Today at the Broke and Bookish the Top Ten Tuesday topic is:

‘Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X’

Now, I confess I had a little wobble with this one.  Of course I could just choose Fantasy to be my ‘x’ but that will just then quickly turn into a list of my top 10 Fantasy books – which, nothing wrong with a list of excellent fantasy books – but, I wanted to do something different.

I thought I’d have my ‘x’ be ‘great characterisation’.  Characterisation is my big ‘thing’.  I love beautiful writing, I love a great plot, I adore far reaching epic adventure and excellent world building.  But, nothing pushes my buttons like great characters.  It’s the one thing that sells me on a book – I want to feel for those characters.  Sometimes I want to feel their pain or loss, I want to feel their passion and happy moments.  I want to feel for them.   More than that, I want them to live and succeed.  If I don’t feel like that about the characters then, I might still have a good read, but it won’t be of the same calibre.  So, with that in mind:

1. Mark Lawrence – yes, I probably bang on about his books a little bit but let’s just take a minute to discuss Jorg.  Now, I love this character and this series, it’s such a unique book, it’s fantastic writing but the central character is just excellent.  It’s not that you’re going to love him or hate him so much as he’s a total so and so who you’ll end up being on his side come what may.  Although, that being said, yes, I guess some people really don’t like him – which kind of makes him a great discussion piece.  And, on top of that he has a rich background.  Yes, he would make a great topic.  This would be an adult class though as Jorg definitely comes from the grimdark of fantasy – no nicey, nicey here.
2. Gillian Philips – I love her Rebel Angel series, Truly it’s a great reading experience and the characters – are excellent to read about, tormented and passionate – well, who am I kidding, Seth is my favourite but even so this is a richly written series where the loss of any of the characters actually feels like a punch to the gut.
3. Scott Lynch – Gentlemen Bastards – Jean Tannen (yes, don’t bother to judge) and Locke Lamorra.  These two are absolutely two of my favourite characters – they have a lot of history together, they’ve known each other since being boys and they have pure banter together.  They’re intelligent, funny, exciting to read about and they’re two characters that I genuinely care about – in so much as I would be very unhappy if anything unfortunate was to happen to them (Scott Lynch I’m looking at you)!
4. Speaking of characters being bumped off – Tyrion by GRRMartin (not that he’s going to be bumped off – just, you know, George Martin!) – he is a fantastic character – against the odds.  I love this guy.  There is a world of information for discussion right here.
5. Reva – from Anthony Ryan’s Tower Lord – she is an awesome character – and I love her!  That really is all.  Except of course I think she would be a great topic for discussion.  She has a tough upbringing.  She starts off as a very angry character and then she changes and it’s excellent to read about her progress.
6. Rose from The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead – Rose was a great character.  We sort of grew up with her along the series and suffered her experiences, her losses and her mistakes.  This is part of her beauty – she makes mistakes, she’s human and therefore not perfect.  I like that in a character.
7. Mercy – Mercedes Thompson from Patricia Briggs urban fantasy series.  This is a great series.  Mercy is tough, but she’s not afraid to ask for help.  And, if you read this series, she’s had some pretty harrowing experiences, but she’s stronger for it.  She’s very accepting and has a great nature.
8. I guess whilst I’m going down this route I might as well throw in Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden.  This is a series that you grow with which I love and Harry is (so far) a great character.  I think there’s a lot to learn
9. Kvothe – Patrick Rothfuss – I don’t even know what to say.  I don’t know whether it’s simply the character or the book or the writing – but there’s a lot available to discuss and Kvothe is certainly an interesting and complex character.
10. Wydrin or the Copper Cat – a mercenary from Jen William’s Copper Promise – this character is a great female character to read.  She’s no push over.  As a female, reading a female character, she’s great to read and gives you an amazing feel good feeling.  I like to read about a woman with her own agency, she’s not waiting to be rescued, she’s not scared to be sexy, she’s doesn’t mind making the first move and yet she still has vulnerability.  A great character.  Yes, she should be on every syllabus.

I just thought of some more characters but I’m going to leave it there.  I told you mine now tell me yours.