Blades of Acktar Characters Part 2

I’m continuing my discussion of my favourite characters of the Blades of Acktar series by Tricia Mingerink. I cannot promise this to be entirely spoiler free, but I won’t tell more than necessary. And anyway, if you care about getting spoilers, just go read the books.

Part one is here, in case you missed it.

Martyn Hamish

Loyalty. That’s the first word I associate with Martyn.  Duty is the second. This guy follows orders. Martyn  was Leith’s best friend in the Blades. He’s kind of a nice guy. At least as far as assassins go. But unlikely Leith he’s not going to walk away from his duty just because some girls were strangely kind to him. He’ll follow orders. Even that includes doing terrible things.

One interesting aspect of Martyn’s character is that he doesn’t do so well without someone to follow. He’s the main character in Deliver and *spoiler* in Deliver the Blades have been disbanded. King Respin is gone. Martyn is feeling slightly lost and betrayed, and confuses and uncomfortable. And he’s more lost than he realizes. He needs someone who will give him orders. And someone who will challenge his stubbornness. And once that happens and he realizes that he’s been an idiot, he slowly comes round.

Shadrach Alistair

Shad is the son of Lord Henry Alistair and Leith’s new best friend. He’s not got some tragic childhood, or (so) many people trying to kill him. He’s just a nice guy. And a lord’s son.  Which is somehwat of a recurring joke. As a lord’s son he had a rather different upbringing to Leith. But he’s still pretty good at tracking and fighting. Maybe not quite as good as he thinks, but he can handle most things. He’s more of a leader and is quite involved in the resistance against King Respen. 

While Shad doesn’t make it into my top characters, he
does get some of the best lines. Or is around when some of the best lines are said. In real life he’s probably the guy you’d want around. A good man, not overly complicated, with no enormous scars in his past. He’s dependable.

More Blades

Jamie Cavendish is a Blade trainee. He’s kind of awesome. Very brave. He deserves a lot more space than I’m giving him right here. But I haven’t got the time. So just read the books.

Blane Altin. One of the youngest Blades. Someone Leith wishes he’d gotten out. One of the resons I despise King Respin. Turning boys into killers.

Ranson Harding. The Blade one above Blane. They’re friends. Almost like brothers. He also could be a nice guy if given the chance.

There’s one more character I’d really like to to talk about, specifically from Deliver, but i haven’t got a picture for he and I’m not sure what to say. So I’ll just squeal. Kayleigh!!! Really she’s an awesome character. One of the reasons to read Deliver.

Pictures grabbed from these Pinterest boards: https://au.pinterest.com/jessica2012d/martyn-hamish/  https://au.pinterest.com/jessica2012d/shadrach-alistair/  https://au.pinterest.com/jessica2012d/deny/  https://au.pinterest.com/tmingerink/ya-novel-defy-the-blades-of-acktar-3/