Book Lovers Inc.
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Bookish Rants or Raves: There’s NO Shame is Taking Second Place!
Filed in Bookish Rant or Raves , Gini Koch , The Crazy Lover Posted on May 19, 2011 @ 10:00 am
8 comments
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| Lover Mine by J.R. Ward |
It’s hard to ignore the spotlight and I do love my heroes and heroines. It doesn’t really matter if it’s the sexy Alpha Hero everyone wants to have for their own, or if it’s the no-holds-barred kickass heroines/heroes found in Urban Fantasy, those leading men and women have the difficult job of capturing your heart and making you dedicate a lot of your time in reading their stories.
We count on their stories to take us away from our own worlds and escaping to different realities. However important they may be though, what really makes their adventures and lives real is the people around them. The sidekicks and secondary characters who make the heroes and heroines’ stories even more compelling and real.
The Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB) series by J.R. Ward, for example. For me, reading the BDB series is falling in love with the understated and perpetually in-the-background romance of Blay and Qhuinn.
You can’t deny that even though John and Xhex’s road to happiness in Lover Mine was amazing, Blay and Qhuinn’s stole the show and broke everyone’s heart. Here’s hoping this Novella they are supposed to get, doesn’t take long to come out!
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| Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch |
Sometimes, secondary characters in a series provide necessary comedic relief such as Reader in the Katherine “Kitty” Katt Series by Gini Koch. Reader kills it when he just can’t help but flirt with Kitty, even though he knows her boyfriend is extremely jealous. Kat always flirts back, and makes it clear that if he was straight, they would totally be together; it doesn’t matter if they are just hanging out, or in the middle of an intergalactic battle.
It is so easy to ignore the secondary players of a book or book series when the spotlight is focused on the leading man and woman of the story. You can read about an awesome kickass heroine with a great job and tons of adventures, but sometimes you can’t help but be drawn to her snarky best friend, who helps balance the darkness in the heroine’s life.
Every building or power needs a foundation and that is what secondary characters in a story are; they give the necessary balance to the leading characters’ lives with humor or the necessary drama. I wouldn’t even have gone past a few pages in some stories if it weren’t for the people around them. Sometimes the spotlight is bigger than the star, and that’s where these characters truly shine.
What about you guys?
How do you feel about Secondary characters or sidekicks in books?
Love’m or Hate’m?
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Oh, i definitely love them. In fact there are at least 2 series that i can think of where the secondary characters are the only reason i keep reading those books.
Love secondary characters! One that comes to mind for me is Ian in Stephenie Meyer's The Host. He made the book for me 🙂
Oh god! You are SO right… Xhex & John were sweet, but it was all about Blay & Qhuinn for me in that one!
Secondary characters definitely can make or break a book for me. I hate those overly wacky relatives/friends but tone it down a bit and it's more than good.
I, too, love Blay and Qhuinn! I'm not interesting in reading any more BDB books except for their story!
Characters really make the book for me, so of course I love secondary characters. Some that come to mind are Peabody from J. D. Robb’s In Death series, Jinks from Kim Harrison’s Hollows series, and Grandma Mazur from Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. Thanks for a fun column.
So glad you guys enjoyed it =)
I love Jinks too! =D
Qhuay rocks!
I agree that secondary characters are important and great to the storyline. I think most people were upset with book nine in the BDB series because it didn't mention much about Qhuinn and Blay!
I also love Reader in Kitty's series, he often helps Kitty keep it together during rough times. Plus we know if Reader was straight he would have a real claim to Kitty's heart. 🙂
Great Post.
LOVE the secondary character romances!!