Top Ten Tuesday is brought to us by The Broke and The Bookish
This week’s theme for Top Ten Tuesday was a freebie, meaning that we could go back and do an old topic or whatever we wanted for this week’s meme. I chose Top Ten Secondary Characters (most of them from books I have read recently). These characters really brought something to the book and made them more enjoyable for me. These characters aren’t in any particular order.
10. Roar from Under the Never Sky
I have to admit that I really wasn’t a huge fan of Under the Never Sky, but I loved Roar. His sense of humor and friendship with Aria made the book much more bearable for me. I feel that without him this book would have really fallen flat. I will hopefully soon be continuing this series and reading the novella from Roar’s point of view.
9. Kenji from Shatter Me
Once again, I haven’t completed this series, but I wanted to see more of Kenji within the first book of the Shatter Me series (and I really hope that I get my wish). Kenji was funny and adorable, but seems like he has quite a few skeletons in his closet and tricks up his sleeve. I wished that he was the main character many times while I was reading instead of a secondary one.
8. Rue from The Hunger Games
Sweet Rue was the youngest tribute in The Hunger Games the first time that Katniss participated and I loved their friendship and sisterly relationship. Rue brought out a softer and more compassionate side of Katniss that we didn’t expect to see in the arena, but which eventually helped her to win the games.
7. Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter series
I loved Neville Longbottom from the get-go. He was that awkward child who didn’t have much control over his own powers and was constantly having accidents as a result. He was both funny and endearing, yet there was something about him that always seemed sad. I love how Neville developed over the course of the books as we learn more about him and he gains more control of his abilities.
6. Blue from The Raven Boys
I feel that while the story of The Raven Boys begins with Blue, that she takes more of a backseat and supporting role once the Raven Boys are introduced into the story. That or there are so many main characters that she feels more secondary. Anyway, I loved everything about Blue. I loved that she didn’t necessarily have any psychic powers herself but that she helped other’s abilities become stronger. I also thought she was funny, very intelligent, and was a strong female character to have in a book whose main characters are mostly boys.
5. Reagan from Fangirl
Reagan, Cath’s sarcastic roommate is older, sassier, and has more experience in so many realms of college life than our M.C. does. Yet Reagan takes Cath under her wing and tries to help her have a true college experience, without her twin sister and the fanfiction that Cath hides herself behind. Reagan is the big-sister character that I wish I saw more of in YA.
4. Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter series
Fred and George were such wonderful comic relief during incredibly tense times throughout the Harry Potter series and we all know that Harry, Ron, and Hermione would have had an incredibly boring time at Hogwarts if it weren’t for them. Fred and George never failed to make me laugh and brought a trouble-making sense of adventure to the series, except you know, that one time when they made me cry (but we don’t talk about that– so I will stop now).
3. Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird
Boo Radley is one of those characters that will always stick with me, an innocent who is made to look like a criminal, simply because he is a recluse. But I couldn’t help but love everything about Boo, even when we only knew the rumors going around Maycomb about him, and especially when he began to interact with Scout and Jem Finch. Boo was so misunderstood, but was such a gentle and loving character.
2. Dill from To Kill a Mockingbird
I tend to love characters that make me laugh and remind me of people I have known in the past and in my childhood. Dill from To Kill a Mockingbird is one such character. His character is innocent and funny and encourages the Finch children to get into quite a bit of trouble. Let’s go touch Boo Radley’s house shall we?
1. Sirius Black from the Harry Potter series
I love everything about Sirius Black’s character, from the first impression of him to the very last time we see him in the series. He was easily my favorite character in these books, a mentor and father-figure to Harry when his own father couldn’t be there. I loved his back story and his loyalty to his friends. I will never be over what happened to him in the 5th book (Order of the Phoenix).
I don’t know some of the books you mentioned, but I completely agree about Neville, Fred and George and Sirius Black from Harry Potter.
Neville is often unappreciated, but I think he truly represents growth and, despite the fact that I would have liked to be more like Hermione, I can relate to Neville’s struggle for respect a lot.
Sirius Black is my favourite character from the entire series too and I was so shocked at the end of OotP that I wrote a fan fiction to change his story.
I think I could have made this whole list with characters from Harry Potter, but I tried to limit myself and use characters from other series/books.
I completely agree with you about Neville. It was so wonderful to see him grow from a bullied kid to a powerful and confident young man.
And yay for your love of Sirius. I wish we could have seen so much more of him. It would have been so wonderful for Harry to feel like he had more of a home with Sirius. I would love to read your fan fiction (it might help me to forget that J.K. decided to break my Sirius-loving heart).
Unfortunately my fan fiction is written in Italian… but I’ll translate it… someday. 😛
Oh, I also really appreciate Rue from the Hunger Games. Katniss behaviour toward her has more complex implications in the story than expected.
What a brilliant list. I completely agree with you about many of the characters.
Thanks Chrissi! It was really fun to look through my books and pick out these fabulous characters.
Love the topic you picked! And I agree with so many of your characters, but especially loved Rue, Roar, and Reagan… And of course Sirius. Pretty much anything Harry Potter can’t go wrong in my book.
I could have made the whole list Harry Potter characters, but had to stop myself 🙂
Thanks for visiting my blog!
Great list! I still remember watching the movie version of To Kill A Mockingbird after we read it in HS. This was back in ancient, pre-VCR days when we had to watch movies on actual film projectors at school. Anyway, right at the pivotal moment when we were actually about to see Boo Radley for the first time–THE FILM BROKE! I can still remember my teacher running over to the projector to fix it while the whole class was yelling. That’s one of my most vivid memories of high school!
Oh my goodness! That is such a terrible place for a projector malfunction. I remember one of the ones at my school caught fire and the film melted while we were watching it. It was kind of scary!
Rue! And Neville! Fred and George and Sirius! I remember doing this topic before – you could include nearly everyone from the Harry Potter books. Such great characters. A lot of these books are on my TBR mountain, so hopefully I’ll get to see why those characters are awesome. 🙂
Denise @ Life With No Plot
TBR mountain— I love it!
I could make a Top Ten HP Characters list, maybe for the next freebie week.
Ooh, fun topic! I love Rue, her story was so sweet and sad! Two of my other favorites are Kenji and Boo Radley. 🙂
Alice @ Alice in Readerland
Thanks for stopping by Alice! Every time I read The Hunger Games or watch the movie, Rue’s story makes me cry.
I actually DNFed Under the Never Sky (glad to know someone else who wasn’t a big fan) but I have to say that Roar was definitely the best part of what I had read. He was just so much more dynamic than the other characters! And yes to Rue, love her! When I did this TTT topic she was on my list!
I made myself finish reading Under the Never Sky, partially because I had bought the book and also was because I was waiting for it to get better (it never really did). I loved Roar and some of the other secondary characters weren’t that bad, but the main two characters (Aria and Perry) weren’t the greatest,
Rue was a wonderful character, and while I understand the part she played in the book, I wish that I could have seen more of her.
Thankfully I had borrowed it from the library. It’s too bad a secondary character so outshone the main characters.
Love this list! Sirius, Roar and Kenji are some of my favourite as well! I love that you featured Blue, too, because the poor girl does get a backseat to all those boys 😀
She really does! I loved her, hopefully she will be in the books more as the story progresses because I think that she has a very important part to play.
Great list! Love Fred and George – they were some of my favorite characters. I can’t imagine their earlier lives at Hogwarts and all the pranks they pulled.
I would love to read a book about the adventures of Fred and George! Thanks for visiting my blog!
Great pick! Fred & George are THE BEST secondary characters ever…. although every time I think of book 7 I absolutely SOB!!! Roar is such an amazing character, he’s one of my favourite things about the Under the Never Sky series. Nice list 🙂 My TTT.
Thanks for visiting my blog! I love Fred & George and would love to read a book of their mischievous adventures. Book 7 was a kick in the pants for so many reasons, even though it was brilliant and beautiful.
I don’t know if I will continue reading the Under the Never Sky series, but it’s possible. Is there much more Roar to enjoy in the 2nd and 3rd books?
In terms of secondary HP characters, aside from the ones you’ve already mentioned, I have quite the soft spot for Luna Lovegood. She seems so quirky and sweet, and I think it would be an adventure to be her friend.