Fantasy women - light but not soppy

doodlenoodle

I will always steer towards strong female characters in Fantasy books. No, Jordan does not portray them as strong, his portrayal of "strong" women make my teeth ache. I'd have a sex change if that is the way women are supposed to be.

I love, love, love Fiest's "Empire" series.
On a slightly more soppy side to be honest, but high up there is Anne Bishop books, particularly "Black Jewel's" trilogy.
Jacqueline Carey's "Kushiel" series, slightly sexed up but still a great adventure.
"True Blood" (no introduction needed I guess) human and vampires, very good.

Very short list...would you add??

Daith

I don't think Terry Pratchett can write a weak female character.

ixoy

Greg Keyes' "Kingdom of Thorn and Bone" series has very strong female characters. The viewpoints are roughly 60/40 in favour of women.

doodlenoodle wrote: »

. No, Jordan does not portray them as strong,
his portrayal of "strong" women make my teeth ache. I'd have a sex change if that is the way women are supposed to be.

I don't think anyone would claim he writes strong female characters - everyone I know criticises them, male and female alike! Not sure if they'll get any stronger under Sanderson's control.

Dades

Cersei Lannister!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

renie in tad williams otherland, maybe a small bit too much 'i'm a strong independant woman and I don't need a man to complete myself' internal dialogue, but a fine character in her own right without any real attempt by the author to slap us over the head with 'ooh lookit a woman who isn't a complete ditz in a fantasy novel, aren't I great'

doodlenoodle

Is 'Otherland' fantasy or sci-fi??
I read the 'Memory, sorrow and thorn' trilogy years ago, but never went for 'Otherland' since I don't really read sci-fi. Would you give a short summary/review?

Cersei Lannister

I don't know if I would qualify a incestuous sociopat a 'strong' female character. I always did like Arya Stark.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I don't read sci fi either (sci fi on tv, fantasy on paper... and it's very rare I'll go the other way around) and I *love* otherland

I suppose it is technically a sci fi novel.. technically, but it has more fantasy elements in it than sci-fi, maybe not so much in the first half of the first book but once stuff gets going (and if you read memory,sorrow and thorn you know williams can take a while to get going) the fantasy themes come hard and fast.
I'd be wary of giving you a summary to be honest, as a large part of the first book... well all the books really is the mystery of what's actually going on, and I dont know if I'd be able to summarise it without spoiling somethnig obvious to me but important to someone who's still reading it.

It's low on jargon, low on sci-fi technology porn high on freaking awesome.


--edit
as for cersei, surely the fact that she's so comfortable and confident in her personality flaws makes her a strong character

--another edit

forgot to mention Ash, in 'ash - a secret history' by mary gentle

i don't think there's a word other than strong that could be used to describe her

Slydice

Polgara in Eddings books is quite a strong character.

Jessica Atreides and pretty much all the Bene Gesserit are pretty strong characters in Frank Herberts dune books (note: I'll only say it for Frank, not the butchery that his son did to the sequels)

ixoy

Slydice wrote: »

(note: I'll only say it for Frank, not the butchery that his son did to the sequels)

What sequels? There are none. There are only six Dune books. Anyway who claims otherwise is perma-banned

Ronanc1

Tian in Ian irvines Geomancer and well of Echos saga is pretty Strong and i thought them a great read

Livak in juliet mckenna's Einarinn quintology is a fantastic character, id rate her as highly as mara of the acoma from feists empire trilogy, livak is strong in a different sense crafty,smart,thief,gambler and all round swindler with a bit of sexy charm, highly recommended

Codofwar

Trudi Canavans The Black Magician trilogy and The Age of the Five trilogy have strong female characters and In Robin Hobbs assasins apprentice trilogy and the liveship traders trilogy have strong female characters.

super_furry

Morgaine in Marrion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon was a brilliantly written character I thought.

Pugsley

Codofwar wrote: »

Trudi Canavans The Black Magician trilogy

I fail to see how Sonea is in anyway a strong character. She was the only weak link in an otherwise great trilogy in my opinion, every other major character in the series was more interesting. She was mean't to be the protagonist and she was just dragged along with no opinion or say in anything that happened, the very definition of a weak character in my opinion. The best character in the trilogy was definately Akkarin, incredible well thought out and interesting character, who develops far more through the trilogy than Sonea, and

I was gutted when he died, wouldn't have been at all bothered if Sonea kicked it though

.

I would definately second the notion of Mara, from the Empire trilogy, as a strong female character, an excellent series and a brilliant character. A series that's definately worth reading for any feist fan.

doodlenoodle

Morgaine in Marrion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon

Can't believe I forgot about Morgaine, excellent character and a great ending. Making more sense out the of the Arthurian legend than most have done. I have read a few of Bradley's other female portrayals and have been disapointed though.

Branoic

I second the mention above for Ash in Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle. A harder woman there can not be!

Zapp Brannigan

Erikson writes pretty good female characters. Surly, Apsalar, Hellion et al.

johnnyskeleton

doodlenoodle wrote:

No, Jordan does not portray them as strong, his portrayal of "strong" women make my teeth ache.

I disagree. Didn't one of them pull her braid so hard that her hair came out? It's in there alright, somewhere around the middle.

ixoy wrote: »

What sequels? There are none. There are only six Dune books. Anyway who claims otherwise is perma-banned

I think he means the computer game Dune 2.

coffee_cake

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Kate Elliot
And Katharine Kerr! Jill is the epitome of strong !
Liath in kate elliot's novels - crown of stars - starts off not very but develops wonderfully, particularly in the later books.
Have to also recommend robin hobb, althea comes to mind.

Conall Cernach

Julian May packs in a fair few strong female types in her excellent Saga Of The Exiles. Felice, Amerie, Elizabeth, Mayvar, Brede and several others.

Morgase

Me!

Tyler MacDurden

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Erikson writes pretty good female characters. Surly, Apsalar, Hellion et al.

And his approach to women is unselfconsciously egalitarian, unlike Jordan who makes a big deal of his 'strong' females. There are women soldiers in the ranks of many of Erikson's races who fight, and occasionally die, as equals to the men.

Black Sheep

Hands-down I would have to say that Louis McMaster Bujold writes some of the most complete female characters I've come across. The first couple of books in the Vorkosigan series are probably the best examples - 'Cordelia's Honour' is the title of one.

Although I haven't got around to reading them yet I gather that David Weber's Honor Harrington novels are well-regarded.

ixoy

Tyler MacDurden wrote: »

And his approach to women is unselfconsciously egalitarian, unlike Jordan who makes a big deal of his 'strong' females. There are women soldiers in the ranks of many of Erikson's races who fight, and occasionally die, as equals to the men.

That's what Erikson was going for - in his mind, the people of Malaz (and indeed many of the other continents) never evolved a society where women were a second-tier citizen. They were always equal, which is why there's no forced points about it.

Corsendonk

Elizabeth Moon- The Deed of Paksenarrion Novels

Sci-fi- If you like space battles Davis Weber, Honor Harrington series

Tyler MacDurden

ixoy wrote: »

That's what Erikson was going for - in his mind, the people of Malaz (and indeed many of the other continents) never evolved a society where women were a second-tier citizen. They were always equal, which is why there's no forced points about it.

Indeed, a non-issue, and all the better for it.

Reminds me, nearly time for my half-series review

Starokan

mara of the acoma : Raymond Feists Empire Series.

Corsendonk

Starokan wrote: »

mara of the acoma : Raymond Feists Empire Series.

Think that Janny Wurts had alot to do with writing her as a charactor.

shrapnel222

L e Modesitt in his spellsong cycle

guy gavriel kay in the fionavar tapestry

lynn flewelling has a great heroin which really grows into her role in the tamir triad

and Merceds Lackey has a large number of strong heroins


those are the first few that sprang to mind

mikedone

Monza Murcatto, The Snake Of Talins in Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold. Actually pretty much all of the women in Abercrombie's world are strong and ruthless

onzie

Bit late to the thread but am reading First Rider's Call by Kristen Britain, the main protagonist is female and what I love about the series is that the society it's set in is pretty egalitarian - men and women are warriors, messengers, minstrels, leaders and it's so ingrained it's not commented on.

Sirenshiera

onzie wrote: »

Bit late to the thread but am reading First Rider's Call by Kristen Britain, the main protagonist is female and what I love about the series is that the society it's set in is pretty egalitarian - men and women are warriors, messengers, minstrels, leaders and it's so ingrained it's not commented on.

Yea I love Kristen Britain, but I lost interested at the forth Book, I felt she lost her grip on the characters and that they were losing their realism. They weren't reacting to things like I felt they should.