Top-10 Female Protagonists (4)

It was excruciating to have to pick out of a huge list of wonderful female characters. I tried to mix between ones who grew and changed, and the ones that were just plain kick butt awesome. Of course there are a few that just go without saying, but it was really tricky to try and cover all the bases. I probably forgot someone really important. Here goes.

1. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)

2. Beatrice "Tris" Prior (Divergent)

3. Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson)

4. Katsa (Graceling)

5. Yelena (Poison Study)

6. Tally Youngblood (Uglies)

7. Anna Korlov (Anna Dressed In Blood)

8. Ismae (Grave Mercy)

9. Raisa ana'Marianna (The Demon King)

10. Saba (Blood Red Road)

There are so many more that belong on that list (maybe I'll edit occasionally and keep adding characters over time or as I remember them):

Meghan Chase (The Iron King)

Maximum Ride (The Angel Experiment)

Cinder (Cinder)

Amy (Across the Universe)

June (Legend)

Aria (Under the Never Sky)

There are a lot of reasons I believe these are the best female characters (for me at least). And for those same reasons, Bella Swan did not even come within a mile of being on this list. Most of these characters are really strong, independent, intelligent, compassionate, and powerful. They are capable of making a change in their world. They all mature or show extraordinary qualities that made the books themselves stand out from thousands of others. To the authors out there, thank you for writing such wonderful, complex characters. 

Top-10 Science Fiction

I'm a pretty big fan of this genre, so let's see how this goes. All of the books mentioned include their series. The worst part about writing this list was struggling not to include all the Dystopia or Steampunk books. I tried to focus more on pure geeky scienc-ey stuff, but that was really hard.
PS. Sorry a little late but I was sick (lame excuse)

1. Insignia by S.J. Kincaid

2. The Host by Stephanie Meyer (wait, isn't that the lady who wrote Twilight? Umm, yeah but what can I say, the Host was actually good. Can't wait for the movie...)

3. Cinder by Marissa Meyer (you should go read this if you haven't yet)

4. Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson (the first 3 only)

5. For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

6. H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden (uh-huh the Higher Institute for Villainous Education, how awesome is that?)

7. The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 by PJ Haarsma (random read from years ago - pure sci-fi)

8. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows)

9. Partials by Dan Wells (yeah I give up I know this is Dystopia I tried my best to resist ok?)

10. LUX Series - Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (for steamy aliens)

Others include:

Artemis Fowl Series  by Eoin Colfer (yeah who hasn't heard of that?)

Some that I must read:

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix

Top-10 Fantasy

Oooh this is going to be really hard…ok I’m not including paranormal in this list (that’ll be separate otherwise my head might explode from trying to choose)

I’ll be focusing mainly on high fantasy so if a paranormal series isn't there chances are I’m putting it in a different list. Or I may have totally missed it. Either way you can reply and comment.

1. Harry Potter by JK Rowling (duh)

2. The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

3. Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

4. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

5. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

6. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder 

7. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (beautiful series)

8. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

9. Daughter of Smoke and Bone  by Laini Taylor

10. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

More that could have just as easily been on the list if I had thought of them in time or something:

The Battle of the Icemark by Stuart Hill

Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede

Crown and Court Duel series by Sherwood Smith

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia

Oh jeez I need to stop. There’s too many....

Top-10 Dystopia

First edition of Top-10 Tuesday! Decided to post a list of my favorite dystopia novels. Keep in mind there are so many more that I love than this, these are just my attempt to try to get my priorities straight. If you believe there is one that I missed, or should add, comment! I might not have read it yet!

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth

2. Legend by Marie Lu

3. Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

4. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

5. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

6. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

7. Delirium by Lauren Oliver

8. Matched by Ally Condie

9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

10. Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Others that I think rock this genre and had to be mentioned (I know I'm defeating the whole purpose of narrowing it down to 10:

The Moon Dwellers by David Estes

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Selection by Kiera Cass

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Partials by Dan Wells

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Of course some of these are series and so the following books are implied

(Except for the Maze Runner series, that got progressively worse and I was so upset by the last one)