Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Favorite Characters P-T

Percy Weasley from the—

Weeks ago, when I started making notes for this series, I literally wrote that as a joke to myself, and had to keep it.

But seriously…

Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter of Three Firs from The Deed of Paksenarrion

I was kind of bullied into reading this series in college, but there were a couple of guys in my dorm who would just not stop talking about it, even though I was on a little break from fantasy after ODing on it the year before. I’m so glad I caved to peer pressure. Paks is the daughter of a sheepherder who runs away from home so she doesn’t get married off and goes in search of glory in battle. She learns that it’s not like the stories yet struggles on and goes on to be the legend she dramed about. Her series is in my personal Fantasy pantheon, and it’s almost only because of this paladin who saved the kingdom.

Quinn Colson from the Quinn Colson series

Quinn Colson is one of my favorite lawmen–former Army Ranger who became the Sherriff of his hometown. He, his friends, deputies, an ex-deputy, and a couple of feds have now waged a decade-long campaign to clean up Tibbehah County, Mississippi from all sorts of crime and corruption. He’s got grit, a quiet humor, a sense of honor that seems out of place in his world (and ours).

Jack Reacher from The Jack Reacher series

(yeah, I could’ve used a pic from one of the movies, but I just refuse)

So, what can I say about Lee Child’s modern knight errant? Former Army MP who decided to walk around the country he spent his entire life serving, but spent almost no time in. So, now he just walks the earth, you know, like Caine in Kung Fu. Just walking from town to town, meeting people, getting in adventures. Whoops, I think I confused Jules Winnfield and Reacher–easy mistake. Anyway, he walks into town, stumbles onto some sort of criminal activity, usually one that’s hurting a woman (but sometimes a man), and does what he can (which is a lot) to stop it and mete out a little justice. It’s the same basic story, time after time after time, but somehow tales of Reacher are horribly addictive. Just something about this coffee addict walking around with just the clothes on his back.

(which, incidentally, is the name of a great album full of songs about Reacher.)

Spenser from the Spenser series

Um, what can I possibly say about Spenser at this point? I’ve been writing monthly pieces about his first appearances this year, and am having a hard time thinking I can say anything new. So I’ll adapt something I wrote earlier this year: He’s a former professional boxer (not that good, but he did get his nose broken by someone who was very good); a Korean War vet; a former Massachusetts State Trooper, assigned to the DA’s office in a County that fluctuates depending on Robert B. Parker’s memory; and now a Private Investigator. He’s very literate, he likes to cook, he drinks a lot, thinks he’s funnier than anyone else does (except the readers of the novels)—which brings him a lot of grief. Honor’s very important to him and it will influence the way he deals with clients, victims, criminals and everyone else along the way. He’s very much a latter-day knight.

I’ll just borrow this bit from Looking for Rachel Wallace

“What is it you want to know?”

“Why you engage in things that are violent and dangerous.”

I sipped half a glass of beer. I took another bite of veal. “Well,” I said, “the violence is a kind of side-eiffect, I think. I have always wanted to live life on my own terms. And I have always tried to do what I can do. I am good at certain kinds of things; I have tried to go in that direction.”

“The answer doesn’t satisfy me,” Rachel said.

“It doesn’t have to. It satisfies me.”

“What he won’t say,” Susan said, “and what he may not even admit to himself is that he’d like to be Sir Gawain. He was born five hundred years too late. If you understand that, you understand most of what you are asking.”

“Six hundred years,” I said.

and maybe add in this bit from God Save the Child:

Healy said, ‘Didn’t you used to work for the Suffolk County DA once?”

I said, “Yes.”

“Didn’t they fire you for hotdogging?”

“I like to call it inner-directed behavior,” I said.

“I’ll bet you do.” Healy said.

Huh, I went from not knowing what to say to saying too much. Spenser has that affect me.

Toby Daye from the October Daye series

October Daye is the daughter of Amandine (daughter of Oberon) and a human, she’s half-Dochas Sidhe/half-human changeling. She’s a hero of the Realm, the Knight of Lost Words and a former countess. When we meet her, she’s a non-practicing P.I. recovering from spending fourteen years as a fish in a pond in a San Francisco park. But she starts getting involved with the Fae again, and things start happening. She’s toppled kingdoms, killed a Firstborn Fae, and has generally saved the day on a regular basis. She does it with a grim determination, a smart mouth, and an attitude that makes her more enemies than fans or friends. But when there’s trouble afoot, you want no one else at your back.

and…

Turtle Wexler from The Westing Game

Maybe it’s just because I read a book a week or so ago that I compared to The Westing Game, or maybe it’s because of the news of the new adaptation (that promises to be fairly faithful) in the works–but I can’t stop thinking about Turtle (sorry, Mrs. Wexler, Tabitha-Ruth). So I’m bending my own little rule and naming her here, too. Turtle is smart, clever, with a mouth that gets her into trouble, a little impulse control, and a nasty shin kick. There’s a real sense that me reading about Turtle (and wishing I could meet someone like her) in elementary school that paved the way for…well, Spenser, and Toby, for starters. Also Mercy Thompson, Lizzy Spellman, Archie Goodwin, and a few more that have made the lists in this series. For a thirteen-year-old girl to outsmart an apartment building full of adults to win control of Sam Westing’s company–and to do it in a believable and stylistic fashion–made me a fan for life.