Top Ten: Best Book Characters

This was an unbelievably difficult list to make. My original list contained 23 fabulous, complex, well-written, un-cuttable characters. But I was determined to get it down to 10. There had to be some way to determine the BEST 10. So I had to establish a couple of qualifications:

1) The character must be a teen.
{So minus Dustfinger and Scout, the list is now down to 21.}
2) The character cannot come from an already-recognized masterpiece (e.g. Lord of the Rings).
{After crossing out Aragorn and Frodo {Lord of the Rings}, and Hamlet {Hamlet} there are only 18 to pick from.}
3) No villains—I’ll make a separate Top Ten list for them.

Then I had to decide on the criteria. What exactly makes for a good character?

1) Complexity - Dimension, secrets, backstory, mystery, intrigue...
2) Realism - Yeah, right, like anyone is really like THAT.
3) Likeability - Hey, if you don't even LIKE them, how good can they be?
4) Uniqueness - Ixnay on the icheclay.
5) Voice - Are they funny? Is their dialogue clever? Does it reflect their character?

So I got to work, doing what I do best: overanalyzing. I rated every character on the criteria on a scale of 1-20 and lopped off the 8 lowest scores. Bella Swan {Twilight}, Johnny Tremain {Johnny Tremain}, Murtagh {Eragon}, Stargirl {Stargirl}, Jian {The Farsala Trilogy}, Valentina {Her Fearful Symmetry}, Soraya {The Farsala Trilogy}, and Jace {The Mortal Instruments Trilogy} were gone.

But WAIT. I love some of those characters more than the ones that technically made the cut!

And I decided that was okay. I could rethink my ratings depending on who I thought should be allowed to stay. I mean, this is my own personal opinion.

I only-a-little-reluctantly allowed Bella, Stargirl and Murtagh to be cut. I also cut Daniel {The Bronze Bow}.

Then I decided that although Art Robbins is GREAT, he wasn’t really part of the same genre as the rest of the characters. He didn’t seem to fit. I let him go.

I admitted to myself that I actually hate Valentina and am not even a huge fan of “Her Fearful Symmetry,” so I cut her too.

I was down to 12.

Next I considered Ponyboy {The Outsiders}. I loved him and everything, but he was from S.E. Hinton’s early work, and you can tell a bit. He’s a little less well-written than some of the others, although he’s great. So I took him off the list.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt like letting Johnny Tremain go too, so I did.

My list of the Top Ten Best Book Characters was complete. Some of the scores were ties, so I used my judgment to place them. And here you go: the finished product:

Top Ten Best Book Characters

First Place

Tex from “Tex” by S.E. Hinton
Total score out of 100: 96
Complexity: 18
Realism: 20
Likeability: 18
Uniqueness: 20
Voice: 20

Second Place

Mark from “That Was Then, This is Now” by S.E. Hinton
Total score out of 100: 96
Complexity: 19
Realism: 20
Likeability: 19
Uniqueness: 20
Voice: 18

Third Place
Tessa from “Clockwork Angel” by Cassandra Clare
Total score out of 100: 96
Complexity: 19
Realism: 20
Likeability: 19
Uniqueness: 19
Voice: 19

Fourth Place
Will from “The Infernal Devices Trilogy” by Cassandra Clare
Total score out of 100: 95
Complexity: 20
Realism: 18
Likeability: 19
Uniqueness: 20
Voice: 18

Fifth Place
Motorcycle Boy from “Rumble Fish” by S.E. Hinton
Total score out of 100: 95
Complexity: 20
Realism: 18
Likeability: 18
Uniqueness: 20
Voice: 19

Sixth Place
Tom Sawyer from “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain
Total score out of 100: 94
Complexity: 15
Realism: 20
Likeability: 20
Uniqueness: 19
Voice: 20

Seventh Place
Harry Potter from the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
Total score out of 100: 91
Complexity: 19
Realism: 19
Likeability: 17
Uniqueness: 19
Voice: 17

Eighth Place
Jace from “The Mortal Instruments Trilogy” by Cassandra Clare
Total score out of 100: 88
Complexity: 17
Realism: 16
Likeability: 20
Uniqueness: 15
Voice: 20

Ninth Place
Soraya from “The Farsala Trilogy” by Hilari Bell
Total score out of 100: 88
Complexity: 18
Realism: 18
Likeability: 17
Uniqueness: 18
Voice: 17

Tenth Place
Jian from “The Farsala Trilogy” by Hilari Bell
Total score out of 100: 86
Complexity: 17
Realism: 18
Likeability: 17
Uniqueness: 18
Voice: 16

In case it wasn't obvious, I love all of these characters and highly recommend reading the stories that belong to them :)

~Stephanie