Top Five Wednesday- 8/31/22

Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group that responds to weekly bookish prompts. This week’s prompt:

August 31st: Skilled Fighters

There are characters we know can hold their own and kick some butt, but then there are characters who are simply deadly in their skillset and seem almost undefeatable. For today’s prompt, let’s focus on characters who we consider skilled fighters and do more than just “hold their ground.”

This was one of the more difficult prompts for me. I could think of a lot of books with fight scenes, but in a lot of the books I read it’s more a matter of luck, magic or teamwork that results in victory. There is magic involved with most of these worlds, but all of these examples are highly skilled. Even though I listed them as 1-5 that’s not necessarily their rank. It was hard to compare skills, so I just went with the order I thought of them.

1

The Lords of the Underworld from the Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter

This might be cheating, but I couldn’t decide on just one since they are all highly skilled with their own unique expertise (aka demons)

2

Valek from the Study series by Maria V. Snyder

The chief of security for Ixia could take out a dozen men without breaking a sweat, but his ability to analyze his opponents and determine their next move may be his greatest skill.

3

Four from the Divergent series by Veronica Roth

He’s called Four for a reason. Not only is he highly skilled, he has few fears.

4

Katsa from Graceling

Katsa is “graced” with the skill of killing. At age eight she was able to kill a man with her bare hands.

5

Sybella from Dark Triumph from the His Fair Assassin Series

Any of the assassins in this series are highly skilled, but Sybella is my favorite.