Thoughtful Thursday: Number of Characters

Thoughtful Thursday

It is time for Thoughtful Thursday and the bookish questions that pop up while I am reading. Please share your thoughts on the bookish question of the week. I am curious to hear what you have to say! There are no wrong answers. Questions about Thoughtful Thursday or future Thoughtful Thursday posts? Check out my Thoughtful Thursday section. Alright, on to the question!

How many characters do you like to meet and get to know in a book? Do you prefer a book with just a protagonist and a handful of central characters or do you like to meet lots of characters?

I've read several books and graphic novels recently that had a ton of characters, and these books got me thinking about the perfect number of characters. I have to admit that I don't like a ton of characters in a book. Once I need to know more than ten or so characters are a fairly intimate basis, I start to forget who is who. I am embarrassed to say that this even happens in graphic novels even though the graphic novels have pictures of the people! If I am slowly introduced to characters over the course of a series, I do okay. I definitely retained a good amount of information on more than ten characters in the Harry Potter series. At the same time, I have reread the Harry Potter books a fair amount of times, and these re-readings have helped my memory. I read A Feast for Crows a few months (an entire year ago maybe?) and there were tons of characters that I could not keep straight. I had to read plot summaries online for all of the Greyjoy chapters, because my brain could just not create any more character files for that series. Seriously, I don't know how Martin keeps all those people straight in his head. 

Although I don't like to memorize a ton of character names and traits, I have to admit that I love sprawling fantasy epics. I swear it is a disease, because I am so confused and frustrated while reading the book, but at the end I am so happy that I read it. I wonder, if I can get a sprawling epic with no more than ten characters in it? Hmmm...


Now it is your turn! How many characters do you like to have in a book?





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