melissa bendixen: hi, i'm melissa, your audible editor who writes the ya newsletter. in the theme of women's history month, i have picked out some of my favorite, favorite listens from the past year about girls who fight for justice in their corner of the world and they are just so satisfying to root for. the first one is a deadly education by naomi novik, narrated by anisha dadia.narrator anisha dadia: i decided that orion needed to die after the second time he saved my life.melissa: that was the first amazing line to a deadly education, a story about el, a teen witch who has some serious attitude problems. but she's trying to survive in probably the most cutthroat magical high school that you are never going to set foot in.el is a loner, but it's not because she's not good at magic. it's because she's too good at magic. she actually has this affinity for dark magic, like she has the power to basically raze entire populations and destroy mountains and stuff, but she's kind of trying to lay low and not let the world find out about her dark power.but then all of a sudden her lay-low strategy is not working anymore. she can't help but, well, help, and it opens up a whole world of problems for her, which is honestly really fun to follow along with.
melissa: we're leaving high school behind, magical or otherwise, for this next book. firekeeper's daughter is about so many things but it's mainly about 18-year-old daunis, who is on a mission to uproot a hidden drug trafficking ring within her ojibwe community. it's gut-wrenching, but also romantic. it just had me rewinding back to the beginning. just listen to this sample and you'll know what i'm talking about.narrator isabella star lablanc: as a kid, i once fell hard, my helmet smacking the ice. dad was at my side in an instant, deep voice booming. nadaunis, [speaking ojibwe]. i scrambled to stand while my eyes saw stars. "that's my girl." whenever i fall, my dad's voice is the thunder following the crack of lightening, telling me to get back up.
melissa: you're probably wondering why i have a bowl on my head. well, i’m shiori, the princess of kiata. this is the premise of the six crimson cranes by elizabeth lim, narrated by emily woo zeller. my evil stepmother has cursed me to wear this bowl on my head. the really bad thing about this curse is that i can't speak a single word or else one of my six brothers is going to die. it's pretty rough, right? yeah, pretty rough.she can really get shit done with a bowl on her head though and she even gets a guy to fall in love with her. (i mean, ladies and gentlemen, it's not about looks. it's not about looks at all.) she goes from princess to peasant to princess again and, yeah, she manages to win the day with a bowl on her head the entire time.
melissa: iron widow by xiran jay zhao, narrated by rong fu. i have saved the most intense for last because zetian is the most determined, take-no-prisoners heroine i have ever listened to. forget katniss, this girl is out to get you. she has got a reason to fight.zetian's sister was killed as a concubine sacrifice to power the giant robots that this chinese-inspired society are using to fight invading aliens. zetian volunteers as tribute after her sister, but goes only so she can kill the male pilot responsible for her sister's death. yeah. yeaaaah.bonus here is that this story has a throuple in it. say what? yes, i did say that. i know you love it. just you wait, it's pretty great.
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