A Strong Female Protagonist

I've seen queries posted by discussion group contributors who are searching for books with strong female characters. In Judgment on Tartarus the major character is Ensign Corona ( Rona ) Scott. She's in almost every scene, from page one to the final paragraph. The story is told almost exclusively from her point of view, and I think most people can easily identify with her as she's thrown into situations that range from uncomfortable to downright life-threatening.

Rona Scott is a young woman who has been on her own for some time; both her parents died in the Mars-colony disaster, and she's been pretty much alone since then. But instead of seeking a relationship, she was single-minded enough to make it through four years at the ISS Academy in Houston. After spending five years planet-bound at Earth Base One's DataComm Center---a job that failed to fulfill her dreams of a career in space---Rona was desperate.

She becomes the unwitting catalyst for change aboard the retired battle cruiser Astrella II, and later, on the planet Tartarus. Rona admits to herself that she would have taken any assignment, short of outpost duty on Hermes Six, just to get into space. Driven by a passionate desire to succeed, and to excel, she finds the prevailing atmosphere aboard Astrella damn depressing---not at all what she'd expected!

Despite her determination to remain open-minded, she conceives an almost-instantaneous hatred for Astrella's Executive Officer, Malkis of Tartarus, who lets her know in no uncertain terms that he has no use for Terran females. Rona refuses to be cowed and stands up for herself.

So if you are in search of a book featuring a strong female protagonist who is feminine, intelligent, very human---certainly not Wonder Woman!---resourceful, and remarkably resilient, Rona Scott is your woman.

Haven't yet read Judgment on Tartarus? Why not give it a try? Even the guys who've read this book enjoyed it immensely.

MRTighe