I am a bitter Fantasy fan (now with recs)

[mothwing]

I have been reading Fantasy written by English and American authors ever since I was fourteen. It is my favourite genre, and most of my favourite books are Fantasy books. This genre was my cure for sadness, loneliness, and boredom ever since I discovered it. And even though I love that genre and spend quite an amount of time defending its literary

Comments

[yond_cassius]

Diana Wynne Jones, a British mostly YA author, writes amazing female characters. She's one of the few writers I've read who can write interesting, flawed but sympathetic teenage/early twenties women. Fire and Hemlock, Hexwood and Deep Secret are all good places to start.

I have a soft spot for Alison in the Owl Service by Alan Garner, but you might disagree. Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series has teenage characters who convince, and don't fall into the "strong female character" archetype.

In sci-fi Dan Simmons women are interesting, my favourite being Brawne Lamia in Hyperion.

[mothwing]

Oh yes, Diana Wynne Jones manages to write female characters.

Susan coopers books are very special to be because the The Dark is Rising series was my favourite when I was ten - but back then, I mostly identified as male, so I didn't really pay attention to the female characters.

[lisaquestions]

Oh, tell me about it. I spent ages trying to dig up fantasy novels that featured women as central characters when I was in high school. This has also been on my mind a lot lately, as so much fiction centers around the white cis het man as important/special/etc and the women in his life are just there to enable his destiny or provide relationships.

Kind of related to this rage, I've been seeing a lot of people going on about how characters in various TV shows are horrible - and they always describe how to fix the men, but the women always need to be killed off.

This is a brilliant post, thank you for writing it.

[mothwing]

Thanks for saying that, it means a lot.

Ugh, the treatment of female characters in TV shows by fans is really annoying, especially considering the excuses many are willing to make for their favourite male characters and their shortcomings, while they tend to be more than dismissive whenever anyone brings up concerns on how the female characters are treated or presented.

[squinting_kitty]

Mercedes Lackey is good in that she didn't set off my feminist ire, but I just can't find myself getting super excited about her plot lines. I know I've read the Arrows of the Queen trilogy (not sure what it's called, so that could be wrong) and I think another trilogy or novel that I wasn't crazy about. Any recommendations of other things to try?

[mothwing]

Wow, that comment was badly worded, I'll reword it here.

In the book I read, I remember really liking especially her main character and other female characters, which made up for the fact that I didn't like her writing, which is the reason I didn't go on to reading other books, though.

... Although I ought to add that leafing through it now it does set off all kinds of alarm bells I didn't see back when I was fourteen and loved it. D=

I'm interested in her Last Herald-Mage trilogy, though. :)

Do you have any recommendations of books which specifically feature strong female characters?

[shenth]

Garth Nix's Sabriel and its sequels are fantastic. Excellent world-building, cool plot, and the protagonists are all well-written women.

[squinting_kitty]

I second this rec. It seems geared slightly more towards young adult but it is still very good fiction and kept my interest (and didn't set off my feminist anger button). (I'm 24.)

[aubergine_pilot]

+1

Came in here about to say that. You were much more concise than I'd have been.

[mothwing]

Thanks for the rec! These books I was on the verge of buying several times, I probably ought to.

[squinting_kitty]

I looooove this post and the comments. I'm also an avid fantasy/(sci-fi) reader and it so very often drives me insane because I can't find good books

[squinting_kitty]

Er... that should read:

and manages to not make the characters believable, interesting, and dynamic

Re-worded that sentence and forgot to take that out.

[mothwing]

Terry Pratchett is awesome, and while my opinion may be biased by my ten years of fannish devotion to this man, I don't think my fandom goggles change his awesomeness a lot. His witches series especially has a large variety of awesome and badass female characters, but even in the other novels there are often strong female characters as minor characters.

I tried reading George R.R. Martin's series and put it down pretty much instantly. It is so long-winded, and the story is just horrible - quite apart from the things he does with his characters and what happens to them. Child brides are cool, and marital rape can totally lead to deep affection! Yuck, yuck, yuck.