# Guys, which novels with a female main character do you particularly like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407 "2017-06-08T01:31:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/21 "2017-06-08T04:02:16Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > The Diamond Age. I actually didn’t like this (I’m a lady) but it was actually sent to me by a male Doper who really loved it. I really love all the other Neal Stephenson books tho. ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/22 "2017-06-08T04:06:00Z")
SF-wise, _Shards of Honor_ and _Barrayar_, by Lois McMaster Bujold, currently collected in one volume entitled _Cordelia’s Honor_. (In before Dendarii Dame!) For more of a fantasy setting I’d recommend Robin McKinley, I’ll single out _The Blue Sword_ and _Sunshine_. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/23 "2017-06-08T04:21:32Z")
The Miss Marple novels by Agatha Christie The Joanna Brady novels by J.A. Jance Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/24 "2017-06-08T04:26:40Z")
Friday by Robert Heinlein Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson The Gaea books by John Varley Podkayne of Mars by Heinlein Exiles at the Well of Souls by Jack Chalker I’ve read all of those at least a dozen times. I’ve prolly read Friday and Titan (by Varley) about 50 times. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/25 "2017-06-08T04:56:41Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Hiro Protagonist is definitely a guy. The secondary leading character, the skateboarder, is female. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/26 "2017-06-08T05:04:32Z")
_Blindness_ by José Saramago. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/27 "2017-06-08T06:26:57Z")
> [@Jack\_Burden](#): > > Hiro Protagonist is definitely a guy. The secondary leading character, the skateboarder, is female. Y.T. (for Yours Truly) is her name. She’s fits the description of “a female main character”, doesn’t she? Since roughly half the book is about her? ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/28 "2017-06-08T06:36:21Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Y.T. (for Yours Truly) is her name. She’s fits the description of “a female main character”, doesn’t she? Since roughly half the book is about her? If she’s a second main character, the book still does not match the requirements requested by the OP, and underlined. > [@elfkin477](#): > > So guys, please think about books you’ve read with just one main character (so, **nothing like Game of Thrones** with its mixed gendered cast of characters that are focused on in turn in alternating chapters, obviously), who happens to be a woman or girl. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/29 "2017-06-08T07:30:44Z")
Blue Moon Rising and its sequels have a female main character, but she has a male partner. There are the old classics, of course - Pride & Prejudice et al. The Deed of Paksennarion has already been mentioned. Heinlein’s Friday too. Anne McCaffrey’s books. Pratchett. The list goes on. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/30 "2017-06-08T10:51:08Z")
Wrinkle in Time I enjoyed Hobb’s Liveship Traders Trilogy, but it has more than one main character. Same with the Pern books. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/31 "2017-06-08T11:27:49Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > I enjoyed Hobb’s Liveship Traders Trilogy, but it has more than one main character. Same with the Pern books. IIRC some of the Pern books have only one main character. Moreta, for instance, or Menolly. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/32 "2017-06-08T12:01:28Z")
My boyfriend says _The Tombs of Atuan_ by Ursula LeGuin (not sure if this one counts because there is a male main character too, but the book is told from her POV so maybe it does.) _The Chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped_ by Sheri S. Tepper _The Heir of Sea and Fire_ by Patricia McKillop _Uprooted_ by Naomi Novik There are probably more, but it’s hard to remember. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/33 "2017-06-08T12:13:08Z")
If you’ll accept “female anthropomorphic wombat” as meeting the criteria, then definitely [**Digger** by Ursula Vernon](http://diggercomic.com/blog/2007/02/01/wombat1-gnorf/). Also notable for the large number of strong female supporting characters, and for the fact that (except for the dynamics of the hyena society) character gender is largely irrelevant to the story. Available in full online at the link above, or in dead tree form if you prefer. Another one: \*\*[Here Lies Arthur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Lies_Arthur)\*\*by Philip Reeve, a unique retelling of the King Arthur legend from the viewpoint of a young servant girl. To quote the Wiki, “Set in fifth or sixth century Britain and the Anglo-Saxon invasion, it features a girl who participates in the deliberate construction of legendary King Arthur during the man’s lifetime, orchestrated by a bard” - the bard being Myrddin, who is basically a medieval spin doctor. There is no magic at all and Arthur is nothing more than a local warlord Myrddin tries to get other warlords to follow. Despite the events to which Gwyna bears witness, however, this is very much her story told from her perspective. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/34 "2017-06-08T12:54:55Z")
_Always Coming Home_ and _The Tombs of Atuan/Tehanu_, by Ursula LeGuin. _Contact,_ by Carl Sagan. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/35 "2017-06-08T13:01:43Z")
Anna Karenina ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/36 "2017-06-08T13:02:42Z")
_The Parable of the Sower, Wild Seed_ and _Fledgling_ by Octavia Butler. I think Butler was one of the giants of the field, and she usually had a female lead. _Tea with the Black Dragon_ by R. A. McAvoy – quirky little fantasy storei _Only Begotten Daughter_ by James Morrow – God has a second child in modern day. A funny reflection on modern life, religion, and messiahdom The Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchens novels by Jack McDevitt (I think – there are sections in some of them with other protagonists, but several have her as the main character alone) – hard SF set in a universe where FTL travel is slow and the laws of physics are always a limitation. _Staroamer’s Fate_ by Chuck Rothman. I wrote it, so obviously I like it. I do tend to use female protagonists in my novels. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/37 "2017-06-08T13:09:25Z")
> [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](#): > > SF-wise, _Shards of Honor_ and _Barrayar_, by Lois McMaster Bujold, currently collected in one volume entitled _Cordelia’s Honor_. (In before Dendarii Dame!) Yes! Great idea for a thread, **elfkin.** It was a man who recommended these books to me. (That man was **Asimovian**.) I’ve read around 18 or 19 books in the series by now, and he’s wayyyy behind. ---
**Author:** ![Dante\_1111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@Dante\_1111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante_1111)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/38 "2017-06-08T13:09:26Z")
The Changeling - Zilpha Keatley Snyder Sent from my XT1045 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/39 "2017-06-08T13:39:25Z")
Huh, nobody else has mentioned Weber’s _Honor Harrington_ books? My interest in the later ones has faded, but the series started off well. Asimov’s _I, Robot_ isn’t really a novel, and different stories have different characters, but to the extent that there’s one main character of the book as a whole, it’s Dr. Susan Calvin. Oh, and I also just finished _The Westing Game_. There are a large number of major characters, but the main one is definitely Turtle, the girl. I’ll also second (or third or whatever) L’Engle’s _A Wrinkle in Time_ and _A Wind in the Door_, Heinlein’s _Podkayne_ and _Friday_, all of Pratchett’s Witches books and Monstrous Regiment (the Susan books arguably count as well, though they also feature DEATH as a major character), Lee’s _To Kill a Mockingbird_, and Sagan’s _Contact_. And the notion that boys won’t read books about girls is nonsense. My mom was a third-grade teacher for many decades, and was always in favor of any books that she could get the kids to read, and had many of them available in her room. She says that the consistent favorite of her kids, boys and girls alike, were the American Girl books about Addy. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/40 "2017-06-08T14:06:29Z")
The Kage Baker Company books almost all star a woman and i enjoyed them very much. Also Tad Williams Otherland series. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407.md?page=3)