Let's be completely honest, a great book has to have a great villain. It's just how it goes. The villain has to be manipulative, ambitious, and we have to sympathize with him/her just a little. Personally, I love a tragic villain, one with a background and upbringing that shaped their newly evil selves, but I also love the straight up bad guy who has no reason for his actions except for a power lust. All in all, I love me some evil villains. So, here's a list with my favorites, in no particular order.
Naturally, the villains from Harry Potter would top the list, but I'm pretty sure we all love/hate Voldemort, Umbridge, Malfoy without saying. Therefore, they get an honorable mention.
-Valentine Morganstern- from Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instrument series.
Valentine didn't have a tragic upbringing. In fact, he was quite privileged growing up in Idris and being the most popular boy in school. The popularity went to his head and along with his great leadership abilities, he started plotting and manipulating. See, the thing about Valentine is that he actually thought he was going to do good for his people. He honestly believed that the Shadowhunters would benefit from his plan. But, he went crazy and cocky and murderous (don't you just hate when that happens?!), and he was willing to put his wife and children in danger/kill them if they stood in his way. That's just not okay, dude. But he's charming and sometimes sassy, welcome characteristics in a good antagonist, and that's why he makes the list.
-President Snow- from Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games series
This one is a no brainer. Like, do I even have to explain? He threw kids into an arena and made them kill each other, all so that the districts wouldn't revolt against him. That screams evil and if you disagree, please stay away from me because I don't want to know what you're capable of.
-Chimera- from Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Every Other Day
This goes on the list because I just finished this book and couldn't put it down. Chimera is a corporation in Kali's world that is experimenting with demons, hell hounds, basilisks, and all sorts of preternatural creatures. Not good. They also have no problem with murdering and kidnapping teenagers who get in their way and want to conduct experiments on Kali because she's only partially human. Still not good. I hate the villains who like to experiment on people because they think they're being all scientific and going to find something that'll save their people or whatever but it never turns out like that. Though, to be completely honest, Chimera isn't really looking out for the human race. Nah, they're preparing to fight them.
-Stark Enterprises- from Meg Cabot's Airhead series
And this has nothing to do with Iron Man. Meg Cabot is one of my favorite authors and this villain caused creepy goosebumps to appear at every mention. Basically, the reason they're so awful goes back to my thing with human experimentation. Stark Enterprises is playing around with brain transfers. When Emerson's brain is transplanted into superstar Nikki Howard's body, she realizes that Stark now owns her life and that they'll hold everything she holds dear to her against her to protect their company and their most valuable possession (Nikki). She survived the accident, but she lost her life. That's terrifying. Especially since a huge corporation now owns her. That's definitely problematic.
-Alice Milthrope- from Michelle Zink's Prophecy of the Sisters series
This series is so underrated and I never hear people talk about it, and they really really should. Alice has a complex that's difficult to describe. Her twin, Lia is extremely powerful but she wasn't meant to be. In fact, Alice was supposed to be the one with all the power, since she was supposed to be born first, but after her mother's emergency c-section, Lia was delivered first. So, Alice got dealt the wrong hand of cards, right? Sure, but that's no excuse to go completely crazy and betray your sister and head off to the dark side. Alice is so dark and misunderstood, and you can almost understand why she is that way. She fits so well into the category, "bad upbringing that leads to really bad decisions and now she's evil" thing. Don't get me wrong, the girl's got power and I can't one hundred percent sympathize with her (seeing as I don't want to kill my sister or anything), but she's a very interesting character in the way she behaves and the choices she makes. Definitely recommend.
So that's the list. If you have any other favorite villains that didn't make the list, feel free to share! I'd love to see what you guys think.
Here's what I'm reading for next week's review:
Doomed, by Tracy Deebs (review from Amazon)
Pandora's just your average teen-glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends-until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father-her one key to saving the world as we know it. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.
Look for it next Thursday!
Have a safe and happy Fourth of July to all my Americans and a wonderful Thursday to my other readers!
-Annie
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