Top Ten Tuesday: Books I wish had More/Less Characters in them

Hello all and welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday! This weeks top ten topic is a little bit of a freebie. There was a choice of topic to have more or less of something in a book. So, I decided to do books that I wish had more/less characters in them. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted the The Broke and the Bookish.

So without further ado, here is this weeks Top Ten Tuesday, books I wish had more/less characters in them.

1) The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon – More Characters

“Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?’

This is a book I think could have done with a few more characters. I know it is a book about two people and their road to love but I feel as though a few more characters in this book wouldn’t have hurt. I feel it just could have done with a couple more just to develop the story a little more and push the narrative along.

2) The 5th Wave Series by Rick Yancey – Less Characters

“After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother-or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.”

This is a book series I feel could have done with a few less characters in it. I felt myself getting confused with how many characters were being introduced into the series. This isn’t helped at all by the fact it switched perspectives throughout the book and because I was confused with the character names it threw me off a lot.

3) The Hunger Games Series by J.K Rowling – Less Characters

“Winning will make you famous.
Losing means certain death.

The nation of Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, is a country that consists of a wealthy Capitol region surrounded by 12 poorer districts. Early in its history, a rebellion led by a 13th district against the Capitol resulted in its destruction and the creation of an annual televised event known as the Hunger Games. In punishment, and as a reminder of the power and grace of the Capitol, each district must yield one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery system to participate in the games. The ‘tributes’ are chosen during the annual Reaping and are forced to fight to the death, leaving only one survivor to claim victory.

When 16-year-old Katniss’s young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives, some of whom have trained for this their whole lives. , she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.”

This is another book series I felt could have had less characters in it. I know it is a series about sending multiple people into an arena to kill people. But some of these characters played huge parts in the series and because of all the character names that had been thrown at me throughout the series I just felt myself mixing up characters.

4) The Harry Potter Series by J.K Rowling – Less Characters

“Harry Potter’s life is miserable. His parents are dead and he’s stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he’s a wizard. A mysterious visitor rescues him from his relatives and takes him to his new home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

After a lifetime of bottling up his magical powers, Harry finally feels like a normal kid. But even within the Wizarding community, he is special. He is the boy who lived: the only person to have ever survived a killing curse inflicted by the evil Lord Voldemort, who launched a brutal takeover of the Wizarding world, only to vanish after failing to kill Harry.

Though Harry’s first year at Hogwarts is the best of his life, not everything is perfect. There is a dangerous secret object hidden within the castle walls, and Harry believes it’s his responsibility to prevent it from falling into evil hands. But doing so will bring him into contact with forces more terrifying than he ever could have imagined.”

Now this is going to be a shocker for all those who know how much I love the Harry Potter series but I feel as though it could have done with less characters. There are so many new characters introduced in each book some playing major parts and some playing minor. I feel as though a lot of the minor characters could have been taken out without effecting the plot of the books.

5) A Seven Letter Word by Kim Slater – More Characters

“‘My name is Finlay McIntosh. I can see OK, can hear perfectly fine and I can write really, really well. But the thing is, I can’t speak. I’m a st-st-st-stutterer. Hilarious, isn’t it? It’s like the word is there in my mouth, fully formed and then, just as it’s ready to leave my lips . . . POP! It jumps and ricochets and bounces around my gob. Except it isn’t funny at all, because there’s not a thing I can do about it.’

Finlay’s mother vanished two years ago. And ever since then his stutter has become almost unbearable. Bullied at school and ignored by his father, the only way to get out the words which are bouncing around in his head is by writing long letters to his ma which he knows she will never read, and by playing Scrabble online. But when Finlay is befriended by an online Scrabble player called Alex, everything changes. Could it be his mother secretly trying to contact him? Or is there something more sinister going on?”

I wish that this book had a few more characters in it. I just feel like it could have done with a couple more characters to add a little bit more depth to the sorry. I do love this book, but if there were a few more characters in it I would not have complained at all.

6) We Were Liars by E. Lockhart – Less Characters

“A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.”

I read this book on the plane on the way to my holiday last year and I just remember sitting there towards the end of the book and thinking what the heck just happening. The reason for this was that the characters and their names confused me, a lot of them have similar names which threw me off when reading the book. So, I feel as though this book could have done a lot better in my opinion if there weren’t as many characters in it.

7) 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough – Less Characters

“I was dead for 13 minutes.

I don’t remember how I ended up in the icy water but I do know this – it wasn’t an accident and I wasn’t suicidal.

They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but when you’re a teenage girl, it’s hard to tell them apart. My friends love me, I’m sure of it. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t try to kill me. Does it?”

I wish this book had less characters in it. I read this book last year and I went through the entire book confused. The book switches between perspectives and text conversations. I just remember sitting at points throughout the book thinking wait who is speaking now, what is all this about. I think a couple less characters would have made a huge difference in making the story a lot more enjoyable.

8) Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon – More Characters

“My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.”

Now this one is a tricky one. I know this book is focussed around two characters and their time together, but I think by just adding a couple more characters into the mix the story could have flowed a lot better. There wouldn’t have been as many gaps in the narrative if a few more characters had been added.

9) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – More Characters 

“I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once.”

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.”

For this book, I wish I could have learnt more about other characters. There are a few characters that are mentioned at a glance throughout the book and I wish that John Green had gone a little into their storylines and their personalities. This one for me is a more character development but a few extra characters wouldn’t hurt.

10) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky – Less Characters

“Charlie is a freshman.

And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can’t stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.”

I really wish that this book, as it is told by Charlie would have touched more on his friends. I felt myself waiting for there to be more of the story about Sam and Patrick. I know that this is a story told through Charlie’s letters. I just wish he had talked a little more about his friends. The only way I think that this could be possible would be by taking out the unnecessary minor characters.

There you have it, this weeks Top Ten Tuesday, books I wish had more/less characters in them! Let us know in the comments below any books you wish had more or less characters in them.

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Until next time,