In order to celebrate International Women’s Day, I thought about putting together a list of my favorite female characters of all time. A huge pet peeve of mine was always the female characters, more often than not you have The Hero™ kicking ass and saving the day and his love interest is either there to support him, be saved, or even die in order to further his narrative. We also have the manic pixie girl, that I hate with burning rage.
Yes, we´ve had at some point a boom in stories with girls as main characters, well more like pseudo main characters, where she still completely useless just waiting to be saved by the love interest. and sometimes has to make the very hard decision of choosing between two equally attractive guys, and when I say equally attractive I mean they look basically the same, except one is blond and one is brunet or something. And she somehow still chooses the most toxic one (I am looking at you Twilight)
Ok I got carried away, my point is we have a plethora of very badly written female characters, but today we don´t talk about those. Today we talk about completely badass girls, that take no shit and get stuff done!
So here we go, in no particular order because we don´t stan girl on girl hate in this house!
Deka from The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
Deka is here to smash the patriarchy, full-on! That´s it, that´s enough of a reason to pick up this book. But if you need more, this is one gets a special shout out on this list for the amazing cast of women, the way they work together and life each other is just chef kiss
Tanya from Wench by Maxine Kaplan
Tanya is stubborn, angry, and down to earth. She knows what she wants and she is not afraid to go and take it. I did really loved the fact that she is plus size and not ashamed of it, and also that she fucks up. A lot! I loved to see her getting her happy ending.
Maritza from Cemetery boys by Aiden Thomas
If you were planning on coming at me saying, but this is a book called Cemetery BOYS, about boys doing boy stuff, let me stop you right there. Maritza is the one with the only functional neuron in this trio. Even if she is a secondary character, she is not there just to be saved and help the hero further his journey, she’s a fully-fledged character wither her own agenda.
Tarisai from Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
Speaking of badass heroines with their own agenda, Tarisai takes the gold (because look at how shiny and golden that cover is!!!) but also because her journey is amazing she too takes control of her life and regains her autonomy just in the first 50 pages or so. Just imagine what more she can do!!!
Kamala Khan from Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson
So I am a sucker for superheroes and Kamala Khan is just the girl for the job, and by job I mean saving the world! Because that´s what heroes do insert Thor gif here. Well not necessarily the world, we start small, with New Jersey! But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm!
Laia from An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
I´ve avoided reading this book for a while because the Romanian title sounded very bad and then I read it and holy moly!! Laia gets an extra shout-out for having the right narrative to end up a damsel in distress but managing to be a complete and utter badass. Also, extra points because Helene is my dream girl! I like girls that can kick my ass. Judge me!
Danny from Dreadnought by April Daniels
You know how I said I am a sucker for superheroes? Meet Danny: She´s your normal teenager hiding the fact that she´s transgender from her family, Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, he passed his mantle to her, and those superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now she is dealing with new powers, family issues, AND has to fight great enemies while investigating a murder- all this WHILE saving the world!!
Karina from A song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
You know how I started this by saying “they are equal, no particular order, I love all of them the same”. Yeah, I lied! Karina owns my body and soul. If I would be sent on a deserted island this would be the book I take with me! Karina is so nicely written, with flaws, strengths, and room to grief, be angry and grow. Like any other parents, I do have a favorite! and It´s A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
The Booksnom 