Heroine Week, Day 7 – Girls Who Do Things by Angie from Angieville

Angie is one of my favorite bloggers, and Angieville is the first blog I visit every time I’m looking for a book to step out of my Romance comfort zone, and in many years of reading it, I’ve never been disappointed. Even when we don’t agree, I find Angie’s reviews helpful and enlightening. So as you can imagine, I’m really excited with her contribution to Heroine Week, which also happens to be the last guest post of the event. 

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Girls Who Do Things by Angie from Angieville

 I am (and always have been) drawn to fantasy heroines because, as Robin McKinley so aptly puts it, they do things. In fact, I have an entire Goodreads shelf devoted to books about Girls Who Do Things. More often than not these girls? They fight. They fight with an astoundingly wide array of weapons, and their individual choice of weapon is--in many ways--an extension of their inner selves. Some of them fight with swords, others with words. Some battle with strands of thread and some with the knowledge they hold in their heads, while others face their demons (both literal and figurative) with nothing but their bare hands. Most are terribly afraid while they do it. Because these women are also smart. They comprehend the dangers they are braving and the value of what they will lose if they fail. They are simultaneously like me and not like me. As I read their stories and swallow their words, I am able to step into their shoes for a time and fight with other weapons against other demons than my own. As a result of turning and returning to them, my relationship with these women is not a casual one. And, perhaps not-so-strangely, it feels far from one-sided. Every time I walk with Aerin up the neverending staircase of Agsded's fortress, every time I kneel next to Senneth as the fire in her veins burns trails of pain through every tendon and sinew of her body, every time I stare out the window with Liadan cupping a lit candle in the darkness, I lend my strength to theirs. And I take courage in return, in knowing I am not alone in my jumbled hope, anger, longing, and determination. No small thing, that.

And so today, because I love a good list, I leave with you ten of my most beloved heroines from fantasy literature. They come from different backgrounds, in all different sizes, at very different stages of their lives, and from wonderfully faraway places that nevertheless glimmer from time to time with vestiges of our own. Maybe you love one of them, too. Maybe you will soon.

Liadan

Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier

Because she refuses to let go of any part of her happiness. And because she heals.

Senneth

Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn

Because she chooses to be both stronger than her mother and kinder than her father. And because she burns.

Del

The Sword-Dancer Saga by Jennifer Roberson

Because she defies all accepted ideals of womanhood in her society. And because she is hell-bent on revenge.

Attolia

The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

Because she does not balk at divesting people of their appendages should the occasion require. And because she believes him. 

Lissar

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

Because she reshapes her life after the most abject of betrayals. And because she survives.

Alanna

The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce

Because she dresses as a boy to become the first female knight in over a hundred years. And because she learns everything the hard way.

Katsa

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Because she is a reluctant assassin. And because she never compromises her integrity.

Rachel

Archangel by Sharon Shinn

Because she shakes off the chains that bind her. And because she is the definition of stubborn

Hermione

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Because she is the greatest witch of her generation. And because she always looks first in a book.

Aerin

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

Because she freaking slays the dragon. And because she holds two worlds within her skin and within her heart.

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