Heroines

[PostCardashian]

This is kind of about VA, but also Twilight, because recetly everybody has been saying how lame Bella is. So my point is, who in YA books do we REALLY admire?

[Elena]

Rose. She's definitely my favorite.
I admire characters who've got strenght and self-esteem.
Kickasses who're not afraid of danger.

And yes, I think Bella IS kind of lame, to be honest..

[Steffi]

Lissa,
at first she's really helpless and too dependent on Rose. But she grows as the story goes on and at the end she has developed into a stronger charakter. I mean she had to deal with a lot of stuff but she got through it.

Rose,
Well Rose is really taff and all that. She manages mostly everything on her own.

So i think both are in their own way heroines.

[Dominus~]

I'm more on ROSE. I mean she's a kick-ass, bad-ass and really someone gorgeous. And I so also think Bella is lame from the first up to the third book but (view spoiler)[on breaking dawn, she has some kind of power in her (hide spoiler)]but not like Rose that is certainly THE BEST!

[chinami]

Rose, at least she doesn't try to get herself killed when Dimitri ignored her. Also she's brave and she battles with strigoi.

[Fangs for the Fantasy]

I can't admire Rose too much - she was proactive but she never seemed to think - just flailed around and charged off unchecked. Things went right around Rose largely because she was lucky more than her having any actual plans

Now Lissa has many faults to her but she seems to have her head about her

[Sandy]

Do you mean in the two books you mentioned or are we including heroines in all YA books we've read?

In VA: I can't say I admire Rose completely because I don't like her but I do admire her loyalty, courage, strength, determination and "take no lip" attitude.

I admire Lissa's ability to remain level headed and her communication skills. She always seems to know the right thing to say. I loathe public speaking and I could never find myself getting up and speaking in front of a bunch of people and when I have to I always seem to muddle things up.

I admire Mia for the girl she became, I love her blunt honesty and her strength and perseverance.

Twilight: I've only read the first book and Bella was boring :/ and a bit well I don't know what to call it..delusional? I say this cause her first thought when she found out a guy had been in her bedroom watching her sleep at night ever since he first met her was that she talks in her sleep...um police please?

[J.D.]

If we're talking about all books, I like Hermione in HP. She's smart and brave.

[C.C.]

Rose- VA (ofcourse)
Cat- Night Huntress (nobody calls her lame)
Katniss- Hunger Games (but she has issues :)) )
Merit- Chicagoland Vampires

All of them are kick ass! They love their counter part so much but they do not crumble when they are not around.

[Fangs for the Fantasy]

I think that admire is really a strong word. Whether it's straight up urban fantasy or YA, a lot of these female protagonists are prone to spunky agency i.e. making rash decisions without great thought. Far too often they put themselves in the most ridiculous situations and invariably require being saved by someone. I find it disturbing because these book are most often written by women.

[C.C.]

Far too often they put themselves in the most ridiculous situations and invariably require being saved by someone."

Maybe because once in their lives, women dreams of being saved by a knight in shining armor. :D

[Fangs for the Fantasy]

I think I'd be happier with the idea of a knight in shining armour (albeit I'd be happier still for them to say, "back of knighty boy, I got this") if the protagonists in far too many of these stories weren't in trouble through their own poor judgement.

To me that ends up less "she needs saving!" and more "she needs saving from herself!"

[Vale]

Definitely Lissa from VA. She can be sweet and kind but she's also strong and has an intriguing dark side that make her a really interesting character..

[J.D.]

Fangs for the Fantasy wrote: "I think I'd be happier with the idea of a knight in shining armour (albeit I'd be happier still for them to say, "back of knighty boy, I got this") if the protagonists in far too many of these stor..."

I was completely thinking this all the way through Hush Hush. Nora whatever name is repeatedly being an absolutely idiot and putting ehrself in extraordinary danger.

[Sandy]

J.D. wrote: "Fangs for the Fantasy wrote: "I think I'd be happier with the idea of a knight in shining armour (albeit I'd be happier still for them to say, "back of knighty boy, I got this") if the protagonists..."

She got so much worse in Crescendo I wanted to throw the book across the floor on more than one occasion.

[S.L.J.]

Agreed. Where are the YA books with Lara Croft type characters in them. Not just strong and determind but smart heriones as well.

They don't seem to exist anymore. You either get tough and reckless or dump and helpless.

[Fangs for the Fantasy]

J.D. wrote: "Fangs for the Fantasy wrote: "I think I'd be happier with the idea of a knight in shining armour (albeit I'd be happier still for them to say, "back of knighty boy, I got this") if the protagonists..."

I don't think it would be that bad if the authors didn't continually set them up to be super bad ass women. How are we supposed to respect these characters and trust their judgement when they keep getting into ridiculous scrapes? I don't buy the faux strong women mode that keeps popping up in this genre. Sometimes I keep asking myself if these women can walk and chew gum at the same time.

[Tereza]

absolutely Rose!!!

[Maham]

Elena wrote: "Rose. She's definitely my favorite.
I admire characters who've got strenght and self-esteem.
Kickasses who're not afraid of danger.

And yes, I think Bella IS kind of lame, to be honest.."
DIDO!!!

[J.D.]

Sandy wrote: "J.D. wrote: "Fangs for the Fantasy wrote: "I think I'd be happier with the idea of a knight in shining armour (albeit I'd be happier still for them to say, "back of knighty boy, I got this") if the..."

what annoys me as well is that I always feel the author is pushing the character to be ridiculous, just so they get in danger, and there's tension. There have to be better ways of making things exciting.

[J.D.]

Nora Grey's mind works kind of like this. 'Hmm, I'm walking down the sidewalk, all is well. OH NO! I'm inexplicably drawn to tapdancing down the middle of the road. Oh my God it's so scary, I might die, I need someone to rescue me!'

[Fangs for the Fantasy]

J.D. wrote: "what annoys me as well is that I always feel the author is pushing the character to be ridiculous, just so they get in danger, and there's tension"

Very much so - they create tension by having the protagonist act in a foolish way. The problem then is that all of the tension in the book is brought on the protag by her own foolishness

What bothers me more is that these women are often depicted as empowered or independent or strong or refusing to be controlled - but that requires them to ignore common sense, challenge perfectly sensible restrictions and ideas and generally prove that they can't be trusted to tie their own shoelaces without hurting themselves

[C.C.]

J.D. wrote: "Fangs for the Fantasy wrote: "I think I'd be happier with the idea of a knight in shining armour (albeit I'd be happier still for them to say, "back of knighty boy, I got this") if the protagonists..."

Haha, I know what you mean... I stopped reading hush hush after the first book. Nora was so impulsive and stupid.

[rehathebookghoul]

rose

[S.L.J.]

I like tough independant girls but if they're stupid it kind of defeats the purpose of them being tough and independant.

I prefer Sherlock Holmes (The Guy Richie one not the old dude in the silly hat) :)