Top Five Tuesday – Fave Male Characters!

This week for Top Five Tuesday, Bionic Book Worm has asked to tell her all about our favorite “main males”!  We already celebrated some fantastic women characters a few months back, and you can see that list here.  So which men make me jump for joy whenever they appear on the page?

Harry Dresden – THE DRESDEN FILES by Jim Butcher
Yes, this is a gimme, but I’ve read fifteen books in this series, so there’s no way I could write this list without putting Harry on it!  If quippy magic users are your jam, look no further.  Harry starts out just trying to get by as Chicago’s only wizarding detective, but as the series goes on, he becomes increasingly entangled in defending the mortal realm from various evils.  He’s always there to put his life on the line for his friends and occasionally comes up with absolutely bonkers solutions to defeating the enemy.

Jesper Fahey – SIX OF CROWS by Leigh Bardugo
I have a soft spot for the wise-cracking member of thieving crews, the ones who always seem irresponsible and carefree, but only because they don’t want to deal with some real issues.  Jesper adds levity to grim situations, but also has complex feelings of his own, making him one of my favorite characters from the series.

George Cooper – SONG OF THE LIONESS QUARTET by Tamora Pierce
Look, Alanna, I know you could be dating a prince, but clearly the choice is to go with the King of Thieves!  Junior high-aged Caitlin was very much in love with this character, so I had to give him a shoutout.  Have we noticed yet how much I like thief characters?  The on-again, off-again lover of Alanna is one of the few she shared her secret identity with, and eventually performed enough service to the country to be named the Baron of Pirate’s Swoop.

Sir Percy Blakeney – THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL – by Baroness Orczy
Jumping out of SFF for a moment, I wanted to share some love for a more classic hero, Sir Percy, early pioneer of the “act like a buffoon so no one suspects you’re a debonair hero” gambit.  I adored watching Percy act like the laziest, most compromised individual, while in reality he’s dashing about the French countryside helping aristocrats escape the French Terror.

Emmory – BEHIND THE THRONE by K.B. Wagers
Emmory may not be the lead of the BEHIND THE THRONE, but his absolute commitment to keeping Hail Bristol alive (he’s her bodyguard) endeared him to me forever.  Hail and Emmory have a great platonic relationship that blossoms over time as Emmory comes to understand how his new charge operates.  They butt heads at first as Hail doesn’t want to inherit the throne and Emmory isn’t sure she’s up to the task of ruling.  But Emmory eventually comes around and knows when to let Hail be a little reckless and when to put his foot down to keep her safe.