Anti-hero books please

[Guest]

It occurs to me that it's been a whiiiile since j read a book with a truly wicked protagonist. And I'm sorta getting of all these good protagonists. I want to root for someone evil ad dark again. Now I'm not talking someone who's bad for being bad. 

It shouldnt  be - 

why are you doing this? 

becuase I'm bad. 

The anti hero needs to have some reason for doing what he is doing. Or she is doing. Or atleast they need to be charming as hell and fun,  eg-locke lamora. And i don't want an anti-hero who is truly repulsive. I'm thinking along the lines of six of crows, or the lies of Locke Lamora or Nevernight. I would greatly appreciate if the book could also be fun. So I'm thinking ya.

I'm sorry for all the paremetres and thank you in advance in case this gets any replies.

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Elf

[Morningtide she/her]

Throne of Glass has many protagonists with iffy morals. Star Wars books like Thrawn also work. The False Prince's main character isn't reaaaaally an anti-hero, but has many ulterior motives and is a plotter. Renegades by Marissa Meyer has a sympathetic main character who works for the bad guys. 

That's all I can think of at the moment. 

[Guest]

Thank you! I'll check them out for sure! 

[Robin Sedai she/her]

On 17/03/2022 at 7:48 PM, Elf said:

It occurs to me that it's been a whiiiile since j read a book with a truly wicked protagonist. And I'm sorta getting of all these good protagonists. I want to root for someone evil ad dark again. Now I'm not talking someone who's bad for being bad. 

It shouldnt  be - 

why are you doing this? 

becuase I'm bad. 

The anti hero needs to have some reason for doing what he is doing. Or she is doing. Or atleast they need to be charming as hell and fun,  eg-locke lamora. And i don't want an anti-hero who is truly repulsive. I'm thinking along the lines of six of crows, or the lies of Locke Lamora or Nevernight. I would greatly appreciate if the book could also be fun. So I'm thinking ya.

I'm sorry for all the paremetres and thank you in advance in case this gets any replies.

Have you read the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik? It's very good.

The main character is definitely an antihero, though I don't think she does anything particularly amoral. (She's actually one of the most idealistic characters in the series, but has the cards very much stacked against her.)

She's also very capable (might verge on Mary Sue territory for some, but I like competent characters) not particularly charming, has a dark sense of humour that I find very funny, and - oh, I'll admit it. I have a crush on her. There, it's out

[AerionBFII he/him]

I’d highly recommend ‘the first Law’ book series by Joe Abercrombie. There is currently a trilogy, 3 stands alones, an anthology and a sequel trilogy  

 

the magic system is soft (unlike Sandersons) and he series is grimdark  

 

Nether the less I  thoroughly  enjoyed it  

 

 

[Derek R]

A Clockwork Orange for extreme ultra-violence which is sort of an X-rated

The Prague Cemetery is the most unlikable protagonist possible

And then there were none is a murder mystery and one of my favorite novels