Summer’s a great time, isn’t it? Gone are the long overcoats, the big fuzzy sweaters, and the scarves.

That’s right, people. It’s sexy time again.

Last year, we began what is now officially our annual tradition of the sexiest characters of fantasy. This year, we’re doin’ ya one better — we’re going to let YOU, our readers, decide for yourselves.

The guidelines are simple. One, we are judging characters for their sex appeal, not actors, so even if you happen to find Cate Blanchett the sexiest lady around, I think we can all agree that her turn as Galadriel didn’t exactly turn up the heat.

Two, we are specifically dealing with fantasy characters and not sci-fi, which means that Trinity, Aeon Flux, etc. are out of the running. Superheroes are okay, but we’re mostly going for high fantasy or urban fantasy, a la Legend of the Seeker, True Blood, and the like.

Three, we’re looking for recent entries into the world of fantasy. Basically, the character has to have appeared in an entertainment project released from 2009 to 2010.

And now that the rules are out of the way, here are our nominees. You can vote below!

Lucretia

Though Lucy Lawless will always be remembered for playing Xena, she still brings the sexy (and then some!) almost ten years later as the wickedly seductive Lucretia on Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

Naevia

Speaking of Lucretia, most Spartacus fans first got a glimpse of the surprisingly plucky slave girl, Naevia, when she was essentially being used as a human sex toy to get her domina, Lucretia, going so she could have sex with her husband and not have to bother with all that pesky foreplay stuff. But who would have thought that she would  blossom into a strong-willed character of her own who catches not only the eye but the heart and soul of the toughest gladiator in the ludus, Crixus?

Mira

The last Spartacus entry on the list is another humble-at-first-then-proves-to-be-resourceful slave girl. Mira, who only appeared in about the last third of the season, managed to arouse the man himself, Spartacus, and almost make him forget his late wife. Now that’s a woman.

Kate Austin

Over the past few years, Lost became such a ridiculously complex torrent of red herrings (by which I mean, of course, that the writers had absolutely no idea what they were doing) that it almost made one forget how, in 2004, an unknown actress named Evangeline Lilly created the character of Kate who was tough, capable, and looked damn good in a tank top and baggy jeans. Though the show may have ended on a whimper, no one can deny that for six years, Kate looked damn sexy running around that island.

Jennifer

There’s classy sexy, and then there’s slutty sexy. Hey, I’m not judging. To each his own. Though she was more Mortal Kombat’s Baraka than prom queen, the titular heroine/villainess of Jennifer’s Body was certainly not lacking in the sexuality department … even if she was eating boys (literally).

Persephone

A few months back, I reviewed Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and I won’t split hairs — I did not like it. But near the end, just as I was about to nod off, was woken up a big jolt of sexy in the form of Rosario Dawson’s luscious death goddess, Persephone. If that’s what awaits us in the Underworld, kill me now.

Io

Clash of the Titans may have been a gods-awful flick, but at least it did take a few seconds away from the constant boss-fight-after-boss-fight to allow us to soak in the sexiness that was Gemma Arterton’s enigmatic Io. (Gemma Arterton fans? Careful you don’t split your votes by voting for Arterton’s Princess Tamina in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time!)

Neytiri

Go ahead. I dare you to tell me you didn’t feel a little stirring of something for some of the Na’vi when watching Avatar. No need to feel pervy for wanting to mack on blue monkey-cat people: their bodies were clearly designed to be lithe, sexy, and pleasurable to behold. And few were more behold-able than Neytiri, as performed by the delicious Zoe Saldana. (And lest you protest that Avatar was sci-fi, Pandora itself was clearly a fantasy setting, with its blue inhabitants, floating mountains, and soul transferring.)

Morrigan

What’s that, you say? Morrigan isn’t “real,” but is, instead, a character in the video game Dragon Age: Origin? Clearly, you have yet to play Dragon Age: Origin! When it comes to sexy sorceresses, we prefer ours with a “bad girl” vibe and more than a touch of ‘tude — which is Morrigan all the way. Plus, we have it on good authority that things get, uh, interesting if you “gift” her enough necklaces, amulets, and broaches!

Kahlan

Cara

Legend of the Seeker may have been unjustly canceled, but its characters will live on in our memories and imaginations forever. And while the plots and dialogue were fantastic, it certainly didn’t hurt that its two main female leads were so breathtaking to gaze upon. And so we give you the gorgeous Kahlan and Cara.

So there are our nominees. We also have a “none of the above” option for any glaring omissions, but be sure to add the name in our “comments,” below!

THE POLL IS NOW CLOSED! SEE THE RESULTS HERE

Tune in soon for the men!

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(Three and a Half Torches out of Five)

Good news! With the release of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the so-called “curse” that movie adaptations of video games must always suck is broken.

Well, sorta.

The movie is a big, splashy, summer fantasy movie and, for the most part, it works.

I’ll go so far as to say that it’s the best live-action fantasy movie of the year so far (but, of course, given the long stream of disasters and disappointments, like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland, The Lightning Thief, and The Wolfman, that really isn’t saying much).

The problem with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is that we’ve seen it all before.

Boy, have we seen it all before: the hero whose true nobility isn’t recognized, the plucky princess, the bickering lovers-who-don’t-know-they’re-in-love, the simmering villain motivated by “being evil,” the comic relief side-kick, and the big, explosive, nick-of-time finale.

It all looks great, the movie moves, but storywise, there’s simply nothing new here.

As a boy, the orphan Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) so impresses a king in sixth century Persia that he makes him a prince. Years later, the kingdom is threatened by a rival city, and the king’s princes go to war. But might not the real threat to the king be coming from somewhere closer to the throne?

Soon Dastan discovers a magical item, The Dagger of Time, that, when activated, can turn time back for one minute. But the “guardian” of the dagger, Princess Tamina, warns that someone might want to use the dagger for more nefarious ends.

Still, Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton, who plays Princess Tamina (and who played a similar role in Clash of the Titans), have a real chemistry, and Alfred Molina is pretty funny as the comic relief sick-kick.

(Incidentally, if you watched the brilliant U.K. show Coupling, you’ll recognize the actor who played Jeff, Richard Coyle, in a very different role here.)

For the record, I wasn’t sure why Gyllenhaal (and Arterton) had British-like accents in sixth century Persia, nor why most of the leads are Caucasian, not Arabic, but what the hey. (It’s unintentionally funny when Arterton, who has the darker skin, accuses Gyllenhaal of being a creature of the desert.)

And since the movie has a “turn back time” theme, I expected that to play heavily into the plot. It’s a factor, and the effect looks fantastic, but truthfully, the concept is wasted — not used nearly as cleverly as in the last big time-themed movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azbakan.

I’ve never played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (the video game), so I can’t comment on how successful an adaptation of the game it is. But I gather it involves a lot of running around on rooftops?