Women in Fantasy part 3

Intro

By now, it should be clear that women in fantasy is a project I am passionate about and I want to share this interest with as many people as I can!

Who will we cover today?

In this post, I will cover a few authors that sweep off my feet in fantasy.

Robin Hobb

She is one of the first WiF I experienced. I loved everything about her first trilogy in The Realm of the Elderlings, called the Farseer Trilogy. There was a care in crafting these characters, genuine love for them, not to mention that the world building was absolutely outstanding. It was probably, without realizing it, the first time I saw a different sensitivity in fantasy and I cannot wait for everyone to experience it.

And then the second series in the larger series, the Liveship Traders, another wonderful story, with some of the most interesting characters (with actual character development and growth). Two for two and this made her one of my favorite authors in fantasy.

I love her work so much that 2024 is the year of Robin Hobb for me. I started the re-reading The Realm of the Elderlings (and a new read of the last trilogy in this world, Fitz and the Fool).

Mercedes Lackey

Another queen of fantasy is Mercedes Lackey. She has been in the game for many years and her stories span in many different directions, with one of the longest series in fantasy, Valdemar. There are other series she wrote, such as the Elemental Masters series.

She has been in the game a long time and I have not dipped my toes into her stories yet. I am preparing myself to read at least one series as soon as possible. In fact, she was on my list for the women centric November and I might yet get there.

Kristen Britain

I stumbled into the Green Rider series a few years ago. The story is marketed as young adult and I was skeptical about starting it at first. This is not because young adult stories are not well written; it is because I tend to gravitate to a different set of stories, usually more complex. When I started reading Green Rider there were two things that hooked me: (i) Karigan, although I needed a little bit of time to warm up to her; and (ii) horses. I have always wanted to be in the big outdoors and spend time with horses. It might be a fantasy for me and this story contemplated exactly the things that I fantasize for myself!

I liked the idea of the Green Riders and their importance in this world. Information has not always been so easily accessible as we experience today; I love the idea of focusing on a job that was truly crucial in other times. I hope to return to this world as soon as I can; there are currently seven novels (at the time of publication of this post) and I “only” read four of them. I truly would like to return here; not only the main character is interesting and the focus on messengers is interesting and unique; the world building is compelling, the characters are appealing (Karigan’s father might be one of my favorite dads in fantasy) and the stakes of this world are high. The challenges are actual challenges and the risk of wiping the world away is real.

Anna Stephens

She is one of the most recent writers (of this list). A proven author with a completed trilogy under her belt (The Godblind Trilogy) and a new one currently on-going, Songs of the Drowned. I made a point of including her in this list because I recently read the first book in this new trilogy, called The Stone Knife and I truly enjoyed this story.

First and foremost, the choice of using Mesoamerican culture as the basis for this story is inspired. I continue being a broken record about fantasy not having tapped its inspiration pipe to Central and South America civilizations (Inca, Aztec and Mayan). This series offered me that and this impressed me. I also loved the premise of this story, the resilience of the characters, the focus on disability and LGBTQ+. This story just hit the right notes for me; conquest, betrayal, ambition are all essential parts of this story and there is magic. And there are a few different versions of magic, gods and other creatures. I truly loved the mix of the book; the book might have been a tad too long for its own good; yet this is a series that captured my attention and I think this should be a story that fantasy readers interested in diversity should absolutely explore!

Who comes next?

A sneak peak for the next post: Erin Morgernsten!