Rosie's Riveters: Susan & Lessa

Note:  Rosie is posting a day early this week as tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US and she wants to ensure that everyone has a chance to read all about Susan's Riveter.


Rosie's Riveters is a weekly posting written by Booklust readers about riveting females in literature. Many readers have strong reactions to the women in the books they read- either very positive or very negative. These are the characters we find riveting, for good reasons or bad ones, and they form the population of Rosie's Riveters. Through this weekly post, we can discuss females we love to hate, or love to love. And maybe, just maybe- we can determine why we react so strongly to them.

If you are interested in participating, please comment on this post, e-mail me, or just fill out the template below and send it to me. I am always looking for more participants!

This week's post is by Susan of West of Mars and Win a Book! fame.  I only met Susan very recently, when I asked her to post a giveaway on her blog.  She did so, very promptly, and I got so many more contest entries because of it!  Susan is also a writer and does a lot of work on her blog promoting author events around blogosphere and trying to ensure people have access to finding the Next Great Read.

Who is your Riveter?

Lessa

What book does she feature in? 
Anne McCaffrey's original Dragonriders of Pern series: Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon. And then a bunch after that, too, but more as a secondary character.

Do you love her or hate her? 

Love her. I was young when I discovered these books (twelve, I think) and her strength of character helped shape my idea of who I want to be if I ever grow up.

Describe her personality- how would you describe her to a friend? 
She's tough. No-nonsense. A survivor. Fierce. In-your-face. She hides her fears behind bravado.

Can you compare her to a celebrity? 
Uhh, nope. I don't know any celebrities. Sorry.

What makes her riveting? 

I don't know, exactly. Her toughness is definitely appealing. She's also a natural, easy leader. As someone who has a hard time NOT being a leader, that works for me.

What do you most admire/despise about her? 
Admire: her guts and, at times, foolhardy ways. And abiilty to land on her feet.
Despise: the fact that she's not real. I need more people like her in my life.

Would you recommend reading the book in which the Riveter features? 
Absolutely. I have for years, in fact. I think Anne McCafferey's dragon series (now either co-written or entirely written with/by her son Todd) are a great introduction to the world of fantasy.

Do you have a quote by or about your Riveter that you'd like to share?  
A quote, no. But there's a moment where she sits for the first time in the chair that was used by one of the great women in history and she's in awe, thinking that Moreta had sat there, too. That moment, and one early on when Lessa tried to hide her identity from the dragonriders, are the two scenes that stand out most in my memory. I won't tell you how many years it's been since I first read these books, but it's a lot. Yet those images remain.