Last night we looked at the nominees for the YA SciFi/Fantasy division of our upcoming Middlemarch bracket competition. We have our top 16, which I’ll reveal after the cut. It was close among everyone in the top spots, except for Hermione (80% of you voted for her) and Meg Murray, who both got at least twice as many votes as anyone else.
Tonight, we’re focusing on the Adult lit end of the SciFi/Fantasy spectrum to find our top 16 grown-up badasses who will be duking it out until there is but one. Like yesterday, you can pick up to five of your favorites and the 16 with the highest number of votes will move on. We don’t have to axe nearly as many ladies in any of the remaining divisions, so perhaps these votes will be less painful. First, let’s look at the list of YA contenders, in order from most to least votes.
1. Hermione Granger
2. Meg Murray
3. Katniss Everdeen & Lyra Belaqua
4. Eowyn
5. Coraline, Alanna & Luna Lovegood
6. Ginny Weasley
7. Cimorene
8. Alice (of In Wonderland fame)
9. Vicky Austin
10. Tiffany Aching, Lucy Pevensie & Sabriel
11. Tally Youngblood
Moving on to tonight’s list, here are your nominees:
Susan Sto Helit, Esmerelda Weatherwax, Gytha Ogg, Adora Belle Dearheart, Sacharissa Cripslock, Sybil Vimes, Angua, Cheery Littlebottom. All from Terry Pratchett
Anathema Device from Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Karin Murphy, Molly Canpenter and Charity Carpenter from Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series
Janelle from Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series
Morgaine and Viviane from The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Anita Blake from the Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton
Liath from the Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliott
Nynaeve, Egwene, Aviendha, and Elayne from The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
Rachel Morgan from The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Tarma and Kethry, Kerowyn, and Elspeth from The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Harry from The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Jenna/Skada from Jane Yolen’s Kushiel’s Dart
Phedre from Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart
Fran from Stephen King’s The Stand
And on with the vote-y goodness. Remember – you can pick up to five!
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19 replies on “Middlemarch Madness – Narrowing the Sci-fi/Fantasy Olds”
Lyra, Lyra, a thousand times Lyra!
I’d love to grab a drink with Cimorene.
As for the Olds division, Phedre is all kinds of awesomesauce. She’s so dramatic, I love her.
Robin McKinley’s heroines will always be dear to me. I grew up wanting to be both Aerin and Harry. Then I hit adolescence and wanted to be Sabriel: quiet and strong, she does what needs to be done.
Are we missing one person from the youngs list? Aren’t there supposed to be 16 contenders? Is my reading comprehension just crap today?
Ha! You are correct. Tally is actually the last person on the list, I didn’t c/p the whole thing, updating now!
I’m embarrassed to say that I only recognize a few of the names on the YA list (Eowyn? As in LotR Eowyn..? shouldn’t she be in the grown-up category..? but I digress) – as for the rest:
TEAM WEATHERWAX – WE ATEN’T DEAD! ;)
Meh, this list leaves me rather uninspired. Team Jenna/Skada! And Morgaine, who has long been one of my literary heroes.
TEAM LYRA. Ms. Belacqua could outthink Ms. Granger any day.
I’m a little bummed that Isabelle Lightwood* from The Mortal Instruments series wasn’t included in the YA. Also Yelena from Maria V. Snyder’s trilogy. And Nasauda from Paolini’s Inheritance cycle.
*Not Clary though, she’s kind of a lame heroine.
And *shudder* on the Anita Blake.
Can’t I just vote for Phedre five times?
I can’t BELIEVE Lyra didn’t take the top spot in the junior division. ALL KINDS OF WRONG.
TEAM KARIN MURPHY. Murph is so fucking badass. And if you all haven’t read the Dresden Files, you should.
I’ve only read one Dresden book and part of another. Is she the one who gets turned into a vampire and has dirty sex with Dresden, a la Innocent Blood?
Nope. She’s the police officer, and she is a thousand kinds of awesome.
If Anita Blake makes the cut, I hope Hermione beats the pants off her. And not in the way that Anita likes.
There. I said it. Anita Blake is a terrible heroine. :(
(I’m gonna go get a glass of wine and my copy of The Hero and The Crown.)
I am totally mounting an anti-Juliet campaign for tomorrow. I encourage you to use your commenting powers to sway the voters. Electioneering is half the fun!
*I will only use my powers in the comments, not in the voting booth. Pinky swear. Cheaters never win.
Anita was pretty decent in the first four books, before she got into the all-fucking all-the-time racket. I’m in the middle of my every few years’ re-reading of the series, I’ve only made it five books in before I needed a break.
I find everything that happens with Anita after book 7 or so to be so egregious, it totally nullifies how awesome she was in the first couple of books. After she told her best friend she was ‘just jealous’ because lots of guys wanted to fuck Anita and not her, and talked about how she never has any female friends, I was done with her.
Once the thin line between character and Mary Sue was crossed, Anita was ruined. And it was a pity — hard boiled supernatural noir with a female lead is something I could love so hard.
If I go in and edit this post, the html will explode, and I mean that almost literally, but Jenna/Skada is from Jane Yolens Sister Light, Sister Dark, not Kushiel’s Dart. I c/p’d the same code twice in a row.
I CANNOT BELIEVE LUCY PEVENSIE MADE THE CUT.
/outrage
In other news, I’m more than a little embarrassed by the fact that I’ve read just two of the books represented in tonight’s poll.
Don’t feel bad, I’ve heard of a few but only read one. Team Fran! By default!
By the Law of Brackets, Lucy’ll be up against either Hermione, Meg Murray, Lyra or Katniss in the first round. If I were a bookie, I’d give whiny ol’ Lucy 1000 to 1 odds of making it to the final 32.
TEAM LYRA.
And if Lucy is able to beat any of those fabulous women, I’ll eat my books.