Ladies first: (All ten of whom are smart, stubborn, strong-willed, independent, and full of spunk...which is why I like them!)
- Mercy Thompson (Shapeshifter & car mechanic extraordinaire...who actually only has one tattoo: a coyote paw.)
- Kiera (artist & amateur detective from Anna Lee Huber's Lady Darby Series)
- Raederle of An (from Patricia A. McKillip's Riddle-Master of Hed series...my all-time favorite fantasy trilogy!)
- Mina Harker (No one in Bram Stoker's Dracula is tougher than Mina!)
- Lacey Flint (Sharon Bolton's complicated detective constable)
- Menolly (daughter of Yanus Sea-Holder, apprentice harper, and owner of nine small dragons)
- Laura Ingalls Wilder (Who's both character and author.)
- Kit Tyler (from Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond)
- Lisbeth Salander (Probably the toughest girl of the bunch...and yet it was her vulnerability that really made me like her. Created by Stieg Larsson, of course.)
- Nancy Drew (Need I say more?)
Now for my favorite leading men:
- Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin (He tops my list!)
- Gabriel Allon (Daniel Silva's complicated Israeli artist & assassin)
- Morgan of Hed (Did I mention already that Patricia A. McKillip's Riddle-Master of Hed Series is my all-time favorite fantasy series?)
- Harry Potter (Who needs no other introduction!)
- John Charming & John Taylor (This is a tie for me between Elliott James' exiled Knight Templar and Simon R. Green's hero of the Nightside who can find just about anything. They're both awesome!)
- Joe Harmon (from Nevil Shute's classic novel.)
- Francisco D'Anconia (my favorite character from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, although Dagny is a close second and almost made my first list of favorite female characters)
- Agent Aloysius Pendergast (Preston & Child's enigmatic and one-of-a-kind FBI agent)
- Alex Verus (Benedict Jacka's mage who can see into the future)
- Kaspar Krone (the only clown I've ever liked and hero of Peter Hoeg's The Quiet Girl)
Honorable mention: All of Louis L'Amour's reluctant heroes...especially if their last name happens to be Sackett.
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So, there you have it. My favorite fictional characters, male and female. It was hard narrowing it down to ten each, because there are a lot of great book characters out there, which means many characters that I love didn't make the list. But if I'd tried to list them all, this post would have been way too long.
Who are some of your all-time favorite book characters?
Happy Reading!
Mercy Thompson is one of my favorites too. She’s awesome! I haven’t heard of any of your men. Looks like I need to get reading.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of good men in fiction! If only that were as true in real life. ;D
DeleteFun list! I haven't heard of a lot of these, but I definitely agree with Lacey Flint (I love how her oxymoronic name perfectly reflects her personality!), Kiera, and Harry Potter. Great characters, all.
ReplyDeleteLacey Flint in a great character. I just wish Bolton would write another book about her! :)
DeleteGreat post! I love Lacey Flint too and I hope Sharon Bolton will write more books in that series one day. You've also reminded me that I need to read more of the Sebastian St. Cyr books - I have only read the first one so far, but I did enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteThe Sebastian St. Cyr books with Hero in them are my favorite, and I hope Bolton writes another Flint book soon, too! :)
DeleteThat's a fun post! I need to catch up on Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series; I think I'd only read two of them so far. And Lacey Flint and Nancy Drew are on my favourite list as well. :)
ReplyDeleteYou've gotta love Nancy Drew! :)
DeleteYes to Mercy and Alex Verus! On the post I had to keep my choices down to just a few but I might expand a few of those questions at some point!
ReplyDeleteI hope you do! It was such a fun post. :)
DeleteThanks Lark for your list of favorite characters which I am going to explore. Little House in Big Woods is on my classics challenge so I am excited to read about Laura Ingalls in book form, not just the TV show. Kit Tyler also a strong and good hearted character. My favorite characters have changed over the years which I think happens to all of us. I need to read more science fiction so going to start with Mercy Thompson since she is getting alot of yes votes as favorite character and then Sebastian St Cyr. The name alone sounds very dashing and romantic.
ReplyDeleteSebastian St. Cyr is an awesome character! If you like historical fiction mysteries definitely give those books a try. And Mercy Thompson is a great character, too, especially if you like urban fantasy. :)
DeleteLove your list, but I can't decide on my favorites! I do like Lacy Flint and Sebastian St. Cyr and, well most of the ones on your list that I'm familiar with. I really, really need to read the Mercy Thompson books as everyone seems to love Mercy!
ReplyDeleteIt was hard for me to choose just ten favorites, too, because I read so much and love so many characters! :)
DeleteOh, love Laura Ingalls Wilder, good choice! When I worked in a library years ago, Louis L'amour was the most borrowed author!
ReplyDeleteBoth are awesome. :D
DeleteSo interesting - this makes me think I should really go through who my favorite characters are as well. You have some of my favorites on here - Nancy Drew, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Harry Potter, but also a lot of characters that are new to me. I need to check out some of these books! Great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'd love to know who your favorite fictional characters are, too. :)
DeleteFantastic list! Some I have heard of and/or read and quite a few that are new to me!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite characters of all time is Septimus Harding from Trollope's Barsetshire Chronicles. And Flavia de Luce from the Alan Bradley books.
Oh, I forgot about Flavia! I love her, too. Looks like I needed a longer list. ;D
DeleteLove, love, love Mercy Thompson! One of my all-time fav female characters! :)
ReplyDeleteShe's great, isn't she? :)
DeleteGreat lists! The characters I recognize on your list are all ones I love, and I am thinking I should get acquainted with some of the names I don't recognize. Love this post!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amy!
DeleteThis is such a fun post! You've got so many great characters listed, some I've read and many I still need to read. I totally agree with you about Mina, nobody's tougher than her in Dracula. The Mercy Thompson books have been in my TBR pile for way too long. I need to read those soon.
ReplyDeleteThey're great...I think you'll really like them. :)
DeleteOh my goodness Kit Tyler was one of my favorites for so long as a kid! I probably need to go back and read Witch of Blackbird Pond again--it's been years.
ReplyDeleteI love The Witch of Blackbird Pond! Kit, and Nat, and Prue. It's such a good book...even after all these years. :)
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