Favourite female lead...

[fajrdrako]

February 28, 2008:
Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)

Difficult choice. Off the top of my head, my first thought was of Lady Katherine Samantha Campion Talbert from Ellen Kushner's Privilege of the Sword. I also thought of Kate Somerville from the Lymond novels by Dorothy Dunnett, but Kate can't be called the female lead, even if I wish she had been. Who else? I'm quite fond of Kinsey Milhone, and Leonie from Georgette Heyer's These Old Shades, and Heyer's Venetia as well. From Lois McMaster Bujold, Cordelia Naismaith, and Fawn.

There are a number of action-hero women I particularly love: Renee Montoya, Dani Reese, Bridget Logan, Zoe Washburne, Kara Thrace, Sharon Agathon.

Then there's Leo from The Friendly Young Ladies by Mary Renault - it isn't, unfortunately, a good book, but Leo really made an impression on me.

In most of my favourite books, its the male protagonists who make an impression. There are not as many strong women in fiction as I would like. In Jane Eyre, for example, I like Rochester much more than Jane; in Pride and Prejudice, I like Mr. Darcy more than Elizabeth.

In comics, there are more. Elektra was a favourite, back in her Daredevil days. Jean Grey, Sue Storm-Richards, Domino, Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, Rachel Summers, Natasha Romanov, Catwoman in the hands of a good writer, Saturn Girl, the team of Ayla and Vi from vol.4 of Legion of Super-Heroes. Maggie and Hopey, Omaha the Cat Dancer, Thorn from Bone, and Red Sonja from the days of Barry Windsor-Smith. And always, always, always, Supergirl.

Is that enough of a list? I'm bound to think of more.

And - why? The women I like have courage and individuality, integrity and a strong personality. They are independent, smart, and distinctive. They respect others and themelves - okay, with some lapses.

basically, they have the same qualities I look for in a male protagonist.

Comments

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

I don't particularly want to read it again. Not that it wasn't good, but I had a few issues that I don't want to revisit

Oh, hmm. Does that extend to not wanting to say what the issues were? You've got me curious now, but obviously feel free to ignore my curiosity - it only kills cats, not LJ-ers. But depending on what the issues were you may or may not enjoy PoS, so I withdraw my whole-hearted recommendation!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Does that extend to not wanting to say what the issues were?

No, not at all - it's nothing esoteric. Just that Caz's depression was so convincing that it reminded me way too much of my own bout with serious depression, which is not something I like to be reminded of, simply because it was so difficult and painful.

I take it that Paladin of Souls has a different theme, and I will probably like it much more. I did enjoy The Hallowed Hunt but nothing like the extent to which I enjoy the Vorkosigan novels.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sorry - my mum is bipolar and was hospitalised a few times when I was living at home. I don't get how depression feels myself but I've seen it and it sucks - I'm glad you're in a better place.

I never thought of Caz as depressed particularly - more recovering from trauma and afraid - but I guess I can see it.

In Paladin of Souls, Ista is in the position of having come out of the fog of the curse (which for her in the first book was certainly like depression) and trying to find a path for the rest of her life and some freedom from her past. Like Caz, she doesn't start of from the best place emotionally, and she has more rage in her than he does. So, I don't know - it does have a different feel to it than CoC, but I couldn't say whether you'd like it more.

I was disappointed with The Hallowed Hunt. I felt it lacked the clarity of the worlds and societies LMB normally conveys and the central characters were a little empty. I didn't really feel like I knew either Ingrey or Ijada by the end and never connected with them, and Ingrey was very reactive as a character - he just seemed to get carried along by events all the time with no real plan.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're in a better place.

Yes, me too! I have always been a cheerful, calm, philosophical and positively-inclined sort of person and never dreamed I could become depressed. Until it crept up on me, and it was bad for a while. I survived and recovered - but wouldn't ever want to go through that again.

So maybe it was a funciton of when I read The Curse of Chalion, but his PTSD sounded and felt just like my depression. And I used to love books with depressed heroes - still do, depending on the hero and the nature of his depressoin - but that book was just way, way too close to how I was feeling. Brought it all back. Made reading that book a gruelling and difficult experience.

Yes, in The Hallowed Hunt I liked the characters more than I liked the plot, and the world seemed a little shallow to me. Not much substance there. I was terribly disappointed in the villain - Horseriver? was that his name? - who went, I thought, from fascinating to banal in about one chapter.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

I was terribly disappointed in the villain - Horseriver? was that his name?

I don't even remember what he was trying to do, much less his name!

I think it was actually meant to be the same world as Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls, but in a different region. I'm sure I remember them talking about the 5 gods at one point. But yes, it was a more shallow depiction than in those books - I couldn't get any sense of it at all.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Re Horseriver, who many or may not have been named that:

I don't even remember what he was trying to do, much less his name!

yes. I liked the character until he turned out to be a nasty villain. I think he wanted to control the dead. (the undead?) I don't remember why.
For power, presumably.