I know I tend to read women authors these days, and that's on purpose, but I grew up reading far more books by men. I wouldn't say more authors, just more books. King, Clancy and Cussler were my go-tos. Of course, Anne Rice and Anne McCaffrey were big back then too and I read all the Vampire Chronicles and the Rowan series. While literature in general does have a reputation for taking their female characters for granted, some have been worse than others. And some have been great. Over the years, I have read some great female characters that were written by men. They weren't perfect, but they're my favorite for a variety of reasons that do include that they could be actual women instead of that weird version of women that has been prevalent in literature and media. Some get through the cracks.

Here are my top 3 favorite female characters that were written by men. 

1. Petra Arkanian (and Virlomi) from The Ender's Shadow Series Box Set - Orson Scott Card 
2. Tally Youngblood from The Uglies Trilogy - Scott Westerfeld  
3. Rose Daniels from Rose Madder - Stephen King  

While I haven't read George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, I have heard that he is wonderful at writing women. I know, just from watching the show,  that the women in it are varied, deal with their circumstances in different ways but that make good sense for their character types, and have varying amounts of strength as well as different ways of expressing strength and weakness and tenderness, much like real women. 

Also, King writes lots of great women, I think. Rose is the one that has stood out the most in my memory. I read that book as a teenager and still remember parts of her personality and reasoning for some decisions. I'm not sure why she's stuck out so much among all the other characters, but she has. The woman in Gerald's Game was interesting, too. I'm sure the details are jumbled in my memory with other things from other places, but Gerald's Game was one of those stories that was scary because it could happen to anyone. No supernatural elements there, just people who weren't being their best selves and harming others. It still gives me a shiver to think of, but I don't remember the woman sticking out quite as much as the surrounding circumstances, so I didn't want to include her. OSC also writes great women, like all the women from the Ender's Game series, except maybe Valentine. She was too perfect, but it could have been the way her brother sees her and therefore treats her. Not sure. But seriously,  I didn't even realize the Uglies series wasn't written by a woman, particularly given such a great female protagonist. It was my own ignorance at the time to assume such a thing based on the quality and choice of a female protagonist. I'm working on it, but the point is that she was a great female character as well as a great protagonist. 

I feel like my IQ just dropped several points. Why did people rave about this series? The entire premise was dumb. To control people, why wait until they're 16? Why not just do it from birth and save yourself some trouble?

Not to mention Tally is a brat to the nth degree. I couldn't stand her the entire book. Everything she did was a lie, not to mention she was so self-centered you couldn't connect with her. It's really hard to feel for a character who planned on stabbing all her friends in the back just so she could be "pretty".

And what is up with everything sounding like it was named by a 5-year-old? Crumblyville for old pretties? Uglyville? The Rusty Ruins? New Pretty Town? Dafuq? This is an "advanced" civilization, but everything is named like my son made it all up.

Will not be finishing this series. It isn't worth my time.

Can somebody PLEASE TELL ME!!!

Selfish doesn't even begin to describe Tally. I. Hate. Her.

Uglyville. New Pretty Town. Crumblyville.

THIS. BOOK.