Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.
Some books have characters that aren’t very likable at first. I’m pretty partial to those that grow on me, and fortunately, there’s no shortage of those in books. Here’s some of my favorites:
- Locke Lamora in The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Locke is an unrepentant criminal, but he does live according to his own code. There’s something charming about him that I can’t help but like.
- Sevro au Barca from Red Rising by Pierce Brown. At first, I seriously did not like Sevro. But as I read further on, he started growing on me, and he turned out to be one of my favorite characters, as abrasive as he is.
- Astrid Parker in Delilah Green Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake. Astrid was the absolute WORST at first, but she really started getting better the more I read. And by the time I finished the book, I actually wanted to read a whole book about her (which turned out to be amazing).
- Ravyn Yew from One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig. He seemed awful at first, and I didn’t like him, but as I got to know him better, I started to like him more and more.
- Anna Korlov in Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. Obviously I’m going to think that a vengeful ghost covered in blood who dismembers anyone who enters her house is unlikable, right? Except, one Cas goes inside and she doesn’t rip him apart, and he gets to know her, I realized that she’s simply angry and misunderstood.
- Isaac Yaga from Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott. I was Team Bellatine from the start, but it took Isaac more time to win me over. He’s a scammer, hustler, and basically a selfish jerk. But underneath all of that, there’s more to him.
- Jacks in Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber. We all know Jacks isn’t a good guy, but there’s just something about him that I can’t resist. He isn’t repentant, and I don’t think there’s secretly a truly good guy under there, but I have no idea what makes him so appealing.
- Malini from The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. While she doesn’t come across well at first, there’s an actual human under there, and I liked her once I got to know her.
- Death in Belladonna by Adalina Grace. Who wouldn’t think that Death is the bad guy? But after reading a bit, he isn’t quite the evil dude that I originally thought, and he seems to have … a heart?
- Galadriel from A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. She’s so unlikable at first, but it’s just a front. You just have to get to know what’s under the hard shell of hers to really see who she is.
Who are some of the unlikable characters who have grown on you?
Categories: Top Ten Tuesday
Leah's Books 
Thistlefoot is on my TBR and I can’t wait to read it! Love your list today. Will check out a few more of your titles.
Elza Reads
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Thistlefoot is incredible! I hope you enjoy it and any others you check out.
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A great list of characters!
Have a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2022/11/01/top-ten-tuesday-unlikable-characters-you-cant-help-but-love/
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Thank you!
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I’m not sure I can list any characters I love who were unlikeable at first. I’m sure if I think about it, I can come up with some I initially liked that became unlikeable.
Pam @ Read!Bake!Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/highest-rated-books-on-my-tbr/
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Sometimes it takes me a while to like a character, but I can definitely think of some that I liked at first who I didn’t like by the end of a story. Maybe that’s a topic I can keep on the back burner!
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I haven’t read any of these books yet, but they do sound good.
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-unlikable-characters-you-cant-help-but-love/
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I might be biased, but I certainly thought they were all really good!
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I haven’t read any of these books, so it was fun to hear about why your characters were so unlikeable, but you loved them anyways.
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Thanks!
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A few characters from Harry Potter would have to be on my list! Specifically Draco and Professor Snape!
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Funny – Draco never grew on me, but Snape definitely did.
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I still need to read Delilah Green. I love when I hate a character at first and they grow on me. I have some of them in my list today!
My TTT: https://bookbabenails.wordpress.com/2022/11/01/top-ten-tuesday-unlikeable-characters/
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Awesome! I loved Delilah Green, and the series is so good!
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Belladonna sounds pretty awesome!
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It is! I’m already drooling over book 2, which probably hasn’t been written yet.
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I agree about Malini.I forgot to put her down on my list
Here is my TTT
https://seriesbooklover.wordpress.com/2022/11/01/__trashed/
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She wound up being one of my favorite characters!
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Once again, coming across a list with Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber and the character of Jacks. And how as much as I love the Caraval trilogy have I missed this book? I have a lot of reading to do! I even listed the characters of Caraval as characters I’d like an update on in another TTT and it is right here in front of my face.
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Haha! Not just that one but a sequel too – you’ve been sleeping on Stephanie Garber!
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I’m late to the party!
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Jacks is on my list too. Love him!!! Ravyn’s a good one too!
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They both managed to just grow on me, although for very different reasons.
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I really want to read The Lies of Locke Lamora because people have been recommending it to me for years. When my book buying ban is over, it might be the first book I buy for myself.
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It’s so good! Definitely worth the read.
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I get what you mean. I do like characters who seem unlikable at first, but once you really get to know them, you see they’re a lot more than what they appear. Maybe that doesn’t make them likable in a general sense, but you can at least see they’re not TOTALLY unlikable.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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I love when the author lets them gradually open up and show us who they really are, even if they aren’t fully likable, but they do have some qualities that I do appreciate.
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