THE SMASHING & DASHING 2018 CHARACTER AWARDS

IT’S SMOL BEAN APPRECIATION DAY!!! That means that I’ll pay homage to certain book characters and mention Nikolai Lantsov’s name about a hundred times in this post. Just an advance warning you know 😉

Thank the gods for @PaperFury for creating this award. I’ve been really looking for something to post because doing something productive is a lot better compared to staring at a blank document that should have been my ‘Best Books of 2018’ post. LOOK IT’S DIFFICULT TO CHOOSE OK. I needed this award to refresh my brain. Check out Cait’s post will you? It’s pure gold and will make you laugh. She’s a true blogging queen.

LET’S START SHALL WE?

1. Most Relatable Character

✨ Victor Vale from the Villains series by V. E. Schwab

Okay. I don’t know what this says about me but I do relate a lot to Victor. He’s like my dark alter ego in all his brooding glory. I see my insecurities in Victor and somehow that makes me love him even more.

✨ Marcella Morgan from Vengeful (Villains #2) by V. E. Schwab

HOORAY TO ME FOR RELATING TO THE MOST MURDEROUS BOOK CHARACTERS! Look, I can’t help but relate to Marcella’s goal to burn the patriarchy to ashes. Everyday I’m reminded how trashy most men are and I can really blame dear Marce for being so done with these biodegradable species.

2. Most Pure Animal Companion

✨ Grim from Schwab’s City of Ghosts

Well, Grim is more of a I-will-claw-your-face-off-if-you-annoy-me kind of pet but let’s call that pure as of now. Grim is that stabby cat you can’t help but love. I’m so looking forward to more of this smol bean in the next book.

✨ Abraxos from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

I LOVE ABRAXOS WITH ALL MY ARTERIES THANK YOU SO MUCH. I cried the hardest in Kingdom of Ash because of him (I won’t elaborate because spoilers). He’s the wyvern I would love to have in my next life. Manon will probably slit my throat off but I’ll take the risk. Abraxos is the kind of partner that will die for you (I will gladly die for him too) and will pick flowers for you and that’s just the purest thing ever.

3. Fiercest Fighter

✨ Spensa from Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

I had to look up how to spell her name because HELLO AUDIOBOOKS. I still haven’t finished listening to this but I already love Spin’s personality. She’s this fierce girl in her *insert height here* glory who keeps on vowing to slay her enemies and stand on their skulls once she’s done. I love how she keeps on fighting despite all the slander everyone’s been throwing her way. She holds her head up high while her brain keeps making murderous threats at breakneck speed. What an icon.

✨ Lila Bard from the Shades of Magic series by V. E. Schwab

Lila always looks for adventure and people to stab and I won’t be surprised if I see her in the dictionary as the main definition of “fierce”. I admire Lila’s fighting spirit and ambition. I would never want to be at the receiving end of her wrath. I still want to read more books so I’d love to keep my life thank you very much.

✨ Jude Duarte from The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

This is another character YOU SHOULD NOT MESS WITH. Jude is not only fierce because she can wield a sword. She is fierce because she has a scheming mind and can probably succeed in dominating the world if she wants to. You can kick her down but she WILL come back up and plot for your murder.

4. Am Surprised That I Loved You??

✨ Eli Ever from the Villains series by V. E. Schwab

Okay maybe “love” is stretching it but I was really surprised to feel something for Eli when I read Vengeful. Considering that I threatened to decapitate him and throw him off a cliff on my review of Vicious, my feelings of sympathy for him are a huge improvement. Learning his backstory made me want to give him a hug. I won’t linger though. He might snap my neck if I get too touchy.

5. Best Sassmaster

✨ Nikolai Lantsov from the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

HAIL THE KING. LONG MAY HE REIGN. People keep saying that SoC is superior to the Grisha trilogy but I say no. Both series have an equal standing for me. The trilogy is where I found my Nikolai and people who won’t read it are seriously missing out. Nikolai’s sass gives me life. WHERE CAN I FIND SOMEONE LIKE HIM IN REAL LIFE???

✨ Percy Jackson from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan

Percy is the one who taught me all the sass lessons and he’ll forever own 99% of my heart for that (shh my heart has a huge capacity of about 500% for other beloved characters too). I re-read PJO again this year and Percy never fails to make me cackle with his sassiness. Oh I love him with everything I have.

6. Best Antihero

✨ Kaz Brekker from the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo 

Do I still need to explain? I love this stabby king so much and everytime he stabs someone, I just love him more. GIVE ME ALL THE BLOODY KAZ CONTENT. I won’t even complain.

✨ Rin from The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

Hello I’m Rain and I’m thoroughly obsessed with The Poppy War. Rin is a villainess in the making and I will follow her journey through bloodshed for as long as it takes. Y’ALL NEED TO READ THIS BOOK NOW. I can’t recommend it enough.

✨ Victor Vale from the Villains series by V. E. Schwab

My alter ego remember? Antiheroes tend to be my most favorite characters. Oh well…

✨ Cardan from The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Cardan is one of the most complex characters ever written. Seriously, I don’t know if I should love or hate him (spoiler alert: I quite love him). He’s violent and has a twisted mind but he’s also soft™ deep inside. Am I going mad because I want to read The Wicked King ASAP? YES. YES I ABSOLUTELY AM.

7. The Best Friends Of All

✨ The Dregs from the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo

This crew gives me life. Sure, there are times when they’re at each other’s throats (in which Wylan whines in sorrow because he just wants a happy family) but I love their chaotic bond. Guess who’s re-reading Six of Crows soon??? THIS TRASH RIGHT HERE.

✨ Jem and Will from The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare 

The purest parabatai. I cried so hard in Clockwork Princess because of them. They have an unbreakable friendship and that’s just the most precious thing ever. The sacrifices they’ve made and the lengths they would go to just to protect each other make me want to cry all over again.

✨ Chaol and Dorian from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

These two are brothers in everything but blood and their reunion in Kingdom of Ash flooded my living room with tears. There have been so many tearfests this year. I can’t believe I still have water in my body.

8. Best Villain To HATE

✨ The God King from Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

I agree with Cait on this one. If I’ve threatened to decapitate Eli before, now it’s the God King I want to blast out of existence. If I had the chance, I will drain him of his blood, chop his remains with Kronos’s scythe, and throw everything that remains of him in the void for good measure. Ugh sorry for the murderous intents but this sick rapist deserves nothing less.

✨ Osaron from the Shades of Magic series by V. E. Schwab

I hate Osaron because he scared the wits out of me. He’s so well-written that I felt his evilness seep out of the pages and into reality. He gave me the hopeless feeling that maybe my favorite characters won’t be able to see the light of day again.

9. Award For Best vs Worst YA Parents

✨ BEST: Starr’s parents from The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I read THUG this year and Starr’s family is just #goals. Her parents also deserve an award for the support and love they’ve given to Starr. There are hardly any great parents in YA so reading about their family certainly made me happy.

✨ WORST: The Maestro from A Thousand Perfect Notes by C. G. Drews

THE MAESTRO DESERVES THE WORST PARENT AWARD AND YOU CAN’T CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE. I still can’t forgive her for everything she’s done to Beck. My pure boy deserves so much happiness and a life free of violence thank you very much.

10. Ship Of All Ships In 2018

✨ Jude and Cardan from The Cruel Prince

I ship these two so bad that I will actually riot if they won’t have some kind of relationship development in The Wicked King. I also think that I’m the only one who hasn’t read TWK yet but I have no choice but to wait for its release 😭

✨ Kaz and Inej from the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo 

This is a slow burn romance that makes me crazy everytime I think of it. I need more Six of Crows books because a duology is far from enough. I WANT TO SEE THE KAZ-INEJ ROMANCE DEVELOPMENT. I know y’all want it too.

✨ Jem and Tessa from The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

I know I’m late to the party but I just got started on Cassie’s Shadownhunter world this year and fell so hard for this ship. Sorry but I ship Tessa with Jem more than I ship her with Will. TEAM JEM TIL 3019.

11. Most Precious Must Be Protected

✨ Nikolai Lantsov from the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo 

If I can conjure 100 layers of protective shields so that Nikolai won’t be harmed anymore, I will. It’s too painful to know that he’s gonna suffer in King of Scars again. I know it for a fact because I read an excerpt and was absolutely destroyed. CAN SOMEONE PROTECT HIM FOR ME PLEASE??? And thank you.

✨ Enrique Mercado-Lopez from The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

I recently read an ARC of The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi and am now totally obsessed with it. The characters are absolutely lovable and Enrique is one of my faves. He’s Filipino-Spanish and the world’s up and coming banter royalty. I CAN’T WAIT FOR Y’ALL TO MEET HIM.

12. Honestly Surprised You’re Still Alive

✨ Percy Jackson from The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan 

My man has defeated Titans, beat Mother Earth herself, survived Tartarus, killed about a million monsters AND HE’S STILL ALIVE. Get yourself a man with a hundred lives like Percy. Not that I’m complaining. If Uncle Rick kills him off, I’m gonna leave the Philippines and hunt him down in a blink.

13. Award For Making The Worst Decisions

✨ Rin from The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

I love Rin but she just makes some huge and chaotic decisions that I don’t know if I should kick her or applaud her. She’s a walking ticking bomb who wants revenge so if you see her on the streets, DO NOT PISS HER OFF.

✨ Spensa from Skyward by Brandon Sanderson 

It’s Spin’s second mention now and that’s because she deserves this award so much. She’s got this reckless streak that makes her commit some rash decisions that sometimes make me wanna die with secondhand embarrassment.

14. Most In Need Of A Nap

✨ Me

I can’t think of a specific character right now but I think every main character in a book deserves sleep. When you have a certain deadline to save the world or to defeat that evil wizard, you hardly get 30 minutes of sleep. Come to think of it: MCs don’t even have time to do normal things like peeing, excreting, or even eating. JUSTICE FOR THESE CHARACTERS PLEASE.

15. Want To Read More About You

✨ Nikolai Lantsov from the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

I did warn you that this post was going to be a huge Nikolai fest. I want to read more about him but I don’t want him to suffer. In a perfect world, maybe that can happen but it’s highly impossible here. I want more Nikolai content so I need to prepare my heart for everything. SOMEONE FORGE A STONE HEART FOR ME. I badly need it during these tragic times.

Well that was one fun post! If you want to pay tribute to some characters you can do this book tag as well. Consider yourselves tagged. Just in case you want to join the fun:

1. Most Relatable Character

2. Most Pure Animal Companion

3. Fiercest Fighter

4. Am Surprised That I Loved You??

5. Best Sassmaster

6. Best Antihero

7. The Best Friends Of All

8. Best Villain To HATE

9. Award For Best vs Worst YA Parents

10. Ship Of All Ships In 2018

11. Most Precious Must Be Protected

12. Honestly Surprised You’re Still Alive

13. Award For Making The Worst Decisions

14. Most In Need Of A Nap

15. Want To Read More About You

Feel free to tag me in your posts! I would love to know your answers too.

Who are some of your all-time favorite characters? Who is your most hated character? Tell me your thoughts on this post down below!