Favourite Villains

“But these words people threw around - humans, monsters, heroes, villains - to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.” 

We are currently participating in the wonderful Monika's (printsnpixels) May Book Challenge over on our Instagram page. After seeing today's topic (Day 25 - Favourite Villain), we decided it was impossible to choose just one so we did the next logical thing and made a blog post about it.

+ So here are our top 5 favourite fictional villains (and the occasional anti-hero) +

1. The Commandant 

(An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir)

Picture Queen Ravenna in 'Snow White and the Huntsman' but ten times scarier. She is the main antagonist in this story and she never lets you forget it. After our main character, Laia, becomes a spy and is told to spy on the Commandant, her every move matters. This is a woman that whips people for being late and even disfigures them for no reason. She is the head of the Academy and one of the most powerful people in the Empire.

2. Bellatrix Lestrange

(Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling)

Could any list be made without featuring this series? We decided choosing Voldemort would be too obvious but then we realised Bellatrix is ten times more frightening anyway. Everything from her devotion to her master, what she did to the Longbottoms and Hermione and the way she does it all with a baby voice is enough to make you uncomfortable. 

3. The Darkling

(Shadow and Bone series by Leigh Bardugo)

After the first book, I essentially carried on reading this series for the Darkling - in my opinion, he's what really makes the series. A beautifully, tragically written character who pulls you between loving and hating him (I mean, I always loved him, but still). The Darkling is the leader of the Grisha order in this series - the one Grisha who can summon darkness. When Alina gets tangled up with the Grisha, she must confront the Darkling, his secrets, and his ambitions for her and for the kingdom of Ravka.

4. Koschei

(Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente)

Koschei the Deathless is described as being 'to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories' aka, apparently, my perfect boyfriend. I'm not even exaggerating, I'm literally just in love with all three of my favourite villains. Koschei, the Tsar of Life, is greedy, selfish, all encompassing and cruel, yet despite all this, you often find yourself rooting for him. 

5. Rhysand

(A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas)

Now, I think both of us have made it clear how we feel about Rhys in A Court of Mist and Fury. However, in A Court of Thorns and Roses, where he is portrayed as one of the main antagonists, he is still an amazing character, one that you instantly want to know more about and anticipate the next time that he'll appear. Despite supposedly being the bad guy in the first book, and playing up to that role at many points, there is definitely a lot of foreshadowing to how he's going to be in A Court of Mist and Fury. 

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What are some of your favourite villains? Or are there some characters that are portrayed as villains when they shouldn't be? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Ten Books That We Feel Differently About Now That Time Has Passed

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is ten books that we feel differently about now that time has passed! We were really excited about this topic - don't you always find that you can love a book upon finishing it, but dislike it years down the line, and vice versa? 

As always, we've picked five books each! 

Angharad's Picks: 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I first read this book pretty much when it came out and at the time as I wasn’t a huge reader, I thoroughly enjoyed it as I had nothing to compare it too. However, now that many years have passed and my ‘read’ pile has grown significantly, I realise that I didn’t like this book as much as I thought I did. In fact, I preferred the movie version.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

I read this book, I went to DNF it but then I tried again. I read it and rated it 2/5 stars but I rated its sequel, A Court of Mist and Fury, 5/5 stars. Looking back, I know my main problem with the first book was Tamlin. I don’t like abusive characters being romanticised and I felt like he was. However, I now appreciate the world-building and Feyre’s character development. 

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

This is a short story and by short, I mean like less than 100 pages. I loved it so so much after reading it but as time has passed, I wish this had been made into a full-length novel because it had SO much more to give.

The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne

I read this book last year when I was going through my annual ‘crime-thriller’ phase so I read this novel among many others and I feel like although I loved it, I didn’t appreciate it enough. I loved the spooky, desolate setting and more than once it made chills run down my spine. Realistic and scary and I do recommend it if you like this genre!

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

I read this book a while back and I rated it 3/5 stars. I didn’t enjoy it that much but I hear that the next two books are definitely an improvement. Thinking back, I really enjoy the character of Kestrel and I am interested to see where her journey goes. It is refreshing to have a fantasy character that relies on her brains and isn’t a good fighter. They are equally as dangerous.

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Becky's Picks:

Deathless by Catherynne M Valente

When I read Deathless, I did really enjoy it. I gave it five stars and immediately classed it as being amongst my favourite books. However, after reading it a second time, I can see that there's so many little things I missed the first time round. This is such a perfectly complex book, and it'll definitely take me a few reads to fully appreciate everything that it has to offer. 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

I adored the first book of this series, but was really disappointed with Ruin and Rising, and I think I let this change my opinion on the trilogy as a whole (for the worst). I fell back in love with Leigh Bardugo's writing after reading Six of Crows, and now I've learned to appreciate Shadow and Bone as though it was a standalone. Plus, if I ignore the final book, I can pretend that Alina ends up with the right person... 

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

When I read Red Queen, I felt as though I'd read something really new and unique, but when the sequel came out I just couldn't bring myself to be bothered about it - in fact, although I probably will read it eventually, I still haven't got around to it. Unfortunately, this is just one of those books that I found faded away with time as I read books that I preferred. 

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

Like many people did, I got swept right into the hype surrounding The Mortal Instruments. I couldn't get enough of the series and basically counted down the days until City of Heavenly Fire was released. Back when I read them, I rated each book five stars. Now that a couple of years have passed, and now that I've seen the Shadowhunter franchise be dragged through a film and a netflix show, I can definitely say I'm way over it. (P.S. it's very likely that I'll still read the rest of the Shadowhunter books though...)

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Now before I say this, don't get me wrong - I will always love The Hunger Games. This is the trilogy that got me back into reading in the first place, and I'll be forever grateful to Suzanne Collins for that. When I hadn't read a book properly for a long time and decided to pick up The Hunger Games not long before the film came out so I could go and watch it (despite my reading drought, I still firmly believed in reading the book before watching the film) I thought it was by far the best thing I've ever read. Now I can see that, although I do love the books and still enjoy re-reading this series, my severe lack of literature for a couple of years was probably the reason that I thought so highly of it. 

Angharad's March Reads

My favourite reads from last month was my re-read of the Raven Cycle in preparation for The Raven King which is released on April 26th. I think a lot of people would agree when I say this is one of my all time favourite series and I am not prepared for the end. 

                                               

I also read another nine books:

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 

5/5

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn 

4/5

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

5/5

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

5/5

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

3/5

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

3/5

Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys

4/5

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin 

4/5

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

2/5

What books did you read last month? Let us know in the comments!

A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas

"Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don't feel anything at all.”

A Court of Thorns and Roses is Sarah J. Maas's retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The story follows Feyre, a young girl who is forced to hunt in order to keep her father and sisters alive. However, when Feyre kills a wolf that turns out to be a faerie, she is taken across the wall that divides the mortal lands and faerie lands to pay for her crime by spending the rest of her life in the Spring Court of Prythian, where she will face trials that she could never have anticipated.

Angharad:

Oh wow, this book was a roller coaster of a ride.

I almost put the book down after 100 pages. It just did not hook me in any way and I found the huge information dumps about the fae world to just be monotonous. Although in its defence, I have never been a huge fan of fairy tales/stories. I was originally going to give this book 1 star but the last 100 pages saved it, in my opinion.

Before the last few pages, I was reading purely for the sake of reading. I found Feyre's time in the Court to be so uneventful that I nearly tore my hair out. Painting, eating, hunting, painting, eating, hunting and on and on and on. The occasional event happened but other than that, it was extremely boring.

On to the romance side of things. The relationship between Feyre and Tamlin, in my opinion, was quite problematic (the whole bite thing. Her fault apparently??) but other than that, it was... there. They were basically like horny teenagers. The three characters I enjoyed the most were the side characters - Lucien, Rhysand and Nesta. 

Basically, to cut a long story short, as soon as the trials began, so did the story. It's such a shame that we had to wait until the end of the book for that. I'll be in no rush to get the sequel.

Becky:

Well. What can I say about A Court of Thorns and Roses?

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

I haven't found a fantasy novel that I literally couldn't put down in a very long time (probably since I read Throne of Glass, to be honest) so I was so happy when I was immediately sucked into Feyre's story. 

I thought that Maas adapted the classic story of Beauty and the Beast enough so that it didn't feel as though you knew exactly what was going to happen whilst reading, but at the same time the inspiration for the book still very much shone through. A Court of Thorns and Roses really is a fairytale through and through - from the events leading up to Feyre's actions and the consequences of it, the way that the love story develops, the folklore elements, to the three trials at the end of the book. As always with Sarah J. Maas's books, it was written beautifully and I thought that the world building was perfect - I really could imagine what both the locations and characters looked like whilst reading. 

As for the characters, I loved Feyre from the beginning. The Hunger Games (as it did for many others, I imagine) ignited in me a love for girls who are good archers, and Feyre's passion for art touched a soft spot too. As well as this, I loved that she had shouldered the task of keeping her family alive, despite being the youngest and not really being noticed or appreciated for all that she did for them. Her strength and bravery carries on throughout the book, when she willingly goes with Tamlin to Prythian in order to protect her family yet again, and when facing the three trials. 

On to Tamlin - of course, I hated him to begin with, but as his and Feyre's romance developed, he grew on me more. However, Rhysand is the faerie that truly has a place in my heart after reading this book. 

I really enjoyed most of the other side characters as well, especially Lucien and Nesta (her development was perfect!) and Amarantha was an amazing antagonist. 

I did feel like this would have worked really well as a standalone book, but at the same time I am so glad that it isn't and I can't wait for the sequel!

I'd definitely recommend A Court of Thorns and Roses to all fantasy and fairytale lovers, and definitely to people who've loved the Throne of Glass series so far!

Have you read A Court of Thorns and Roses? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!