- Alana – Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Yes, I am labelling Saga SF. It has spaceships. Anyway, Alana is kickass, witty, sarcastic and just a little bit (very) sexy.
- Nyx – God’s War, Kameron Hurley. I think that what I love about Nyx is that she’s unapologetically female and absolutely brutal with it. She’s not reduced to her gender.
- Jack Glass – Jack Glass, Adam Roberts. Quietly, unobtrusively ruthless: the kind of man who commits mass murder not when he’s angry but when he’s completely cool and collected. And, of course, terrifying because of it.
- Dirk Gently – Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Douglas Adams. And now for a complete change of pace: I love Dirk – even though, honestly, he’s kind of a douchebag – because he just does whatever the hell he likes without taking account of what anyone else thinks and, what’s more, he’s always right. Plus, of course, he’s utterly hilarious.
- The creature – Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. Oh, Frankenstein’s creature will break your heart if you have one: he’s a terrible lesson in the price of ignoring the voices of the downtrodden and the oppressed. Probably every politician in the West should read this right now.
- The Doctor – Doctor Who. Look, there are Doctor Who books, and they may not be very good but they do feature the Doctor, who is also not a terribly well-developed character but who has had a hold on me since childhood. I think I just love the mythology of the Doctor, his charisma and unrelenting aloneness and his humanity. (Also, bonus: Awesome Romana!)
- Holly Short – Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer. An acerbic, gun-toting, highly competent LEPrecon officer (Colfer’s puns are the best) who don’t take no shit from anyone. Just writing this is making me want to go back and read Artemis Fowl again.
- Sonmi-451 – Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell. Sonmi starts a revolution, one which she knows she will not survive. If Jack Glass is terrifying in his cold-blooded rationality, Sonmi is inspiring in her cold-blooded bravery.
- Miranda Carroll – Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel. What I love about Miranda is her dedication to her personal project, her comic Station 11. To her, it doesn’t matter if it never sees the light of day; if other people approve of it or not. It’s just hers; her space to be who she needs to be.
- Kizzy – The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Becky Chambers. Well, Kizzy is basically Firefly‘s Kaylee, but I love them both for the way they’re allowed to be pink and fluffy and scatty and yet super-competent at their jobs. They don’t have to be masculine to succeed.
(The theme for this post was suggested by the Broke and the Bookish’s weekly meme Top Ten Tuesday.)
The English Student 