Thanks for starting this list, Werner. I love action heroines!

Kate Daniels definitely takes the cake. :D

You're welcome, Danielle. Thank you for adding some books; that's exactly what the list needs!

Happy to do it!

Seems list a definite slant to this list, without the supernatural there are only about 6 books.

C-Tim, I counted nine rather than six (though I'm not familiar with most of the books, which were added by others), but you're right --at the moment, we have a very marked preponderance of heroines from the fantasy and supernatural genres. That's not intentional, though; this is supposed to be an inclusive list for the fighting females of ALL genres! Why don't you add some books with non-magical action heroines? (I can't do much along that line; I haven't read as many books of this type as I'd like, and I've already added what I've read.)

Yeah, we can always use more. Add, add, add! :D

Okay, not a "kick ass" on every page heroine, but at the end she fights the forces of evil to save her lover (admitted, the first part of the book, she sorta comes off like a victim, but there's good reasons.) Anyway, does this count?

Laurie, if you feel that the heroine here is a strong female (however you define "strong" --not necessarily physically!) in an action role, I'd say she qualifies; she doesn't have to be depicted as fighting on every page, just when it's really called for. IMO, you should add The Ballad of Young Tam Lin to the list, if you haven't already!

Found another one:

Doesn't this list specify action HEROINES? Girls and women who use their butt-kicking powers for good, not evil?

Then Iain Cross's "OSS: Dirty Tricks" should definitely not be on this list. If the main butt-kicking female character is an SS officer, it's a pretty safe bet we're looking at a villainess, not a heroine. Action villainesses should get their own list and not creep into this one.

Kelley, that's a legitimate point. Do you recall what number the book by Cross is on this list? If not, I'll hunt it down myself and delete it; but I can find it more quickly if I have the number for it.

It was listed as one of several with the number "160" by it.

Thanks, Kelley! I deleted it just now.

Wow, lots more I need to read.

Is the Hunger games on here twice? at 2, and 51?

Charles, thanks for catching that duplication! I used the "check for duplicates" function just now to remove that duplication and three others.

Werner wrote: "C-Tim, I counted nine rather than six (though I'm not familiar with most of the books, which were added by others), but you're right --at the moment, we have a very marked preponderance of heroines..."

Werner wrote: "C-Tim, I counted nine rather than six (though I'm not familiar with most of the books, which were added by others), but you're right --at the moment, we have a very marked preponderance of heroines.

Can you please name the 9 books you found, I've been searching for action heroines minus the supernatural, science fiction stuff.

Joelle, it's been almost 2 1/2 years since I counted those nine; although this list is still pretty heavily dominated by speculative fiction titles (fantasy, urban fantasy/paranormal, sci-fi, etc.), the pickings here for descriptive fiction books with action heroines have improved a lot! Just now, I went through and made a list of 39 (out of 402) entries you might be interested in; and some of these are series books that have other volumes of the series on the list as well. (I did NOT list books that I'm not sure are properly listed here as action heroine titles, nor books that seem to be mostly erotica.)

Westerns with action heroines: Mustang Wild by Stacey Kane; Lady Deception by Bobbi Smith; The Vengeance of Fortuna West by Ray Hogan; The Bandit Of Hell's Bend by Edgar Rice Burroughs; and The New Adventures of Senorita Scorpion. (The latter is a short story collection, by modern authors, imagining further adventures by pulp era great Les Savage Jr.'s trail-blazing lady outlaw Senorita Scorpion. His original Senorita Scorpion stories have recently been reprinted in two volumes, The Complete Adventures Of Senorita Scorpion Volume 1 and Complete Adventures of Senorita Scorpion, Volume 2, which aren't on this list but might also interest you.)

Historical fiction with action heroines: Sword Woman by Robert E. Howard (he was famous for swords-and-sorcery fiction, but the Dark Agnes stories here are mostly straight historical fiction set in 16th-century France; only the third one has a supernatural menace); Gladiatrix by Russell Whitfield; Pandora Driver: The Origin by John Picha; Daughter of the Eagle by Don Coldsmith; Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles; Dave Dawson on the Russian Front by R. Sidney Bowen; and Point of Honour by Madeleine E. Robins.

Novels with action heroines in modern settings: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson; The Geneva Decision by Seeley James; Last Exit In New Jersey by C. E. Grundler; Queen and Country: A Gentleman's Game by Greg Rucka; Demolition Angel by Robert Crais; Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong; Shadow Man by Cody McFadden; Monarch by Michelle D. Argyle; Flint by Paul Eddy; The Assassin's Wife by Roger Weston; A Beautiful Heist by Kim Foster; Bullet to the Heart by Lea Griffith; A Cold Day For Murder by Dana Stabenow (the first book in her Kate Shugak mystery series); and Before Dawn Breaks by Rae Lori. Zoe Sharp's Charlie Fox series is represented by Hard Knocks and Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart series by The Tiger in the Well, but neither of these are the series openers. Also, we don't have Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise listed, but we do have another of his Modesty novels, Dragon's Claw. Replaced by Emma Harrison is a spin-off novel from the TV series Alias. I'm not sure if The Gates to Love and War by Janie Pendleton is currently in print or available by interlibrary loan. Finally, I'm not sure if Adventure Dawns by Ben White has a modern or an historical setting.

Short action heroine fiction in a modern setting: Pieces of Modesty by Peter O'Donnell (story collection); The Smoking Gun Sisterhood by Thad Brown (story collection); "How I Met Your Mother" by Mark Cooper (this is part of a story cycle that may not be available for sale any more, but is available online); and Last Minute Replacement by Billy Wong (short story).

Hope this gives you some reading suggestions you can use!

Oops! Joelle, I'd already signed off when I realized I'd accidentally omitted several books from my list (that's what comes of not listing them in order, but jumping around to categorize them!). Sara Paretsky's tough female detective V. I. Warshawski is the protagonist of several books on this list (I only counted these as one, since it's all the same series). And romance writer Cherie De Sues has four books listed here: Lacy: A Bad Girl's Revenge, Lacy: A Bad Girl's Romance, South of the Border, and TRIAGE. These all have a significant romantic element (and probably some explicit sex), but they don't appear to be erotica as such.

Well that is too much work, i don't know what to say!! That must have took you a LOT of time! And you also categorized them!! Thank you so much, really this is awesome! i put a lot of those books on my to-read list, out of respect for all the work that must took you to list them. And again thank you so much. I don't know if you read all those books, but i'd like to recommend for you one you happened to listed on your list, that i read a week ago it's "Bullet to the Heart" by Lea Griffith. It has a kick-ass heroine and the book is full of action, suspense plus the romantic part which was great but sometimes too much if you know what i mean (the idea of the series is so cool, and the heroines are an amazing action heroines!) there's only one book of the series published so far:( but hey, i have a lot of action heroine books to read till the next installment thanks to you!!

No problem, Joelle, glad I could point you to some books that look interesting! Although I started this list, I don't do much maintenance on it, so it was good for me to give it a once-over for a change. (Now I know that I need to go back in, sometime soon, and delete a few titles that don't belong here.) Thanks for the recommendation for Bullet to the Heart; I just added it to my to-read shelf.

I moderate or help moderate a couple of Goodreads groups you might be interested in: Action Heroine Fans, which I started a few years ago (www.goodreads.com/group/show/23366-ac... ), and Girls and Guns, which I didn't start, but wound up as moderator of through a LONG story (www.goodreads.com/group/show/78287-gi... ). The latter group is small and not very active, and we only have 20 books on our bookshelf. But the former group is larger and a bit more active (we're planning to do a common read in February) and we have 236 books on our bookshelf (www.goodreads.com/group/bookshelf/233... ); which I'm trying to build into the best action-heroine bibliography on Goodreads. (Of course, that group has the same wide focus as this list, so a lot of our listed books are fantasy and SF, too.) You're invited to check out either or both groups, if you want to!

My story collection, The Smoking Gun Sisterhood, has been out of print for some time, but has recently been republished by Pro Se Press, and can be ordered at www.amazon.com/The-Smoking-Gun-Sister... . (I'm posting this notice in case anyone has tried to look it up online in the past, only to discover it was out of print!)

I have questions about whether "Sacrifice (Ryan Drake 2)", #174, and "Sword from the Sky," #231, belong on this list. Others may know more about these than I do, but based on the descriptions, the central female "action characters" in these books are villainesses, not heroines. Again, action villainesses may be cool in their way and deserve their own list, but this list should be reserved for female characters who use their butt-kicking prowess to aid and protect, not to destroy. Villainesses would belong here only if heroines rise to challenge them.

Kelley, I completely agree that this list is for heroines, not villainesses! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I'll look at these entries as soon as I get a chance (not today, though, as it's going to be a hectic day!), unless some other Goodreads librarian does so first, or some one who's actually read the books wants to weigh in with more information.

Thanks, Werner. I know I love to read about action heroines (and while fantasy is my preferred genre, it's good to see them in other genres as well), but nothing will chase me away from a book faster than learning it centers on a conflict between he-man heroes and a scary-powerful villainess who must be killed or de-fanged in order for Right to prevail.

I hear ya, Kelley!

Based on a review of Sacrifice, (www.goodreads.com/review/show/614505593 ), I decided to leave it on the list for now. It appears that the book has at least three kick-butt female characters, and it doesn't sound like any of them are part of the villain side of the novel's conflict. I haven't had a chance to check out Sword from the Sky yet.

Thanks, Werner! That's a relief about "Sacrifice." Thank you for your diligent care for this list.

You're welcome, Kelley! (Truth to tell, I don't actually give this list the care it needs, since I have too many irons in the fire; but I try to keep tabs on it as best I can. :-) ) Input from action heroine fans like you is a big help.

When I checked just now, it appears that someone else already took care of deleting Sword from the Sky. Thanks for the assist, whoever you were!

Thank you for this. It'll make finding action heroines easier to find!

Glad to help with that, Zarah!

Here's one character to add to the list

Rory, thanks for that suggestion! Up until now, I'd never added Modesty Blaise, because I haven't read it yet (it's been on my to-read shelf forever!). Usually, I don't add books to lists if I haven't read them; but in this case, I was amazed, when I went through the list just now, that no one else had, because it's a genre classic. I've now added it, and hopefully others will vote for it, too. BTW, you do know that you (and any other Goodreader who wants to) can add books to any list, right?

I'm very aware of that.

It's just that I have not read any of these books on the list and I couldn't think of any others so I suggested that one (since I had read it).

Rory wrote: "I'm very aware of that.

It's just that I have not read any of these books on the list and I couldn't think of any others so I suggested that one (since I had read it)."

And it was a great suggestion, Rory; thanks again! (I'd say it was high time Modesty got added to this list.)

The Sacred Band, by Janet and Chris Morris, is #65 on this list, and apparently eight people voted for it. But from the book description and the reviews that I've read (and admittedly I haven't read many of them), I'm not finding any indication whatsoever that it actually has any action heroine figure in it at all; the warriors all appear to be male. Can someone who's read it address that point? If it doesn't actually have an action heroine, it should be removed from this list.

This list would be more useful if limited to the first book in a series.

Philatelia, I've seen that suggestion made before on other lists; and on reflection, I think it's a good one. The idea of these lists is to provide reading suggestions for readers who like particular types of books; and once you direct someone to the first book of a series, he/she can easily follow up with the other books, without having to have every one of them listed. Listing the additional books just makes the list more cluttered and harder to browse. Right now, I'm going to amend the list description to incorporate your suggestion, but it may be awhile before I can remove all of the extra books (this is a busy time of year). Thanks for sharing this idea! (Any other Goodreads librarians can feel free to remove later series books!)

Well, this should keep me going for a bit. :)

Definitely appreciate the list has only one book per series!

Thanks for the "like," Jim, and hope you find some good reading suggestions here! You can also check out the bookshelf in the Action Heroine Fans group (https://www.goodreads.com/group/books... ); there's some overlap, but both resources list books the other one doesn't.

Theoretically, I'm trying to remove the extra books per series, and list just one (usually the first), except for cases where a book is listed as part of more than one series; and I have removed a number of books for that reason on the first two or three pages of the list. But it takes time to do a complete job, and I'd be the first to admit that there are probably still a lot of series installments here that need to be removed. Bear with me; I've got quite a few irons in the fire! (And other Goodreaders who have "librarian" privileges are also welcome to help.)

By way of update, I've finally finished the project of removing all of the "extra" series books that had been listed before we set a "one book per series" rule. This was a long, time-consuming operation, because this list has a LOT of series represented here, and quite a few of them originally had multiple books listed. (All in all, around 150 books were removed, though I didn't keep an exact count.) Hopefully this will make the list easier to browse! Thanks to Philatelia for the idea!

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