Characters of the Year Awards 2022

Hey readers! Like Auriel’s yearly tradition of writing a Christmas poem in the month of December, I also have something I like to do at the end of year. May I present…. THE 2022 CHARACTERS OF THE YEAR AWARDS CEREMONY!!!! (aka the Character of the Year book tag). There are only two rules: you can’t pick the same character twice, and you can only pick two characters from the same book.

Please note: not all of these books were released in 2022, this just happened to be the year that I read them.

Alright, let’s get onto the awards! (and if you would like to list your favorite characters of the year, I’d love to see them!)

Favorite Male Character: Jest from Heartless by Marissa Meyer

The moment he was lowered from the ceiling with a jester hat on, I knew I would like him. He’s charming, funny, and magical, which means he is very hard not to like, even when you want to. (And at one point I kind of wanted to but I literally couldn’t.) He is our main character’s love interest, but his whole purpose in the book isn’t just that; a nice refresher from a lot of books I’ve read lately. Jest had other loyalties, and although he truly loved and cared for the protagonist, he stayed true to the original loyalties and beliefs he had before falling in love. It made him feel that more realistic, especially in a book with a very unrealistic setting.

Favorite Female Character: Mina from The Girl who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

I love this character and this book so much! Mina is just the best. She is super relatable, and I almost put her in the “most relatable” category, but then I realized I liked her more than I thought I did. She’s sweet and loving, but also brave, although she doesn’t consider herself so. She was almost the opposite of the “I’m not like other girls” trope. We start off the book with her sacrificing herself to save somebody, and then a few pages later she describes herself as an ordinary person who just isn’t that special. And she is, but she’s not. It’s complicated. Read the book, it’s amazing.

Most Relatable: Ariliah from The Purification Era by Angie Grigaliunas

Ariliah is a very interesting character, and quite relatable, at least to me. When it comes to men and flirting, she has absolutely no clue as to what to do and feels awkward and anxious. Similarly, to Mina, she doesn’t see herself as someone special or noteworthy. She’s just the girl who mucks stalls at the stables. Oftentimes, she wants to help, but doesn’t know how. A lot of the thoughts and feelings she has, I could see myself having, especially in the situations she finds herself in. I definitely enjoyed reading from her perspective much more than our other main character.

Favorite Couple: Wil and Black Knife from The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

These guys are from a book that I read in January, so they held on through the whole year. The reason I liked them so much was because their romance featured two of my all-time favorite tropes, secret identity (which is why we have “Black Knife” up there instead of his actual name, because spoilers) and enemies to lovers. And they’re COMBINED which is like double the points. Black Knife is a vigilante fighting bad guys, and Wil is a fugitive princess stealing to survive. You see how the two come to meet…? Anyway, they fight, fall in love, but Black Knife can’t reveal what his face looks like and Wil can’t tell him that she’s actually a refugee/fugitive princess and there’s tension and action– Ack, I get excited just thinking about it.

Favorite Villain: Masrekah from The Purification Era by Angie Grigaliunas

I don’t know if Masrekah technically counts as a villain, but this is my awards ceremony so I’m doing it. (This whole paragraph is going to be very vague because there is not much I can talk about with spoiling the books.) Masrekah leans more towards the morally gray category, maybe that’s why I’ve come to like him so much. While reading the first book, I hated him as a person, but thought he was an alright villain. Then I got to the second book and I still don’t know what to think, but I like him much better as a character and as a person so there’s that. There are complexities to his character that aren’t revealed in the first book that are more clearly seen in the second. I enjoyed almost all of the scenes with him in the second book and can’t wait for the third!

Most Disliked: Camille from a House of Salt and Sorrow by Erin A. Craig

I actually quite enjoyed this book, but Camille was unbearable. Every time she came onto the page, I became annoyed. At first I didn’t mind her, but then she made some selfish decisions and went behind the main character’s back a few too many times. If the protagonist wasn’t her sister, then I might not have been as frustrated, but our main girl was really struggling and Camille was the biggest jerk about it. Also, two people in their family died because of something Camille was encouraging, and she still kept doing it and bringing other people, even after her loved ones were killed. That was the last straw for me.

Favorite Royal: Ana from Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao

I didn’t read many books with royals in them this year, I only had to choose between two characters. Ana is another fugitive princess who is trying to get her empire back, like our girl Wil from earlier. She was a solid main character, she had motives, flaws, fears, all the things. I particularly enjoyed how she handled her love interest, most YA books these days have their couples on some sort of speed machine and they are hooking up in like a week. Ana took her time, she did nothing in the entire first book, had a first kiss at the end of the second book, left him because they were leading different lives, and then got back together and made it official a little over halfway in the third book. I was impressed.

Favorite Sidekick: Mask, Dai, and Miki from The Girl who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

Okay, okay, I know this is technically three sidekicks, but you can’t separate them. They come as a group, all or nothing. These three kind of act as “spirit guides” to our main character throughout the book. Mask wears a wooden mask with a grandmotherly face painted on it, she gives good advice. Dai is a young boy, eager to help with anything you need, while Miki is a baby who looks cute and rides around on Dai’s back. The perfect trio. There's mystery, you don’t know why they’re helping Mina or why Mask insists on hiding her face. But there is also astronomical cuteness with Dai and Miki. . I love them so much, I might actually explode with happiness.

Favorite Siblings: Petra and Javier from The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

Every time I think about this book, I get emotional. This is another one of those books where I can’t reveal much without completely spoiling major plot points, so you’ll just have to take my word for it when I tell you that Petra and Javier’s relationship is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking. Both are children and are quite young, Javier being around five years old and Petra in middle school. Even though she’s so young, Petra really stepped up to the plate to take care of not only Javier, but also other children caught in the same situation. Without spoilers, I did shed some tears at the end of this book.

Favorite Pet/Animal Sidekick: Bumbersnoot from the Finishing School series by Gail Carriger

Bumbersnoot is a mechanical wiener dog who eats coal and has a secret compartment where the main character hides items. He is very curious and is constantly getting into mischief AND I LOVE HIM. No pet or animal even came close to Bumbersnoot all year. I read these books in February. He’s not all that important to the plot, these books lean into the more lighthearted and silly side of things, but he has so much more personality than most book pets/animals typically have. I wanted a Bumbersnoot for real life, he’s cute and he can be used as a foot warmer!

That’s it for the 2022 Character of the Year Awards! Hope y'all enjoyed reading my very biased opinions, and we’ll see who makes the cut next year! Don’t forget to leave your favorite characters of the year down in the comments.

Until Next Time!

~Kamama Deere