Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I Love and Hate

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday give you a choice. You can do ten characters everyone loves but you just don’t get or ten characters you LOVE but other people seem to dislike. I flip flopped back and forth between the two and finally decided that I would just do both. Five of one and five of the other. 

Let’s start with characters I don’t like, but other people do.

I know this is probably a very unpopular opinion, but I just hate Jace Wayland. I tried really hard to see the dreamboat that everyone else saw. I just never could. In the end all I saw was a selfish, spoiled kid who really needed to grow up. Admittedly he might have done some growing up in the 5th and 6th books, but City of Fallen Angels felt so unnecessary that I stopped reading the series. If you ask me, it should have been a trilogy.

Ok. I hated this guy! I know everyone loves him and the whole redeemed villain plot line, but I don’t. Once an abuser, always an abuser. No matter how steamy the romance scenes are. And in my book, Warner abused Juliette. I’m not saying Adam was a gem of a person, but I completely understand his outrage at this stockholm syndrome-ish relationship. Sorry, just a no go in my book.

So this one is probably cheating since I really didn’t like this series. That said, I have read countless reviews praising America and I just don’t get it. She drove me absolutely bonkers. The fact that I made it through three books written in her point of view baffles me. She’s whiny, silly, and incapable of telling the truth. This might be because she’s not sure what the truth is, but stringing along two guys for three books, all the while telling them what they want to hear, is just not cool.

This one is probably a pretty popular opinion. I try not to dump on this series too much around here because I would sound like a broken record. But I can’t help it. I really truly despised Bella Swan. I mean what kind of girl constantly puts herself in danger so she can  see a hallucination of guy who broke her heart, while using and ignoring the people that are really there for her? Yeah. No thanks.
This is probably cheating too, right? Since Anastasia Steele and Bella Swan are basically the same character. But, there is enough difference that I felt they both needed to be on this list. Both girls are so caught up in the fact that this powerful and beautiful man is in love with them that they don’t stop to look and see if the relationship is really healthy. In Anastasia’s case it’s more severe. She ignores the instincts that tell her she is uncomfortable with certain aspects of their relationship because she’s afraid he won’t like her or something? Not my kind of girl. 

 

Now for the characters that I like but other people don’t. 

I know that he’s a tough cookie to crack, but once you get to the gooey center of Severus Snape it is impossible not to love him. At least, that’s how I feel. Then again, I was never on the villain train. Even after the end of Half Blood Prince, I knew that Snape was a hero. Plus, his history with Lily is just so heart warming. In the end I think he is the most developed character in the Harry Potter series and is BY FAR my favorite.

Most people who have read this fast paced fantasy series seems to be firmly in camp Aldrik . I sort of get it. He’s dark, broody, and the object of Vhalla’s interest. But, in my head he’s erratic and rude. Baldair is supposed to be the contrast. The beautiful golden son who is known for bedding many women. There is so much more to him, though. He wants to take care of everyone around him. The way he is always there for Aldrik even though their relationship seem to be broken beyond repair is truly admirable. And his confession to Vhalla in Earth’s End was heart breaking. Yeah.. I have a little bit of a crush. 😛 

Magnus has a bit of a questionable moral compass. He fights between doing what is right and what his father wants. He often lands on the wrong side of it and does what his father demands either because he wants his approval or he is terrified of the conquering king. I know I’d be pretty scared of that guy. He’s off his rocker. But the more the books progress, the more Magnus rebels. He outgrows many of his childish feelings and steps out of his father’s shadow to become a good and true leader. I was really impressed with his character development and look forward to seeing where the author takes him in the future.

This character appeared out of the blue in Heir of Fire and people were caught off guard by her presence. They weren’t really sure why she was around. There seemed to be very little connection. I didn’t have that reaction. I just trusted she was important and enjoyed the ride. Manon is tough and she doesn’t tolerate disrespect from anyone. She also has an odd sense of compassion that I would not have expected from the ruthless leader trope that I expected her to be. I suppose I am saying she has lots of tough layers, and I love them all.

I can see where this character could be pretty polarizing. He’s not a teddy bear and he never will be. He’s a con man and a thief. But that’s not all he is. I don’t want to go into too much detail because I try to be as spoiler free as possible (and this book is still relatively new), but Kaz Brekker is a complicated dude. He’s suffering silently after tragedies in his past. I was captivated by him. Not in a crush way, just in a “Wow. This character seems so real.” sort of way. I was impressed with his quick wit and devious nature. He was definitely a stand out character for me. 

So, do I love your least favorite character? Do I hate your favorite? Let me know in the comments!