This week’s theme from The Broke and the Bookish is “Ten Characters Everyone Loves But I Just Don’t Get”. Hold on to your hats, let’s see if I can even make ten…
- The Darkling, from Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. All I hear is ‘wah, wah, wah, waaaaah’, sorry.
- Mal, from Shadow and Bone. Wait, you only like Alina when she’s helpless and dependent on you? Really? Why am I the only one seeing this?
- Dorian, from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I didn’t get the appeal of him in the first book, and I still don’t see him as a potential romantic match. Sorry not sorry!
- Gale Hawthorne, from The Hunter Games by Suzanne Collins. At least not after the second book or so, when he started getting all militant. He was a fine character but Peeta won hands down, for me. (Though if I’m on a team, it’s just plain ol’ Team Katniss Can Kiss Who She Likes).
- Draco Malfoy, from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. I never understand people shipping him with Harry or Hermione. Even if he’s not the worst, he’s a coward and a bully.
- Severus Snape, from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Okay, I never got to his redemption stuff, but really? Snape?
- Simon, from The Darkest Powers by Kelley Armstrong. Okay, he wasn’t a bad character, but I hated the misdirected romance with him. Derek, darn it!
- Lancelot, from Arthurian Legends. This one is cheating because there are so many versions, and the one that inevitably jumps to mind is one that nobody is meant to like — Bernard Cornwell’s version. I don’t care! Lancelot’s whole character just doesn’t appeal, though one or two authors — Steinbeck, Guy Gavriel Kay — have had a light enough touch to make me sympathise.
- Lin Chung, from the Miss Fisher Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood. No, not really, I still love him. I just wish Phryne would sleep with someone else for once, it’s getting really out of character. As I type this I’m reading Death By Water, and she’s had at least three opportunities to flirt and hasn’t really taken them. Whyyyy!?
- Katsa, from Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I got it a bit more the second time I read it, but I still don’t adore the character.
Okay, so I did hit ten. But mostly I seem to follow the crowd…
The Darkling never appealed to me either, though I know he’s quite popular with fans. Mal wasn’t all that better, but at least he got his act together after the second book (Really, Mal? Things don’t go your way so you try to find the answers by drinking yourself stupid?) and I liked how the trilogy ended.
I reaaaaaaaaaaally don’t get the interest in the Darkling. Maybe if it had been subverted and he was actually not meant to be a villain despite the obvious warning signs, but he clearly was.