Harry Potter Fans: what is the best sorcery-fantasy with a female main character?

Question

I am trying to improve my web site, http://www.life-after-harry-potter.com .
I would like to create a list of the best sorcery fantasy books in which a woman (or girl) is the main character, or at minimum a woman is equally important to any man in the story.

Please make certain that you choose only sorcery fantasy books.

Warning: I will be asking this question several times in the next few days, at different times of the day in order to get the most input.

Thanks!

Answer 1

There are so many fantasy books out there, I'm going to try to focus on ones that involve young people learning magic like Harry Potter.

Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books (a YA spinoff of his popular Discworld series) are about an adolescent girl who learns to become a witch. Her various mentors, and fellow apprentices, are all female.

From the main Discworld series, Pratchett has several books dealing with witches. The best one for your purposes would be "Equal Rites", about a girl who wants to be a wizard -- not a witch! -- in defiance of tradition.

Monica Furlong's "Wise Child" and "Juniper" are about girls who train to be dorans (midwives/witches) in early medieval Britain. Not sure if you'd consider these sorcery fantasy, but the dorans do perform magic.

Diane Duane's Young Wizards series begins with "So You Want To Be a Wizard", in which a teenage girl discovers a book in the library that teaches her about wizardry. She soon meets a boy who's also learning to be a wizard, and as I recall they are both equally important characters throughout the series. This is another series that may not fit your definition of sorcery fantasy, though.

"A School for Sorcery", by E. Rose Sabin, is about a girl who goes away to, believe it or not, a school for sorcery. But I mention this book only because it does focus on a girl...it's very far from being a best fantasy novel, or even a good one. I don't recommend it for your list.

Getting away from books about young people, since you have some Arthurian books on your list an obvious choice is Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Mists of Avalon". The story is told from the perspectives of several female characters, primarily the sorceress/pagan priestess Morgana le Fay.

Answer 2

I looked at your new website, and I need to get that Hobbitt book. I got a nine year old daughter. A few years back I bought her a video titled "The Last Unicorn" (animation), and she really enjoyed it. Watched it over and over, but now just once in a while. It is nothing as you describe it so it must be a different story but same title. I never got any of the Potter books, but we seen all the movies!

Answer 3

The Belgariad by David Eddings.

While it's cast of characters is pretty male-heavy, there are a few key characters that are female.

I'd also suggest the Abhorsen Trilogy, most particularly Sabriel.

Answer 4

Terry Pratchett is one of my consistent favorites. He's written a trilogy aimed at children about a young witch named Tiffany Aching. It begins with "The Wee Free Men." Truly delightful stories. I also enjoyed Anne Bishop's witch trilogy, which began with "Pillars of the World," continued with "Shadows and Light," and ended with "The House of Gaian." All of the women, both witches and Fae, in these stories are extremely strong characters.

Answer 5

The Magician's Guild trilogy by Trudi Canavan. This trilogy is high fantasy and has a female protagonist, who is 17 in the first book.

Answer 6

I've not read them, but I've looked up questions about Tamora Pierce's books in "The Song of the Lioness" series. They seem to be popular, and feature a feisty heroine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamora_Pierce

Answer 7

A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels by Libba Bray, is about s girl who finds out that she can do like a type of magic, which is having visions about the future and she can enter other realms with her mind.
hope this helps

Answer 8

Sabriel-Lirael-Abhorsen, by Garth Nix! GREAT books - probably better if you're 14 and up then if you're 10, though. Not for content (although they are pretty creepy) but just because they're a bit harder to read.

Good luck on your site!

Answer 9

the book series by maria v. snyder has a very strong female character. the first is "poison study" the second "magic study" and the third to be released in 2008 "fire study" i absolutely adore these books.

Answer 10

t*witches