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*takes breath* *pauses* *takes another breath* *hesitates* *unintelligible noises*

THE FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELSSSSSS

*coughs*

That’s a good question, assuming I could name a favorite book. I think what makes me LOVE a book are the characters. I love Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles because Cress is the only character I have ever read that makes me go “Oh my gosh that’s my thought process. That’s how I would act. That’s how I would handle that situation. That’s how I would calm myself down. She’s me.”

I think what really attracts me is when characters act intelligent, which is not as common as it should be. Not the this-YA-girl-is-so-smart-and-so-much-better-than-anyone-else, but genuinely thinking up creative solutions to problems. It’s hard to do when you think up the problems in the first place. Mercedes Lackey does it well. In one of her series, there is this thing called the Tradition and it makes things cliche. Characters who are aware of it can use it to their advantage. Once, a fairy godmother noticed a recently widowed king was attracted some evil sorceresses and realized his daughter was about to be Evil Stepmother-ed, so she dressed in all black and got the king to agree to marry her so that the Tradition would be like “Alright, evil-stepmother checked off, I’ll go do something else now.” Very clever.

So yeah. I would say good characters are what are I like the most. If I had to explain to someone why I liked the books I do, I would start talking about the characters. “And he is just awesome! But his father rejects him for his brother, who was not awesome! Yet he is strong anyways! He does the best he can. Gah. The feels.”