to prioritize female characters and female writers as if female protagonists and female authors are an endangered species. It will be even more extraordinary to dive into fantasy fiction book with strong female lead character, here are twelve fantasy fiction with female lead which are a must read.
The romance in this one takes a backseat to more of the adventure and action. What i really like about nayla treeborn, the female protagonist in a warriors tale, is how the author builds her character. Everyone, that is, save for a subset of dudes from one of the internets darkest corners, who lash out at anything that suggests that women can be just as awesome at, well, being awesome as men. So heres a list of books with strong heroines who fight against stereotypes of women in the fantasy and science fiction genres. However you define it, its been a wildly popular field for some time and theres lots of great books out there. Strongest female leads in scifi books by matt cates 4 years ago in literature list science fiction shifting the focus of a traditionally maledominated genre, the strongest female leads in scifi books are both resilient and clever. What are some good science fiction or adventure novels. Katniss everdeen in the hunger games by suzanne collins. Alys is a widowed mother with an aptitude for magic in a. Action heroine 67 tough girl 66 martial arts 62 shot in the chest 58 shot to death 58 shot in the head 55 held at gunpoint 54 blood splatter 53 female warrior 53 machine gun 52 strong female lead 52 hand to hand combat 51 surprise ending 46 strong female character 44 kidnapping 42 one woman army 42. Huang is an action packed, speculative fiction thriller. They dont have to be kick ass but they do have to have a backbone. Top 10 strong female characters in urban fantasy books.
This list is to discover books featuring strong female characters. There are, of course, exceptions, and more of them every day, as we celebrate books by more authors, male and female, who truly get that strength in a character doesnt necessarily mean masculine traits. Fantasy scifi books with strong female characters when i was growing up, i was shocked by the lack of strong, female leads in the type of books i liked to read. In addition to a compelling heroine and multiple other female characters. A strong character characterized by her mind and not by her body, and in the case of her counterpart fauxlivia, for being an excellent sniper also very intel. I scoured the internet for the best books i could find and this list is the result. Id also add rhapsody by elizabeth haydon and mirror empire by kameron hurley several very strong and important female characters, though i didnt enjoy the book as much as i had hoped. Fantasyscifi books with strong female characters 1029. There are tons of good shoujo, josei, and even shounen manga with very powerful female leads, and here are just a few of my favorites. Top 6 sci fi books with strong female leads kay l moody. A star wars story about to hit theaters, star wars is continuing the everdeveloping tradition of women leading scifi blockbusters and tv shows. If you think girl books are just about princesses, romance, gossipy schoolgirls, and vampires, think again. She is not only trying to find a way to save her family but she is also an incredible shadowhunter. Supernatural fantasy fiction books have come a long way and feature some of the best, strong female leads with incredible adventures.
Harry potter has a lot of strong female characters from mcgonagall to luna, but the protagonist is a boy. The world is changing, said filmmaker patty jenkins at a womens summit in new york. We call them zombies, a matter of faith, the stone and the stars. The antiheroine protagonist has special abilities based on math. Arky has a very strong passion for manga, video games, and writing. Books are a medium for us to getaway from the reality, a break form the ordinary life. Female manga characters get a bad rep as they are often portrayed as being weak, ditzy, or simply used for story filler. The genre fantasy fiction is fictitious construct but brilliant in rendering a different world for you to wade into. Female protagonists are becoming more and more popular in video games, and its about time. New reader looking for fantasy books with strong female. If youre searching for scifi books with badass female protagonists, look no further. The kate daniels series by illona andrews is one of the best urban fantasy series out there. But, the strongest female protagonist out there is katsa from graceling by kristin cashore so thats my best book ever this week. Blog posted on friday, dec 21 the 12 best epic fantasy books like game of thrones we get it.
Soderbergh aimed to cut through all of the superfluous bells and whistles of the spyontherun film. Historically, women as primary protagonists in fantasy novelsripe with action, danger, heroism, and intensitywere a rarity. Which means it does not include the host, or any of the hunger games books. Or, a young ladys illustrated primer by neal stephenson. New reader looking for fantasy books with strong female lead.