I prefer female protagonists and this series of posts is homage to some of the most formidable female main characters in science fiction novels or series.

I would like to thank you all for your suggestions, I love new books to read especially about formidable female protagonists. Here are this week’s

1. Jezibeth ‘Jez’ Kyte – Half-Mane (Chris Wooding)
2. Sarah – Cyborized Gun-for-hire (Walter Jon Williams)
3. Teela Brown – Born Lucky (Larry Niven)
4. Lore Van de Oest – Playing Spanner’s Game (Nicola Griffith)
5. Dion – Wolfwalker (Tara K. Harper)

Jezibeth ‘Jez’ Kyte – Half-Mane

Books: Retribuiton Falls, The Black Lung Captain
Series: Tales of the Kitty Jay
Author: Chris Wooding
Genre: Steampunk
Publisher: Gollancz

I am reading the Black Lung Captain at the moment and Jez is as formidable as ever. The crew has just seen her in action for the first time and are having all kinds of weird thoughts at the moment. She is one of the principal characters in the Tales of the Kitty Jay and in my book the most interesting with her half-mane nature. This retro futuristic world has their own Flying Dutchmen, only these ones are no ghosts. One of them started to convert her but was destroyed before he could finish, so now she is somewhere in between hearing the Manes and forever being afraid to turn. She is the strangely competent navigator of the Kitty Jay.

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Sarah – Cyborized Gun-for-hire

Books: Hardwired (1986)
Series: Hardwired
Author: Walter Jon Williams
Genre: Cyber punk
Publisher: Tor, Macdonald, Orbit, Nightshade books

Sarah, a cyborized gun-for-hire,  teams up with Ex-fighter pilot Cowboy, “hardwired” via skull sockets directly to his lethal electronic hardware to make a last stab at independence from the rapacious Orbitals.

This one looks cheesy but on occasion I like cheesy. New for me and there is two other books in the same series.

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Teela Brown – Born Lucky

Books: Ringworld (1970)
Series: Ringworld
Author: Larry Niven
Genre: Space Opera
Publisher: Ballantine, Gollancz, Sphere, Del Rey, Orbit

Teela was the fourth crewmember sought by the Puppeteer Nessus for the expedition to the Ringworld. Her sole qualification was the Puppeteer’s trust in Teela’s luck: She was the descendant of six generations of winners of the Birthright lottery. Teela could be called the “good luck charm” of the expedition.

As I understand it Teela also figures in Ringworld’s Children (1979) and The Ringworld Engineers (2004). I might have read this one way back but I don’t remember much.

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Lore Van de Oest – Playing Spanner’s Game

Books:  Slow River (1995)
Author: Nicola Griffith
Genre: Dystropian Science Fiction
Publisher: Del Rey

Most of these are new to me and this one gives me a Citizen of the Galaxy vibe from the blurb. I definitely think I need to get this one.

She awoke in an alley to the splash of rain. She was naked, a foot-long gash in her back was still bleeding, and her identity implant was gone. Lore Van Oesterling had been the daughter of one of the world’s most powerful families…and now she was nobody, and she had to hide.

Then out of the rain walked Spanner, predator and thief, who took her in, cared for her wound, and taught her how to reinvent herself again and again. No one could find Lore now: not the police, not her family, and not the kidnappers who had left her in that alley to die. She had escaped…but the cost of her newfound freedom was crime and deception, and she paid it over and over again, until she had become someone she loathed.

Lore had a choice: She could stay in the shadows, stay with Spanner…and risk losing herself forever. Or she could leave Spanner and find herself again by becoming someone else: stealing the identity implant of a dead woman, taking over her life, and creating a new future.

But to start again, Lore required Spanner’s talents—Spanner, who needed her and hated her, and who always had a price. And even as Lore agreed to play Spanner’s game one final time, she found that there was still the price of being a Van Oesterling to be paid. Only by confronting her family, her past, and her own demons could Lore meld together who she had once been, who she had become, and the person she intended to be…

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Dion – Wolfwalker

Books: Wolfwalker (1990), Shadow Leader (1991), Storm Runner (1993),  Wolf’s Bane (1997), Silver Moons, Black Steel (2001)
Series: The Grey Ones Series / Tales of the Wolves
Author: Tara K. Harper
Genre: Psionic Science Fiction
Publisher: Del Rey

Dion is a healer and a wolfwalker living in a mysterious future world. She and Tara are both new to me but this looks interesting i love psionics like in Catspaw and Slan. Dion has a unique telepathic bond that she shared with the wolf Gray Hishn who sometimes seemed to amplify her sensitivity to her patients.

The books have psionics,  angry slavers, war and death in the wilderness, secret of the ancients and aliens.

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List

Thank you all for your suggestions, here is the list so far in case you want to suggest some more.

• Alicia DeVries – Cadre and Fury (David Weber)
• Terese Drajeske – Ex Field Commander & Mother (C. L. Andersen)
• Mackensie Elizabeth Winifred Wright Connor Sol (Julie E. Czerneda)
• Zoe Boutin Perry – Teenager & Holy Icon (John Scalzi)
• Parrish Plessis - Postapocalyptic Bodyguard (Marianne de Pierres)
• Benita Alvarez-Shipton – the Perfect House-wife (Sheri S. Tepper)
• Kris Longknife – Princess & Officer (Mike Shepherd)
• Tobin Kerr – Leading From Below (Tanya Huff)
• Sassinak – Older Than Her Mother (Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Moon & Jody Lynn Nye)
• Sharrow – Symbol of a Solar System (Ian M. Banks)
• Heris Serrano – Civilian Warrior (Elizabeth Moon)
• An – Transcending Egghead (Emily Devenport)
• Adele Mundy – Sharpshooting Librarian (David Drake)
• Michelle Henke – Unpolitical Stateswoman (David Weber)
• Lenie Clarke – Meltdown Madonna (Peter Watts)
• Ofelia Fulfarres - Nest Guardian (Elizabeth Moon)
• Bella Lind – Icon at the End of Time (Alastair Reynolds)
• Helva – The Ship Who Sang (Anne McCaffrey)
• Nimue Alban – Mind of a Dead Starship Captain (David Weber)
• Rowan – Steerswoman (Rosemary Kirstein)
• Margaret Bain – Seven of One (Sheri S. Tepper)
• Jenny Casey – Cyborg Pilot (Elizabeth Bear)
• Nimisha Boynton-Rondymnse – First Family Castaway (Anne McCaffrey)
• Freya Nakamachi-47 – Soulful Machine (Charles Stross)
• Nausicaä – Ecological Princess (Hayao Miyazaki)
• Sarah – Skinned Quester (Anne McCaffrey)
• Elizabeth “Bet” Yeager – Stranded Veteran (C. J. Cherryh)
• Morgan Roche – Agent of Change (Sean Williams & Shane Dix)
• Honor Harrington – The Salamander (David Weber)
• Captain Reverdy Jian – Sceptic Pilot (Melissa Scott)
• Ariane Kedros – Killer of Worlds (Laura E. Reeve)
• Chanur – Alien Trader (C. J. Cherryh)
• Priscilla ‘Hutch’ Hutchins – Starship Pilot (Jack McDevitt)
• Kylara Vatta – Fixing The Family (Elizabeth Moon)
• Cirroco Jones – Captain & Wizard (John Varley)
• Athena Hera Sinastra – Intrepid Rebel (Sarah A. Hoyt)
• Nell – Mouse Queen (Neal Stephenson)
• Nicole des Jardins Wakefield – Stowaway to the Stars (Arthur C. Clarke & Gentry Lee)
• Sauscony ‘Soz’ Valdoria –  Empath Commando (Catherine Asaro)
• Festina Ramos – Expendable (James Alan Gardner)
• Shan Frankland – Immortal Diplomat (Karen Traviss)
• Acorna – Unicorn Girl (Anne McCaffrey, Margaret Ball, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough)
• Moon – Clone Goddess (Joan D. Vinge)
• Cordelia Naismith – Free Your Mind (Lois McMaster Bujold)
• Catherine Li – Human Construct (Chris Moriarty)
• Friday Jones – the Sometimes Single Cyborg (Robert A. Heinlein)
• Esmay Suiza – Landsbride Officer (Elizabeth Moon)
• Gloria VanDeen – Glorious Bureaucrat (C. J. Ryan)
• Molly Millions – The Original Razor Girl (William Gibson)
• Cassandra Blaine – Cyber Star (Wilhelmina Baird)
• Cally O’Neal – Secret Assassin (John Ringo)
• Angharad Gwyn – the Rowan (Anne McCaffrey)
• Sira di Sarc – Welcome Stranger (Julie E. Czerneda)
• Boss – Safety First (Kristien Kathryn Rusch)
• Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark – Mind Recording (Michael Swanwick)´
• Ariane Emory – I Made Me (C. J. Cherryh)
• Claire Haskel – Super Razor (David J. Williams)
• Ellen Ripley – Kick-ass Mother (Alan Dean Foster)
• Sweetness Octave Glorious Honey-Bun Asiim Engineer 12th (Ian Mcdonald)
• Thursday Next – Literary Operative (Jasper Fforde)
• Mearana - The Harper (Michael Flynn)
• Sparta – Venus Prime (Paul Preuss)
• Briar Wilkes – Persistent Mother (Cherie Priest)
• Caitlin Decter – Best Friend of the Web (Robert J. Sawyer)
• Ilia Volyova – Triumvir Ultra (Alastair Reynolds)
• Jennifer Government – Law woman (Max Barry)
• Killashandra Ree – Crystal Singer (Anne McCaffrey)
• Signy Mallory- Bloody-minded Commander (C. J. Cherryh)
• Y.T. – Yours Truly (Neal Stephenson)
• Deadpan Allie – Pathosfinder (Pat Cadigan)
• Dakota Merrick – Machine Head (Gary Gibson)
• Kivrin Engle – Temporal Historian (Connie Willis)
• Rydra Wong – Poet Captain (Samuel R. Delany)
• Miriam/Helge – Queen World Walker (Charles Stross)
• Ruby Kubick – Agoraphobic Salvage Artist (Laura J. Mixon)
• Paula Myo – Intrepid Investigator (Peter F. Hamilton)
• Sissy – High Priestess of Harmony (C. F. Bentley)
• Paula Mendoza – Unconventional Negotiator (Cecelia Holland)
• Casseia Majumdar – Scientific Revolutionary (Greg Bear)
• Dirisha Zuri – the Matadora (Steve Perry)
• Nicole Shea – Not so perfect Hero (Chris Claremont)
• Anyanwu – Two Immortals (Octavia Butler)
• Rissa Kerguelen – Underground Poster Child (F. M. Busby)
• Laura Webster – Improve the World (Bruce Sterling)
• Pricilla Delacroiz y Mendoza – Exiled Spacer (Steve Miller & Sharon Lee)
• Jez – Half-Mane (Chris Wooding)
• Sarah – Cyborized Gun-for-hire (Walter Jon Williams)
• Teela Brown – Born Lucky (Larry Niven)
• Lore Van de Oest – Playing Spanner’s Game (Nicola Griffith)
• Dion – Wolfwalker (Tara K. Harper)

Miss anyone?

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