1. The Little Mermaid
A character who is out of their element, a 'fish out of water.'
Tikaya Komitopis from Encrypted by Lindsay Buroker
Tikaya is a cryptographer. She's an academic. She's smart and clumsy. Nothing about her screams that she would want to get kidnapped, blow up several enemy boats and hike across a frozen tundra. Nothing. But that's exactly what she does in this book.
2. Cinderella
A character who goes through a major transformation.
There's so many ways I could have answered this - and I even briefly thought about listing a character that actually does physically transform into something else. Finally, I went with what might be my favorite character transformation and growth from any book: Aurora from A Wicked Thing series by Rhiannon Thomas.
3. Snow White
A book with an eclectic cast of characters.
The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes
Just listen to this from the synopsis:
'a crack team that includes an illusionist, a unicorn, a death priestess, a talking warhammer, and a lad with a prophetic birthmark'
4. Sleeping Beauty
A book that put you to sleep.
I don't actually fall asleep while reading - usually I just get angry, instead - but if I did, Elantris by Brandon Sanderson would have certainly made me. Because I found this book even more boring than his books usually are. And way too long because after the first four hundred pages, I quit caring. (And, in truth, only finished it because I'd already read so much and I knew if I ever put it down I would have never picked it back up.)
5. The Lion King
A character who had something traumatic happen to them in childhood.
I'm not going to say that I actually like him - because I don't - but I will admit, Harry Potter quite likely takes the prize for the most horrible childhood that I've ever read about. (Dubious honor that it is.) I mean, we could get into his mother literally dying to protect him, the Dursley's, seeing someone die because of a choice he made and we've not even made it to book five yet. That boy had a seriously sucky childhood and adolescence.
6. Beauty and The Beast
A beast of a book (big book) that you were intimidated by, but found the story to be beautiful.
Wow, looking on my Goodreads shelf, I discovered that I was either never actually intimidated by the big book - or I didn't wind up liking it.
7. Aladdin
A character who gets their wish granted, for better or for worse.
Several characters from The Wilderhark Tales series by Danielle E. Shipley, though Sula especially comes to mind in this book.
8. Mulan
A character who pretends to be someone or something they are not.
Because of the girl pretending to be a boy, the first person I thought of was Alanna from the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce.
9. Toy Story
A book with characters you wish would come to life.
The Emperor's Edge series by Lindsay Buroker
I totally love the people in these books. They are all so much fun and they have a wonderful, bickering camaraderie. Would so love to get the chance to truly hang out with them.
10. Disney Descendants
Your favorite villain or morally ambiguous character.
I love well done villains! And it's totally common for the 'morally ambiguous character' - also known as an 'anti-hero' or an 'anti-villain' to be my favorite in any given story. (And, if not, we've probably got a 'rogue' class in the book.) Heck, it's probably partially because of this that's I've always loved Beauty and the Beast tales.
That being said, and although I could make a list, I will go with Royce from The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan (and sequels and subsequent series, though he gets a little less ambiguous over time). At the start of the story, Royce is an assassin - and not one of those 'why me? I don't want to do this' sort of assassins. He shows every indication of, if not enjoying his work, at least being indifferent to it.
This was a lot of fun and if you're interested in it, I totally tag you!
