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7 Butt Kicking Heroines in Modern Fantasy


Image Credit: ilona-andrews.com

What a time to be a fan of fantasy. Our favorite books have finally made it to the screen, both big and small. The genre is no longer just something shoved to the back of your local bookstore, forgotten by anyone who doesn’t live in a basement. It is a renaissance for fantasy lovers.

With this has come a time for women. Not just actresses getting cast, but the books. Within these pages are women of substance, of monumental character. Women that can knock you flatter than a piece of paper. For these heroines, it doesn’t matter what the weapon of choice is. Pistol, sword, claw or staff, they are all accomplished duelists, and have earned the respect of their peers.

I’m going to institute a SPOILER WARNING, because to deny their accomplishments truly would be a crime. So let’s dive in to the fairer sex, and pray they don’t take offense. 

  1. Kate Daniels

    Ilona Andrews, the husband-and-wife team behind Kate Daniels, have crafted a heroine straight out of the apocalypse. Living in a post-Shift Atlanta, Kate Daniels starts this series as a mercenary for hire. The world lives torn between science and magic, where waves of energy determine whether spells will run rampant, or be completely useless. Left in the wake of these waves are monsters beyond imagining, and sometimes Kate Daniels is the only person who can put them down.

    A few of Daniels accomplishments. She has taken down a former Goddess, destroyed several terrorist groups. Has only two equals in swordplay, so far. Her major information font is part frost giant. She holds Atlanta in a (reluctant) iron fist. The Beast Lord, the most powerful Lycanthrope on the East Coast is her husband. Oh, and her father secretly runs the world, and has lived for over five thousand years.

    What sets Daniels apart from other heroines is her balancing act. She has a desire to stay safe, and still do some good. In trying to accomplish both, she can truly do anything. Now that she has been outed as her father’s kin, Daniels truly has no restraint left. 

  2. Julie Shackleford

    Not all heroines take center stage. Julie Shackleford has to take a backseat too often in Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter series. When her lover Owen Pitt is the Chosen One, and her great-grandfather is king of the Werewolves, sometimes she falls by the wayside. But if anyone challenged the latest Shackleford to prove her fighting chops, they would soon regret it. She is an accomplished painter, the coordinator of Monster Hunter International’s operations, and the best sniper on the east coast.

    She also happens to be the Guardian of the Artifact, a protector cursed with regenerative abilities and tainted blood. She’s destined to die, or even worse. And her and Owen are set up against a world that is being turned towards darkness from creatures that exist outside reality. But through ingenuity, luck, and superior firepower, Monster Hunter International will find a way to both save the day, and get filthy rich doing it.

  3. Fisher/Shotgun Suzie/Molly Metcalf

    Next to every savvy man is his girlfriend ready to shove her boot up somewhere unpleasant. Simon R. Green’s top three heroines can seem interchangeable, but given his start date back in the late 80s, his creations can be considered the precursors to many of the heroines on this list.

    Considered and highlighted are three of his best characters. Fisher from Hawk & Fisher, an accomplished duelist and lieutenant in Haven’s Guard, the police force in the most corrupt city in the Low Kingdoms. She prefers a duelist blade, and every dirty trick in the book.

    Shotgun Suzie lives in the Nightside alongside the infamous John Taylor. A mercenary for hire, her other monikers include demon killer, Suzie Shooter, the best bounty hunter in the city with no morals, and oh **** it’s her, run. Whether she’s facing down angels, demons, or Lillith herself, Suzie has the ammo to bring it down.

    Molly Metcalf, the Wild Witch of the Woods, fights alongside Edwin Drood, the Drood family’s greatest light. One of the infamous Metcalf sisters, she’s played hero, terrorist, and everything in between. With her new lover, things are just a little different. He knocks the bad guys down, she turns them into something soft and squishy.

    For all of Green’s heroines, good and evil are almost irrelevant. It’s walking that fine line between protecting those who never got a chance, and knocking down those who took chance away.

  4. Karrin Murphy

    Image Credit: Mika Blackfield

    It must be tough being friends with Harry Dresden. Even worse having to hire him. Working for the Special Investigations force for Chicago, she started out having to reconcile the normal world, with whatever this Yellow Pages wizard called reality. But while the werewolves, vampires and fae are all gunning for Dresden, Karrin Murphy is the one who has to place her life and her career on the line for the people of Chicago.

    Despite having no personal powers, Murphy has become known as a force to be reckoned with. She has helped hold together Chicago in the absence of Warden Dresden. Survived attacks that have devastated both humans and magical creatures. She is also the one-time holder of one of the Swords of the Cross, Fidelacchius. While she has since returned to “normalcy,” Karrin Murphy is sure to never remain on the sidelines for too long. 

  5. Arya Stark

    The choice for the greatest of George R.R. Martin’s women is incredibly tough. There’s Brienne of Tarth, quite possibly the greatest knight Westeros has ever seen. Then there’s Daenerys Targaryen, the first of her name, the Unburnt, etc. and so forth. Her resume includes military conquest, revolutionary, and possibly the rejuvenation of magic. There’s the Sand Snakes in Dorne, Ygritte in the North, even Melisandre and her spellwork.

    But Arya Stark is in a class by herself. An accomplished duelist and assassin, what is most impressive about the young Stark girl is her survivability. Every single woman in the rest of Westeros has had followers, or the rule of law, or comrades to protect them from harm. Arya has crossed battlefields, evaded tracking parties, and even outlasted the Hound. Through years of hardship, the Stark girl hasn’t just survived, but thrived. She has done so while planning vengeance. And if the show is to be believed, she will soon return to Westeros in blood and glory.

  6. Annabeth Chase

    The only character in all of Rick Riordan’s series, and completely deserving of this honor. This daughter of Athena is the lynchpin of all of the young adult author’s works. It is a sure bet from now on that whenever a Riordan title graces the shelves, this budding architect will be hidden somewhere in the pages.

    Some of Miss Chase’s accomplishments include fighting in the Titan War, and helping defeat the Giants and Gaea. She is the Architect of Olympus, in charge of reconstructing the gods’ New York dwelling. She also has the honor of restoring Athena to glory, by recovering the statue from Rome. This makes Annabeth Chase possibly the greatest of all of Athena’s descendants.

    Not always right, but never dismayed, the gray-eyed student and camper from Camp Half-Blood is the one best suited to make the plan that fixes what Percy Jackson has fouled up. Just don’t ask her to deal with the spiders in the corner.

  7. Hermione Granger

    Do I really have to defend this? Possibly the greatest witch of her age, and (SPOILERS for The Cursed Child) the Minister of Magic. Hermione Granger, more than any other heroines on this list, is the reason that many readers embrace female leads in fantasy.

    Going down her list of achievements is enough to make a head spin. Mastering spells before she even set foot on Hogwarts grounds. Head of her class in every subject that isn’t Divination. Prefect and if it weren’t for the war with the Death Eaters, she most certainly would have been Head Girl of Gryffindor. Her ingenuity discovered the Philosopher’s Stone, the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, Professor Lupin’s lycanthropy, and was the key to finding Bellatrix Lestrange’s Horcrux in Gringotts.

    Above all else, Hermione demonstrated compassion and bravery in her intelligence. It was not just that she had to be smart, or right. She needed to find some way to do good. The truest witch, and the best Minister England will possibly ever have.

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