Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Top Ten Tuesday: Animals from Books


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book blog meme now hosted by Jana over at The Artsy Reader Girl!


This week's topic is:  Animals from Books

I'm fairly certain I've done at least one post with favorite animals from books before, so some of these may be repeats. I love any and all animals in real life, and because of that I also love any and all animals in fictional life as well. This list will reflect a wide variety of animals that have anything from minor roles to major roles and is not meant to be an actual "these are my top favorites," but rather some animals I loved reading about. I could probably make this an endless list, but we'll try to be good and stick to ten. (Also, no particular order!)

1. Shefali's horse from The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera: I cannot for the life of me remember her horse's name, and I also no longer have the book with me because it was a library book so I can't look it up. Still, I really appreciate her horse and the extreme love and respect that the Qorin people seem to have for horses.

2. Solovey from The Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden: Solovey is a beautiful, magnificent horse and I would more than likely be willing to die for him if he were the horse I rode.

3. Raif's horse from Watcher of the Dead by J.V. Jones: Hm, are we sensing a horse theme? I sort of love horses and would love to own my own one day, but this is all irrelevent. Raif's horse is a true trooper and I really enjoyed watching them travel together at various points in this series.

4. The one-eyed crow from The Thickety series by J.A. White: Okay, we're finally departing from the horses to focus on a crow. This crow isn't necessarily a major character, but it's definitely a pretty vital part of the story, and I really love it's role.

5. Iorek Byrnison from The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman: Iorek is a Panserbjørn, which is an armored polar bear--and who doesn't love an incredible polar bear? Iorek is gruff and not exactly the friendliest, but I think he's easily a standout character.

6. Fox and the bear from Among the Beasts and Briars by Ashley Poston: Does fox count? If so, I loved Fox and consider him a fantastic animal character. And then we also have a wonderful bear from Among the Beasts and Briars who plays a pretty significant role in the story as well--and is one whose interactions with the protagonist I really loved!

7. Mephis from The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart: Based on reviews I've seen, Mephis is the runaway favorite character of The Bone Shard Daughter, and that's not without good reason! Mephis is adorable and highly endearing, as well as pretty useful.

8. All of the animals from Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce: Daine, the protagonist, can communicate with animals, which is always a hit for me because what wouldn't I give to talk to animals? Plus, that means plenty of animals in the books!

9. Satan from Black Stallion by Walter Farley: And we're back to horses. Since I mentioned Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce, I got to thinking about books I read as a kid, and of course the Black Stallion series has a perfect example of an amazing animal character in Satan (and his subsequent children).

10. The Warrior Cat series by Erin Hunter: Okay, this might be an easy one (and another throwback!), but I adored the Warrior Cat books as a kid and absolutely devoured them. I am always tempted to try re-reading one, but I'm not sure I will because I almost want to keep them as a special childhood memory, you know? Regardless, I have always been a dog person and always will be, but these are some cats I really loved!


Have you read any of these? What are some of your favorite animal characters from books?


9 comments:

  1. Iorek was definitely a memorable character!

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  2. I loved Iorek so much! I love your list, and I especially love all the horses😁

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  3. I like seeing how many horses you have on your list.

    My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-rabbits-from-books/

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  4. Ooh! Lots of interesting animals here! Great picks!

    Here’s my TTT!

    Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog

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  5. I never read the Warriors but it always looked like such a fun series. :)

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