Got word while I was away that I’ll be on a panel at Sirens on Female Friendships in Fantasy with Mette Harrison, Rachel Brown, Holly Black, and Sherwood Smith. Yay! It’s a subject I’ve been thinking about a bit lately–one thing I’m beginning to realize is that female friendships are thick in the ground in middle grade fiction (for an excellent example of this, you all have to read Caitlin Brennan’s House of the Star this fall, in which the fate of the world depends on the friendships among girls), but thin out starting in YA.
I’ve done this too, though I only realized it when I consciously wrote a YA short story about female friendship. (For the Bordertown antho. Because if you’re going to Bordertown, of course you have to take your best friend with you, right?) My middle grade books have strong female friendships, but while my YAs have strong female relationships across generations (and I do think that’s a hugely important bond as well), there’s not so much going on within a given generation. I’m still thinking about that.
Anyway, Mette and Sherwood have already done this, but I thought I’d ask here, too: what are your favorite female friendships in fantasy? What books would you consider must-reads for a discussion of same?