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Please recommend me fantasy novels with Female protagonist as main character


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Looking to increase my library of non Sanderson fantasy novels with female protags as main character.  Hopefully no longer than 3 books long in series, but I can tolerate up to 7 for financial and space reasons (for now)

Bonus points if said female mc is a magic user.

Tragic/sad ending is fine, just don't spoil it if this is the case.

 

EDIT: Example: Healer series by Maria V Snyder, Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas.

 

Thanks boys and girls!

Edited by Ilythyrra
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Please note, I am looking for stories that feature swords and magic, not modern day tools, unless it features a nice spin on it, like alloy of law.  Please no stories that mirror too closely current real world politics, or space stations, even if these would be good.

 

Try to keep it Sanderson like, for lack of a better term.  Or Tolkienesque?

Elder Scrolls as opposed to Fallout.

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You're asking me for BOOK REFERENCES?!?!?!?! MWAHAHAHAHAHA

Okay, so Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland. On the middle school level, but it's fantastic. Plenty of female main characters, some of whom are magic users maybe depending on how you look at it. They're all dragons. My profile pic is from it and I HIGHLY recommend it. First book is The Dragonet Prophecy.

Also Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale. Really good and fills the requirements of female protags who are magic users. First book is The Goose Girl.

Eon and the sequel Eona by Alison Goodman. Fulfills the requirements. First book is Eon.

The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron. Fulfills the requirements. First book is The Spirit Thief. Great series.

This is controversial, but, well, I like the series. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Fulfills the requirements. First book is Twilight (of course). And while we're at it, she also wrote The Host (standalone) which fulfills the requirements and The Chemist (standalone) which has a female protag but she doesn't use magic. And all of what she writes is set on Earth, rather than somewhere else like everything else here. But I have to at least offer it.

I can suggest more, but I can't promise that they'll be adult or even sometimes teenager content. But really books can be good regardless of genre or target age, as shown with multiple successful authors.

And this isn't a book, but it is fantasy, set in a world that is not real, with lots of female main protagonists that use magic (though they might not call it magic, similar to Alcatraz's technology debate). It's a really good, fairly clean, AMAZING-music-containing anime called RWBY. I love it, so I do recommend that even though it isn't a book.

I...may have gotten slightly carried away there. Good luck finding books and have fun reading!

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1 minute ago, Sunbird said:

I second @AonEne's recommendation of the Eli Monpress series! Absolutely fantastic.

Although for some reason the ending wasn't my thing. I mean, it rocked, but for some reason I wanted

Spoiler

Miranda to be a Power. I don't know why.

The rest was great.

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2 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Although for some reason the ending wasn't my thing. I mean, it rocked, but for some reason I wanted

  Reveal hidden contents

Miranda to be a Power. I don't know why.

The rest was great.

Thank you for seconding his or her recommendation, and for protecting me by using the spoiler tag!  Most people don't care when it comes to these online things, so I am happy to finally meet someone who does!

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2 minutes ago, Ilythyrra said:

Thank you for seconding his or her recommendation, and for protecting me by using the spoiler tag!  Most people don't care when it comes to these online things, so I am happy to finally meet someone who does!

This is the most intelligent and articulate fandom I've ever met. And that WAS the compliment, everyone, don't go quoting Syl on me...

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17 minutes ago, Snipexe said:

The hero and the crown, and the blue sword, both by Robin McKinley. These are amazing books, so good in fact, that my mom, who has read all of Sanderson says that these are her favorite books.

Added to my amazon list, same as many of the others mentioned here so far!  Thanks everyone.

 

Wanted to add that I am not against nudity or graphic violence either in these fantasy novels that (preferrably feature a female as the MC)  Not quiet GRR Martin levels now, but the options are there at least.  Thanks again everyone!   May Harmony bless you!

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Ooh I just thought of another series you might like. "Sands" by Kevin L. Nielsen is the first in a series (3 books so far, not sure if there are more planned) that takes place in a fantasy desert. The MC is female and totally badchull. Lots of  epic magic and awesome creatures.

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48 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

Ooh I just thought of another series you might like. "Sands" by Kevin L. Nielsen is the first in a series (3 books so far, not sure if there are more planned) that takes place in a fantasy desert. The MC is female and totally badchull. Lots of  epic magic and awesome creatures.

Added! :)

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I would recommend Mystic by Jason Denzel. It was pretty good and has two sequels coming soon to boot.

These are kind of Fantasy but it's the A Tale of series by Serena Valentine. The books are about the Disney Villains Evil Queen, The Beast, Ursula, Maleficent and Mother Gothel and how they came to be in their situations. The titles are Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen, The Beast Withon: A Tale of Beauty's Prince (mainly focuses on Beast but there's an overarching story that continues into the other books), Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch, Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy and MotherKnows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch.

Also on the Disney theme is the A Twisted Tale series with the Princess movies taking dark what if twists (Phillip falls asleep instead of waking Aurora, Jafar gets the lamp, The Enchantress is Belle's mother) and they really empower these young women more than the films did. Apparently there will be ones featuring Mulan and Ariel coming soon. The titles are A Whole New World, Once Upon a Dream and As Old As Time.

Theres also the Queen of Hearts series by Colleen Oakes and the Dorothy Must Die series if you want to see dark versions of Wonderland and Oz.

This might be stretching it since it's more sci-fi but I'd also recommend the Lunar Chronicles where each book is focused on different young women whose stories are similar to the classic fairy tales of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White. The books of the series are Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, Fairest (a prequel focusing on the villain) and Stars Above (a short story collection giving more insight to the 'princes', a small Little Mermaid story and an epilogue story). There's also a graphic novel sequel called Wires & Nerves going on now as well.

There's also His Dark Materials but it depends if you want a story that's a little on the atheist side of things.

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1 hour ago, Draginon said:

This might be stretching it since it's more sci-fi but I'd also recommend the Lunar Chronicles where each book is focused on different young women whose stories are similar to the classic fairy tales of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White. The books of the series are Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, Fairest (a prequel focusing on the villain) and Stars Above (a short story collection giving more insight to the 'princes', a small Little Mermaid story and an epilogue story). There's also a graphic novel sequel called Wires & Nerves going on now as well.

YEEEESSSSSSSS

I considered suggesting this, but worried it was too scifi. I HEAVILY SECOND this, though. HEAVILY.

Also, there's a graphic novel coming? Cool, I didn't know.

The same author (Marissa Meyer) wrote Heartless, a play on the Queen of Hearts story. I wouldn't say it's as good as Lunar Chronicles, but it's pretty good.

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I would suggest Uprooted by Naomi Novik. This book is one of my favorites, and I would highly recommend it.

There is also Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes. Its a six book series, and it has four main characters, with two of them being female, and one of them is a magic user.

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1 hour ago, AonEne said:

YEEEESSSSSSSS

I considered suggesting this, but worried it was too scifi. I HEAVILY SECOND this, though. HEAVILY.

Also, there's a graphic novel coming? Cool, I didn't know.

The same author (Marissa Meyer) wrote Heartless, a play on the Queen of Hearts story. I wouldn't say it's as good as Lunar Chronicles, but it's pretty good.

I wasn't sure to count it either but if bookstores like to count sci-fi and fantasy as the same genre then I should on recommendations as well.

Volume 2 is already out. The Volumes are longer than White Sand's Volumes so worth the money at least.

I'm waiting until I finish reading LC before doing any of her other work

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