It's Top Ten Tuesday time, and this week it's kick-ass heroines. Because, let's face it -- kick-ass heroines are the best.
10. Captain Holly Short
Artemis Fowl
There is no denying the badassery of Captain Holly Short of the LEPRecon team. She kicks ass and takes names. She has more magic in her fingers than any human mage ever written and can beat you with her fists if the magic runs out. She's a great shot with a gun. She sticks to her morals and what she thinks is right. You do not want to get in her way.
09. Bertie
The Theatre Illuminata
Bertie overcomes her fears and worries and goes on an adventure where she really does manage to kick ass and take names in her very own unique fashion, complete with theatre scrips and word magic. It's hard to describe her because she's so very preciously unique - but trust me, she'd kick your ass if she had to.
08. Hermione Granger
Harry Potter
I mean, we always talk about how awesome Hermione is because she's a bibliophile and the brightest witch of her age and all that, but look at everything she went through. Knowing nothing about the magical world, she was shoved into it at the age of 11 and became friends with two of the most disaster-prone kids in the school. And she never once turned her back on them. She's kick-ass both in what she does for her friends and how she defends them.
07. Tally Youngblood
Uglies
There's no denying how kick-ass Tally Youngblood is. True, she starts as a bubbly Pretty, but by the end of the series, she's a Special -- super beauty, super strength, super deadly -- who has completely reshaped the world around her.
06. Morgana Pendragon
L'Morte d'Arthur
Morgana in "Merlin." .gif courtesy of Tumblr.She's a woman who embraced magic when it was banned. She fought against her brother Arthur, she fought with her brother Arthur and she eventually became high priestess of Avalon. She may be the only human to have as much magic as Captain Holly Short - and who knows how to wield it in a much deadlier fashion.
05. Elphaba Thropp
Wicked
Elphaba does what she thinks is right. Which, in her case, is taking on an entire country and its powerful leader, abandoning her best friend, creating a legion of flying monkeys and fighting for her life. Oh, and she's also branded as a Wicked Witch. Can't forget that.
04. Lessa of Pern
Dragonflight
After her entire family is killed, Lessa pretends to be a drudge and completely ruins her Hold. Then she's Searched, Impresses a Queen dragon and becomes the leader of Pern, controlling the Lord Holders and fighting in Thread and being a general bad-ass.
03. Widdershins
Thief's Covenant
I've loved Widdershins since I first met her on the page. She didn't give into her fear when she was younger. She taught herself to fight, how to become a thief, how to use everything she had to the best of her abilities - and she never gave up.
02. Alexia Tarabotti
Soulless
Alexia! Soulless Alexia, who beats vampires and werewolves with her parasols and refuses to be beaten into the stereotypical female submission of her time. She may not be a werewolf, but there was a reason that the entire Woolsey pack accepted her as an Alpha.
01. Jacky Faber
Bloody Jack
Thrown to the streets before she had even hit double digits, Jacky goes from a street urchin to being the most feared pirate Britain has ever seen. Because, let's face it, she's kick-ass. She's got the scars and the prizes and the reputation to prove it.
Who do you think kicks ass?