Top Ten All Time Favorite Characters In Books

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and features a new top ten list each week.

This week’s topic is Top Ten All Time Favorite Characters In Books. How fun! To sum it up, this is my time to swoooon over my favorite characters, which means the list is mostly men, of course (or, er, one man in particular…) But I also made sure to be fair and select some characters based on their morals, strengths and convictions, which allowed for a few girls to be included. See my list below:

Shahid Kapoor is my ideal Ren from The Tiger's Curse series.

1. Ren from The Tiger’s Curse Series by Colleen Houck. Be still my beating heart. Ren… I really can’t help myself when it comes to him. He’s a prince who, over 300 years ago, was cursed to live (for what we can assume to be an eternity) in the guise of a white tiger – as was his brother, Kishan, the black tiger. I prefer Ren over Kishan because he is pretty much my idea of “the perfect man”. True, he has his faults, but thank goodness, these faults simply mean that he is human. He’s like Superman, one who would do anything to save those he loves. He’s a poet (Oh, how I would love to have him whisper sweet nothings in MY ear…). He is a gentleman, well mannered and well educated. And, of course, he is a H-O-T Indian prince!! I imagine him looking something like this. (I sure hope my husband doesn’t read this…)
2. Ayla from The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel. This pre-historic heroine has been through quite a lot in the Earth’s Children series, but never so much as she had to put up with in the first book, Clan of the Cave Bear. In this chapter of her life, she is orphaned as a young (possibly 5 year old) girl before she’s found by a clan of “neanderthals”. She is different from them in every way; she does not look like them, speak like them, or even know how to behave like them. While loved by her adoptive parents, she has to deal with keeping silent as “women should”, endure abuse and rape by other members of her clan, and keep secrets from those who she loves the most. I admire her for her ability to overcome all obstacles and her desire to go on even when life delivers the hardest of blows.
3. Ren from The Tiger’s Curse Series by Colleen Houck. Did I mention that Ren turns into a white tiger? White tigers just so happen to be my absolute favorite animal of all time. And Ren is one, sooo… *triple heart love him!*
4. Professor Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I admired him for his final role in the book series, and I adored who he had become as a character, but when Alan Rickman brought Severus Snape to life in the movies I was officially sold. Snape’s story is more tragic, more heart warming, than even that of Harry Potter. As Harry said in the end, Snape “was probably the bravest man I ever knew.”
5. Ren from The Tiger’s Curse Series by Colleen Houck. Did I mention that Ren is poetic? I won’t spoil the actual poetry written “by Ren” in the books, but here is one example of the beauty of Ren’s words: “Love is not a consequence. Love is not a choice. Love is a thirst. A need as vital to the soul as water is to the body. Love is a precious draught that not only soothes a parched throat, but it vitalizes a man. It fortifies him enough that he is willing to slay dragons for the woman who offers it. Take that draught of love from me and I will shrivel to dust. To take it from a man dying of thirst and give it to another whilst he watches is a cruelty I never thought you capable of.”
6. King Kong. He is one TOTALLY under-appreciated ape who deserves to be included in at least ONE of these lists!
7. Ren from The Tiger’s Curse Series by Colleen Houck. Did I mention that Ren owns a MEGA yacht? No? Well, he does…. And there’s a whole lot more where that came from! (Yes, he’s rich!)
8. Prince Ash from the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. I admit, this is another swoony moment for me, but I doubt I was the only one who got all giddy when Harlequin Teen and Julie Kagawa decided to give us even more Ash love this past February with her Iron Fey Valentine. Have you not read that fantastic piece of feytastic fluff yet? Then hurry on up and read it!
9. Katniss from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Who doesn’t like Katniss? I’ll bet she makes the list for many other bloggers today. She deserves some respect for all that she had to put up with in all three books. I don’t know if I could handle it. I’d probably be one of the first of the fallen in the very first seconds of the Hunger Games.
10. Ren from The Tiger’s Curse Series by Colleen Houck. Just because. Oh, and this: “I warn you, Kelsey, that I’m an extremely patient man. I’ve had extensive practice in waiting out the enemy. My life as a tiger has taught me that attentive persistence and focused diligence always pay off. Consider yourself forewarned, priyatama. I’m on the hunt. I’ve caught your scent, and I won’t be thwarted in my course.”

There’s my list, take it or leave it!
How about you? Do you have a favorite fictional character?