T10T: Characters Who Improved Their Books – Big Time!

April 3, 2018

TTT-Big2

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s prompt was actually to list 10 likable characters from disliked books, but if I genuinely disliked a book, chances are, I disliked the characters within it, as I’m a very character-driven reader. My friend Julie had the great idea to change this theme to list 10 characters who truly helped me enjoy their books!

Image result for nikolai lantsov

1. Nikolai Lantsov
This sweet royal bean is, by far and wide, my favorite part of the Grisha Verse trilogy. He made me want to complete the books when nothing else was keeping my interest, and I can’t wait for his spinoff. <3
Book/Series: Grisha Verse trilogy

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2. Nimona
Nimona is the title character of her graphic novel, and while I thought the plot was perfectly fine, honestly, it would’ve been so much less exciting and delightful for me without her! She’s so hilarious and her antics kill me.
Book/Series: Nimona

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3. Damianos
Okay, we all know I adore the Captive Prince trilogy, but the first thing that hooked me in book 1 was how much I adored Damianos/Damen’s character. He’s so goodhearted, and strong, and sweet, and I love him to bits.
Book/Series: Captive Prince trilogy

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4. Lada Dracul
My sweet, vicious little Lada. <3 I love the plot to And I Darken, but it would be nothing without her little fangs.
Book/Series: The Conqueror’s Saga

Image result for lucien merwild

5. Lucien Vanserra
This is exclusively for book 1, but I wasn’t sold on Feyre to begin with (she grew on me, though), and I didn’t like Tamlin much at all. Lucien, however, had me from the beginning – I loved his banter and snark, and I still do. <3
Book/Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Image result for levi stewart fangirl

6. Levi Stewart
It was really hard for me to get into Fangirl, until Levi became a regular appearance in Cath’s daily life. At that point, I was hooked. He’s so precious!
Book/Series: Fangirl

Image result for the bone season fan art warden

7. Arcturus/Warden
I’ve only read the first book in the series, and while I did genuinely enjoy the plot, let’s be honest… without Warden’s big asshole teddy bear self, it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun to read. <3
Book/Series: The Bone Season

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8. Thomas Cresswell
This one’s a stretch, because I honestly love this series so much as a whole, but I don’t know if I would have given the first book such an easy 5-star rating if I hadn’t loved Thomas so much from the beginning.
Book/Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper

9. Maverick “Big Mav” Carter
This is another stretch, because I would absolutely have still adored The Hate U Give soooo, so much even without Big Mav’s character. That said, he was one of my favorite parts of the book, and I just loved him so much. <3
Book/Series: The Hate U Give

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10. Augustus “Gus” Waters
TFIOS was an enjoyable read anyways, but Gus was the first literary character in my entire life that I remember loving that much. I still think he’s the greatest part of the book, by far, and I just want to protect him. ?
Book/Series: The Fault in Our Stars

Are there any characters who vastly improved their book(s) for you?

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More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a children's librarian/horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, grad school, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

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Leave a comment

    1. Shayna

      April 3, 2018

      I feel the same way about characters that you do. I had to change the topic up because I could only think of books I hated because the characters were all so terrible, haha.

      Reply

    1. Annemieke

      April 3, 2018

      I am also more for character driven stories but sometimes there is that one character that I like but they cannot save the whole book for me.
      Nikolai needs all the love. <3

      Reply

    1. Jana ? (@ArtsyReaderGirl)

      April 3, 2018

      I LOVE your twist on this topic! I had a really hard time formulating this list for the exact reasons you did. But… someone submitted the topic through my TTT submission form so I was like… I SHOULD PLEASE THE PEOPLE. You know? lol. I wish I had thought to spin it the way you did. 🙂

      Reply

    1. Eve Langell

      April 3, 2018

      I’m a character driven reader too so I get it. I did love Nikolai and also can’t wait for more from him. I also enjoyed Lada and Lucien though like you in book one after that he kinda pissed me off and I have mixed feelings for him. I also love Fangirl and Levi so I’m glad he made it better for you. I have yet to start Stalking Jack the Ripper or The Hate U Give but they are on my list. Great picks. My Top Ten

      Reply

      1. Destiny @ Howling Libraries

        April 6, 2018

        Oh yeah, I can totally get having the mixed feelings on Lucien after book one! I still enjoy him, but book one was definitely my fave part for his character – well, that and the beginning of ACOWAR haha. <3 I hope you enjoy THUG and SJTR! Thank you!

        Reply

    1. Barb (boxermommyreads)

      April 3, 2018

      Wonderful list. Honestly, Feyre is the only reason I haven’t continued on with that series. She drove me NUTS!. I hope to read And I Darken this month but only time will tell. Thanks for sharing your list!

      Reply

      1. Destiny @ Howling Libraries

        April 6, 2018

        Thank you! That’s understandable. I didn’t like Feyre until the end of ACOTAR, which was when I started to tolerate her. I will say that I actually enjoyed her fairly well in ACOMAF, though, so if you ever continue it, I hope you will, too!

        Reply

    1. louise ☆

      April 3, 2018

      Yay for Nikolai! He’s definitely my favourite Grisha character, and the series really picked up for me once he was introduced 🙂 And I also agree with you on Big Mav, he really is one of the best characters in THUG.

      Reply

      1. Destiny @ Howling Libraries

        April 6, 2018

        Nikolai is so good! I honestly probably would’ve DNFed that series altogether, if not for how much I loved Nikolai and wanted to spend more time with him! And I’m glad you love Big Mav, too haha! 🙂

        Reply

    1. everythingalyce

      April 3, 2018

      I love your twist on this week’s topic! I’m an extremely character-driven reader too, so it was ridiculously hard for me to think of ten characters for my list – I wish I’d done your twist, too.
      I agree with you completely on Nikolai, and his spin-off is one of my most anticipated releases of 2019: if only it could hurry up and get here sooner.

      Reply

    1. emmareadstoomuch

      April 3, 2018

      i agree so hard on Nimona and Levi that i can almost forgive you on augustus.
      almost.

      Reply

    1. Carmen

      April 4, 2018

      You have two of my all-time favourite characters in here, Gus and Nikolai. I can`t wait to get my hands on “King of Scars”. It`s about time Nikolai gets his own book.

      Reply

    1. scribblesandknots

      April 5, 2018

      I love your twist on this week’s topic! I did “characters who deserved better” and I NEARLY included Lucien, I love him.

      Reply

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