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On March 28 2014 05:53 Falling wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 05:38 Thrill wrote:
I don't get it. You gave up on ASoIAF which undoubtedly has the best female characters?
As for female authors i liked Margaret Weise & Tracy Hickman. I suspect my opinion on ASoIAF is in the minority, but I ran out of vaguely sympathetic characters except maybe Arya by that point. Also, I couldn't stand the sexual violence. The series is well written which is why I got as far as I did. (I abandoned ship on Stephen R Donaldson immediately- call me a sensitive soul, but despite it not being terribley graphic, I lost all interest just on the concept.) GRRM created a bleak series and not in away that I enjoy. Hm. Maybe some people didn't like getting tricked by the title...
I have to agree with this sadly. I still read it to the end but it was disappointing that my favourite chars all died, lol. Always reading stuff of Cersei was just making me mad, such a stupid person. Haha.
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England2652 Posts
On March 28 2014 05:40 Wesso wrote:
When I hadn't read as much fantasy yet I liked the Black Magician Trilogy from Trudi Canavan which has a female main character. It probably isn't deep but I enjoyed it.
Pretty much spot on. I like Trudi Canavan books but they aren't deep or clever.
In a similar vein, Lian Hearn's Otori books are a Japanese fantasy series (I'm pretty sure for young adults) that I enjoyed as a kid.
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Jennifer Fallon's Medalon series is a lot better than Wolfblade. IIRC, it's a sequel series to Wolfblade, but it was published before Wolfblade in the US because it's better.
Naomi Novik's Temeraire series is a good read, the first few books at least. You could definitely just read the first and forget the rest exist, although the 2-4th books are fine too.
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have written a ton of books, some of which are pretty good. Tracy Hickman is actually a dude though. I'd suggest the Deathgate Cycle (2nd book is the weakest), and the 80s Dragonlance Chronicles/Legends books.
Although come to think of it, Novik and Weis's books have male characters in all the lead roles. Might not be so useful for your purposes.
Digging through my ancient Goodreads list, I found Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which I remember liking as a kid. It has a female main character at least!
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United States13143 Posts
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+1 to this, I'm a quick reader but it took me like two weeks of reading every spare minute I had to get through this (maybe exaggerating a bit  ) and I was reading every spare minute because I was hooked, it's an excellent book/series.
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1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
I too was fooled by this blog title. 1 star for you because the book covers weren't even mildly saucey
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A friend of mine read some Trudi Canavaran series a while back, she doesn't normally read fantasy but she liked it in a light-reading/timewaster kind of way.
Which I suspect means there isn't a terrible lot of, well, actual fantasy parts and more about characters and character relations.
But since you seem to be looking for that you can give it a try.
I feel a bit hesitant recommending something I didn't even read myself, but there you go.
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United States13143 Posts
On March 28 2014 11:19 Birdie wrote:+1 to this, I'm a quick reader but it took me like two weeks of reading every spare minute I had to get through this (maybe exaggerating a bit ) and I was reading every spare minute because I was hooked, it's an excellent book/series.
Are you reading Pact? I thought it started kind of weak, but I think it's gotten better.
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I strongly recommend The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon for an epic story featuring a strong female lead. It's a very good read. It's technically a trilogy, and there's another relatively recent series made as a sequel series to continue the story. My personal opinion is that while the Deed is absolutely fantastic as a self-contained story, the recent series seems less polished. It could be because the final story hasn't been finished, but there are some things happening in the story that don't make a lot of sense.
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Canada11218 Posts
On March 28 2014 11:38 lichter wrote:
I too was fooled by this blog title. 1 star for you because the book covers weren't even mildly saucey
Aw. Does it put you in such a bad mood 
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I'd recommend David Gemmell, easily my favorite. Heroic fantasy with a historical feel. I've read most of the authors in OP and just don't find them as good as the best male authors. They tend to write more emotional/moody characters and focus less on the political/martial aspects that draw me to fantasy. Also tend to end up as longwinded melodramas.
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On March 28 2014 04:40 intrigue wrote:
hm... i never imagined i could take female scifi/fantasy writers seriously until ursula le guin's left hand of darkness. even while reading it i wasn't terribly impressed, until almost towards the end when i felt chills running down my spine. it was a long while ago and i should reread it before i recommend it now but my opinion of it was quite high.
You should check out Ursala K. Leguin's Earthsea trilogy. It's really good. Also, apparently there are another three books that come after, that were written later on. I haven't read them, but I've hear they are not as good as the first 3.
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^Agreed, Ursula's a notable exception. Earthsea was brilliant.
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On March 28 2014 12:51 Durenas wrote:
I strongly recommend The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon for an epic story featuring a strong female lead.
Seconded. It was my favourite book for several years.
As for female authors in fantasy. Maybe try Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover universe. Some 20 books that was written in a semi SF setting with magic. Some books are pure fantasy, others a mix. They are a bit different in that they are oldish and written by somebody that (I feel) was fighting for female rights we now have. The writing isn't the best. The ideas and setting are among the most compelling for me.
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I see that Hobb's earlier books have been suggested but I just want to insert the caveat that her Assassin books while better in my opinion lack that 'female main character' you seemed to be looking for. Her Liveship trilogy does feature that though, and I'd definite compare Althea to Arya in some ways.
Either way all her books in the Rainwilds world are good.
I also highly, highly recommend Guy Gavriel Kay if you're looking for something different. His Fionavar trilogy is very Tolkien-esque (mainly because he worked on The Silmarillion with Christopher Tolkien) but in a good way. Among his historical fantasy books keeping strong female characters in mind I would recommend The Lions of Al-Rassan and the Sarantine Mosaic. The former has a female doctor who holds down one part of the triangle, while the latter has a character based on Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire.
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I love Anne McCaffrey and Sara Douglass, both great series. Read them about 10 years ago, should probably dig them out again and give it another go. I prefer the Starman Trilogy and that Universe over the wayfair redemption from Douglass and the McCaffrey series really takes a big sci-fi turn later on in the series + Show Spoiler +ends up going back in time and showing when mankind landed on the planet and bioengineered the dragons from lizards to fight the spores, interesting stuff....yeah think I am digging that series out again.
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I quite enjoyed Penhaligon trilogy from D.J. Heinrich. The author was a female, although apparently, she was asked to use an pseudonym.
It has a strong main female character, and except first book, there's not all that much importance put on the love-mush mush stuff involved, which I quite liked. And even in the first book, it's quite decent and bearable. I personally find too much romance in fantasy/sci-fi as lame.. if I wanted to read that kind of stuff, I'd read appropriate literature, not sci-fi/fantasy. But, this trilogy in particular, I loved and still re-read it from time to time.
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On March 28 2014 12:24 Elyvilon wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2014 11:19 Birdie wrote:+1 to this, I'm a quick reader but it took me like two weeks of reading every spare minute I had to get through this (maybe exaggerating a bit ) and I was reading every spare minute because I was hooked, it's an excellent book/series. Are you reading Pact? I thought it started kind of weak, but I think it's gotten better.
I haven't started, although I may during university break. We'll see 
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