K: Katniss, Katsa and Kira

My original choices for K were a book I haven’t actually read yet, though I’m looking forward to it (The Kingdom of the Gods by N.K. Jemisin), a book I loved last time I read it - as a freshman in high school (Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer), and a movie I genuinely recall liking, though I no longer remember why (The King's Speech - Colin Firth might have had something to with how much I liked it). So, cool as these probably are, I decided to go with characters again.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Genre: YA dystopian

I’m sure Katniss needs no introduction. Other than her bone-deep devotion to her younger sister, I’m not sure I have all that much in common with her, but I loved reading about her very, very much. Considering I assumed I wouldn't like these books and only read them after catching an excerpt by mistake, it's ridiculous how many times I've reread them since then. Love me some Katniss!

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Genre: YA fantasy

Katsa probably needs no introduction, either, but just in case:

General premise Katsa is the king’s niece. Because she’s graced (has a rare magical ability that comes with having different-colored eyes) with extreme fighting skills that make her unbeatable, her uncle has used her since childhood to torture and punish people who have displeased him. While trying to atone for her brutal actions by secretly helping people, she meets Po, who is graced with combat skills that actually make him a challenging sparring partner for her. As their friendship develops and she realizes someone with similar skills is living a dramatically different life from hers, she begins to question whether she actually has as little control over her destiny as she’s always assumed.

Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn
Genre: YA SF

General premise Kira Moore is a zero. The ability to mind-read develops in early adolescence, but Kira’s never did. Since people (classmates, teachers, bus drivers, everyone she encounters) have to speak out loud to her because they can’t read her thoughts, they view her with suspicion and revulsion. But when she accidentally controls the mind of the boy she loves and nearly kills him, she draws the attention of people who want to use her and those who want to imprison her. That’s when she realizes her problems are even bigger than she thought. I love the tag line for this book:

“When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.”

So in short, in dramatically different worlds, each teenage girl here fights against overwhelming governmental authority (and terrible odds) to change her destiny. These three characters make me very, very happy.

B: The Black Prism & Bitterblue

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
Genre fantasy

I’ve blogged about this book before, but you can't recommend a great book too many times. If you’re looking for what the Fantasy genre does best (Adventure! Politics! Magic!) without the things Fantasy has depressed us with too many times (Predictable quest! Misogyny! Racism!), this is the book for you.

General premise Kip’s village is attacked, and just before his mother dies, she gives Kip an exquisite dagger and tells him to avenge her. On the other side of the world, Gavin Guile, the most powerful drafter (or color magician) in the world, learns he has a son, and swoops in to save Kip from certain death. Now Gavin has to protect his new-found son from political enemies, placate his irate fiancé, keep his other secret from coming out, and stop the lands from falling back into a world war. Kip has his own decision to make: obey his mother’s wishes and kill the father who abandoned them, or help his father save the lands from destruction.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Genre fantasy

When I read Graceling (Kristin Cashore’s first book – Bitterblue is her third, set in the same world), I loved it so much I flew across the country to attend a conference where Kristin Cashore was speaking. I’m the kind of introvert who prefers to stay home with the curtains drawn, pretending I didn't hear the phone ring, so this was quite an undertaking.

Incidentally, I’ve been to the Sirens Conference three times now, and they've done a brilliant job with each year's theme: Warriors, Faeries, Monsters (2012 will be Storytellers). If you want to meet authors, editors, readers and writers of fantasy by and/or about women, at a conference that’s not so large that you’re constantly lost, yet not so small that it feels like you’re the only one who doesn’t know everyone else, this is the one for you.

Since I haven’t read Bitterblue yet (available May 1^st, for those of us not lucky enough to have ARCs), I’m borrowing the publisher’s description from Amazon:

"Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle--disguised and alone--to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart."