manifesta: (Black Jeweled Queen)
Kristin 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.
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..."
"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."
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...
manifesta: (Black Widow's Walk)
I'm 1/3 of the way done writing Black Widow's Walk! *dances* *snuggles book*

With the end of the last scene Deahnna realized something partly inaccurate, and in the current scene I switched to a POV I haven't written in before. She's a minor character, but an important one. I was also finally able to write in some nonheterosexual secondary characters that are adorable and make me squee with happiness. (It also helps that they're courtiers but not nearly so awful as the others.)

I'm not currently reading anything other than psych articles, though I did pick up Lynn Viehl's new Shadowlight in an attempt to keep it on the NYT list for a second week (which it did, and totally because of me). I also found Califa's Daughters by Leigh Richards a few weeks back in an indie store. It has the makings for a feminist fantasy, or in the very least a fantasy that plays with gender roles (ala Anne Bishop). 

It's been raining nonstop lately, which has been disheartening. I love autumn... but I love autumn more when it's sunny and chilly, not rainy and chilly. I just hope it doesn't pour on Halloween. I don't fancy walking down the street in a rather long dress (albeit with boots) and getting soaked.  (For those curious, I'm going as River from Serenity.)

The dress is actually longer than it should be for River's dress, but it's blue and layered like hers. As I was walking around in it the other day, I realized that it's an outfit Deahnna would approve of, if not wear.

I know. I'm weird.

Black Widow's Walk
 
30, 009 / 90,000

Profile

manifesta: (Default)
manifesta

contact info & some sweet links

manifesta at dreamwidth dot org
(or feel free to PM me if you're on DW)

Follow kaylalynn_ on Twitter

Creative Commons License

Subscribe via RSS.
Third Wave Foundation
Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags