She’s hot, deadly, and emotionally unavailable—but does that make her strong, or just badly written? This week, we’re dragging the “strong female lead” trope by its leather boots and asking why strength in fiction so often means violence, trauma, or just being “one of the boys.”

From badass babes to flat-out flops, we’re unpacking what happens when female characters are written for power instead of people.

And if you’ve never read these books? Don’t worry—you’ve still lived this.