TTT: Favorite Book Siblings

This week’s topic was on platonic relationships, and I actually had much to say about that last year. This time around, I’m coming back to this to discuss book siblings! I love it when books showcase siblings as well, because the interaction between brother and sister or sister and sister is always fun to read. You can tell a lot about a character with how they treat their family members.

So, once more, in no particular order…

Top Ten Fictional Siblings

Nesta and Elain Archeron (A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas) – When you have fairy tale retellings, you normally have sisters or stepsisters who are kind of not that great. In this case, though, Feyre’s sisters are a big part of her life, and both are devoted to each other. Once again, they’re not prominent characters in the second book of A Court of Thorns and Roses, but it’s clear that Nesta would do anything to keep Elain happy.

Zelie and Tzain (Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi) – I love Zelie and her antics, but Tzain is definitely the more grounded of the two. They pretty much get dragged into a quest to bring back magic, but both are definitely in it to protect each other in the end. Even though I’m pretty sure “protect Zelie from harm” also kind of is close to “I’m going to kill Zelie for getting us all in danger” for Tzain. Ah well!

The Rojas and Prentiss girls (One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus) – I couldn’t decide between showcasing Bronwyn and Maeve as siblings or Addy and Ashton as siblings in this book. Both sets of sisters were so good with each other though! In Bronwyn’s case, she’s the protective and caring older sister to a rather underestimated, geeky Maeve. In Addy’s, she is the younger sister who adores and looks up to her older, more independent sibling, Ashton. I loved the dynamic between each pair in the book.

Rhy and Kell Maresh (Shades of Magic by V.E. Schwab) – Hah. Yeah, these two make an appearance in this list as they did in the last list about platonic relationships. I can’t help it, though! Even adopted, Kell is treated like a Maresh, often referred to as the “black-eyed prince”. Rhy is the true-born son of Maxim Maresh, but that honestly doesn’t stop him from sticking to Kell like glue especially during their childhoods. The banter they get to in the Shades of Magic trilogies are fabulous.

Elizabeth and Jane Bennett (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) – Here’s my OG sister goals! The Bennett household has an entire ensemble of five sisters, but it’s the sisterly bond between the two eldest that was always the most endearing. I feel like this was a relationship that mirrored Austen’s own relationship with her sister Cassandra.

Thom and Alanna of Trebond (Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce) – My love of twins in books stems directly from this relationship. No joke, I adored the way the two managed to pull off their mischief at the early age of 10, and that it was done so well that it lasted a good 8 years before the whole of Tortall was made known of it. Honestly, Thom himself is a polarizing character, but honestly, I liked him, sass and all. In the end, both twins cared enough about each other to have had a lasting bond until the end.

Jenica and Tati (Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier) – Honestly, I could be talking about all five of the sisters because they were very close in the book! Jena and Tati were, once more, the two oldest, and in the story, this meant that there was more story, development, and interaction between the two than the other three.

Vasya and Sasha (The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden) – I mostly whined last time about not getting enough of Vasya’s brother Sasha in The Bear and the Nightingale, but then The Girl in the Tower came out! So here I am a happy camper. Sasha is often perplexed by Vasya, who turns out to be more free-spirited than what is expected of a girl in his time, but he loves and protects her nonetheless. Enough that he even keeps the deception of her being a girl for a long while. And, well, Vasya’s favorite sibling has always been Sasha, even since the beginning of the trilogy.

Raina and Amara Telgemeier (Sisters by Raina Telgemeier) – It’s totally not cheating to put in an actual set of sisters, because the graphic novel itself was just so relatable! Raina and her sister Amara have your typical sisterly bond, enough of one that it reminded me of my own family and how we dealt with each other when we were younger. I loved this graphic novel so much, actually, that I had my entire family read it.

Snow White and Rose Red (Fables by Bill Willingham) – Snow White and Rose Red have an extremely complicated relationship in Bill Willingham’s series. Honestly, it was hard getting 100 percent behind either of them with the way they treated each other. In fact, by the end of the series, it all boiled down to a fighting head between the two. All the same, in every respect, the two sisters do somehow care for each other, and eventually they do make it out, with a stronger bond because of what they went through.