Sometimes when you’re reading a novel, a side character steals the show. Whether it be that they have an interesting backstory or it just doesn’t feel like they get the time they deserve, you find yourself wanting more. For this Top Five Wednesday, we talk about some of these characters that deserve their own series or at least a stand alone novel.
Whether they be criminologists, or badass generals these are characters who deserve a chance at the lime light. We had a lot of fun coming up with this list. It was hard to narrow it down to just five characters, but we tried.
Top Five Wednesday is a book tag started by GingerReadsLainey. Join the goodreads group to get each week’s topic and participate yourselves!
1. LEONIE BARROW & HORST CABAL FROM THE JOHANNES CABAL NOVELS – JONATHAN L. HOWARD
I see this as a crime procedural. Leonie and Horst would be partners. Leonie would be the hard cop, who is driven to solve the crimes but with a side focus on rehabilitation of criminals (she has the criminology degree after all). Horst on the other hand would be good natured, happy go lucky and would end up falling for every femme fatale that walks through their door. Johannes Cabal would wander in every once and a while, and would exploit the not really sexual tension between him and Leonie. It just sounds like so much fun and with Howard’s smart sense of humour who knows what kind of crimes could fall into these character’s laps.
Check out our review of The Brothers Cabal here.
2. THE GREY MAN FROM THE RAVEN CYCLE – MAGGIE STIEFVATER
Part of the draw of The Raven Cycle, is how dreamlike it is. Not a lot of detail is given about certain characters and it works. Yet how cool would it be to get an origin story for the Grey Man? How he became an assassin, or more importantly how would Maggie Stiefvater would tell the story of a person becoming an assassin. Any chance to spend more time in this weird magical world that Stiefvater has created is alright with us. We love it there. We also love the Grey Man and his practical approach to his life and his career choice. Overall it sounds like it would be full of zany potential and a lot of fun to read.
Check out our review of The Raven Boys here.
3. HOLLAND FROM A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC – V.E. SCHWAB
In A Darker Shade of Magic, the main character Kell recounts the backstory of Holland. Holland tried to take the throne of White London and he lost badly. Holland ends up becoming enslaved to the Dane twins. It’s a horrible existence, but we want more details! The story for the fight for the throne would be like Battle Royale but with wizards. Every chapter would be full of temporary alliances and horrifying betrayals. It would make Game of Thrones look civil. Holland’s story wouldn’t even have to be a series, a stand alone novel would tell the story easily. I love the magic in White London and how messed up it is. It would be so cool to see how people use the magic and the horrifying effects it would have on them. It would be a creepy fantasy novel that I could totally get behind.
Check out our review of An Darker Shade of Magic here.
4. GLENDY FROM THE INTERNET GIRLS – LAUREN MYRACLE
We don’t like these books for a lot of reasons. There is this character Glendy, who the main characters spend a good chunk of time ripping into. Glendy does nothing wrong but because she doesn’t hold up to their standards of what a woman she should be like they go about bad mouthing her and trying to destroy her life. I don’t know what would happen in this Glendy book but it would be interesting to see what Glendy was actually like outside of the lens of the main characters. It would also be a good critique on the main series.
Check out our review of ttfn here.
5. THE MACE FROM THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING – ERIKA JOHANSEN
It would be an understatement to say that Chelsey and I loved The Queen of the Tearling. It has everything we love in a fantasy novel. it’s fast paced, fun and keeps you guessing till the end. The Mace is a badass warrior who only has to look at you to make you quake in your boots. He’s smart and a clever general. In the first novel they start laying the ground work for his past. He comes from the slum of slums, then absolute worst neighbourhood in the capital. Getting his life and backstory would be so amazing. When I first read this book I just adored him, he’s by far my favourite character in the series (next to Kelsea of course).
Check out our review of Queen of the Tearling here.
Sometimes we get lucky and authors decide to release a book or two following one of our favourite characters (ie Cassandra Clare with all the Magnus Bane short stories). Sometimes these stories work and sometimes they don’t. You won’t know until you read them. What side characters do you think deserve their own series or book? Tell us about them in the comments below.
And until next week, Happy reading!
