The newest installment in the MCU is here! The Marvels features Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau (a personal favorite heroine of mine from WandaVision), and the young, snarky Kamala Khan, aka Miss Marvel, as they team up to save multiple planets. If you love a fun, female-centric superhero movie like I do, you’ll love reading about these female heroines after seeing The Marvels. Let’s go!
If you’re itching to read about fierce female warriors after seeing The Marvels, look no further than Nikki Pau Preto’s Crown of Feathers series, set in a world ruled by fierce warrior queens, and centering a complicated sister relationship reminiscent of Gamora and Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy. Betrayed by her sister, Veronyka sets out to find the legendary Phoenix Riders of old and join their ranks, no matter what it takes. Full of high stakes, riveting action, richly drawn characters, and plenty of shocking plot twists, Crown of Feathers is the perfect book to draw you in after leaving the MCU (for now).
Vespertine follows Artemisia who is training to be a Gray Sister and keep the ravenous spirits of the dead from tormenting the living. With a mysterious and troubled past, Artemisia much prefers dealing with the dead to the living, but gets more than she bargained for when an attack on her convent leads her to call on a being whose power almost overwhelms her. Like many of the heroes in the Marvel universe, wielding such an immense power, and being at the center of such a large conflict as a result, is the last thing Artemisia wants for herself, but getting to watch her grow into her heroic role is one of the many things that makes Vespertine such an amazing read.
Just like Kamala Khan, Alanna is on the cusp of her heroic journey at the start of the beloved Song of the Lioness series. Alanna craves the adventure and heroism of the life of a knight, even though that path is closed for girls. Instead of accepting defeat, she disguises herself as her twin brother and sets off for a life of adventure, magic, and destiny. Alanna learns who her allies and enemies are and comes into her own with newfound powers, making the Song of the Lioness series perfect to binge after watching The Marvels!
Bonesmith is a dark young adult fantasy following the disgraced bonesmith Wren as she attempts to prove she is worthy of being anointed a valkyr, a ghost-fighting warrior tasked with severing violent ghosts from their earthly remains. With her single-minded determination to prove herself a warrior, Wren would fit right in with the Marvels’ and their determination to save the universe!
Rosalind Lang was brought back from the brink of death, but the strange experiment that saved her life had some very superhero-like side effects: she no longer ages, she no longer needs to sleep, and she can now heal from any wound inflicted on her. Full of historical thriller intrigue, a delicious slow-burn romance, and pitched by Chloe herself as “a Chinese period drama meets a Marvel movie,” Foul Lady Fortune is a must-read for any Marvel fan!
Similar to Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel, Bree Matthews must come to terms with a unique power unlocked from deep within her after witnessing a magical attack on her first night at her new school, an attack that is somehow connected to her mother’s sudden death. Like Monica, Bree struggles with the loss of her mother while navigating a new world of powers and otherworldly enemies, making Legendborn a perfect read to follow up The Marvels.