[ SECRET POST #2651 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2651 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 051 secrets from Secret Submission Post #379.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 2 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[ketita]

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon - features a very badass and awesome lady knight.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold - while it's true that the lead character is a male, there are several very awesome women as secondary characters.

Graceling is a YA book, but I liked how for once we get a heroine who does the reluctant assassin thing.

The Far Side of Evil by Sylvia Engdahl - one of my favorite books as a teenager. Features a badass anthropologist who is sent to a developing planet with strict rules not to break the status quo or interfere, how she gets into trouble, and her friendship with a local woman and its results.

[inkdust]

I'm so fond of Graceling. I also really enjoyed Bitterblue but not so much for the characters as the plot weaving.

[(Anonymous)]

Seconding Deed of Paksenarrion. I adore that.

[elialshadowpine]

I really liked the Sharing Knife series by Bujold, as well, especially given the difference in how women are treated in different cultures, farmers and patrollers, but even despite that, there are still some strong-as-hell women. (The MC's older aunt, for instance, may be a farmer woman and disabled but man does she kick some ass.)

I'd also suggest the Vorkosigan books, even though the main series has a male MC. The prequel books are DEFINITELY worth reading, especially Barrayar, for Cordelia's "shopping trip." The main series is full of strong women, and it also unusual for Miles having a very strong relationship with his parents, but especially his mother Cordelia. (I may be a little biased because I love Cordelia and she reminds me so much of my mother. I only wish my dad was more like Aral; instead, he's more like Tien.)

[ketita]

Oh, I love all of Bujold's work, and the Vorkosigan saga is actually one of my favorite sci-fi series ever. While I do agree with you that they're full of awesome women, I didn't list them specifically because the books are centered so strongly around the male characters (Miles, really, most of the time, but also Mark etc.) that in a thread for specifically reccing things with awesome women I felt there were stronger examples.

tbh while I really love Cordelia, I think there are some issues with her characterization, especially in the later books - she's made almost... too perfect, imo, and less human than she was starting out. Which disappointed me a lot, considering how much I liked her character at first.

[elialshadowpine]

I figured that's why you didn't suggest! I figured I'd mention that most of her work is worth reading on that score, though you're right in that the focus is more on the male characters. But for me, it's unusual to find a series with a male MC that also has amazing women, which is why I thought it worth mentioning. :)

I think Cordelia's latter characterization is more because of whose POV we are seeing from. The scene where ... can't remember if it is Miles or Mark... accidentally overhears hears a conversation between her and Aral sounded much more human to me, whereas a lot of the time with her kids in the latter books, she is in Advice Mode. (Such as the scene where she sits the Kouldelkas down on the infamous couch.) My mom in that mode acts very much like Cordelia when she's in that mode, but my mom is also a psych professional.

I'd be really interested in a Cordelia-focused book after the events of Croyoburn, tbh, but I have my doubts that Bujold will ever write that.

[tree_and_leaf]

Chalion is awesome - and the sequel, "Paladin of Souls" has a fantastic older woman as its protagonist.

Actually Bujold in general; even when her main character is a man, the women are always good. They do often have a romance element (well handled), but "Paladin of Souls" doesn't.