I guess it comes back to the Double Standard writing trope “ Real Women Don’t Wear Dresses“, which I disagree with completely.Ī Writer doesn’t need to have a female protagonist beat up all the men and have the rest of them nearly pissing themselves every time the FP walks past, I don’t consider that character a “Strong Independent Woman”. However, by the end of the book she was punching random people in the face just because she was upset and that random person just happen to be there and chucking sexually frustrated temper-tantrums because she can’t see her precious dragon (why she didn’t just write him letters I have no idea).Īction Women are hard characters to write, they need to have an equal amount of action scenes/fighting competency as the male characters and have a three dimensional personality, and while I personally find those components difficult to balance in my own works, I know that Action Women shouldn’t be essentially male characters with Vagina’s.

Annwyl started out with a good mixture of arse-kicking abilities, emotional vulnerability and psychological issues over her screwed up childhood. ~Common Female Protagonist Problems – While the narrative and characterization started out alright, Annwyl’s characterization slowly declined over the course of the novel. With her days spent fighting a man who fills her with fierce, heady desire, and her nights spent in the company of a magical creature who could smite a village just by exhaling, Annwyl is sure life couldn’t get any stranger. With him, Annwyl feels safe-a far cry from the feelings aroused by the hard-bodied, arrogant knight Fearghus has arranged to help train her for battle. Too bad that Fearghus is a dragon, of the large, scaly, and deadly type. But just once it would be nice to be able to really talk to a man, the way she can talk to Fearghus the Destroyer. It’s true that Annwyl has a knack for decapitating legions of her ruthless brother’s soldiers without pausing for breath. Men tend to either cower in fear-a lot-or else salute. Blurb: “ It’s not always easy being a female warrior with a nickname like Annwyl the Bloody.

Dragon Actually by G.A. Aiken