Favorite Characters of 2019

It is time for my Favorite Characters of the Year post. As I've said many times before, I am a character reader. I read for character arcs and development and the messy wonder of human relationships. Every year I like to do a post that covers some of the characters I fell in love with over the course of my reading year. (If I read a book from a series that I've already mentioned in a previous year, you can assume I still love the characters. This is for brand new characters I encountered.)

Links are to my reviews. Descriptions are (for the most part) snippets from my reviews.

Mup and Crow from Begone the Raggedy Witches by Celine Kiernan
Mup is such a delightful heroine. She begins her begins the book as a sheltered, rule-following, and seemingly meek little girl. As danger upon danger meets her, Mup discovers a core of strength and defiance in herself that serves her well. She has strong convictions about what is right and what is wrong. Crow is Mup's catalyst for defiance and rebellion. She has a deep sense of empathy and feels strongly for his plight. The more she learns about him, the more determined she becomes to help him too. Crow is broken, angry, and mostly abandoned. His father was arrested. His mother severed all ties with him. His uncle cares for him, but also lives a life of fear and desperation always trying to keep one step ahead of the queen's witches. And Crow is determined to defy the witches at every turn. Together, Mup and Crow are a scared but sassy and defiant team ready to take on whatever evil they have to face in order to save those they love.

Iris and Lark from The Lost Girl by Ann Ursu
Iris is prickly, values rationality, knows she is smart (but probably shouldn't say it out loud), has trouble making friends, is confident but introverted, and is a unilateral problem solver. She doesn't consult others, but acts when and how she deems it necessary. And speaks her mind without thinking of all the consequences. That she ends up  in trouble is unsurprising though how she gets there is in many ways. Lark is the creative one. She makes up stories, is an artist, and sees the world in beautiful ways. She has a talent for seeing the light in the dark and twisting the tale to show that the monsters are weak and beatable. Lark does have trouble navigating the world the way it is in many aspects, but she has an inner strength and courage all her own. If you haven't read their story, you should. It's a beautiful story of sisterhood and girl power.

Hazel, Jame, Aubrey, Colette, Aphrodite, Haphaestus, Apollo, Hades from Lovely War by Julie Berry
The characters of James, Hazel, Aubrey, and Colette are wonderfully layered and their stories exquisitely told. I love all four of them so much. So. Much. I could read at least a thousand more words about them and never grow bored. Through each of them we see a different perspective on the first world war. Berry does an exquisite job of making the reader feel everything all four of them experience. They are like real people who you can't help but love. And dang it if I didn't fall in love with Aphrodite and Hephaestus. And Hades. And Apollo is the charming rogue he always is. You can't help but fall for him. This is an ambitious novel that reached the lofty heights it was attempting to scale.

Elisabeth and Nathaniel from Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
Elisabeth is a girl who grew up in a library surrounded by books of magic. As an apprentice warden of the kingdoms most dangerous books, she is untrusting of magic and the sorcerer's who wield it. Accused of a crime she didn't commit, Elisabeth finds herself having to rely on one of those dreaded sorcerers to help her unravel the mystery of who is seeking to unleash horrifying terrors on the libraries and why. Said sorcerer is the ultimate snarky emo boy who wants to keep Elisabeth at arm's length because she makes him feel things, and he doesn't want any of that thank you. But he also can't resist because she is having none of his nonsense. Basically this book is tailor-made Brandy catnip.

Beatrice, Benedick, Hero, Prince, Maggie, John from Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George
George's versions of Beatrice and Benedick are just top notch. It never would have occurred to me to take Benedick and turn him into a wannabe novelist who has a love affair with his (named-feminine, of course) typewriter, but it is just so perfect in every way. It takes all of his philosophical insecure ramblings and gives them a purpose and a psychology that absolutely fits the original intent of the character and the 1920s setting of this iteration perfectly. Beatrice is as ever highly capable and painfully honest. She is a practical girl who yearns to go to medical school and be a doctor. Following  her ambitions has lead her to learn a great deal on her own already. She lugs around a trunk full of medical study materials and diagnoses everyone she comes in contact with who seems remotely suffering from an unknown ailment. When he meets her, Ben is feeling rather purposeless even though he's trying to invest his life with meaning by running away from his rich father to be a writer.  For her part, Beatrice is trying to find her place in a world that doesn't seem to want her and is simply grateful to her uncle for taking her in. Sparks fly between the two immediately and the banter is wonderful and clever and amusing in every way the banter between these two is supposed to be.

Miryem, Wanda, Irina from Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
This story takes place in a world where women are at the mercy of the men in their lives: their fathers and then their husbands. This story is concerned with THEM. There are three main female characters. There is Miryem, the Jewish moneylender's daughter who must harden her heart for the sake of her family's survival. There is Wanda, the poor farmer's daughter Miryem hires as a servant. There is Irina, the daughter of a duke who wants her to be Tsarina. All three girls are failed by their fathers on some level. One is too gentle to care and provide for the women in his life. One is violent and cruel. One is cold and cunning. Each girl must learn to carve a place for herself in the situation she is thrown into, and they are all BRILLIANT. If someone told me I could only recommend one book I had read all year, it would be this one.


Looking at this, makes me feel good about my reading year. My aesthetic seems to be back on brand. for sure.

Shout Out to My Beloved Characters I Experienced in On Stage Storytelling This Year:
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Anastasia

Hadestown