What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I am looking for any stories involving really strong tough female lead characters. I don´t mean tough as in smart and confident, but physically tough, even violent women. Perhaps (ex-)military or (ex-)convict. The genre isn´t important, though a general dark theme is preferable. Anything out there?

Edited to add: Non magic/fantasy preferred.

Jane Yellowrock is one tough lady. She is a supernatural skinwalker--one sharing her body with the soul of a mountain lion. Her first appearance is in Skinwalker by Faith Hunter.

Thanks for the quick input, Joseph. The ideal match would be taking place in a more realistic setting, but since the described character comes by so rarely I´ll be sure to give Skinwalker a chance as well as any other similar stuff thrown my way.

Ice by Hilary Storm & Kathy Coopmans. Female solider, but lots if sex. Sequel is Fire, but I haven't read it.

Cause to Kill by Blake Pierce is a female cop, but it's all brains & spine, not muscle.

There are a few others on my shelves... but they are all fantasy of some variety.

Is sci-fi (as opposed to fantasy) OK?

MJ wrote: "Ice by Hilary Storm & Kathy Coopmans. Female solider, but lots if sex. Sequel is Fire, but I haven't read it. "

Nice, thanks MJ!

Keith wrote: "Is sci-fi (as opposed to fantasy) OK?"

If you mean sci-fi as in taking place in the future then sure. If there's some space magic/supernatural powers going on, then that's kind of a turn-off. I'm not looking for superhero stuff, but rather a grim and realistic portrayal of that kind of a woman.

Moon Called this is an UF but it's set in a parallel world where things are pretty much like they are in our world, except that the Fae are out of the fairy circle, the werewolves have come out to howl and the vamps are deep in the coffin. But Mercy is like what you are looking for. She's a mechanic--specializing in German auto's, who also has a black belt and isn't afraid to pick up that lug wrench and hit a villain upside the head.

Magic Bites Kate Daniels UF series. Kate is a merc in a world similar to ours (it's actually supposed to BE ours) that, about 30 years before the start of the series, suddenly had magic return with a bang (and crash, boom, bang some more--planes crashed, cars didn't work, trains didn't work, sky scrapers started falling like dominoes. . . Magic and science are duking it out, but you can already tell that magic is going to kick science right in the test tubes. This is an interesting series with a strong woman as the lead.

Louisiana Longshot this is a series where the MC is a CIA assassin who is hiding out in a small Louisiana town while her boss and other agents try to figure out who sold her name to an arms merchant that she had gone after. Really a good cozy mystery series.

Unexpected again has a mercenary/former Special Forces female lead. However, this is definitely a romance, so you have been warned.

Ok, I forgot to add Fool's Puzzle Benni Harper mystery series.

Have you read Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first one.

If you like mysteries/thrillers, the Anna Pigeon series by Nevada Barr. She's a park ranger.

Thanks, guys! While all those stories have the tough female, they all seem too superhuman. I'm looking for something that would approach this charactet with a realistic depiction of what a physically hardened woman brutely surviving in a usually male-dominated environment would actually be like.

Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (thanks, Lobstergirl!), Bobbie Draper from Leviathan Wakes and Brienne of Tarth from A Game of Thrones are some excellent and, come to think of it, the only heroines fitting that description and getting a true-to-life approach I can think of.

Do you know anybody else?

maybe Eve Dallas in JD Robb's in death series - cop in futuristic NYC - Naked in Death

Did you check out Benni Harper? The only "super" power she has is that she's a cowgirl and curator of a small town museum and lives in ranch country in California.

Neverwhere
This is fantasy, but the woman, Hunter, is naturally strong and violent.

Fharinden wrote: "Thanks, guys! While all those stories have the tough female, they all seem too superhuman. I'm looking for something that would approach this charactet with a realistic depiction of what a physical..."

Maybe Joan of Arc?

By whom?

Dee wrote: "maybe Eve Dallas in JD Robb's in death series - cop in futuristic NYC - Naked in Death"

The character seems legit, but I'm worried about the plot being cheesy. Am I right to do so?

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Did you check out Benni Harper? The only "super" power she has is that she's a cowgirl and curator of a small town museum and lives in ranch country in California."

I meant superhuman as in always getting it right, never morally faltering etc. I imagine a woman repeatedly set against violent men in a realistic approach would come out with a traumatised attitude.

Rosa wrote: "Neverwhere. This is fantasy, but the woman, Hunter, is naturally strong and violent."

This one got me excited, but based on the reviews I'm guessing it's a pretty fun and easy read not shying away from clichés which makes me doubt how realistic the huntress character is. Thanks for putting it on my map though.

``Laurie wrote: "Maybe Joan of Arc? "

She seems a good base for a book like that, but which novel do you mean specifically?

Benni isn't always pitted against men--and sometimes the "mystery" is entirely intellectual Mariner's Compass is the one that is like that. Sometimes she's helping her husband (who is the local police chief) because she's a native of where they live and knows everyone and he's an import from the "big city". Mostly, except for the original mystery, there isn't a lot of violence in the books, and Benni is trying to figure out who did what.

And while Mercy Thompson's series is UF, Mercy has to come to terms with various traumas along the way, and these are dealt with in a realistic way.

Benni sounds like a fun character, but currently I'm specifically looking for a realistic female character who would be pitted against physical/violent challenges. Mercy sounds closer to the mark. Can you bring me a non-spoiler example about how she deals with trauma 'in a realistic way'?

I would also appreciate it if anyone could help me figure out how realistically the huntress is portrayed in Neverwhere. Rosa, do you find her realistic as a person?

I wouldn't describe Neverwhere as a light and fluffy read (it's got definite horror elements and some quite dark characters). Hunter doesn't have any obvious supernatural powers that I can recall, but we don't learn very much about her background - she's just a woman with great fighting skills who likes testing herself against mighty beasts who live in the strange hidden underworlds of major cities, and who the main protagonists hire as a bodyguard.

A lot of the sci-fi examples I was thinking of are of cyborgs or otherwise "enhanced" soldiers/agents (though usually in a setting where there are many "enhanced" or otherwise "super" soldiers, so it's not a case of "oh, this woman is stronger than the men around her, but only because of special enhancement"). See for example Redshirts, The Risen Empire or the manga series Battle Angel Alita.

One non-enhanced (to my recollection) example of a tough-as-nails female sci-fi protagonist is the title character of Koko Takes a Holiday, an ex-mercenary. Alan Moore's graphic novel The Ballad of Halo Jones also has several tough, un-enhanced female soldiers in its third segment. Similarly the graphic novel/comics series Y: The Last Man and Saga (both by Brian Vaughan) have tough woman characters.

Thanks Amy and Keith!

For those interested here are the best I´ve found so far. I haven't read them yet, but everything points to the heroines in these being plausibly depicted brutal sort of women in a realistic setting:

The Right Side
Tuesday Falling
Shakespeare's Landlord
The Fair Fight

Non-spoiler example, in one of the book (I think it's book 2 or 3) she is raped. She is still dealing with the after effects through all the rest of the books, even though she has been to therapy for it. But she is still a strong character, she basically has PTSD, and does she best to deal with the problems that that causes.

Thanks Ann! Shows you really can't judge a book by it's cover. At least not always :) Added it to my wishlist.

Oh, I almost forgot to add this: Bucket Nut

Doc by Dahlia West has a female bounty hunter. It's the 5th bk I think, and none of the girls are pushovers (some sweeter than others, but still dealing with their own crap), but Doc's girl is a 'professional badass' as they go.

Thanks for the recommendation, MJ. The plot seems too cliché to be taken as realistic, but I'm glad to have another tough woman on my radar.

There's nothing cliche about Neverwhere, unless you consider archetypes the same as cliches. It's very original, and it's not light or fluffy at all, unless you think all fantasy is because it's not real. I hope you don't think this.
However, I'm not claiming it's perfect. The author gets flippant sometimes, which can be annoying. He occasionally gets too proud of his own cleverness. What do you think, guys?

Thanks for expanding, Rosa. I haven't read it and based the claim on the reviews I read. It would be interesting to hear more opinions on it, especially in relation to the original subject.

Ayla from The Clan of the Cave Bear series is a tough female. I don't know that I'd call the books 'dark and grim' though. More interesting and enjoyable.

Thank you, Nicola! I want to map out as many of the brutal female characters as I can so all additions are welcome.

The Wall. Woman alone in post-apocalyptic environment has to do everything for herself.

Lobstergirl wrote: "The Wall. Woman alone in post-apocalyptic environment has to do everything for herself."

Thanks! Added it to my wishlist. Will let you know when I´ve read it.

Thunderhead is a standalone thriller. Tough female archaeologist protagonist who has to survive killers and natural disasters.

Thanks for the recommendation and for remembering the discussion :)

Fahrinden, I'm another reader who's always had a soft spot for a butt-kicking heroine, though my admiration for the type includes a number of fictional ladies who wouldn't meet all of your criteria!

Nicola wrote: "Ayla from The Clan of the Cave Bear series is a tough female. I don't know that I'd call the books 'dark and grim' though. More interesting and enjoyable."

IMO, Ayla's strength is more of the "smart and confident" sort than the violent, combat-capable kind --although in the first book of the series, cited above, she does use her slingshot to save a toddler from a hyena (the books are set in the Old Stone Age), and in the second novel, The Valley of Horses, she shows herself to be physically tough enough to survive an Ice Age winter on her own. I wouldn't describe her as brutal, and she never engages in combat with other people.

Regarding violent, fighting heroines who carry some emotional scars and baggage, who aren't super-competent and always-right Mary Sue types, and who appear in books with realistic (no-magic) settings and dark themes, these three come to mind the most readily for me:

Vanessa Michael Munroe in The Informationist by Taylor Stevens. The author actually has a series of five books featuring this character, but I've only read the first one (my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). She's a gun-packing loner who survived a horrific, abused adolescence in the jungles of Africa --and is returning there, in this book, to search for a missing innocent.

Brianna, the protagonist of David Wittlinger's Brianna series (two books so far, The Strong One and Brianna's Reprisal; my reviews are here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... and https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). When we first meet her, she's a former stripper with a rough background and low self-esteem, who's very soon running for her life from an abusive, mob-connected boyfriend.

Mai, in Coyote, by Bran Gustafson (this is the opener for a projected series). We meet her as a no-nonsense, hard-living young woman on the road, with no assets except her Mustang (the four-wheeled kind) and a pistol, whose past and destination are initially a mystery, and who finds herself in a racket-ridden hell-hole of a town in the fictional Western U.S. state of Montezuma, which is so depressed and dysfunctional that it's virtually post-apocalyptic. (My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .) All of these books have some content issues (language, sexual content, etc.), some of them major; but my reviews note those.

Some Goodreads lists, group bookshelves, etc. that list books which fit your interest guideliness (as well as many that no doubt wouldn't fit quite as closely) can be found at these links:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...
https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
You might have fun checking those out, and hopefully find some reads of interest!

start with Taylor Stevens' "The Informationist". The lead character is Vanessa Michael Munroe and as you noticed she has a female and a male first name. She can play both roles and is as tough in combat as they come. She takes as good as she gives. Her body is covered in battle scars, cuts, etc. One touch cookie.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/6411...

Fahrinden, you might also be interested in a John Sandford character from his Lucas Davenport series, Clara Rinker. Clara's a professional hit woman, who comes from a horrible abused childhood and started killing for hire as a teenage runaway. Obviously, she's a villainess rather than a heroine, and doesn't have many scruples about killing innocents (view spoiler)[though she does draw the line at harming a six-year-old kid (hide spoiler)]; but she's also a complex character who's not entirely without some good in her. She appears in the 10th and 13th series books, Certain Prey and Mortal Prey (my reviews are here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... and https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) and although police detective Davenport is the nominal protagonist, Clara tends to steal the show, though with competition from another villainess in the former book. (Both novels work very well without reading the other books in the series --I didn't-- but you'll want to read these two in order.)

The Passage

Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle

What about UF? There is a series about a female assassin who's code name is The Spider. It's set in an alternate Earth where magic works. Spider's Bite is the first book in the series. While magic works, it's not the same magic as Harry Potter, it's more elemental--earth, wind, fire and water type stuff. It's a good series, and I thought I'd just suggest it anyway.

I have not read this yet, although I did purchase it on my Kindle. The overview and reviews mention explicitly that the protagonist develops a high degree of toughness and violence. You might want to check it out.

Not sure why I did not mention them, but reading through this thread the following certainly fits the description:
The Huntress/FBI Thrillers has a strong woman on the hunt for Rapists, Killers etc. and is herself hunted by the FBI. The series has 5 books so far, with multiple POV (the FBI characters and the Huntress herself) and straying into the supernatural.
The last book Hunger Moon, points a remarkable dark mirror to the current political change in the USA which did not sit well with some reviewers, I as foreigner (Germany, EU) loved it. All books have bloody scenes and may contain material which may be disturbing to some.

Another book-series to check out, with a remarkable main character is the Leona-Trilogy from Jenny Rogneby, but I just saw, it is so far not available in English translation - I read the German translation.
Correction, added later: an english translation is not listed currently on Goodreads, but Amazon.com has the first book as "Leona: The die is cast" in Kindle eBook and Paperback available.

Thank you all for the great pointers! Especially for the thorough comments from Werner and Ingo.

And Scott - you didn't waste much words, but Ash: A Secret History looks really promising - a gritty atmosphere, a scarred woman, a life of violence and even though it has magic, it seems to be more subtle than your typical superpowers and wizardry. I shouldn't jump to any conclusions before I actually read it though.

I added a lot of what you guys pointed out to my reading list. Now I just have to acutally get through them all :) Thank you for the input so far and keep them coming!

Glad to help, Pharinden!

You might like the Dred Chronicles by Ann Aguirre, starts with Perdition. 3 books to get the full story and best to read all 3 in order.

I thought it was pretty brutal and very realistic as to how a woman surrounded by sadistic and hardened, mostly men, many psychotic, criminals who would rape, torture, and/or kill her just for the fun of it would have to be/become to survive, let alone best them. She is physically, as well as mentally, very tough. No light and fluffy about it. It is sci-fi as it takes place in the future and majority of it on a prison ship (I always pictured something like the Death Star from Star Wars for whatever reason.)

It was grim and brutal, but with a fascinating and strong MC who I just had to keep reading about to find out if she even lived, let alone found something worth living for. Has some romance and sex in it eventually (although I don't remember it having much descriptive sex so may have been fade to black), but not a typical romance by far. I gave the trilogy 5 stars even though after the first book I wasn't sure I could take reading the next books with the bleakness and brutality of the environment and people (understandably though due to the reality of they're in a prison to fend for themselves), including the MC who although she is quite brutal she does have a heart-- she just can't use it most of the time. No magic.


-- Highly seconding Steig Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy. What a tragedy we lost him so early.

-- I, also, really enjoy and second J.D. Robb's "In Death" series with Eve Dallas. Not cheesy at all, IMO. I thought her character was pretty realistically done and even though it is set in the future it isn't so far into it and is very recognizable and relatable.

Fharinden wrote: "And Scott - you didn't waste much words, but Ash: A Secret History looks really promising - a gritty atmosphere, a scarred woman, a life of violence and even though it has magic, it seems to be more subtle than your typical superpowers and wizardry. I shouldn't jump to any conclusions before I actually read it though."

There is actually no magic or fantasy in it, but to reveal anything would be major spoilers.

Wild Irish, I had no idea about Dred Chronicles! This looks like a great find. Can't wait to read it!

Scott, now you got me even more curious. Bumped Ash up on my wishlist.

By the way descriptive sex and unfiltered profanity only benefits the realistically brutal theme in my opinion.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is my suggestion... Mare barrow is definitely a strong character... Enjoy

For the click:
Red Queen