Ten More Kickass YA Heroines

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's TTT is a topic that's totally up my alley, so up my alley in fact that I did it earlier this year before I joined this meme. Rather than skipping, I decided to round up ten more girls you would not want to try to order around or have to go up against in a cage match. Also, I don't feel like hunting down cover images and Goodreads links right now, so if you want more info, I'm linking you to my review, kay?

1. Thursday Next (Thursday Next Series - Jasper Fforde)

Thursday is such a badass, and a unique one too. Most of my heroines today will undoubtedly be from YA fiction and near their physical prime. Thursday, however, is in her 40s and 50s, but you still do not want to mess with her. She's also a loving mother and devoted wife, just one that packs heat and can face any challenge.

2. Ismae (Grave Mercy - Robin Lafevers)

How could I not put Ismae on this list? I mean, she's a freaking nun assassin. She works for a death god. You don't mess with that. She can kill you with violence or with poisons, so you don't even see it coming. Ismae is freaking hardcore and I love it.

3. Aya (Carnival of Souls - Melissa Marr)

So, in Carnival of Souls, you have two heroines. One is a sheltered girl with a pathetic crush and who has pretty much no idea what's going on ever. The other is Aya, an upper crust girl who turned down marriage (to a guy she loved) for a chance at independence and a position in the government, unheard of for a woman. Her only chance? Enter a brutal competition of fights to the death and beat all the manly men. And she's succeeding!

4. Saba (Dust Lands - Moira Young)

Here we have another girl who you literally do not want to take on in a one on one battle to the death, because we know for sure that she's going to win. She has the track record to prove it. Saba doesn't start out all that strong, having always been dependent on her brother who she idol-worshiped. When he's kidnapped, though, she has to learn to be strong for herself, and holy crap does she.

5. Darla (Ashfall - Mike Mullin)

Male authors these days do not shy away from writing about women who could kick their butts and I love it. The main character of the Ashfall series is Alex, who has awesome martial arts moves admittedly, but, otherwise, is a hot mess of failure on the survival front. He owes his survival almost entirely to Darla, his incredibly strong, intelligent and resourceful girlfriend. Her strength is not only in gun-shooting and fighting, but in the ability to fix engines and rig up corn grinders and things like that.

6. Scarlett (Sisters Red - Jackson Pearce)

Scarlett is totally intense and like no other YA heroine I've ever met. For one thing, she wears an eye patch because she lost one of her eyes defeating a fenris when she was freaking eleven. If that's not the definition of kickassery, I don't know what is. With Scarlett, there will be no mooning over boys or other girly pastimes. Scarlett's favorite thing to do is kill fenris, which she does with great skill.

7. Vienne (Black Hole Sun - David Macinnis Gill)

Another powerful heroine written by a man who could totally beat up her boyfriend, no matter how musclebound he is on the cover. Also, Durango's totally okay with that, which is even better.

8. Miranda (False Memory - Dan Krokos)

Miranda and her crew have been raised to be fighting machines. Also, this book had some of the best-written fight scenes I've read in a long time. I really appreciated that there were strong girls and guys in this.

9. Celaena (Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas)

Alright, I know this one is divisive, but I'm counting her. A lot of people didn't like that Celaena, a badass assassin, spent a lot of time flirting with boys, eating candy and thinking about pretty clothes. Personally, I liked that, because why can't an assassin love pretty things? What it comes down to is this girl can fight. I suspect that her badassery as a killer is highlighted in the prequel novellas which I am too cheap to buy.

10. Keladry (Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce)

Tamora Pierce is like the queen of writing powerful heroines, so I guess these lists aren't complete without her for me. Kel is a freaking lady knight. I mean, come on. Alanna paved the way for her, sure, but that's still seriously kickass. Armor is heavy, y'all.