Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, brought to you by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a character freebie, so I’m going to be talking about one of my favourite character types: complex characters.
Any well-developed character is going to have complexity; that’s part of what makes us humans such, ahem, interesting people. 😉 They’ll have strengths and weaknesses, we’ll see their flaws and failures as well as their successes. But I’m talking REALLY complex characters today. Characters with conflicting motivations and unexpected contradictions; characters who appear one thing on the surface but reveal a different side when you peel back the layers; or best of all, characters who undergo a compelling transformation as a result of choices and their consequences.
Are you ready to meet some of my favourite complex characters?
ISKRA TODOROVA
Storm Rising (Ronie Kendig)
Iskra Todorova could arguably lay claim to having inspired this post, considering she is the most recent complex character I’ve read. I don’t want to give away too much of her story, which you really should read for yourself, but let’s just say her reputation as an assassin gives you absolutely no clue as to the real Iskra.
PATRICK BOWERS
The Bowers Files (Steven James)
Patrick Bowers is a geographical profiler with the FBI, and his work involves helping track down some pretty sick criminals. But there is one killer from his past that challenges Patrick on a much deeper level and forces him to examine what it is that turns men into monsters and at what point those who fight monsters become monsters themselves.
MARCUS BRENNER & 
LEE VAUGHN
Haven Seekers (Amanda G. Stevens)
It was too hard to choose between these two characters, so you’re getting both of them. Marcus and Lee (who I should probably point out is female) are benchmark characters in my opinion, because they are THAT well written. Such a complex combination of strengths and weaknesses, determination and hesitation, and the premise of this series forces them to step waaaaaay out of their comfort zones. Truly, just do yourself a favour and meet these characters.
MICAH LEVIN
The Lies We Tell Ourselves (Amy Matayo)
Micah Levin is a complete and utter jerk—at the beginning of this story, anyway. But he’s so well written that I could see his potential right from the start. It takes guts to write a character like this and something else entirely to convincingly transform him into someone you can actually like by the end, but if anyone is up to the challenge, it’s Amy Matayo.
DELILAH EVANS
The Solace of Water (Elizabeth Byler Younts)
Delilah Evans is carrying around a lot of bitterness at the beginning of this story, and to be honest, she’s not all that likable at times, but she reveals so many more layers of herself through the course of this story. Not just a complex character, but fantastic characterisation.
LADY HAWISA WULFRITHDOTTER
Fearless (Tamara Leigh)
I’ve never met a Tamara Leigh character I didn’t love, but Lady Hawisa is a woman with power in a world ruled by men, which makes her a fascinating character. She wears fierceness and determination as well as she wears femininity, and somehow neither contradicts the other. And when Gaurin D’Argent becomes her prisoner, we get a whole new level of thrilling complexity!
APRIL DUNCAN
The Truth Between Us (Tammy L. Gray)
April Duncan is a “a pit bull wrapped in a silk blouse.” She’s tough and acerbic, but when you finally crack that shell, there’s a whole lot of vulnerability underneath, and I love that complexity in a character.
THE RAVEN
The Raven (Mike Nappa)
Now, talk about complex characters. The Raven (the only name he’s given in the story) is, in his own words, a “deception specialist”. He’s very entertaining, often quite droll even when he’s in a fix (and he gets in a few of those), but he’s also a bit of a lost boy, and there were some surprisingly poignant moments in this novel as a result.
SYDNEY CARTON
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
Sydney Carton is a lazy lawyer, a heavy drinker, and “a disappointed drudge” who cares for no one. Or so he says. If you don’t already know the role he plays in A Tale of Two Cities, I’m not going to spoil it for you, but suffice it to say there is something far more noble beneath his dissolute exterior.
JOHN THORNTON
North and South (Elizabeth Gaskell)
I could hardly leave John Thornton off the list, could I? A self-made man, an industrialist, a businessman, broody, unrefined, and seemingly harsh, and yet there is a definite vulnerability beneath all that and an honesty and honourability that you can’t help but be drawn to.
Great choice for today’s character freebie! Haven’t seen anyone else choose this topic yet 🙂 I haven’t read any of these books but I’ve got Lies We Tell Ourselves on my TBR and I can’t wait to read it!
My TTT post
Yes to Iskra! I’m reading Storm Rising now, and she’s definitely complex. Also, Micah from Lies We Tell Ourselves and April from The Truth Between Us. I haven’t read the others yet.
Fun list, Katie!
I also loved Iskra! I just finished reading Storm Rising, and I’m fairly certain it’s going to be one of my faves of this year!!