Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme for bloggers who like books and lists. It's awesome and is graciously hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
Mercy is an auto mechanic and a Walker - she can shift into the form of a coyote. She's not particularly strong but her magic is unusual and it gets her into some hot water with all the local baddies. I like her because she's down to earth and not too cocky.
This series is only on the fringes of Urban Fantasy, being more of a post-apocalyptic type story but I think it fits nicely because I love Penryn because she is SUCH a bad ass, fighting evil angels, and defending her little sister. She is a fantastic character and one of my favorites in YA, period.
This week's TTT topic reads thusly:
Ten Books That Feature Characters ____________: Examples: Ten books that feature black main characters, characters who hold interesting jobs, characters who have a mental illness, characters that are adopted, characters that play sports, etc, etc. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!
Complex and varied characters are pretty much why I love reading books so this is a topic that speaks right to my heart. For my personal twist, I decided I would choose to celebrate characters who fight, in one way or another, supernatural baddies*. In other words, Urban Fantasy heroines and heroes. This is actually a sub-genre I used to have a hard time getting into so I'm excited that I now have a number of Urban Fantasy characters that I adore!
* It must be noted that in many characters these characters do not just fight supernatural critters, they often fraternise in friendlier type ways as well. BUT, part of their purpose is to stand against the bad supernatural folk so I think it's a fair characterization.
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1) Anthony Lockwood, Lucy Carlyle and George Cubbins - aka Lockwood and Co. in the series of the same name by Jonathan Stroud
I just finished this series and absolutely ADORED it - I finished the last two books in two and a half days. These 3 characters make up the Lockwood & Co. ghost hunting agency in an alt reality London and they are all just wonderfully distinct and complex and lovely. I'm very sad to no longer have their company and wish there were about 5 more books in the series.
2) Peter Grant from the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch
I have raved about Peter many times on this blog. This was a series that convinced me that I did in fact like UF and a lot of that is because Peter is the bomb. He's a London police detective who gets drafted into a supernatural unit after he realizes he can see and talk to ghosts.
3) Kate Daniels from the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews
This was the other series that convinced me that UF could be awesome and a few years later I am convinced Ilona Andrews can do no wrong. Kate is a strong, complicated, confident but not arrogant heroine who I would like to grow up to be some day. She's sassy and bad ass but she also shows her insecurities and vulnerabilities which keeps her human and relatable.
4) Karrin Murphy from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
It's maybe a little unusual to choose Karrin as my favorite character from this series over Harry but while I like Harry Dresden, I LOVE Karrin. Karrin is a middle aged cop with no supernatural powers but who nevertheless charges in to fight the big bads whenever she is needed. She is my favorite character in this series and I often find myself wishing she was the title character and not Harry.
5) Katie Chandler from the Enchanted, Inc. series by Shanna Swendsen
This series is definitely on the fluffier side and has completely charmed me to pieces. Part of that is Katie, who is a down-to-earth, Texas girl working in a support job for a magical company in New York. She is a nice change from most UF heroines! She shows that you can fight evil armed only with a lot of good organizational skills. This series also has a nice beta hero and a healthy dose of romance.
6) Mercy Thompson from the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
Mercy is an auto mechanic and a Walker - she can shift into the form of a coyote. She's not particularly strong but her magic is unusual and it gets her into some hot water with all the local baddies. I like her because she's down to earth and not too cocky.
7) Penryn Young from Penryn and the End of Days series by Susan Ee
This series is only on the fringes of Urban Fantasy, being more of a post-apocalyptic type story but I think it fits nicely because I love Penryn because she is SUCH a bad ass, fighting evil angels, and defending her little sister. She is a fantastic character and one of my favorites in YA, period.
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I think I must stop at 7 - I am still a relative noobie to Urban Fantasy but am so glad to have found many characters I love already! How about you? Do you have a favorite UF hero or heroine?
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