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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37721
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

As other answers have suggested a large character count is ok, if you manage them correctly.

Building on the Tolkien idea in Galastel's answer I want to add that The Silmarillion has an unbelievable character count (well more than 100 according to [the Wiki](http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Category:The_Silmarillion_Characters)) that has indeed driven away some people while at the same time being a successful book. According to the [reviews on Amazon](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0345325818) readers do have problems with that kind of number, but many found _a good glossary_, family trees, maps or eBook technologies to be immensely helpful (see for example [[1, 3rd paragraph]](https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2M0H8KWN5JKDL/), [[2, section c.]](https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3L16L1AL68X8W/), [[3]](https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R46W0ZV0M046S/), [[4]](https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R26SY9DYYN0RG9/), [[5]](https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3FTWJ94AUHD96/), [[6]](https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RIJR5DG5A4YRH/), ...).

What one can take away from this example is that you can **help the reader**. You can do something like the appendix as in the Silmarillion example but I don't think that's all. Here are some brainstorming ideas (including some of the above):

- **Glossaries.**
- **Family Trees.** Or other graphical representations of relationships.
- **Maps.** Where are characters moving? If regions are controlled by anyone of significance, put that on the map. You could connect characters who don't have too move much with landmarks.
- **Mind the scope.** It's hard to remember some character including related facts when it hasn't been mentioned for 500 pages at all. It doesn't hurt to offer a sentence with a small hint what kind of character you are talking about or what that character did when it was first mentioned. Maybe it's not only the reader who might have trouble remembering or is caught off guard, but also the character itself that is meeting another character? It seems to me that this would fit quite well with your "lifelike situation" approach.
- **Names.** See Galastel's answer. (Exceptions apply. Naming "double characters" similarly or using the same naming scheme for characters from the same family or region or culture makes sense and actually helps with putting them in the right place.)

**In summary: With enough help and thought, almost any character count works.**

Original score: 10