Top 10 of 2011: Characters

Welcome to my fourth post of "Top 10 of 2011", hosted by Rachel at Fiktshun, Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic,  Lisa from A Life Bound By Books, and  Jaime & Patricia from Two Chicks on Books.. Every day this week various bloggers will be posting their top 10 lists. I think this is a great way to wrap up such a great year!


Whew! Today is the next to last day of this. Today we're talking about our top characters, and I decided to do a bit of a variation on this. I'm going to be a little different and do my favorite sidekicks of the year. This applies to most anyone who helps out the protagonist (or antagonist!), whether they're someone they meet in the course of their story, are their best friend, or are their cousin's sister's boyfriend. I just know this is going to make it harder... I suppose I'm up to the challenge. So the list is not quite accurate, three times I have two characters from the same book, and I guess I'm counting them as one and a third... The counting only goes to nine, but there are actually twelve characters in my list. Confusing, I know. :)


9. Angie & Ethan from Forbidden 

I don't know if it's sad that I enjoyed the two main character's friends more than I enjoyed the main characters. Angie and Ethan were everything their friends Levi and Hannah were not: driven, passionate, interesting, exciting. I don't need to go on. Even though we weren't really following them, I found myself much more invested in their story than I did Levi and Hannah's. Can the next book be about them please?


8. Harley from Across the Universe 

Harley is wonderfully artistic and faithful to the girl he loved. He was a great friend to Elder, and though his story had a tragic ending, he was the most memorable character in Across the Universe to me.


7. Lily from Hourglass

We didn't see much of Lily in Hourglass, which was disappointing to me. But in the little of her we did see, I found her to be the perfect best friend to Emerson. She was so supportive, understanding, and compassionate towards her best friend, all qualities that should be essential in friendship, though it's common that they're missing.


6. Skylar & Bethany from Every Other Day

Both Skylar and Bethany surprised me in more ways than one. Bethany seems to be the quintessential popular girl, the one who could care less about anyone but herself, yet she has a whole lot more depth. She cares that Kali saved her life and cares about what her family is involved in. Skylar is tiny and seemingly helpless, but she has surprising strength and buckets of loyalty.


5. Mrs. Northe from Darker Still

Mrs. Northe is not your normal kind of sidekick. She's much older than Natalie, yet takes her under her wing. She protects Natalie, but also helps propel her towards what really is her destiny. She encourages her to break out of the shell she's put herself into and helps her gain the courage to do what has to be done. She may be a different kind of friend, but she's definitely one of the best a girl could have.


4. Pamela from Dearly, Departed

Pamela is so cool. She badly wants to be a rich, proper lady but has a bit of a ruthless side to her. She does what has to be done to protect the ones she loves, including her best friend Nora. I don't think I've read about too many girls who killed a zombie with a parasol, have you? Everything she does, though, is to help her friends and family. She isn't at all selfish and does what she needs to, despite the cost. Definitely a best friend to keep around.


3. Roar & Cinder from Under the Never Sky

Roar and Cinder are too vastly different characters. Roar is fiercely loyal, compassionate, and loving. He fights for the ones he loves and for the helpless, and isn't afraid to sacrifice himself. Cinder is much more closed off. He has suffered hardships the other characters do not understand, but is still hopeful. He holds a power more vast and dangerous than anything they've seen, but desperately hates to hurt others except in the most dire of circumstances. Both are given precious little time in the book and I hope to read more about them in the second, and maybe move them up on my list next time! 


2. M from Warm Bodies

M is in no way, shape, or form a character I expected to like. When we meet him, we get the idea of the kind of person he was before he was a zombie, and still is. He is lustful and irreverent and doesn't seem to care for much beside food and getting his jollies. But as the story progresses, we learn that he is a very loyal friend to R, in whatever sort of friendship two zombies can form. He follows R in his journey and earns the same ending, showing he has the same kind of heart. Both, even dead, have the capacity to love and to change and to hope for greater things in life.


1. Bovril from Goliath

Yep! My favorite sidekick of 2011 is indeed a perspicacious loris. Bovril was such a fascinating creature to read about and he felt much more like a human character than an animal. He had a way of figuring things out way before the humans did, and always provided for some comic relief in his repetitions. Lorises are definitely creatures I wish I had one or two of, though I may love Bovril the most.

Alright! There you have it! My favorite sidekicks of the year. Do you agree with my picks? Or did I leave someone glaringly off the list? I was going by books I read this year, but is there some sidekick I just HAVE to read about? I'd love to hear opinions, and I'll see you guys again tomorrow for my final top 10 post! :)