Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 fictional pets/animal companions

Chet is half of the duo that makes up Little Investigations–he’s the brawn, while Bernie Little is the brains. And the driver. And he does anything that requires an opposable thumb or talking. Chet? He’s about the action.

Chet also handles the books’ narration—his loyalty to and love of Bernie shines forth throughout. Slim-Jims, riding shotgun in Bernie’s series of Porsche convertibles, and Charlie (Bernie’s son) are close. His love of taking down perps comes in a third, but boy, does he relish it. You just can’t not grin while reading Chet’s narration.

image taken from the cover of Heart of Barkness and the Tor/Forge blog post Behind the Scenes: The Making of the Heart of Barkness Cover!

>Grand Champion, Breed Winner Regional, National Winner Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, a tortoiseshell Persian cat—”one of those fluffy, flat-faced cats that look like they need to be sitting on the lap of a Bond villain”—is just a brilliant character. She’s vain, she’s manipulative, she’s obsessed with status, she’s frequently thoughtless, she’s surprisingly sweet. She’s simply wonderful to read/listen about. I’ve only made it through 3 books so far—so I can’t say too much about her, but I just love her.

image taken from the Dungeon Crawler Carl Princess Donut Collage T-Shirt

Maggie served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan before an IED in Afghanistan killed her handler. This left Maggie with severe PTSD and a second chance at work with the LAPD. It didn’t seem to be going too well for her until she was assigned a partner who was also suffering PTSD after the death of his partner. The two understood each other and helped each other start to recover.

Since then, the pair has made a great team for the LAPD—and even helped out Elvis Cole once. Crais has his hands full with Cole and Pike, but I’d jump on a new Scott and Maggie book so fast that it’d make my head spin.

image taken from the website for Project Paws Alive (a group you might considering donating to)

Mouse is a good dog. Everybody says so. He’s Harry Dresden’s friend, and he’s the protector of Harry’s daughter, Maggie. He’s a Temple Dog, a Foo dog—who pretty much chose to be with Dresden and trained himself by watching Harry.

He’s without doubt the most powerful dog (physically, mentally, and magically) on this list—he will also melt your heart (all of them will, though). If I were ranking these in order of preference, he’d probably be at the top of the list (by a nose). Since his first appearance in Blood Rites, his presence in the series grows and grows (as does audience appreciation for him)—he’s even handled the narration for a couple of short stories.

image taken from Tyler Walpole's page—a print that will soon be hanging on my wall.

Oberon is the Irish Wolfhound companion of The Iron Druid (aka Siodhachan O Suileabhain, Atticus O’Sullivan, Connor Molloy). He’s a lover of sausage (and other meat products), a lover of bathtime (especially if it involves stories being told to him), and a fierce fighter. He’s solved some murder mysteries, met gods and goddesses, along with all sorts of supernatural animals. He also knows English—and can communicate telepathically in it to Atticus and anyone else Atticus links him to. With the assistance of Atticus, he’s written “The Book of Five Meats” (a cookbook) and “The Dead Flea Scrolls” (the foundational text of Poochism, a religion for dogs).

Oberon, unlike all of these critters, loves popular culture, movies, and whatnot. He’s funny (even when unintentional) and has a huge heart. There might be times when you’re not so sure how interested you are in his human companions and friends in the books he appears in—but you’ll stick with them for Oberon. I really wish I’d given myself more time to write this post; Oberon deserves a few more paragraphs.

image taken from Kevin Hearne's blog post Oberon's Holiday Special