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.