Sort of Transcript:
This week I’m doing the Phenomenal Female Character Book Tag created by Nicole Pierman. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite women in fiction with you, then passing this along to some other authors I love.
1. Your Favorite: Who is your favorite female lead in bookish history?
I hate being asked to pick favorites. HOW DO YOU WANT ME TO CHOOSE ONE?
But at this moment I’ll go with Oree Shoth from The Broken Kingdoms, the second book in the Inheritance Trilogy by NK Jemisin. Oree is a fascinating character in large part because she’s blind. The only thing she can see is magic. The book is written in first person, and her blindness makes her one of the most interesting narrators I’ve ever read. She’s also forthright, strong, and all around awesome.
2. The Scariest: Who is the scariest female character you’ve ever read? (She doesn’t have to be a villain or evil.)
Haha this is a tough one, I don’t scare easy. But Immacolata from Weaveworld terrified me. She’s a witch whose main weapons happen to be the souls of her dead sisters. Did I mention that those sisters were her triplets? And it gets even worse: she strangled those sisters in the womb. She’s been walking around with them ever since, performing all kinds of evil deeds.
3. Oh-so-sassy: Who’s your favorite sassy female character?
Isabelle from The Mortal Instruments (link to book one). She’s the embodiment of sassy, kickass confidence, and there’s one book (I don’t remember which) where she basically reams EVERYONE out, including Clary’s mom, in the best way possible.
4. The Kindest: Which female character is the kindest female character you’ve come across in literature?
Actually stumped on this one. I rarely remember characters because of their kindness. I hate to do this, but SKIP.
5. Best Character Development: The female lead that’s changed the most throughout a book series?
Lirael from the Old Kingdom Series. She starts out in the second book, Lirael as a massively introverted girl struggling with depression. By the end of the third book she’s in, Goldenhand, she’s a powerful and (mostly) confident warrior mage.
6. Sidekicks ROCK: The best female sidekick?
This one has to go to Hermione Granger. Those boys, and the entire wizarding world, would have been doomed without her.
7. Your BFF: The one female character you’d love to have as a best friend?
Kelsea from the Tearling Trilogy (link to book one) would be a great best friend. We have a lot of common, including temper problems and a love of books.
8. Misunderstood: Which female character is the MOST misunderstood?
Cersei Lannister. When we judge her based on our modern ethics and sensibilities she seems all kinds of awful. But she’s a woman in Westeros, and that only leaves her with so many options. Most of her ‘evil’ decisions are really the only choices she can make to stay alive. This is shown a lot better in the books than it is in the show.
9. Save The Day: Who is the one female character you think would always save the day, no matter what she’s up against?
I really want to cheat here and say Buffy. She was in GRAPHIC novels, that counts right 😉
TOTALLY counts. Sticking with Buffy.
10. I Need More: Finally, which female character do you want to see more of in literature?
I’d like to see more female characters who are strong in the same way as Sansa Stark in the current seasons Game of Thrones. Quiet, dignified, very much feminine, but also very capable and strong in her character and morals.