Hi there, welcome back to day 3 of the Top Ten of 2013 event organized by Rachel from
Fiktshun, Jaime from
Two Chicks on Books and Mindy from
Magical Urban Fantasy Reads.
Today we have a couple of topics to choose from, and I've decided to highlight my favorite bad guys. Because we all know they can be intriguing in their own right ;)
I must admit though that it wasn't that easy to actually identify books that had a villain! In quite many I've read this year, the adversary is either abstract (poverty, a fear, the character's situation), or a whole society system or some other intangible ideological thing. A real, charismatic villain? Not that easy to find... especially when it comes to lady villains!
There is no particular order. And sorry, but not links/covers today. I'm at my netbook, which is reaaaaally sloooooow and gets hung up all the time. Yesterday I was putting in covers and links (only that) for more than an hour!
Best villains I've read in 2013
The Darkling - Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo
He is very alluring, mysterious and sexy. And for a long time, I wasn't sure if he's a villain. I didn't want him to be. I'm still not sure he truly is one - I haven't read
Siege and Storm yet - but he is cast that way in
Shadow and Bone. Can't wait to read more of him.
Warner - Shatter Me, by Tahereh Mafi
What a sick, possessive guy! Very intelligent, but also completely ruthless and due to his upbringing, kind of a psycho. The way he treats Juliette like he owns her made me so mad. he certainly follows the Machiavellian idea that it's better to be feared than loved.
Destroy Me let me understand him a bit better, but I still don't understand how some people ship him with Juliette.
Morpheus - Splintered, by A.G. Howard
Is he friend or foe? That's what kept me at the tip of my toes in Splintered. He clearly cares for Alyssa, but he's also a schemer and follows his own agenda. I found him compelling, creepy, and I love his sense of style. There's this jouissance about him that I love to read about.
The Godking - Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks
Very powerful figure, that guy. Whenever Kylar or Durzo thought they had him pinned... they didn't. His magic is basically all-powerful, he has no respect for women or life in general, and his greed (for land, for power, for cruelty) is basically unparalleled. Definitely a chilling guy.
Sarren - The Eternity Cure, by Julie Kagawa
Sick old psycho vampire with a grudge, who's got his hands on a character I care about. Need I say more? With the ending, whenever I thought it couldn't get worse... it did.
The King - Throne of Glass / Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J. Maas
I don't remember if we know his name? I don't particularly care. It's his position that makes him dangerous. He's cruel, thirsting for power, and shrewd. He's strong both physically and with his skill in black magic. He's not just a danger to Caelena but to all of Adarlan.
Prince Prospero - Dance of the Red Death, by Bethany Griffin
I seem to have a thing for evil royal villains this year... Prospero is another one that makes torture into entertainment. It's also about his more subtle threats though, and what he's done/doing to his own people. Let's not even talk about the way he treats his own family and how he broke Elliott in his childhood.
Avari - With All My Soul, by Rachel Vincent
Avari is a great villain throughout the series. He's both strong and smart, and hella determined to get what he wants. And yet he is not completely repulsive but strangely... fascinating.
Death - Poison Princess, by Kresley Cole
He's domineering and omni-present in Evie's head, even though they don't meet in real life. I've always had a fascination with representations of Death in literature, and he's feeding my addiction. He's centuries old, lethal, cunning... and endlessly patient.
Tatiana - Flesh and Blood, by Kristen Painter
Evil, ambitious vampire bitch. She's the kind of character that is almost overdone in her vileness, so you can just love to hate her. As you've maybe noticed, I tend to develop a kind of sympathy for the
devil villain or siding with the underdog thing... but not with her. And sometimes it's great to be able to just despise a character. Besides, the ladies are seriously underrepresented on this list...
Runners-up:
Demian - The Stone Demon, by Karen Mahoney
Because he's a demon king and even though he's clearly bad news, he's also compelling and a great addition to the trilogy.
The Queen - The Pledge, by Kimberly Derting
Her power is creepy! And she's definitely playing the long game. I was afraid of her when I read her.
The aliens - The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey
Because they know just where our weaknesses are and they're not afraid to use them. Also, they are so hard to detect! Makes you paranoid.
Have you read any of those books and if so, do you agree with my assessment of villainy? I'm also curious what topics other people chose, so link me up!
