Nice, nice! I like fantasy too.
"N" characters... there are so many, but one of my favorites has to be
"Nile" who is the main character of
The Demon Breed, by James H Schmitz.
I think it's technically sci-fi? But it takes place on one planet, without much future-tech, so honestly it feels more like a fantasy, ha ha ha. The "demon breed" of the title doesn't actually exist, which amuses me.
Nile is someone working for a large pharmaceutical company, and one of her research scientists who has a lab on a type of floating biomass that mimics an island? Well, he hasn't checked in.
So she goes to find out what has happened, with her trusty sidekicks (two genetically enhanced sea otters), and then has to deal with what happened, and rescue the scientist.
It's really really fun.
I guess I'd classify it as an "adventure" story more than anything?
Only read if you don't mind spoilers, and I'll explain the title:
Spoiler
There is an attempted alien invasion, and she has to pretend to be the scary "Demon Breed" that the aliens are so superstitious about, to scare them away from the planet. That's where the name comes from.
That author was one of my childhood favorites.
The Witches of Karres made me want to grow up to be Goth. Then when I got to be older than Goth (the name of one of the characters; she's about 12, I think?) I wanted to be Goth's mother, Toll.
(Yes, yes. Weird name choices. Look past that, the book is STILL a favorite.)