Starcrossed Week - The Characters

At this point, you've heard me rave over just about everything having to do with Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed trilogy. The story is absolutely amazing and a large part of that amazingness comes from the characters. Because even the really unlikeable characters have some sort of redeeming qualities and the more minor ones feel fully fleshed out. And some of those characters, they are completely underrated.

Hector was one of those characters I wasn't too sure what to make of when I met him in the first book. But the more I learned about him, the more I realized he was just one big teddy bear. Once the Furies let up with the whole Helen hating the Delos and vice versa, Hector became this other person. Every time he appeared in the story, it just put a smile on my face. The way he was with his family just made him that much more endearing. And that was only amplified whenever he was interacting with Helen. As hard as he could be with her, she also brought out this other side of his personality. So Hector is someone I came to love. Anytime something bad happened to him, it just hurt my heart.  And after everything that had happened to him, I just wanted him to have a happy ending. 

Matt was one of those characters that is there but spends a lot of time in the background. He's been one of Helen's best friend for as long as anyone can remember and even through all of the Scion stuff, he sticks by her side, somewhere along the way falling in love with Ariadne. But all of a sudden in Goddess, so much happens to Matt. Right from the start, so many hints were dropped and knowing what I know about the Trojan War, I could see where things were heading. And it was not heading somewhere I liked. But it was inevitable, it was where the story needed to go. Not that it was something I actually accepted. Through it all, my heart was breaking as I saw what was happening and what it was doing to all the other characters. And even after everything, I still loved Matt because there was nothing he could do about the situation he was in.

I feel like all I'm doing is talking about the boys in this trilogy, but there were so many amazing ones. Orion found himself stuck in a love triangle with Helen and Lucas. There wasn't really much eh could do about it. And in spite of everything he knew that he wouldn't come out on the winning side. But for once, a member of a love triangle stood up for himself. Orion realized that he deserved better than what Helen would ever be able to give him. And for that alone, I have so much respect for Orion. But my heart is also breaking for him. Not just because of his "position" in the love triangle, but because of everything I know about his life and how difficult his childhood must have been. I just wanted him to have someone who would be there for him, who would take care of him and who would love him even more than he deserved to be love. Because Orion seriously needed some good in his life.

I've said that even the most unlikeable characters somehow have redeeming qualities and with Daphne, it was hard to find them. For the better part of three books, I wanted nothing more than to punch Daphne and for her to just leave everyone alone because she was causing a lot more harm than good. But despite all that, I could understand where she was coming from. It wasn't a justification for what she did by any stretch of the imagination, but I could understand why did the things she did and why she wanted what she wanted. But then she had this moment of clarity in Goddess. I don't know what finally made her see everything for what they were, but she did. And in that moment, I was able to start to forgive Daphne for some of what she had done. It didn't wipe the slate completely clean, but I could begin to forgive her, all things considered.

I could go on endlessly about each and every one of the characters in this trilogy. Each of them has something that makes them completely unique and memorable. I could talk about how badass Helen is, about how much more there is to Lucas than what I originally thought, to how absolutely selfless Ariadne and Jason are, how surprising Claire can be, and the list just keep going on. If for the characters alone, you should give Josephine Angelini's books a try. And if characters aren't your thing, you can check out all my other posts about the trilogy from this past week.