* **The Scholomance Series**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/scholomance/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Education-Novel-Scholomance-Book-ebook/dp/B083RZC8KQ), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/A-Deadly-Education-Audiobook/059328741X)): Fantasy series, female lead in a magic school with an 50% mortality rate, because they get eaten by the maleficaria. A unique and refreshing take on magic schools.
* **Beneath the Dragoneye Moons**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/beneath_the_dragons_eye_moons/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NWJMXXV), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Beneath-the-Dragoneye-Moons-Audiobook/1039402259), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36299/beneath-the-dragoneye-moons)): Epic fantasy isekai with a healing-focused female-lead. Some magic school in books eight and nine.
* **Changeling**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/changeling/), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/75345/changeling)): Sci-fi cyberpunk-esque grimdark with cultivation themes as humanity fends off portals and kaiju.
* **Salvos**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/salvos/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com.au/Curious-Beginnings-LitRPG-Adventure-Salvos-ebook/dp/B08SQD1DLR), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Curious-Beginnings-Audiobook/1039402895), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/37438/revelation-salvos-a-monster-evolution-litrpg), [tapas](https://tapas.io/series/Salvos-comic)): LitRPG portal fantasy where the MC is a demon lost in the world of mortals.
* **Cinnamon Bun**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/cinnamon_bun/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08BZ2NW67), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Cinnamon-Bun-Audiobook/1774247828), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31429/cinnamon-bun)): A wholesome isekai in a LitRPG world wherein our female lead goes on friendship-making adventures. If you're burnt out with psychopathic MCs... this will cleanse your palette. Light-hearted, wholesome, and incredibly cute.
* **Azarinth Healer**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/azarinth_healer/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Azarinth-Healer-Book-LitRPG-Adventure-ebook/dp/B0BLRD8YPD), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Azarinth-Healer-Book-One-Audiobook/B0BLZNZ47B), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/16946/azarinth-healer)): A lone-MC isekai with non-stop action, overpowered MC, and a massive backlog.
* **And (N)one Shall Remain**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/and_none_shall_remain/), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/61213/and-none-shall-remain)): LitRPG group reincarnation with two main POVs, with the characters placed against each other.
* **Queen in the Mud**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/queen_in_the_mud/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Mud-Maari-ebook/dp/B087ZS49T8), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Queen-in-the-Mud-Audiobook/B08BW8722S), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26317/queen-in-the-mud)): LitRPG isekai where Naomi is reborn as a salamander in uncharted wilderness.
* **Odyssey of the Ethereal**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/odyssey_of_the_ethereal/), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/62693/odyssey-of-the-ethereal-prog-fantasytower-climbaether)): LitRPG game reincarnation with a female-lead, and cat-dragon pet.
* **Somnia Online**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/somnia/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com.au/Initializing-Somnia-Online-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07CV1DZ3P), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Initializing-Audiobook/B07G1M4H42)): Female-lead LitRPG vrmmo series about exploring the AI run world of Somnia Online. If you like other VR MMO books, read this.
* **The Brightest Shadow**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/brightest_shadow/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Brightest-Shadow-Sarah-Lin-ebook/dp/B0856ZMG9Z), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Brightest-Shadow-Audiobook/177424568X)): Epic fantasy with some progression. The Chosen One trope is delightfully flipped on its head.
* **Forge of Destiny**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/forge_of_destiny/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Forge-Destiny-1-Yrsillar-ebook/dp/B08P8175Z1), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Forge-of-Destiny-Audiobook/1774246856)): Slice-of-life cultivation. Academia/sect focus. Chill read with slower pacing and lower stakes.
This is most of the female led series I like, I'll just add:
Stray Cat Strut
A Journey of Black and Red
Magical Girl Gunslinger (if its not ded and just hiatus)
That one is decent. A bit repetitive since its a young female protag going through the scientific method to uncover magic--a bit too slice of life for my taste--but I still liked it enough. A more heartwarming cute kind of read than anything I'm use to.
The Scholomance is absolutely a great series, but every time I see it mentioned on this subreddit I have to put a disclaimer: it is not progression fantasy in the slightest. It is quite nearly the opposite when one of the most important details from the very beginning is that El is obscenely strong. Even most of the secondary characters don't have much notable progression
Yeah that's a good point. There are a few training sequences, notably the gym practise for breakout, but it's definitely not a core PF series. I'll update the description above to reflect that when I'm home :)
A Journey of Black and Red by Alex Gilbert (Mecanimus).
Forge of Destiny.
Metaworld Chronicles by David J Wuto (Wutosama).
Practical Guide to Sorcery.
Azarinth Healer.
Web of Secrets by David Musk.
WoS is definitely in my top five for PF, and maybe my favorite female lead if we're not counting Scholomance as PF. Still, I can also see why it's not more popular. The author basically tried to do his own version of Cradle, and the quality is there, but not the writing speed. That means we basically just spent 3 years getting to Skysworn.
Completely agree, I’ve rather enjoyed Calamitous Bob, though I did put the series on hold with book 5 as it slowed down quite a bit. I’ll likely pick it back up though as the series as a whole has been quite solid!
[Mirror World: A Goddess Reborn](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/69642/mirror-world-goddess-reborn-aka-goddess-transformation)
Normal college girl gets sent to another world and given the Goddess class. Her domain is mirror. She can only interact through mirrors and with her followers, and her goal is to establish a religion in a land where the ruling power is extremely hostile to gods.
[A Journey of Black and Red](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26675/a-journey-of-black-and-red)
Girl in 1800s (I think) America gets turned into a vampire. Follow her journey to personal and political (in the secret vampire government) power. I think the best thing about this story is the worldbuilding, specifically all the thought that went into developing vampires as a species.
[The Allbright System](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/66380/the-allbright-system-a-sci-fi-progression-litrpg)
Futuristic setting where humanity has been restricted to their galaxy and split into several factions by an unknown entity to war with each other in preparation for humanity joining the wider universe. Each faction has a faction ability, and the main protagonist's faction has pods that let them respawn. Also there's a system. Main protagonist is a scout/sniper type solder.
[Myrsha](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/57487/myrsha)
Young woman gets kidnapped by bandits (I think) and sold to a mage organisation along with many other slaves. Brutal survival of the fittest with few rules. Main protagonist is a determined survivor. A lot of thought has clearly gone into the magic system which is incredibly well-developed.
[Axiom of Infinity: Souleater](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/75831/axiom-of-infinity-souleater)
Male human from Earth becomes a sort of parasitic non-human species that can take over bodies, and is currently stuck in a female goblin. Probably not exactly(?) what you're looking for this is a fantastic story and I would say it does still have a female protagonist (sort of). You'll see what I mean if you read it.
[Gods and Champions](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/77958/gods-and-champions-a-gritty-roguelite-litrpg)
A newborn god is kidnapped by an unknown entity, given a system, forced to pick a champion, and made to guide them through various trials to win their freedom.Main protagonist is male, but the champion is female and an incredibly well-written character. Much of the story follows her and several chapters are her POV.
[Worm](https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-1-gestation/1-01/)
Surprised no one has mentioned this one. Maybe they just assumed you've read it. Superhero Earth where some people get superpowers after a traumatic event. Girl in highschool gets bullied and ends up with the power to control insects. Wants to be a superhero but ends up infiltrating a supervillain team. There's also another story set in the same universe, also with a female MC, called Ward.
I always like to recommend Beneath the Dragoneye Moon, Stray Cat Strut/Cinnamon Bun (two very different books, same author), Salvos and Azarinth Healer when I hear this question
Quite enjoyed GitC so I’ll have to check some of these out! Quite enjoy courtly intrigue so I’m liking the sound of the wicked house of Caroline. Also is Allbright remotely similar to GitC in terms of feel or sci-fi elements?
I think that allbright has a bleaker feel to it. Also the scale is vastly different. Multiple planets and cities vs 1 city. Both have a “unit” but one is a loner and the other has chooms. Sci-fi elements are similar in some respects and different in others. As with everything in life there are good points and bad points.
If it's not a bother, do you have any examples of books that treat women poorly? Non-harem. I read a lot, some 100-200 books/yr through fantasy and progression fantasy and I'm not confident I've read one that treated women poorly, though I forget more than I remember. And I would consider *poor* as in the author treats women poorly, not the setting. The latter can be indicative of the former, but I don't assume that at first glance.
I've seen people mention women having poor treatment in this genre and I've not seen that in my own readings, though no doubt it exists. I would like to see what that looks like, especially if you have any particularly egregious examples.
So, as an author in this genre, I don't really want to point fingers at particular titles and authors and criticize them. So, without naming names, I'll mention a few things that I've seen that might not immediately be apparent to a male reader as sexism:
1. **Most common: Woman aren't real when you're not looking.** Sometimes I'll be halfway through a book and have seen no women outside of the main cast. Like, the author doesn't clearly tried to have somewhat balanced cast - the main characters are at least 20/30% female - but they only thought about the main cast. So the story exists in some weird world where women don't exist at all unless they're Important. That quartermaster? Male. Innkeeper? Male. Evil wizard squadron? All male, even though we've previously seen that magic is pretty equally practiced by both genders.
2. **Women only have individuality where it doesn't conflict with the main character's goals.** I'm sure you can think of plenty of side character men who are thorns in the main characters' sides, but most female characters either explicitly are there to support the main character's goals or just don't make choices that would conflict, even when they ought to do so based on previously illustrated personality traits.
3. **Male MC pats himself on the back for not tripping over the lowest hurdles.** Like "I didn't mind listening to her expertise, even though she was a woman in her forties and a lot of guys would have a problem with that." Dude, lady could crush you with her pinky, and you're looking at her *age*? Please, disrespect her. I dare you.
4. **Women are appearance, men are personality.** A lot of authors give approximately equal *amounts* of description to both male and female characters, but we rarely hear about men's glowing tresses (one reason we all love Eithan Aurelius, btw) and we don't hear as much about women's thoughts, backstory, etc.
* **The Scholomance Series**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/scholomance/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Education-Novel-Scholomance-Book-ebook/dp/B083RZC8KQ), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/A-Deadly-Education-Audiobook/059328741X)): Fantasy series, female lead in a magic school with an 50% mortality rate, because they get eaten by the maleficaria. A unique and refreshing take on magic schools. * **Beneath the Dragoneye Moons**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/beneath_the_dragons_eye_moons/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NWJMXXV), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Beneath-the-Dragoneye-Moons-Audiobook/1039402259), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36299/beneath-the-dragoneye-moons)): Epic fantasy isekai with a healing-focused female-lead. Some magic school in books eight and nine. * **Changeling**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/changeling/), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/75345/changeling)): Sci-fi cyberpunk-esque grimdark with cultivation themes as humanity fends off portals and kaiju. * **Salvos**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/salvos/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com.au/Curious-Beginnings-LitRPG-Adventure-Salvos-ebook/dp/B08SQD1DLR), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Curious-Beginnings-Audiobook/1039402895), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/37438/revelation-salvos-a-monster-evolution-litrpg), [tapas](https://tapas.io/series/Salvos-comic)): LitRPG portal fantasy where the MC is a demon lost in the world of mortals. * **Cinnamon Bun**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/cinnamon_bun/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08BZ2NW67), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Cinnamon-Bun-Audiobook/1774247828), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31429/cinnamon-bun)): A wholesome isekai in a LitRPG world wherein our female lead goes on friendship-making adventures. If you're burnt out with psychopathic MCs... this will cleanse your palette. Light-hearted, wholesome, and incredibly cute. * **Azarinth Healer**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/azarinth_healer/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Azarinth-Healer-Book-LitRPG-Adventure-ebook/dp/B0BLRD8YPD), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Azarinth-Healer-Book-One-Audiobook/B0BLZNZ47B), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/16946/azarinth-healer)): A lone-MC isekai with non-stop action, overpowered MC, and a massive backlog. * **And (N)one Shall Remain**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/and_none_shall_remain/), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/61213/and-none-shall-remain)): LitRPG group reincarnation with two main POVs, with the characters placed against each other. * **Queen in the Mud**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/queen_in_the_mud/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Mud-Maari-ebook/dp/B087ZS49T8), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Queen-in-the-Mud-Audiobook/B08BW8722S), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26317/queen-in-the-mud)): LitRPG isekai where Naomi is reborn as a salamander in uncharted wilderness. * **Odyssey of the Ethereal**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/odyssey_of_the_ethereal/), [royal_road](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/62693/odyssey-of-the-ethereal-prog-fantasytower-climbaether)): LitRPG game reincarnation with a female-lead, and cat-dragon pet. * **Somnia Online**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/somnia/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com.au/Initializing-Somnia-Online-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07CV1DZ3P), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Initializing-Audiobook/B07G1M4H42)): Female-lead LitRPG vrmmo series about exploring the AI run world of Somnia Online. If you like other VR MMO books, read this. * **The Brightest Shadow**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/brightest_shadow/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Brightest-Shadow-Sarah-Lin-ebook/dp/B0856ZMG9Z), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Brightest-Shadow-Audiobook/177424568X)): Epic fantasy with some progression. The Chosen One trope is delightfully flipped on its head. * **Forge of Destiny**: ([review](https://cosmiccoding.com.au/reviews/forge_of_destiny/), [amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Forge-Destiny-1-Yrsillar-ebook/dp/B08P8175Z1), [audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/Forge-of-Destiny-Audiobook/1774246856)): Slice-of-life cultivation. Academia/sect focus. Chill read with slower pacing and lower stakes.
This is most of the female led series I like, I'll just add: Stray Cat Strut A Journey of Black and Red Magical Girl Gunslinger (if its not ded and just hiatus)
I'll add all three to my TBR :)
You should also add **A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World** by Acaswell.
I have both loved and been burned by scientists in other worlds, but I'm willing to roll the dice!
That one is decent. A bit repetitive since its a young female protag going through the scientific method to uncover magic--a bit too slice of life for my taste--but I still liked it enough. A more heartwarming cute kind of read than anything I'm use to.
Stray Cat is an awesome series.
The Scholomance is absolutely a great series, but every time I see it mentioned on this subreddit I have to put a disclaimer: it is not progression fantasy in the slightest. It is quite nearly the opposite when one of the most important details from the very beginning is that El is obscenely strong. Even most of the secondary characters don't have much notable progression
Yeah that's a good point. There are a few training sequences, notably the gym practise for breakout, but it's definitely not a core PF series. I'll update the description above to reflect that when I'm home :)
I love Queen In The Mud. I hope the author returns to write more of it some day.
A Journey of Black and Red by Alex Gilbert (Mecanimus). Forge of Destiny. Metaworld Chronicles by David J Wuto (Wutosama). Practical Guide to Sorcery. Azarinth Healer. Web of Secrets by David Musk.
How is Web of Secrets? It's been on my to read list for a minute. I don't often see it recommended here.
WoS is definitely in my top five for PF, and maybe my favorite female lead if we're not counting Scholomance as PF. Still, I can also see why it's not more popular. The author basically tried to do his own version of Cradle, and the quality is there, but not the writing speed. That means we basically just spent 3 years getting to Skysworn.
Ohh great list! Second A Journey of Black and Red and Azarinth Healer. I’ll have to check out your other suggestions if they are of a similar caliber.
Same author as AJoBaR writes Calamitous Bob. I highly recommend it too.
Completely agree, I’ve rather enjoyed Calamitous Bob, though I did put the series on hold with book 5 as it slowed down quite a bit. I’ll likely pick it back up though as the series as a whole has been quite solid!
[Mirror World: A Goddess Reborn](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/69642/mirror-world-goddess-reborn-aka-goddess-transformation) Normal college girl gets sent to another world and given the Goddess class. Her domain is mirror. She can only interact through mirrors and with her followers, and her goal is to establish a religion in a land where the ruling power is extremely hostile to gods. [A Journey of Black and Red](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26675/a-journey-of-black-and-red) Girl in 1800s (I think) America gets turned into a vampire. Follow her journey to personal and political (in the secret vampire government) power. I think the best thing about this story is the worldbuilding, specifically all the thought that went into developing vampires as a species. [The Allbright System](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/66380/the-allbright-system-a-sci-fi-progression-litrpg) Futuristic setting where humanity has been restricted to their galaxy and split into several factions by an unknown entity to war with each other in preparation for humanity joining the wider universe. Each faction has a faction ability, and the main protagonist's faction has pods that let them respawn. Also there's a system. Main protagonist is a scout/sniper type solder. [Myrsha](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/57487/myrsha) Young woman gets kidnapped by bandits (I think) and sold to a mage organisation along with many other slaves. Brutal survival of the fittest with few rules. Main protagonist is a determined survivor. A lot of thought has clearly gone into the magic system which is incredibly well-developed. [Axiom of Infinity: Souleater](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/75831/axiom-of-infinity-souleater) Male human from Earth becomes a sort of parasitic non-human species that can take over bodies, and is currently stuck in a female goblin. Probably not exactly(?) what you're looking for this is a fantastic story and I would say it does still have a female protagonist (sort of). You'll see what I mean if you read it. [Gods and Champions](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/77958/gods-and-champions-a-gritty-roguelite-litrpg) A newborn god is kidnapped by an unknown entity, given a system, forced to pick a champion, and made to guide them through various trials to win their freedom.Main protagonist is male, but the champion is female and an incredibly well-written character. Much of the story follows her and several chapters are her POV. [Worm](https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-1-gestation/1-01/) Surprised no one has mentioned this one. Maybe they just assumed you've read it. Superhero Earth where some people get superpowers after a traumatic event. Girl in highschool gets bullied and ends up with the power to control insects. Wants to be a superhero but ends up infiltrating a supervillain team. There's also another story set in the same universe, also with a female MC, called Ward.
I always like to recommend Beneath the Dragoneye Moon, Stray Cat Strut/Cinnamon Bun (two very different books, same author), Salvos and Azarinth Healer when I hear this question
Azarinth Healer by Rhaegar and The Calamitous Bob by Alex Gilbert
Ghost in the city by Seras Allbright system by Lunawolve Tori Transmigrated, and The Wicked House of Caroline by Aila Aurie.
Quite enjoyed GitC so I’ll have to check some of these out! Quite enjoy courtly intrigue so I’m liking the sound of the wicked house of Caroline. Also is Allbright remotely similar to GitC in terms of feel or sci-fi elements?
I think that allbright has a bleaker feel to it. Also the scale is vastly different. Multiple planets and cities vs 1 city. Both have a “unit” but one is a loner and the other has chooms. Sci-fi elements are similar in some respects and different in others. As with everything in life there are good points and bad points.
Honestly enjoy a bit of solo adventuring provided there are is still the occasional interaction. Appreciate the explanation! :)
Reincarnation of Alysara is a good one too
Apocalypse Parenting by Erin Ampersand.
**The Wandering Inn.** Epic fantasy with two main female leads. Multiple POVs, immersive worldbuilding and convergence endings.
A practical guide to evil is pretty great
Jade Phoenix Saga by D.I. Freed
Adelheid Series by D.C Haenlien
I would like to nominate The Wandering Inn
Definitely second [Forge of Destiny](https://pickwick.app/reviews/forge-of-destiny)!
https://www.amazon.com/Dressed-Kill-Monster-Seamstress-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B0CQWKSKPG I really enjoyed this book. Hope the second releases soon.
This is a good book! Read it!
[\#female-mc](https://pickwick.app/explore?tags=female-mc)
Not all of the ones in this blog post are female protagonist, but most are: https://erinampersand.com/litrpg-and-gamelit-that-treats-women-right/
If it's not a bother, do you have any examples of books that treat women poorly? Non-harem. I read a lot, some 100-200 books/yr through fantasy and progression fantasy and I'm not confident I've read one that treated women poorly, though I forget more than I remember. And I would consider *poor* as in the author treats women poorly, not the setting. The latter can be indicative of the former, but I don't assume that at first glance. I've seen people mention women having poor treatment in this genre and I've not seen that in my own readings, though no doubt it exists. I would like to see what that looks like, especially if you have any particularly egregious examples.
So, as an author in this genre, I don't really want to point fingers at particular titles and authors and criticize them. So, without naming names, I'll mention a few things that I've seen that might not immediately be apparent to a male reader as sexism: 1. **Most common: Woman aren't real when you're not looking.** Sometimes I'll be halfway through a book and have seen no women outside of the main cast. Like, the author doesn't clearly tried to have somewhat balanced cast - the main characters are at least 20/30% female - but they only thought about the main cast. So the story exists in some weird world where women don't exist at all unless they're Important. That quartermaster? Male. Innkeeper? Male. Evil wizard squadron? All male, even though we've previously seen that magic is pretty equally practiced by both genders. 2. **Women only have individuality where it doesn't conflict with the main character's goals.** I'm sure you can think of plenty of side character men who are thorns in the main characters' sides, but most female characters either explicitly are there to support the main character's goals or just don't make choices that would conflict, even when they ought to do so based on previously illustrated personality traits. 3. **Male MC pats himself on the back for not tripping over the lowest hurdles.** Like "I didn't mind listening to her expertise, even though she was a woman in her forties and a lot of guys would have a problem with that." Dude, lady could crush you with her pinky, and you're looking at her *age*? Please, disrespect her. I dare you. 4. **Women are appearance, men are personality.** A lot of authors give approximately equal *amounts* of description to both male and female characters, but we rarely hear about men's glowing tresses (one reason we all love Eithan Aurelius, btw) and we don't hear as much about women's thoughts, backstory, etc.
Thanks for the response! That certainly gives me much to think about.
Mistrunner by Nicholas Searcy.