Book recommendations!

[mothwing]

The post I made recently on my qualms with the difficulties many Fantasy writers seem to experience while writing female characters resulted in most amazing recommendations from the community I posted it in.

I thought I'd share:

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• Bradley, Marion Zimmer: my fiancée is a big fan of her Avalon series - which I never read. I dimly remember liking Warrior Woman when I was fourteen, too. holyschist  points out gender issues for her Darkover series, though, so tread carefully there.
• Butcher, Jim: The Dresden Files, as recommended by bikinikiller
• Butler, Octavia: universal endorsement of her complete works from emily_goddess  - and she does sound really interesting, especially her Lilith-series. 
• Cashore, Kristin: Graceling. I loved the heroine of this book SO much.
• Cooper, Susan: her The Dark is Rising sequence does contain female characters dear to me, although I wouldn't have necessarily included her - but yond_cassius seemed to agree.
• Furlong, Monica: Wise Child, recommended by holyschist .
• Gaiman, Neil: Neverwhere, and chasingtides  also recommends American Gods and Coraline. holyschist  and shenth  both recommend the Sandman comics. Not sure if I can read the comic, I suck at that, the pictures tend to confuse me. After seeing the beautiful movie I'm definitely going to check out Coraline, though.
• Garner, Alan:  The Owl Service, recommended by yond_cassius  .
• Hambly, Barbara: her writing may not be stellar, but her female characters in Dragonsbane kick ass. There are middle-aged women in there! Who don't look like moddles! 
• Hobb, Robin: the Liveship traders trilogy, recommended by ladieaj .
• Huff, Tanya: Confederation of Valor, as recommended by bikinikiller  .
• Jones, Diana Wynne: Fire and Hemlock, Hexwood and Deep Secret as recommended by yond_cassius  .
• Lackey, Mercedes's books, I'd be grateful for specific recommendations here, quitelife00  , as I haven't read many books written by her - caveated and de-recommended by holyschism for the Talia series for triggers.
• LeGuin, Ursula: The Left Hand of Darkness, recommended by emily_goddess .Don't know how I could have forgotten about this classic. I'm still a bit apprehensive because I was bored out of my skull reading Earthsea, and if the characters are as uninteresting as the ones in that book I am not sure if I can finish The Left Hand of Darkness.
• Kay, Guy Gavriel: The FIonavar Tapestry, recommended with a trigger warning by squinting_kitty,  The Lions of Al-Rassan, The Sarantine Mosaic, and The Last Light of the Sun recommended by holyschist . I am forever grateful for the recommendation of the last one, because it has Vikings, omg.
• Novak, Naomi: the Temeraire series, recommended by holyschist  .
• McKinley, Robin: Spindle's End, The Hero and the Crown, and Sunshine, recommended by arseaboutface   and lisaquestions  .
• Nix, Gabriel: Sabriel, recommended by shenth   .
• Pierce, Tamora: the Alanna series comes to mind, but she has many books which feature strong female characters, for example in the Circle of Magic books. cryingcat613   and yukinoomoni   seem to have a good idea of what's recommendable, though. There is a caveat from holyschism due to poorly handled race issues.
• Pratchett, Terry:  Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, Carpe Jugulum, Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky - any book in the witches series.
• Reichert, Mickey Zucker: the Renshai series, recommended by ladieaj .
• Richardson, Kat: Greywalker, recommended by emily_goddess  .
• Simmons, Dan: Hyperion, recommewnded by yond_cassius   again.
• Snicket, Lemony: A Series of Unfortunate Events, arguably. I loved Violet Beaudelaire. 
• Tepper, Sheri: Sideshow, recommended by emily_goddess .
• Valente, Catherynne: The Orphan's Tales, beginning with In the Night Garden, recommended by mintyfreshsocks and holyschist .
• Wein, Elizabeth: the Arthurian series beginning with The Winter Prince, again recommended by holyschist. Sounds awesome. I am a sucker for retellings of the Arthurian legend.

... good thing I got a gift certificate for Amazon for Christmas. I don't even know what to buy first. I'll probably start with checking the library for what they yield.

If you have read a Fantasy book, novel or otherwise, which had a particularly convincing female character, please do comment here. I'm really curious as to what people have read and liked when it comes to strong and/or convincing female characters.