Let’s talk bookish is a weekly meme, created and hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books and Dani @Literary Lion, here different topics will be discussed.
This weeks topic is ‘bloghopping’, and honestly I don’t really know what to say about this topic. Since I missed last weeks topic, I’m going with that one; ‘How do you feel about “Strong female characters”’
I thought this was a fun topic! Especially since almost always when I’m reading a book at home my dad asks “Oh is that one with a strong female main character”, and honestly 90% of the time the answer is yes haha! I mean it is true that most YA fantasies have a bad ass female main character, can’t do anything about that.. and it definitely is my most read genre! But I’m getting more into adult fantasy, which have more male main characters! And I’m also branching out to other genres, that also have a broader cast of characters!
I feel like in YA fantasies most strong female characters are characters that stand up for themselves, protect others, know how to fight, know how to do many things, take leadership etc. But I don’t think a character needs all of this to be considered strong! Although some books do it very well! I think a female character can eb considered strong whenever they don’t let themselves be bossed around! Or are at least trying to be the best they can and not just sitting around. We do see sometimes in fantasy that female characters are just sitting around doing nothing, those I don’t like. I do like it if they do their best, even if it goes wrong, they tried, I like that!
But also I do like badass female characters that can best the male characters!
(I know I’m mainly focussing on fantasies right now, it is just what I mostly read!)
And you know what, we always talk about strong female characters, as if they are the only ones who can be considered strong or weak. Never in a book description do I see anything about strong male characters, they can be strong or weak too! I think most of the time it is assumed that the male character is strong. And in most books it is the case that the female characters becomes ‘stronger’ throughout the book, learns how to fight and stand up for herself. While male characters are often already capable of this, but they for example have to learn how to trust or love or something! Of course there are exceptions!
Idk where I wanted to go with this, I just feel weird that it is pointed out when a female character is strong, but we never mention anything about strong/weak male characters!
One of the example questions was ‘Do you feel like the term is misused sometimes’, maybe not misused, more like overused? I feel like a lot of YA fantasies are being described as having a strong female character, but if all the books have it, it is not really that special anymore..
Some of my favourite strong female characters:
- Celaena Sardothien and Manon Blackbeak from the Throne of Glass series
- Vin from the Mistborn trilogy
- Rin from the Poppy War
- Emoni Santiago from With the fire on High (a strong female character from a non-fantasy!)
- Veronyka from Crown of feathers
A character that I expected to be strong, but was thoroughly disappointed by.. was Alessandra from The shadows between us! It was the main reason why I did not like the book! My review for that one is coming soon!
I’m happy to see you enjoyed my topic this month! I’m sad to hear that the MC in The Shadows Between Us disappointed you as I’ve just put that on my TBR. Manon is a personal favourite of mine as well.
I hope you will like it better than I did!
She is amazing!
Yeah, the term is definitely really overused. And good point about us not mentioning whether boys/men are strong or weak too! Honestly, I’m kind of tired of using the word “strong” anyway since it creates a mental image of someone who is physically strong when it can encompass other things.
Great discussion, Evelyn!!
Exactly! If someone mentions a strong female character I always think about some badass figher, even though that is definitely not the only definition of strong!
Thanks 🙂
While I like badass female characters in the tough fighter or brilliant mage kind of category I also like those that are just strong in terms of politics or other non-martial traits. The kind of thing where you don’t have to fit a particular mold you know?
Exactly! I really like the ‘different’ kind of strong!
If your female character swoons or pities themselves or let’s others take advantage of her without ever trying to set things straight, they are weak characters and I will not tolerate them.
I don’t like characters who pity themselves or let people take advantage of them either!
You’re definitely right about make characters never seeming to get singled out for being strong in the same way as women. And there are definitely lots of different ways for female characters to be strong as well. Emoni is a great choice for a strong female character from a contemporary novel! And I love the strong characters in Throne Of Glass and Jude from The Cruel Prince, she’s definitely one of the strongest female characters that I know.
I never thought about it until I wrote this post haha!
Oh yes all characters in ToG are strong, and Jude is definitely a good one as well!
One of my favorite strong female characters is Laia from An Ember in the Ashes. I love that she’s not your typical “strong” character. She fails a lot, and she cries a lot, and she just really has a hard time of it, but she keeps dusting her boots off and getting back up again. I love that she’s not just powerful and in command and knows exactly what to do. She’s strong, to me, because she feels like people I know in my every day life, and I think it’s pretty neat that we get to see that in a fantasy book.
Ooh yes, Laia is definitely a strong character as well! I feel like the crying and the failing makes her more realistic! And also stands her apart from other main characters!
Great post. I also love Rin, I think she’s a good example.
Thanks! She really is!
I love Celaena. I need to read Mistborn series! I’m not sure where I stand on this but I agree with you on a lot of points you make here. It is used a lot on YA Fantasies but I don’t mind that if it is a strong female lead. I also think there are different types of strength.
JJ @notesbyJ
notesbyJ.com
There are definitely different types of strengths! And that’s good otherwise we would have a lot of similar characters haha!
I think the term is sometimes overused – or more to the point, wrongly used – and the character doesn’t feel strong.
Vin and Rin are great examples though.
Lynn 😀
I think so too!
They were the first ones coming to mind ahah!