The best fantasy books about determined heroines who won’t be crossed

The back cover description of this circus still grabs me. Ruthlessly raised to be her magician father’s entry into a long-standing magical competition, Celia must compete in the mysterious contest, which is the circus itself. I loved the atmosphere, the mystery, and the multiple, but not always magical, storylines. Other bonuses for me: the story timeline isn’t exactly chronological, and not every performer was aware of the circus’ magic. I felt like I was in on a secret, one with high stakes and poignant choices. And the slow-burn romance! Celia comes to love her unknown opponent as they try to outdo each other with fantastical tent additions, until The Night Circus is a world I—and many readers—truly wish was real. 

An orphan with no home or money of her own, Katharine is her aunt’s pawn, sent to do all her dirty work. As the story opens in 1852, it’s to undertake the unthinkable—have her child-like Uncle Tulman committed to an asylum. While this novel doesn’t employ ‘magic’, I love Victorian-era stories and this one had numerous intriguing threads: Katharine’s innocent, genius uncle created fantastical mechanical inventions, many characters to root for who didn’t quite ‘fit’ the society’s norms, and a maze of a house with mysterious, suspicious happenings. I could see no way for poor Katharine to save her uncle and his protective community, so the story twists thrilled me.

Puck is doing all she can to keep her and her brothers together after their parents die from an attack by bloodthirsty waterhorses surrounding their island home of Thisby. I admire how this one fantastical element changes a ‘normal’ life to an ‘otherworldly’ one, and makes the island a strong character in the story. Raising and racing waterhorses is Thisby’s livelihood, and dire circumstances lead to Puck competing for the annual Scorpio Race prize money as the first girl to race, against great odds by riding her beloved island pony. 

I love the feel of the small Thisby and its quaint community of characters. Some are mercenary, some tough, but, like Puck and love-interest Sean, most love the wild nature of the ocean and waterhorses, which is magic to me.

I have long admired Terry Pratchett’s merging of multiple storylines and this stand-alone novel employs this in a funny take with his usual political sarcasm. Polly’s brother enters the army and has gone missing. Unless he returns, she can’t keep running their family’s bar—since women can’t inherit property—which will leave her penniless. There’s nothing else to do but enter the army herself—disguised as a man. While trying to keep her own secret, Polly hilariously stumbles on the secret reasons each of her fellow new recruits has joining up. The ensuing camaraderie is a wonderful tribute to the ingenious ways women can get a job done. 

When her father goes missing, Sabriel leaves college to find him. The plot sounds like a simple retrieval story, however, Sabriel’s father is the Abhorsen, a magician charged with keeping the dead in the Old Kingdom across the wall from rising and attacking the ‘normal’ world. Of course, one powerful necromancer is already attempting to break through. I was completely enamored with the idea of the magical and normal worlds being merely across a wall from each other, but even more fascinated by Sabriel’s ability to enter—and leave—another realm: Death.