It's his story... or is it?

An idea made her jaw drop:

If she's a legend, and a hero,

then anyone could be a hero.

                     Tamora Pierce, Wild Magic (61)

For most of our history, myth has been his story. The story of a young man in peak health and form who ventures forth to slay some great dragon or to rescue his princess, and it's not that female characters do not appear in these stories - they do and in abundance. It is, rather, that their role and consequently any discussion of them is defined by their relation to the hero: mothers, brides, seductresses, wise old women. They exist only in relation to him, to aid (or hinder) him on his quest. This is his story. 

Or so it would seem.

For there is, in current YA Fantasy, a thriving vein of literature featuring female heroes. Not simply manoeuvring around their male counterparts, these women are strong, resourceful and adventuresome. They are heroes in their own right, with their own successes and failings. 

And from here on in, it's their stories that I'll be reading...