‘I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king’

b2bf5-toptentuesday2

This week over at the Broke and the Bookish the Topic for Top Ten Tuesday is:

Top Ten Favorite Heroines From Books

This was more difficult that I imagined mainly because I found myself with quite a lot to choose from so narrowing it down was difficult.

  1. Lady Trent from Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons.  I love this series and Lady Trent is an excellent character who refuses to be restrained by the demands that polite society of age would place upon her.
  2. Mercy Thompson from Patricia Briggs series of books about werewolves and shapeshifters (well and plenty of other characters from the supernatural world).  I really like Mercy she’s a gutsy character and certainly not a damsel in distress – but she’s not stupid and not afraid to ask for help when she needs to.
  3. Miriam Black from Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig.  I just really like Miriam.  She comes across as a hard assed, foul mouthed so and so but underneath it all she is softer than she likes to imagine.  I think that being able to predict a person’s death simply by touching them has given her a harder exterior than most and pushed her to a fairly solitary life but she always tries to do the right thing.  Even if it doesn’t sometimes feel like that.
  4. Suzume from M L Brennan’s Generation V.  I love this character.  Suzume is a Kitsune which means she’s actually a fox that can turn into a human.  She’s got such a great sense of humour, she can stick up for herself and she stands by her friends.
  5. Eowyn from Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring – who with the help of a hobbit helped to bring down one of the worst enemies of the final battle ‘I am no man’!
  6. Atlanta Burns from the book of the same name by Chuck Wendig.  Another fantastic character with a dark and sad past, scarred by past events who is still not too scared to stick up for those in need.
  7. Shara from Robert Bennett’s City of Stairs.  Such a wonderful character.  Intelligent and witty and able to calmly analyse a situation even under threat.  A book loving woman who’s motto could be ‘the pen is mightier than the sword.
  8. Wydrin from Jen William’s Copper Promise.  She’s a sell sword come rum swigging pirate.  Sassy, smart, clever with her twin swords – she’d give Jean Tannen and his sisters a run for his money!
  9. Lisbeth from Stieg Larsson’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Lisbeth is another young lady with a sad past.  Analytical and calm she isn’t afraid of her own company and her knowledge of computers and hacking help her to tackle her enemies.
  10. Spring from Angus Watson’s Age of Iron – a young character, mysterious and enigmatic.  I can’t tell you much about her because it would definitely contain spoilers for the book.

That’s my top ten – like I say, I had a good few more but have contained myself!

35 Responses to “‘I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king’”

  1. TheSkepticalReader

    Finally read the City of Stairs so definitely agree with Shara! And of course, Eowyn! ❤

    • lynnsbooks

      Share was an excellent character I really liked it and Eowyn – well, she is no man1
      Lynn 😀

  2. thefictionalreader

    Oh I love Eowyn! I was actually thinking about The Lord of the Rings when trying to think of some heroines but she never came to mind… I would have loved to include Galadriel or Arwen but they only play a minor role in the actual book…

    Great list! 😀

    • lynnsbooks

      Thanks – I think you could have definitely mentioned Galadriel or Arwen – they both play a part after all! Anyway, I can’t resist a mention of LotR.
      Lynn 😀

      • thefictionalreader

        I know the feeling! It’s like I try to include it in every list I make :p

  3. Jazmin Jade

    Eowyn is a truly awesome choice.

    • lynnsbooks

      She is a great character and I love that Tolkien, even though you might think he didn’t really use a lot of females – he still made them strong and capable.
      Lynn 😀

  4. Michael

    A great list. I’ve only met about half of these.

    I was tempted to but Lizbeth on my list, but I didn’t. I like her as a character, but I’m not sure she’d be someone that I’d want to be friends with. 😉

    • lynnsbooks

      I must admit that Lizbeth really grew on me! I know she wasn’t a perfect character so I can absolutely appreciate not everyone liking her but I couldn’t help myself. I think she’d definitely be difficult to befriend.
      Lynn 😀

  5. christine danielle

    Never read any of these books but they seem amazing.
    MY TOP TEN TUESDA! ❤

    • lynnsbooks

      That must be a first for my list! Thanks for stopping by.
      Lynn 😀

  6. Tammy

    Really good list! You mentioned a lot of books that are on my TBR pile but I haven’t read yet. But yay for Atlanta Burns! I picked her too:-D

    • lynnsbooks

      She sprang to mind first tbh – but I have only recently read the book so no surprise I guess.
      Lynn 😀

  7. Nathan

    I admit I may have fallen in love, just a little bit, with Suzume. But how could I not? She could run circles around me, physically and mentally, what more could I ask for?

    • lynnsbooks

      Suzume is ace! She’s just such a good character.
      I don’t think you could ask for more tbh!
      Lynn 😀

  8. Leona

    I added Copper Promise to my Goodreads tbe a while back but I had no idea it featured a sellsword- pirate girl! Wow. Moved it higher up in my list.
    Great list and awesome book haul, btw!

    • lynnsbooks

      The Copper Cat is one of my favourite characters at the moment – Copper Promise and Iron Ghost are excellent – i think you’d really enjoy them. Will await your thoughts.
      Lynn 😀

      • Leona

        I have a rather huge stack of TBR books but I hope I will get to those two this year!

  9. Cora @ Tea Party Princess

    Ooh what a fantastic list 🙂 I’ve only read about half of these so my TBR has just increased!
    Cora @ Tea Party Princess

    • lynnsbooks

      That is one of the things about TTT your tbr groans under the strain!
      Lynn 😀

  10. jessicabookworm

    Interesting choices, really pleased to see Eowyn and Lisbeth on your list. I really like this topic I think I might have to do my own list 🙂

    • lynnsbooks

      Yes! Do a list – I’d love to see your top 10 heroines.
      Lynn 😀

  11. Paula S. Jordan

    Thank you, Lynn. A whole list of heroines and writers whom I had (mostly) never heard of. Wonderful!

    • lynnsbooks

      I hope you pick some of them up and more to the point – enjoy them.
      Lynn 😀

  12. Wendleberry

    Lisbeth! ♥ (I haven’t actually read the books, and don’t know if i could stomach them, but i’ve seen the (Swedish-American) film and loved her.)

  13. Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

    Booyah, I have read every single book on your list! And I can’t agree more with a bunch of them. 1-4 is already a dream team 🙂

    • lynnsbooks

      That’s a good idea – a dream team of fantasy characters!
      Lynn 😀

  14. caitlinstern

    Mercy is pretty amazing. So is Anna, but there’s just something extra special about a shape shifting coyote among werewolves.

  15. “Everywhere I look, I see the repulsive sight of hundreds, thousands of revolting little children”, | Lynn's Book Blog

    […] for Top Ten Tuesday I picked my top ten favourite females of fiction – today I thought I’d match that with 10 super […]

  16. Genki Jason

    The only one I’m familiar wit is Lisbeth because I watched the film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

    I did something similar to this with anime!

    • lynnsbooks

      I think Lisbeth is such a great character! I really enjoyed those books!
      Lynn 😀

  17. Laura @ canido52

    Eowyn and Lisbeth are great choices. I haven’t read some of the other books but I’m sure they are too! I would add Katniss from Hunger Games – bold, brave and just generally awesome!

    • lynnsbooks

      Thanks Laura – everybody loves Katniss don’t they? I think anyway!
      Lynn 😀

  18. Tabitha (Not Yet Read)

    I’ve read the first five on your list and heck yes excellent picks. I should add some of those others to my read list. The Copper Promise is on there at least 🙂

Leave a comment