Let me try to sell you on Sun Sword.

The Sun Sword is a series of six novels by Michelle West, part of her wider Essalieyan/Annagar universe. They are giant-ass fantasy tomes, chock full of intrigue, magic, politics, battles, gods, demons, and oh, yes, women. Lots and lots of women, fighting and scheming and exercising agency however they can. Some of the ones that have been nominated (in a variety of pairings) include:

Mirialyn ACormaris, daughter of the King and Queen of Wisdom, which in the Empire of Essalieyan is a bit of a conundrum because the Kings and Queens aren't actually expected to like each other enough to procreate together. She's not in line to the throne--that would be the Queen's son with someone else--and no one is quite sure what to do with her. She can't marry; that would muddle the line of succession. Instead, she applies herself to the arts of strategy and war, becoming a master swordswoman and an adviser to the throne. And she expects to spend her life pretty much alone. . .

. . . until Alina di'Lamberto shows up and the two become best friends. Alina is the sister of one of the most powerful nobles in the Dominion of Annagar, the Empire's southern neighbor. She's a bitter, sharp-tongued spinster (who is very, very good with knives) in a country that treats its women as chattel and expects them to be soft and graceful ornaments. When Annagar loses a war with Essalieyan and Esselieyan demands hostages from each of its noble families, Alina's brother is only too glad to ship her north. After all, she doesn't meet the standards set by women like . . .

. . . Teresa di'Marano, the serra's serra, known across the Dominion as the epitome of grace, wit, and style. Perplexingly to many, she has never married, and in her middle years still resides under the protection of her brother Sendari, whose harem she rules with a silk-clad steel fist. That's because she has a magical gift--the ability to compel anyone to obey her merely by speaking--that her family was loathe to let out of their control, but also because she dearly loved . . .

. . . Alora en'Marano, her brother's wife, a fierce woman who loved her husband and her sister-in-law and saw no reason why she couldn't have relationships with both--and therefore did, at least until, before the series begins, she died giving birth to . . .

. . . Diora en'Leonne, who Teresa raised to be everything Teresa was and more, and thus became the wife to the ruler of the Dominion. The Dominion's sharp separation of male and female worlds, however, means she barely knows her husband. It's her harem--the female slaves her husband gathered before he wed her--that earn her love and devotion, and her passion for them that ultimately propels the plot of the series. Along the way, she forms lasting bonds with many other women, including . . .

. . . Margret of the Arkosa, heir to the Arkosa Voyani, one of four matriarchal tribes who wander the deserts of the Dominion and stand apart from the rest of that realm. Although Diora and Margret eventually become as close as sisters, their early acquaintance is prickly at best, because Diora's polished manners and always (externally) calm demeanor are a polar opposite to Margret's rough and wild nature. Even for her famously volatile clan, Margret is easy to anger, thanks in part to her poor relationship with . . .

. . . Evallen of the Arkosa, her mother and matriarch, who loves her daughter but always puts the needs of her people over the needs of any individual, even her daughter--or herself. That's been true since she was a much younger woman, when she first became friends with Teresa di'Marano, and it's all the more true now, because this is an epic fantasy novel and the fate of her people (and of the world) hangs in the balance. Saving it will take the concerted efforts of all the above, and, beyond all else, will be the life's work of . . .

. . . Evayne a'Nolan, half-human seer, who sacrificed any chance of a normal life to wander adrift in time and space, always there when a piece needs to be moved and never able to linger past the play. And by "pieces," I mean, of course, people. Evayne's job is to manipulate others into doing What Must Be Done, even if that means sacrificing their own lives. She regrets it, bitterly--but not enough to prevent her from doing it. Even when that means ensuring the birth of . . .

. . . Kiriel di'Ashaf, daughter of a human woman and the Lord of Hell, who is necessary to save the world but may just decide to destroy it instead if no one can convince her that it's worth preserving. Raised in the hells and with very little sense of social order beyond "the weak obey or are killed by the strong," she falls in with a group of mixed-gender Essalieyanese black-ops soldiers whose flexible morality just might be able to accommodate her kill-first approach to life, and with . . .

. . .Jewel Markess ATerafin, who's made a life of rescuing others and may be the only one to see a better nature worth cultivating in Kiriel. Jewel is an orphan and a street rat, but her precognitive powers brought her to the interest of House Terafin, one of the leading noble/mercantile powers of Essalieyan. When she joined the House, it was on the condition that they take, with her, the gang of street children she protected. Most of them are still with her, but . . .

. . . Duster, Jewel's right-hand woman when it came to combat, died before the series began. Duster's nature was almost as dark as Kiriel's--which just may be why Jewel is so intent on rescuing Kiriel, since she still bitterly regrets Duster's loss. The two, after all, go back a long, long way, to when they were very young girls who had to save each other. (See: the House War series. But that's a lot more women, not nominated here!)

If any of the above sounds interesting to you, the first book is The Broken Crown.