Secondary Character Love

Or, When the AAA Team Should Be Called Up to The Show

“Yeah, I was in The Show. I was in The Show for 21 days once – the 21 greatest days of my life. You know, you never handle your luggage in The Show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have brains and legs that go all the way up.”–Crash Davis, Bull Durham

(Sorry for the baseball metaphor, friends, but IT’S OPENING DAY ON MONDAY. #excitement.)

We all know how books are supposed to work: There’s a main character or two, they have a drama/thing/event/apocalypse/curse to fend off despite obstacles and possibly a love triangle. Whatever is going on with them directly is the main action. It’s what the book is supposed to be about. But there’s usually some other characters thrown into the mix, too: best friends, mentors, siblings, villains, frenemies. And SOMETIMES, even when I’m invested in the main character action, it’s these characters that stand out the most to me, that I wind up loving the most, who stick with me the most when I’m done reading.

This is a thing that happens quite often when I’m reading, but I feel like it’s been happening a lot lately, where I wind up finishing the book and saying to myself, “Well that was good. But HOT DAMN I want to read a WHOLE BOOK about (enter secondary character  name here). They were THE BOMB.” A good, well-developed, charismatic minor character can make an ordinary but good book better. For me, anyway. Here are a few of my recent–and one forever–favorites who I would love to have their chance to shine. Basically, they are the Crash Davis’s of my reading life who deserve their 21 days in The Show.

Who: Roux is Maggie’s new best friend from school. She’s acerbic and sarcastic and hilarious.

Why: Umm, because Roux is the character who completely captured me while reading ALSO KNOWN AS. She’s got zest and personality and humor, even though she’s got a past that kind of sucks and parents who kind of suck more. I need more Roux in my life.

Who: Lady Beatriss and Trevanion, the Captain of the Guard, are the mother figure and the actual father of Finnikin of the Rock. They were beloved by their people and each other before the five days of the unspeakable, and were betrothed. Their romance is totally fraught and full of romance.

Why: These two provide so much of the emotional core of these books, for me. Melina Marchetta made their relationship so bittersweet and passionate and strong. Even when they are trying to ignore their feelings, you know that they are eventually going to fail. They love each other too much. I would read a book about these two and their relationship in a HEARTBEAT.

Who: Jeffrey!! Jeffrey Tifton is basically the Laurie to the Penderwick sisters’ Marches (there’s a little LITTLE WOMEN reference for ya). He’s the most outstanding boy there ever was.

Why: Calling Jeffrey a secondary character is technically true because the main characters in these books are without a doubt the Penderwick sisters, but Jeffrey plays a big role in their lives, even though he doesn’t really appear at all in book 2. If he doesn’t wind up married to one of them, I’ll be PISSED. I love Jeffrey, and I’d love to read more about him.

Who: Princess Ariana–known as Ari to her best friend, cousin, and attempted assassin, Kyra–is the heir to the kingdom, and according to Kyra’s visions, the source of the downfall of their world. Hence the assassination attempt.

Why: THIS girl has got some spunk. She isn’t girly at all, she’s kind of brash and confident and tomboyish. I loved her banter with Fred and her camaraderie with Kyra. Ariana is another character whose personality really jumps out at you, and is just one of the reasons that I’m so incredibly sad that Bridget Zinn won’t be able to write any more about her. She was so important to my enjoyment of POISON.

Who: Reece Malcolm is the main character, Devan’s, mother, whom she has not ever seen or lived with until her father dies and she has no choice. Brad is her younger boyfriend.

Why: I found myself connecting a lot more to Reece and Brad in THE REECE MALCOLM LIST than I did with Devan (my review is coming soon). Reece is a famous writer, and she’s emotionally distant and sometimes prickly and was really young when she had Devan. Brad is significantly younger than her and British and is without a doubt, no contest my favorite character from this book. He’s flat-out AWESOME with Devan, and with Reece. I would read a book about the grown-ups from this book in a flash. A FLASH. Their relationship is full of great drama and the kind of love that maybe seems like a surprise at first.

So, those are some of my favorite secondary characters. How about you guys? What secondary character would YOU call up to The Show?