Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by  The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here.  This week’s topic is:

A character freebie

This is a relatively easy one this week – a freebie about characters.  I’ve kept this simple and chosen characters from the books I’ve read so far this year.  I’ve, quite by accident, chosen mainly females.  Here they are:

Silas – from Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson.  I loved this character, he’s so intriguing, did I mention he’s a demon but definitely a demon that is conflicted.  I strongly recommend Sorcery of Thorns.  It’s just amazing.

Vintage from The Poison Song by Jen Williams.  Jen Williams can really knock the ball out of the park when it comes to characters and Vintage stole my heart whilst reading The Winnowing Flame Trilogy.  One of my favourite reads this year.

Ruth Butterham from The Corset by Laura Purcell.  I’ve read two of Laura Purcell’s books so far and they have both been brilliant.  The Corset probably even topped The Silent Companions.  In fact there are two great characters in The Corset (or Poison Thread) but on balance I think Ruth was my favourite.  She either has some very powerful magic or she’s absolutely deluded.  I won’t ruin the read for others by saying anything else.

Gilda from Westside by WM Akers.  Westside really took me by surprise and Gilda is just such a tough little cookie – a detective of tiny mysteries when secretly she really longs for the answer to the biggest mystery in her life.

Vasya from the Winternight Trilogy The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden.  Vasya is a character born to the wrong age, she’s really ahead of her time in her thoughts and actions.  She’s kind and she tries to do the right thing but more than that she is absolutely fascinating to read about.  This is a trilogy that I simply adored.  Loaded with Russian mythology and told beautifully by an author with a magical ability with words.

Nona from the Book of the Ancestor series Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence.  Nona is a character that grows wonderfully with each instalment in this series.  She’s absolutely badass but more than that she’s a devoted friend and she believes in forgiveness when it involves the ones she loves.  You could liken this, in some ways, to the Harry Potter series – except with a lot more punch and definitely for adults.

Omat from The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky.  I was transfixed by this book.  The culture, the place, the back stories.  It was really quite something and I can’t wait to read whatever this author writes next.  Omat is a character living in harsh times, brutal, cold, hungry times.  She goes through a heck of a lot and her story makes for compelling reading.  I couldn’t put this one down.

Griz from A Boy and His dog at the End of the World by CA Fletcher.  This book is excellent.  It really is.  It’s full of surprises and set in a post apocalyptic world that’s different from any that I’ve read before.  What makes this especially good though is Griz’s narration.  What a great story teller, charming, innocent, naive and either brave or foolish enough to dive head first into danger in order to retrieve a stolen dog.  I love Griz.

Maggie from Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse.  How much am I loving this series so far.  It feels so unique and Maggie plays a huge part in that.  Here’s a little description from my review ‘Of course she’s not always the easiest person to get along with, she has a bad track record when it comes to killing people (although she is trying to control that impulse) and to be honest she can be a little bit scary.  Her reputation has grown somewhat and people expect ‘badass’ from her.’  Read this series.  That is all.

Helga from Council by Snorri Kristjansson.  The Helga Finnsdottir #2 series is turning into a favourite for me.  It’s such a unique world.  Set in a world of Vikings this takes such an original approach.  Instead of bloodthirsty Vikings raping and pillaging this focuses on one young woman and how she becomes involved in mysteries that nobody even knows are mysteries until she solves them.  Murder mysteries in a time of Vikings.