Female Primary Protaginest? Fantasy/SCIFI Book Search

[ShadowofSithis]

As the title states i am curious as to if there is a book, hopefully a series of novels, that has a female lead. To better clarify i am hoping to find one that DOESN'T have her portrayed as the helpless princess trope, nor be involved in a painfully sappy romance. Assertiveness would be a nice bonus, as would if the book was set in either dnd or 40k universe.

so does anyone have any ideas or recomendations?

[The Glyphstone]

It's neither D&D nor 40K, but David Weber's Honorverse series is centered around a strong, assertive female protagonist in a sci-fi (specifically, military naval sci-fi) universe. 13 books and counting, plus spinoffs.

WARNING: Mere mentions of Honor Harrington can invoke extremely heated discussions with regards to her being a Canon Sue/overpowered character. YMMV along a rather extreme range. On the other hand, all but the most recent two books are legally free online in the Baen Library, so you can check them out at no cost.

[Serpentine]

Ooo oo oo! Pick me, pick me! Although I don't really know D&D and Warhammer books...

But, I did a list a while ago (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220706). Specifically appropriate for people aged about 8-14ish, but almost all of them are just good reads.

[Lord Tyger]

If you don't mind YA fiction, I highly recommend Dealing with Dragons, and the rest of the Enchanted Forest series. Basically, a princess decides to avoid her arranged marriage by running off and volunteering to become the captive princess of a group of dragons, one of whom, needing someone to cook and organize her treasure, agrees. Consistently fun and funny, with a wide variety of fairy-tales that are more tilted than twisted, and an interesting set of magic systems.

[Yuki Akuma]

I would like to recommend the Old Kingdom series, by Garth Nix - the books composing the main trilogy being Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen.

They're pretty great books, and the main protagonists (Sabriel and Lirael) are anything but helpless princesses, and the romance in the series isn't particularly sappy and is actually quite realistic.

It's essentially medieval fantasy, except for the fact that Sabriel was raised in a kingdom that's more like the late 1800s to early 1900s in England.

[Lord Raziere]

There is:

Vin, of the Mistborn trilogy, the first book is called Mistborn.

however Mistborn itself can be a little dark….but its by Brandon Sanderson so your gonna get some quality work.

……and unfortunately that seems to be the only one I know of….oh well….might be worth trying to find female-lead books in sci-fi and fantasy myself….

no wait, there is also Warbreaker, its about two princesses, neither helpless, also by Brandon Sanderson. they're sisters.

[Seonor]

As the title states i am curious as to if there is a book, hopefully a series of novels, that has a female lead. To better clarify i am hoping to find one that DOESN'T have her portrayed as the helpless princess trope, nor be involved in a painfully sappy romance. Assertiveness would be a nice bonus, as would if the book was set in either dnd or 40k universe.

so does anyone have any ideas or recomendations?

Fantasy:
Everything by Tamora Pierce, start with "The Song of the Lioness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_the_Lioness)." Classic "girl wants to be a knight, dresses as boy and kicks ass" story in the first book, with some interesting variations. Probably most D&D esque of my list.

Terry Pratchett has some good ones, the books with Tiffany Aching as main character fit your criteria best (The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, and I Shall Wear Midnight).

The Sally Lockhart series by Philip Pullman (Ruby in the Smoke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_in_the_Smoke), Shadow in the North and Tiger in the Well) are history, not fantasy, but have one of the best female leads ever. It is set 1872.

Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Lights_%28novel%29) by the same author is fantasy, but some don't like the series.

Momo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momo_%28novel%29) by Michael Ende. Awesome beyond words.

The Old Kingdom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Kingdom_series) series by Garth Nix.

Marion Zimmer Bradley could interest you, especially some of the Darkover books. Combines Fantasy with a bit of SciFi in the later books.

SciFi:

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday_Next) has to be read to be believed.

Tad Williams Otherland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherland) has Irene "Renie" Sulaweyo as one of its main characters. Cyberpunk with many VR worlds.

[The Glyphstone]

If you don't mind YA fiction, I highly recommend Dealing with Dragons, and the rest of the Enchanted Forest series. Basically, a princess decides to avoid her arranged marriage by running off and volunteering to become the captive princess of a group of dragons, one of whom, needing someone to cook and organize her treasure, agrees. Consistently fun and funny, with a wide variety of fairy-tales that are more tilted than twisted, and an interesting set of magic systems.

Hehe, I remember those.

[Zea mays]

Fantasy:
...
Momo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momo_%28novel%29) by Michael Ende. Awesome beyond words.
...

:smallannoyed: it's ridiculously difficult to come across a good English translation of a Michael Ende book that's not the Neverending story.
What is wrong with this world.

[DomaDoma]

There's the first three Novels of the Change, with Juniper Mackenzie, Wiccan post-apocalyptic remnant leader, as one of the two main characters. (In the following books, there's only one main character and he's decidedly male.) She does get romantically involved twice on-screen, but the first time is a one-night stand and the second is a comfortable-second-marriage thing, so I don't think either is particularly sappy.

Bonus viewpoint character: Astrid Larsson. Just... Astrid Larsson. Tiphaine and Sandra are also awesome, but seriously, I have never met anyone who didn't have Astrid in their top five.

[Aotrs Commander]

For fantray, a significant number of Mercedes Lackey Valdemar novels, Trudy Canavan's Black Mage and not quite as good White Priestess (plus I think there's a new one too, which I'be not read)... Two thirds of the three trilogies of Sheri S Teppers True Game series (specifically the Chonicles of Mavin Manyshaped and the Jinian Footseer books, though you'd ideally have to read the True Game ones first to better understand what's going on.)

I'm surprised with fantasy novels you even have to look hard... I think I've read far more fantasy books with female protagonists than not, actually...

Sci Fi may be more difficult, of course.

[SaintRidley]

The bulk of Second Foundation by Asimov follows a female protagonist. It's the second book in the Foundation series.

Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune, the last two books Frank Herbert wrote for the Dune series, follow multiple protagonists, including a few female protagonists.

[Axolotl]

The bulk of Second Foundation by Asimov follows a female protagonist. It's the second book in the Foundation series.Actually it's the third. Foundation and Empire is the second in the series.

[Serpentine]

I would like to point out that most of these are on the list to which I linked :smallbiggrin:

[Lord Seth]

Vampire Academy.

[Vilyathas]

The other Empire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Trilogy) series, by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts. Fantasy setting with lots of Japanese honour themes and backstabbing politics. Light on the fantasy and magic, heavy on the plots. The books are about the female ruler of a small House (think Dune's Houses) who rises from near-extinction into one of the most powerful force in the Empire.




Terry Pratchett has some good ones, the books with Tiffany Aching as main character fit your criteria best (The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, and I Shall Wear Midnight).


CRIVENS!
+1. Monstrous Regiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstrous_Regiment_%28novel%29) also fits, IMO.

[Philistine]

A few heroines more...
- Ky Vatta in Elizabeth Moon's Vatta Trading books (series starts with Trading in Danger)
- Adele Mundy in David Drake's RCN books (series starts with With the Lightnings)
- Eliza in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (series starts with Quicksilver)
- Morn Hyland in Stephen R. Donaldson's Gap Cycle (series starts with The Real Story) (WARNING: it IS Donaldson, so even the protagonists are going to take their turns as both abused and abuser. More than most, his stuff isn't for every taste.)

[Goosefeather]

+1. Monstrous Regiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstrous_Regiment_%28novel%29) also fits, IMO.

The Susan Sto Helit books probably qualify as well, though she sometimes shares the protagonist limelight with other storylines - Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time.
And anything starring the witches, who literally could not be more assertive...

[GloatingSwine]

Saturn's Children would be a good one to go for. Semi-hard SF in a somewhat unique culture (The solar system is populated by robots, humanity having gone extinct long ago.)

[The Underlord]

Someone may have mentioned it already, but the Seven Realms series(I think that is the official series name) by Cinda William Chima has a female protaganist.

[Gnoman]

You might consider David Drake's RCN series. The series has two main protagonists, Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy, that share the spotlight almost equally.

[Feytalist]

Serp's list. It's really all you need.

What's not on that list: It's been mentioned, but Trudi Canavan's books. Especially the Age of the Five (also called Priestess of the White) trilogy and the Black Mage series.

Also just about everything that Anne McCaffrey ever wrote. My personal favourite, back in the day, was the Crystal Singer trilogy.

[Carry2]

What? No love for Susan Calvin?

[Traab]

Hehe, I remember those.

YES! Ive been looking for years trying to remember that book title! i used to love it, then one year my book vanished and I never found it again. Gotta go find me a copy.

Anyways, someone mentioned mercedes lackey, i thought id include a few titles.

By The Sword

Oathbound, Oathbreakers, Oathblood. First two are the series, the last one is a collection of short stories that skips all over the timeline with the main characters.

Arrows of the queen, arrows flight, arrows fall

Winds of fate, winds of change, winds of fury. Main character is a woman, but it also switches perspective from time to time.

I think those are the main ones in the valdemar world that she wrote, I may have missed some. Only downside is they are all connected through the timeline, so there will be spoilers if you decide to go back and read all the valdemar world books later on. But I read them way out of order and still enjoyed it all.

[The Glyphstone]

What? No love for Susan Calvin?

Well, she's not really a 'protagonist' - she's a connecting character and a semi-narrator, but the stories of I, Robot are for the most part about the robots, not Susan.

[Krazzman]

I only know the german names... sorry bout that, I'll try to translate.

Das Kupferne Zeichen - the Copper Sign
Die flüsternden Hände (believe it was called like that) - Whispering Hands
Die Novizin (and the follow ups) - The Novice
Die Schattenkämpferin (from Licia Troisi) - The Shadowfightress? (And the follow up books of Nihal)

Hope this helps.

[Carry2]

Well, she's not really a 'protagonist' - she's a connecting character and a semi-narrator, but the stories of I, Robot are for the most part about the robots, not Susan.

That's mostly true for the original stories, but Ellison's movie screenplay casts her in a rather more central role.

[The Glyphstone]

That's mostly true for the original stories, but Ellison's movie screenplay casts her in a rather more central role.

I hope you're not talking about the Will Smith vehicle...

[SaintRidley]

Actually it's the third. Foundation and Empire is the second in the series.

Whoops. Thanks for that.

[hamishspence]

I rather like Robin Jarvis's Deptford Mice series (The Dark Portal, The Crystal Prison, The Final Reckoning) when it comes to fantasy, female protagonist, younger ages. A lot like the Redwall series, but a bit grimmer in certain respects.

D&D novels- Jeff Grubb & Kate Novak's Curse of the Azure Bonds is an interesting early one.

40K- I'm told the Shia Calpurnia Adeptus Arbites novels are quite good. The Ciaphas Cain novels (Sandy Mitchell) have strong female secondary characters- but those aren't protagonists.

[Seerow]

Seconding Mistborn. I disagree that it's really that dark though. While there are definitely lowpoints, the overall message of the story (by the time you finish the original trilogy) I felt was a very uplifting one.

[Brother Oni]

The Shira Calpurnia 40K novels seem to fit the bill (Crossfire, Legacy and Blind) with an omnibus (Enforcer (http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/Enforcer.html)) available.

Edit: Gah, ninja'ed by hamishspence. That'll teach me for trying to find a link. :smalltongue:

[Bryn]

would be a nice bonus... if the book was set in either dnd or 40k universe.
I remember a review (http://ferretbrain.com/articles/article-720) of a Warhammer 40k book which fits. Probably the only one...

Outside of DnD/40k, try Graceling (http://ferretbrain.com/articles/article-523)?

[Telonius]

Well, I'm writing one now. :smallbiggrin: Should be out on Kindle within a couple weeks. But otherwise?

Winter of Fire, by Sherryl Jordan.
Kind of off the wall, but Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
Song of Fire and Ice is more of an ensemble approach, but there are a few strong (and likeable) female major characters there - Catelyn Stark, Daenerys Targaryen.
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon series has many female leads.

[hamishspence]

Probably the only one...

40K does have a severe lack of female main characters in novels. There's a comic though- Daemonifuge- where the main character is a Sister of Battle- Ephrael Stern.

I think there's a Necromunda novel starring "Mad Donna Ulanti" somewhere.

[Seerow]

Oh also the Empire Trilogy from Raymond E Feist. It runs parallel to his Riftwar Saga, but the main protagonist of this trilogy is female, and it was one of my favorite series from him.

[Ormur]

Iain M. Banks often writes about strong female protagonists in his SF novels. Against a Dark Background is one of the non-Culture ones and is about a woman that leads a mercenary/archaeology team on a faraway planet, it's really dark though.
The newest Culture novel, Surface Detail, has at least two female protagonists, again pretty dark though. Half the chapters in Matter and Inversions also follow women.
My favourite though is the novella State of the Art that's set up as the account of a woman from the (humanoid) alien Culture that visits Earth in the 70's.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Not strictly within the OP requirements but I'd like to throw out Nausicaa from Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Specifically the manga. Its well worth tracking down.



Song of Fire and Ice is more of an ensemble approach, but there are a few strong (and likeable) female major characters there - Catelyn Stark, Daenerys Targaryen.


ASoFaI is way to heavily male and gives practically as much space to non-example Sansa and relatively helpless Arya. Plus I think Catelyn Stark is more of a subversion there... just saying.

[erikun]

Andre Norton had some very strong and capable female characters. I've been picking up a number of her books, and really haven't been disappointed yet. The Scent of Magic immediately comes to mind, with both a capable female protagonist and the prince-princess inversion.

Anne McCaffrey books tend to have strong female characters, although they also tend towards romance. I rather liked The Rowan and related books back when I was growing up.

Can I mention James Patterson's Maximum Ride books here? Modern teenage superpowered-hero fantasy, but Max (the main character) is a likable, independent, level-headed female lead.


For my off-the-wall recommendation, I'll also mention The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin. Why? Because how often do you read anything from a Russian author? It is also pretty well written, although it contains several mature themes.


Seconding Mistborn. I disagree that it's really that dark though. While there are definitely lowpoints, the overall message of the story (by the time you finish the original trilogy) I felt was a very uplifting one.
I found Mistborn and Elantris to be "prime-time dark", which is to say that the badguys do some pretty terrible things off-screen and are generally mean, but don't really do too much to the main characters beyond what dramatic tension dictates.

Yes, there is that one point in each book where things go from a bad to worst-possible-ever situation, but that is it.

[The Glyphstone]

Can I mention James Patterson's Maximum Ride books here? Modern teenage superpowered-hero fantasy, but Max (the main character) is a likable, independent, level-headed female lead.



The first or second ones, maybe. Once they turn into environmentalist bookends, any quality the actual narrative had goes out the window.

[Vilyathas]

The Kate Daniels series (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KateDaniels), urban fantasy similar to the Dresden Files.

The Merchant Princes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMerchantPrincesSeries) by Charles Stross, about a female journalist who discovered her long-lost family is a powerful interdimensional trading consortium.

Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority (http://www.amazon.com/Jenny-Sparks-Secret-History-Authority/dp/1563897695) is a comic book, but one I recommend very highly. The book spans six issues and several decades in the life of one superhero and how she meets the members of her future team.

[DrK]

I would recommend the 10 book epic Malazan tale of the fallen by Steven Erikson. A huge ensemble cast including many very strong female roles. Tavore I'm looking at you...

[John Cribati]

I Posit The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Or maybe it was Thorns and Fire).
If only because The main character is a fat girl with low self esteem (insert your own joke about the target audience). And yes, she is a princess. And she has a "Chosen One" thing going on. But the story mostly revolves around her becoming an active, assertive force in the world. It's full of political intrigue and action and all that good stuff.

[Goosefeather]

ASoFaI is way too heavily male and gives practically as much space to non-example Sansa and relatively helpless Arya. Plus I think Catelyn Stark is more of a subversion there... just saying.

I wouldn't exactly call Arya 'helpless', especially for someone of her age - and even Sansa is showing signs of moving towards being not entirely useless, but I'm with you on Catelyn. Personally I didn't even find her terribly likable. You do also have Cersei, Brienne, and Asha who all confront issues of sexism, but all-in-all, yeah, probably not the kind of thing the OP is looking for.

[shadow_archmagi]

If you don't mind YA fiction, I highly recommend Dealing with Dragons, and the rest of the Enchanted Forest series. Basically, a princess decides to avoid her arranged marriage by running off and volunteering to become the captive princess of a group of dragons, one of whom, needing someone to cook and organize her treasure, agrees. Consistently fun and funny, with a wide variety of fairy-tales that are more tilted than twisted, and an interesting set of magic systems.

I LOVED THESE BOOKS.

So much.

[Kd7sov]

Some of hers have already been mentioned, but I'd just like to reiterate Elizabeth Moon's books. Yes, some of them (such as The Speed of Dark) are from a male perspective, but she's also got the Herris Serrano books and the Vatta's War tetralogy (I think, though I could be missing a book or two in my count), both of them spacefaring adventure with strong female leads.

And, of course, The Deed of Paksenarrion (and yes, Serpentine, I know it's on your list, but that's a big list with lots of stuff to dig through), which was designed from the ground up as "this is how a D&D Paladin should act". To the point where a sufficiently dedicated fan could stat out several of the characters, and most of the identified gods are very blatant renames of the D&D defaults. The follow-up (Paladin's Legacy, if I remember correctly) that she's working on now departs from that, but continues in the same world and focuses largely on another main female character.

Venturing a bit further afield, I could point to a number of Star Trek novels that make heavy use of Colonel Kira or various female captains, both established and original, but I don't know that they're quite what you're after...

There's The Dragon Quartet by Marjorie B. Kellogg, whose main characters are evenly split along gender lines and only Erde (and her dragon) even appears in the first one. Well, along with various secondary characters and antagonists.

I haven't read a lot of hers, but if you can get past some unusually-constructed prose Robin McKinley may be for you. The Hero and the Crown, which I picked up many years ago and have loved ever since, has a minor princess who takes up dragon-slaying.

[Man on Fire]

How about The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKilip?
If you can get past it being part of larger series, then Dreams of Steel from Glen Cook's Chronolicles of the Black Company which replaces te usual narrator and protagonist with his love interest, the Lady of Charm (think female Sauron).
I haven't read it, but I heard some good things about The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - it's a take on Arthurian legend from the perspective of Morgan Le Fay.

Also, later books in The Witcher series, those not yet published in English sadly, starts to divide the focus between Geralt and Ciri if that counts.

[Talya]

If you want DnD books, and don't mind Ed Greenwood's libido coloring his stories, Silverfall: Stories of the Seven Sisters qualifies. (usually.)

On the Sci-fi front, "This Alien Shore" by C.S. Friedman is excellent.

I'd also second McCaffrey, though I haven't read the Crystal Singer books. I'd recommend the entire Pern series, though they go through several protagonists, some of whom are female. (Lessa in Dragonflight, Menolly in the first two books of the Harper Hall trilogy, Moretta, Nerilka, others.)

[Misery Esquire]

Song of Fire and Ice is more of an ensemble approach, but there are a few strong (and likeable) female major characters there - Catelyn Stark, Daenerys Targaryen.

The rest of the series after Ice and Fire gave in to me creating this nickname for the writer ;

George R(-ape) R(-ape) M(-urder)artin.

Because seriously. Those books. :smallconfused:

[Hopeless]

As the title states i am curious as to if there is a book, hopefully a series of novels, that has a female lead. To better clarify i am hoping to find one that DOESN'T have her portrayed as the helpless princess trope, nor be involved in a painfully sappy romance. Assertiveness would be a nice bonus, as would if the book was set in either dnd or 40k universe.

so does anyone have any ideas or recomendations?

"Trouble with demons" comes to mind will have to check to give you the leads name but it involves a society where elves and orcs live side by side in an uneasy truce.

The lead comes into possession of an amulet that links her to a soul sucking artefact and it boosts her powers to coerce her into feeding it and she is somewhat resistant to the idea and has help from a former and would like to become her latest paramour of an orc wizard who runs his own nightclub and wants nothing to do with the latest ruler of the orc kingdom which has its own civil war between the two princes.
The elves occasionally hire her to act as a spy or to locate items whether stolen or kidnapped people and the Council of Magic have their own guards called Paladins one of whom is all but a bard in terms of his particular form of magic and is after her and not just for the amulet either!

The latest book is due out in about a month I really need to reread them in the meantime!

Katherine Katt of the "Touched by an Alien" series of which Alien Diplomacy is the latest release in that series.
Her dad is a history professor with a sideline in cryptography, her mum is head of her own dept in Homeland Security and her first act in the book is to kill a superpowered killing machine with an expensive pen her father bought her and you'll may as well read the rest to see where they go from there!

How about the Elemental Assassin series?

[TARDIS]

My absolute favourite would have to be Polgara the Sorceress by David and Leigh Eddings - the Eddings are one of my favourite fantasy authors and, in my mind, you can't get a more iconic female fantasy heroine than Polgara. Unfortunately, it is book 12 in a 12 book series (13 if you count the Riven Codex) so it's not exactly easy for one to jump in and read it without also going through the Belgariad, the Malorian, and Belgarath the Sorcerer. However, it does match up with what you wanted - a strong female lead who is involved with a few romances along her journey but is not dominated by them (her biggest moment of love-related angst comes over her affinity for a people, though her sister and her relatives also factor in. Part of this is because they deal with the romance earlier on in the series). While the earlier books do focus on male heroes, the Eddings are pretty well known for writing strong female characters (specifically the same 2-3 strong female characters over and over and over again who continually point out the failures and foibles of the menfolk) so it might be worth a look :smallwink:

Tehanu, last book of the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin was also written from a woman's point of view. Likewise there are a couple books in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffry which feature female leads... I remember I particularly liked the Harper's Hall series, but those were years ago.

And if you want a good, solid sci fi novel, may I recommend Articles of the Federation by Keith R. A. DeCandido - yes, a Star Trek novel, but this is post-Enterprise and post-Nemasis Star Trek, when the novels were set free to do whatever they wanted without worrying about the show. And Articles of the Federation really sets up the new Trek-verse by introducing some of the themes that are still running in the novel line today. If you want to continue on, the ensemble cast of the Destiny Trilogy does feature President Bacco, Ezri Dax and Erica Hernandez as key characters alongside Riker and Picard. And being the Trek fan that I am, I thoroughly enjoyed all of them :smallbiggrin:

[lord_khaine]

If you don't mind YA fiction, I highly recommend Dealing with Dragons, and the rest of the Enchanted Forest series. Basically, a princess decides to avoid her arranged marriage by running off and volunteering to become the captive princess of a group of dragons, one of whom, needing someone to cook and organize her treasure, agrees. Consistently fun and funny, with a wide variety of fairy-tales that are more tilted than twisted, and an interesting set of magic systems.

I liked the first book, thanks for pointing out that its an actual serie :smallsmile:

[hamishspence]

I read the first two under different names- Dragonsbane and Dragon Search - they were enjoyable.

For less human protagonists, Robert Bakker's Raptor Red is in interesting one- the protagonist is a female Utahraptor.

[warty goblin]

Seconding Mistborn. I disagree that it's really that dark though. While there are definitely lowpoints, the overall message of the story (by the time you finish the original trilogy) I felt was a very uplifting one.

Mistborn had characters?


If you want something quite different, and in its own way very bleak, try Firethorn (http://www.amazon.com/Firethorn-Sarah-Micklem/dp/055358801X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334333984&sr=1-2). Ignore the cheesy cover, it has nothing to do with the story. It's very light on the fantasy, very long on being a believably gritty account of life as a camp follower in a medieval style army, which is not a perspective you get very often. Obviously if lots of sex and patriarchy isn't your thing, this isn't your book, though.

Don't read the sequel, it takes everything interesting about the first book, and throws it down a very deep well.

[thompur]

[QUOTE=Seonor;12994239]

SciFi:

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday_Next) has to be read to be believed.

I cannot reccommend this highly enough. They are lots of fun!:smallcool:

[erikun]

While it doesn't fit in your medieval fantasy/science fiction requirements, Soulless by Gail Carriger and the rest of the five-book series is a Victorian fantasy setting with a very strong (and highly amusing) female lead of Alexia Tarabotti.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

If you can find them, check out the "Justicar and Escalla" books by Paul Kidd.

In fact, check out almost anything by Paul Kidd. Red Sails in the Fallout has two female leads, although they are mutated female animals (quall and lab rat). All are very funny and enjoyable. Red Sails is a post-apopalyptic story done for the Gamma World line, J&E were for D&D Greyhawk.

Paul has his own line of books as well, usually with female leads.

[Wardog]

Orthe: Chronicles of Carrick V by Mary Gentle.

It's about a woman who travels to a (seemingly) primitive (medieval tech-level) alien world as a diplomat, to try to determine if they are suitible to enter into a trading relationship with earth, and who gets drawn into a complex web intrigue between the various native factions.

I won't say any more about the plot, just that I thought it was very good.

[Terraoblivion]

Not quite sure if they fit well enough to really recommend, but Spice and Wolf might be an option. Lawrence might technically be more of a protagonist than Holo, but understanding her and seeing her behavior and its effects on people around her is still the heart of the story. The other reasons why I'm not sure whether to recommend it is that the romance is clearly there and the translation is kinda stiff. Also, I get the feeling that the op is going for something a bit more actiony and popcorny than a story about medieval economic crime.

That said it is a good story with a pair of highly developed main characters who have a complex, very interesting relationship. Especially Holo is interesting with her multilayered, witty dialog, unique and increasingly complex motivation and playful, dominant attitude. That she comes off every bit as smart as she claims to be only helps. The romance is also based on mutual cooperation and respect, while being powered and driven by snarky banter, playful insults and being tied together in an increasing number of fairly severe crimes.

If it had actually been translated I'd also recommend the very poorly named Miniskirt Space Pirates, those of you who watch anime might know that version under the name Mouretsu Pirates or Bodacious Space Pirates, that despite the name has no miniskirts or any kind of sexual content. Instead it has elaborate world building, surprisingly hard science fiction and basically every major character being an independent, assertive woman or girl. There is also only one romance, which is a minor element of the story, and is between two of the most badass girls. Unfortunately the books haven't been translated, but keep an eye out for them and ignore the title if they do.

[Mewtarthio]

I found Mistborn and Elantris to be "prime-time dark", which is to say that the badguys do some pretty terrible things off-screen and are generally mean, but don't really do too much to the main characters beyond what dramatic tension dictates.

...Really?

Every major character except Spook, Breeze and Sazed is dead by the end of the trilogy. And Spook and Sazed really get put through the wringer. Things aren't exactly sunshine and roses for Breeze, either.

Okay, it's not exactly A Song of Ice and Fire, but there's a huge gap between George RR Martin and a somewhat dark primetime drama.

[Leon]

The Well of Echoes quartet by Ian Irvine.

[Ozfer]

If you don't mind a little romance, then the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfield is awesome. It's a steampunk alternate history series, based off of World War 1.

Actually, the lead role is shared by two characters, one male, but still.