Elizabeth abele suggests that the key agency of female action protagonists is their ability to draw on the full range of. She is perhaps the fiercest female character in all of genre fiction, unapologetically vicious, shaped into a monster by a remorseless society and a heartless worldand her most dangerous opponents tend to be her fellow bel dames, women enhanced with strange, bugbased tech that gives them powers akin to magic. Best sci fi books with female main characters 856 books. The top 40 kickass female scifi characters afterellen. The privilege of the sword which focuses on elizabeth, alecs niece who comes to stay with him and learn swordsmanship.
List of female action heroes and villains wikipedia. Science fiction fans, could you recommend good some novels. Leviathan by scott westerfeld is a wonderful ya steampunk book, with a brave heroine as one of the two protagonists. The girls maintain a strong bond of friendship over the years, despite following different paths. Nick bantocks griffin and sabine trilogy and the venetians wife are unusual books, but with strong female leads. Rowling harry potter, margaret atwood the handmaids tale, and diana gabaldon outlander has inspired some of the most. Even though that historic view has largely been overturned, when writing new fiction people draw inspiration from the media they hav. Sigourney weaver even earned a best actress nomination for aliens 1986, which was groundbreaking as, prior to that point, the academy had given little recognition to. From the wide realm of comics to the imax screen, strong female leads are storming the stage.
Historically, women as primary protagonists in fantasy novelsripe with action, danger, heroism, and intensitywere a rarity. Ten empowering female characters in childrens books. Shifting the focus of a traditionally maledominated genre, the strongest female leads in scifi books are both resilient and clever. But, the strongest female protagonist out there is katsa from graceling by kristin cashore so thats my best book ever this week. Veronica roth is capable of some mindblowing worldbuilding in her writing, and she loves strong female leads. Fantasy and science fiction books with bisexual, lesbian, and pansexual female protagonists wlw fantasy.
September 2017 is syfys 25th anniversary, so were using it as an excuse to look back and celebrate the last 25 years of all science fiction, fantasy and horror, a time that has seen the genres we love conquer the world of pop culture. 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. Jane eyre is a complex, selfaware woman in the victorian age whose work as a governess eventually leads to love. Jemisins broken earth trilogy centers on essun, one of the marginalized people known as orogenes.
The unknown will lead her to the heart of a war over control of the universe. Its about a detective from the future who finds herself accidentally sent back to 2012. Yes, these are still stereotyped characters, calling themselves the cycle sluts, but the. It is an alternate history and although aimed at teenagers extremely readable, it was also nominated for the arthur c. Lgbtqiap protagonists in fantasy and science fiction the. I have 12 female driven scifi and fantasy novels youll love to read, so be sure to add these new and newish adventures to your tbr, a.
Best science fiction with a female protagonist 1216 books. She was my first scifi author and her pern series is also pretty good. Strongchinned blokes with muscled forearms all too often bear the role of savior to the cliched damsel in distress. Luckily its becoming more and more common to see strong female leads in science fiction books. Theres something about a powerhouse female protagonist that makes me happy.
In carve the mark she only doublesdown on those two strengths, introducing an offworld planet inhabited by two very different societies. Female leads in science fiction novels tina hunter. Cyra belongs to the shotet, a harsh and violent people who have become accustomed to. Best sci fi books with female main characters this list features the best books in science fiction featuring great female protagonists. If youre searching for scifi books with badass female protagonists, look. Jam packed with adventure, epic quests, and destinies to fulfill, these 12 fantasy books with powerful female warriors will make you want to cancel your plans and spend the weekend reading instead. Dystopian and postapocalyptic books with female leads. Each has a strong female protagonist that the series centers around.
Sidelining women in contemporary sciencefiction film. Anne mccaffrey created a number of memorable female characters in this series, lessa and menolly. Top 10 female detectives in fiction from a copenhagen scientist to a hardbitten single mother in new york, these are singular sleuths contending with. A mighty girl, a website that catalogues empowering childrens fiction, reports nearly 3,000 books in which girls are the central characters. Read these 19 epic sciencefiction books being made into. Both of the cordelia books shards of honor and barrayar by lois mcmaster bujold. Its a delightful book with a number of strong female characters. Robin mckinleys books are chock full of strong female characters. If youve read the divergent series, you know two things. The 20 greatest female characters in scifi and fantasy. On to books with strong female leads if ya books are ok then the hbomb girl by stephen baxter qualifies. 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. Historically, women were viewed as weak, and hence you mainly had strong male leads in fiction. While hundreds of women published science fiction stories in the 1950s and earlier, it wasnt until the 1960swith its secondwave feminism the first wave focused on suffrage and legal gender equality and the sense that science fiction was a literature of ideasthat a large influx of female authors appeared on the scene.
The 23 best science fiction books by female authors the. When i was growing up, i was shocked by the lack of strong, female leads in the type of. Books with strong female leads 0 if you want books that tell fantastic stories with phenomenal characters that end up in situations you never dreamed possible. Looking for a strong female lead in your fantasy book. Ten historical fiction books with strong female leads march, 2012 march, 2012 laura top ten tuesday is an original featureweekly meme created at. Ten great scifi novels featuring a female protagonist by a female. Sentenced to a life of solitude, she relishes fleeting periods of happiness unaware of the consequences of her joy. What are the best science fiction novels with a female protagonist. Female protagonists in science fiction and fantasy the illustrated. Top 10 strong female sciencefiction film characters. 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. So heres a list of books with strong heroines who fight against stereotypes of women in the fantasy and science fiction genres.
I love how katsa is practical and fastthinking, plus she can outwit. 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. The other major female character in the first book is an adult scientist this being a ya book, the. Perhaps its because books about women are less likely to win prizes. Why did their father lead a double life for all those years, and. Sci fi books with strong female leads used to be hard to find. Perhaps its because the majority of beloved fantasy novels feature male protagonists.
If youre searching for scifi books with badass female protagonists, look no further. The answers you get here will be as varied as the people answering. The privilege of the sword by ellen kushner is a sequel to swordspoint, but can be read independently. These are a few book series because, in my opinion, a good story never stops that i truly enjoy. And even when we dont find queer women to swoon over, we find powerful women to root for. If you like ya fantasy, authors like tamora pierce and patricia c. Yes, women are resurgent everywhere you lookas they should be. Its called mem by bethany morrow, an upcoming book from unnamed press that sounds like a mashup of never let me go and eternal. The following is a list of female action heroes and villains who appear in action films, television shows, comic books, and video games and who are thrust into a series of challenges requiring physical feats, extended fights, extensive stunts and frenetic chases. Kill bill 2003 the bride uma thurman for the record, there are several tarantino classics which feature a strong female lead pulp fiction, true romance, from dusk till dawn, but kill bill has to take the cake. Fantasyscifi books with strong female characters 1024 books.
Science fiction only no fantasy urban fantasy, and only 1 book. In fact, we often find better representation in the fantasy realm than in any other genre. The best new fantasy fiction retells ancient stories with complex female characters. Fantasyscifi books with strong female characters 1024. Ive got 15 fantastic books and series you can pick up today to read all about powerful. Independent, strong, and feminist, jane eyre is an unforgettable character in a classic novel exploring social classes, love, sexuality, and morality. Litring connecting readers and authors with shiny new. Here are 12 kickass women from scifi and fantasy who are the best kind of strongtheir own. Female protagonists in science fiction and fantasy the. What is the first science fiction book ever written that we know of. There are plenty of strong female characters in this one, but the main heroine is clarke griffin, a young woman forced into a position of. Ive got 15 fantastic books and series you can pick up today to read all about powerful women warriors and. These are just a few that come immediately to mind.
I scoured the internet for the best books i could find and this list is the result. Female protagonists in science fiction and fantasy the illustrated page kickass female characters and fantasy books go hand in hand. Ellen ripley is the greatest female character in scifi or fantasy, and also one of the greatest movie characters of all time. I have 12 femaledriven scifi and fantasy novels youll love to read, so be sure to add these new and newish adventures to your tbr, a. Read these 19 epic science fiction books before theyre made into movies by rick marshall october 9, 2019 its a good time to be a fan of science fiction movies. Canada loves a good female lead in a scifi setting, and continuum is a great example of their success. Anne mccaffrey has some good introductory scifi books with strong female leads some of them morph into love stories, but it isnt the basis of the books, more of an occasional conclusion. Carmilla by joseph sheridan le fanu is an 1871 vampire story centered. What are the best science fiction novels with a female. Top 10 female detectives in fiction books the guardian. So, in honor of star trek, weve made a list of the top 40 kickass female scifi characters from some of our favorite tv shows and movies. Well be doing two 25 greatest lists per day all throughout september, looking back at the moments, people. At the same time, the book also cleverly tells the story of a country on the verge of change.