December 19, 2011

Faves of TwentyEleven: the Characters


You may recall Nomes from Inkcrush created several lists of her favourite 2011 books halfway through this year, and invited everyone to join her. I did so here, and since the time has come now for the final end-of-the-year lists, I'm participating once more! I love the categories she's created.

1. Favourite female main character

Wanderer of The Host by Stephenie Meyer, for her transformation from detached "soul" to emotive being with a distinct identity.

2. Favourite male main character

Oh, I really loved Lochan of Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. Admirable, honourable, and struggling under the weight of burdens he shouldn't have had to carry. 

3. Best couple <3

Loved Clara and Tucker from Unearthly by Cynthia Hand, and Anna and Étienne from Anna & the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Clara and Tucker are just plain adorable, and as a reader it was both frustrating and wonderful to watch Anna and Étienne's journey to being together.

4. Who I so want to be best friends with

I think it'd be fun to be friends with Kat from Heist Society by Ally Carter! She's totally different from me in personality, and while I think it would take a while for her to let her guard down and trust me with anything, once we were friends I think she'd be extremely loyal. 


5. Who I fell completely in love with (new literary crush)


Étienne St. Clair! (Seriously, who *didn't* fall for him?!) 



Also, Ian from The Host and Tod from If I Die by Rachel Vincent are both pretty swoon-worthy :D


 
6. Worst (best & baddest) villain



Cole from Bitter End by Jennifer Brown....I really loathed him, he was despicable. Grrrrrrrrr.


7. Best character twist (who you loved then hated or vice versa)



Isabel from Mistwood by Leah Cypess — While I certainly never hated her, I did find her difficult to understand and connect with at the beginning. It was very enjoyable to see her develop her emotional side and I ended up really liking the character she came to be. 


Also, honourable mention to Cecily from Wither and Fever by Lauren DeStefano, for being a character much more complex than she appears on the surface.


 
8. Best kick-arse female



Deuce from Enclave by Ann Aguirre! She was totally awesome, very tough physically and mentally but still learning to be vulnerable emotionally.

 
9. Best kick-arse male


Gideon from Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier, for his mad fencing skillz. (Okay, Fade from Enclave could take him down in a fight in a minute, but I wanted Ruby Red to get a mention, LOL.)


 
10. Broke your heart the most

Lochan... :(


  11. Favourite pet/animal character award


I don't have a really strong contender for this one, but I guess I'll go with the horse Midnight from Jackie Morse Kessler's Hunger. Honourable mention to the unusually conscientious wolf in "The Little Red Headache" story from Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde.


12. Best YA parents award


Many of the YA books I read this year have the parents conspicuously absent or causing problems for the protagonist. If it were the WORST YA parents award, I'd definitely have some nominees, but as it is I'll have to leave this one a blank.
13. Favourite sibling relationship


Frankie and her younger brother from Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta. I just wish we'd seen more of them together!

Also, for extremely complicated relationships: Lizzie and Tess from Without Tess by Marcella Pixley, and Lochan and Maya from Forbidden



14. Favourite best friends/friendship award

The quartet of Frankie, Tara, Justine, and Siobhan from Saving Francesca. I loved watching them bond!


15. Best/worst character names


Terrible character names always strike me much more than excellent ones, so I'm just going to list the worst: "Four" from Divergent by Veronica Roth (okay, so it's more of a nickname...but still), "Nordica" from Popular by Alissa Grosso, and "Sandinista" from The Sharp Time by Mary O'Connell. "Deuce," "Fade," and "Lochan" are also questionable.


Bonus: Best love triangle


It's more of a love rectangle or something, but the Jared-Melanie-Ian-Wanderer conundrum in The Host. In a love triangle competition, one involving two personalities sharing a body can't be beat.


What are some of your choices for these character categories from the books you've read this year? And if you would like to join in the merriment (and why wouldn't you?!) head on over to Nomes' blog here for the details.
 

13 comments:

  1. This is an AMAZING list. I love it! I have a lot of books to add from this list. Suffice to say St. Clair and Lochan are my top literary crushes right now.

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  2. oh yay for tucker and clara <3

    and anna and st clair <3

    also, the friends in saving francesca are the absolute best :)

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  3. So many awesome books! Anna, Forbidden, Divergent, and Francesca are some of my absolute faves. LOVE!

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  4. Great list! The Host is one of my all time favorites!! <3

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

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  5. Frankie and Luca!!! <3 And AGHH I HATE COLE TOO.And dude can I be best friends with Kat too? Except she's just like 10 levels of awesome ahead of me so it might be awks. And goshes, I really need to read Forbidden, don't I... Fantastic list!! :)

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  6. Poor Lochan. His story tore me up.

    And Yes! I love those girls from Saving Francesca. They seemed like an unlikely bunch but they made it work.

    Also, I'd love to be friends with Kat and HALE!

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  7. Love your fave couples!! <3

    Awww and Tod! Yes, he is so adorable.

    Ahh the group from Saving Francesca, I just loved them too. And in Piper's Son as well.

    Haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks "Four" is a weird name. I think in my review I was like "his nickname becomes less lame once you find out what it stands for" because, well, it does, but it's still weird.

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  8. It's so funny how you hate the name Four and I said it was cool, I just didn't like his real name! Lol Also, about Saving June, I think that you will really enjoy it, considering the books you have on this this. You should give it a try.

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  9. ANNA AND ETIENNE!! Oh how I adore <3 I wish I had time to go reread AatFK, because it was one of my favourite read this year. And I agree with your choices of Unearthly, Wither, Enclave. Love reading all these 2011 lists!

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  10. Ooo Heist Society was so much fun. And I love Anna and the French Kiss. Anna and St. Clair are so cute together. I must get around to reading Unearthy since everyone seems to love this Tucker person ;)

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  11. If I had a Faves of TwentyTen list, Etienne would be included in the fictional crushes category. :P I had so much fun reading Anna and the French Kiss last year and I've already recommended it to several friends.

    Oh and yay for Saving Francesca, have you read The Piper's Son? There's something about Melina Marchetta's writing that makes you want to go inside her novels so you can be part of the group.

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  12. I also picked Kat & every one from Heist Society to be friends with, life would be so much FUN! *high five* Four's REAL name is the worst name ever, sucks because he's awesome but I actually love his nickname 4!

    Racquel @ The Book Barbies
    -thank you&come again.

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  13. Totally agree with you on Etienne and Lochan - one stole my heart, the other broke it!
    I can't wait to read Divergent and Heist Society.
    Here is my list
    http://bellesbookshelf.blogspot.com/2011/12/faves-of-2011-book-awards-characters.html

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