Quick disclaimer: Some of the characters I will be talking about come in later in a book/series, so knowledge of their existence might be a little spoilery.
Today I’m going to be talking about my favorite characters! Let me just say, I have a lot, so in an effort to keep myself from rambling on forever, I have forced myself to choose one character from each of my favorite authors. If I have read from more than one world/series from that author, which I have for most of these, I had to choose one world to pick a character from.
I do plan on making series-specific (or author-specific) posts like this one at some point in the future, because there are so many other characters that I love from each of these series, and it was so difficult to choose just one. And, of course, I will probably do an updated version of this post someday, because the more I read, the more my list of favorite characters grows.
Anyway, even with these rules in place, this post might take a while to get through, so let’s just get into it.
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Author #1: Brandon Sanderson
World: Roshar (The Stormlight Archives)
Character: Kaladin
Brandon Sanderson is amazing. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. And because he is amazing, he makes great characters in all of the series I have read by him. This was probably the hardest choice I had to make on this entire list. But the Stormlight Archives is definitely my favorite series by him (though the original Mistborn trilogy is a close second), and so I thought it would only be right for me to choose a favorite character from my favorite series.
Even that was a hard choice—the Stormlight Archives is massive. Each book is 1000+ pages long, and there are literally hundreds of characters. Finally, though, I settled on Kaladin. I think part of the reason for this is because of the nostalgia factor—Kaladin is one of the very first characters we meet in the very beginning of the first book, after the prelude and the prologue (yes, it has both of those), so I feel incredibly connected to him (and, actually, my second favorite character is a character we meet in the prologue—I guess the law of primacy is really in effect here).
Plus, he’s just awesome. He is what is called a “darkeyes,” which is exactly what it sounds like—he has a dark colored eyes, like brown—and in the society he comes from, that means that he is a lower-class citizen. In the beginning of the first book, he is a slave, and he is hopeless and depressed. But, over the course of the book, he discovers the power within himself, and he never really stops being on the moody side, but he’s also incredibly resilient and loyal and encouraging. He has gone through so much, and yet he still manages to stay strong and fight for his right to a good life, and that’s one of my favorite things about him.
Author #2: Marie Lu
World: The Republic (The Legend Trilogy)
Character: Day
This was a little more of an obvious choice for me. I have read and enjoyed all of Marie Lu’s books that I have read, but the Legend trilogy, her debut series, is my personal favorite of them all. And within that series, my favorite character is without a doubt Day, though the other point of view character in these books, June, is also pretty great.
This series is set in a world where global warming has ravaged the Earth, causing massive flooding, and there was another civil war, causing the United States to split into the eastern half and the western half, now called the Republic and the Colonies. The Republic, where most of the series takes place, is ruled by a military dictator and has a very strict class system. Day, the Republic’s most-wanted criminal, is from the lower-class, and he spends most of his time trying to protect his family.
I guess you could say I like Day for similar reasons to why I like Kaladin—he’s loyal to a fault and incredibly resilient—but the two characters really aren’t much alike aside from that. Day is, for the most part, much more positive, and funnier. He’s also kind of a ladies’ man—or at least, a lot of girls seem to like him. He’s such a genuinely nice guy, even though he’s a criminal.
Author #3: Rick Riordan
World: The Heroes of Olympus
Character: Leo Valdez
I know a lot of people would probably choose Percy Jackson as their favorite character, both for this series and the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, but for me, I honestly got kind of tired of reading from Percy’s perspective by the time we got to the Heroes of Olympus series. It’s not that I don’t still like him, I just think that he, and Annabeth, too, for that matter, should be able to rest for once, and step aside to let other people do all the dangerous work.
Besides, and this might also be a controversial opinion, I think that Leo is both funnier and more flawed than Percy is, which, to me, makes him a more interesting character. The best part about Leo is that sometimes you really don’t agree with what he’s doing. He is, after all, kind of mean, and kind of selfish. He’s not very good at dealing with people, and so even if he doesn’t necessarily mean to hurt someone, he might do it on accident. And yet, despite all that, Leo is still ultimately a good person, who wants to do right. There are definitely some choices he made that I don’t like, but I still love him.
Author #4: Marissa Meyer
World: The Lunar Chronicles
Character: Cress
The Lunar Chronicles is a four-book (technically 5 if you count Fairest) sci-fi series where each book retells a classic fairytale. Cress is the main character of the third book, aptly titled Cress, and she is based on Rapunzel, with the long hair and all. Except this version of Rapunzel is locked in a satellite instead of a tower, and also happens to be a genius hacker. Basically, she’s awesome.
She’s also super socially awkward (as is common when one has lived alone in a satellite for most of their life with only the occasional visit from their evil guardian), which I found to be very relatable, even though I haven’t lived nearly as secluded a life as she has. I think that’s a lot of the reason why she’s my favorite.
Author #5: Eoin Colfer
World: the Artemis Fowl series
Character: Holly Short
I’ve mentioned my childhood (and current) love for the Artemis Fowl series in a few different posts at this point, but I don’t think I have ever really gone into much detail about it beyond just, “I love it so much!” Now, here is my chance to go into in a little more detail.
This is a middle grade urban fantasy series set in a version of the real world where magical creatures like elves, centaurs, and dwarves exist, and are actually far more technologically advanced than the humans are. However, they stay away from humans, preferring to live in places humans can’t get to. Then one day a boy genius named Artemis Fowl discovers their existence, and the series kind of takes off from there.
Holly Short is one of the major characters in the series. She is an elf, a member of the police force, and she is the one who is sent to deal with Artemis’s schemes the most often. She’s street smart and athletic, and she is also a pretty amazing friend.
Author #6: Margaret Peterson Haddix
World: the Missing series
Character: JB
This is another one of my childhood faves that I have talked about a bit before. It’s a series that involves time travel, and I can’t really say much more than that without completely spoiling the first book. In this series, JB acts as a sort of mentor to the brother and sister duo that are our main characters. He’s super smart and a little bit snarky, but also seems to really care about the kids and what is happening to them.
His character is also a little bit frustrating at times, too, though, because sometimes he does that thing mentors do where he refuses to tell the main character something important, instead leaving them to figure it out for themselves. That’s great for the plot, of course, but it is also sort of annoying.
Nevertheless, JB is great.
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And that’s all I had for this post today! Sorry it was so long, but well, it’s hard not to have a lot to say about my favorite characters.
Let me know down in the comments: what are some of your favorite characters? I’d love to know!
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
-Ariel