Top 10 Young Adult Heroines in the Last Decade

[tps_title]06.Quintana, Quintana of Charyn (The Lumatere Chronicles) by Melina Marchetta

(2012)

Quintana, Quintana. I could wax many a poem about Quintana, with her snarl and her vivacity. Inside her head is the best and worst place a reader can hope to be. Quintana is brave without a flinch, quick to the bone, and exposed within sorrow that teeters the edge of too close to home. She’s a heroine in every sense of the word, if there’s ever a specific definition. At moments it’s mentally challenging to see through the eyes of Quintana, in the way that she’s ever holding to her past, but Marchetta does an impeccable job with creating a character you’re sympathetic to, hopeful for, but also in a war with. A devastating tale with a brutally honest and beautiful heroine.

You can read more of Marchetta’s work within this series by picking up Finnikin of the Rock and Froi of the Exiles.