WELCOME BACK TO TOP FIVE WEDNESDAY!
Top Five Wednesday is a book tag started by GingerReadsLainey. Join the goodreads group to get each week’s topic and participate yourselves!
This week’s topic is one that is near and dear to Chelsey and my hearts. There is this sterotype in books and movies that when a female character meets her love interest her strength wanes and she takes a back seat to his narrative. There is a whole essay about this. So for today’s list Chelsey and I talk about the kick ass female characters that manage to break the system.
5. SABRIEL FROM THE ABHORSEN TRILOGY BY: GARTH NIX
Sabriel is an Abhorsen, which is the opposite of a necromancer. Instead of raising the dead, she’s going around and putting the dead down. Sabriel makes our list because of her initiative. When everything begins to go south in the story, instead of waiting for someone else to fix it she takes a stand and faces the monsters herself. She’s very serious and very knowledgable, but most importantly she still comes off as human. She’s a relatable character who you really want to see succeed. If you haven’t read the Abhorsen books you should go give them a read before the long awaited fourth book Clariel comes out later this year.
4. ALY FROM TRICKER’S CHOICE & TRICKSTER’S QUEEN BY: TAMORA PIERCE
Aly knows what she wants out of life, she just doesn’t know exactly how she will get there. When life hands her an opportunity to be her own person and get what she wants she grabs it with both hands and refuses to let go. She’s clever and witty, knowing how to spin even the worst situations in her favour. Over the course of her duology she gets involved in a slave rebellion, befriends new monarchs and proves to those around her just how talented she really is.
Check out our review of Tricksters Choice and Trickster’s Queen here.
3. EVIE O’NEIL FROM THE DIVINERS BY: LIBBA BRAY
Evie is a Diviner, which means she has a psychic ability. She can read objects, finding out truths about its owner. Evie is a whirlwind of a character. For her life is a party and she’s constantly looking for different things to keep it new and exciting. The novel begins with her leaving behind her dull small town life and moving to New York City. Though the novel is full of darkness, Evie always manages to find something worth smiling about. her joy and lust for life is infectious and it makes her a pleasure to read.
2. TANA FROM THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN BY: HOLLY BLACK
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown begins with Tana waking up after a party to find that everyone else in the house is dead. You see in Coldest, vampires exist. To stop the spread of vampirism there is the creation of coldtowns People who have been bitten are exhiled to cold towns to wait out the infection. if they don’t transform then they will be allowed out. Tana not knowing if she was infected or not willingly checks herself into the nearest coldtown. Throughout her time in the coldtown, Tana manages to stay a moral person in an amoral society. She’s very driven and is capable of staying true to herself no matter what happens to her. She manages to get herself into the most ridiculous situations but always manages to get herself out of them. This might be helped out by the fact she’s slightly crazy… which is always nice on a character.
Check out our review of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown here.
1. POISON FROM POISON BY CHRIS WOODING
When Poison’s sister gets kidnapped, she takes it upon herself to go and rescue her. She is by the far the most determined character on this list. It doesn’t matter what is put in front of her she manages to keep pushing forward. You have to understand that this world that she lives in is not a pleasant place, if you’re human, everything is going to try and kill you. None of this phases her. The other great thing is that Poison never falls into the usual trappings of traditional YA heroines. There is no romantic plot in this story. Poison puts other people’s happiness before her own and keeps to that till the end.
Poison is the first book review we ever did and you can watch it here.
