So! I was reading during my recent vacation (as one does when stuck at and between airports), and I'd heard a lot of good things about this book. Very much dark fantasy, not a friendly world, that sort of thing. I was looking forward to a good anti-hero tale, something where I clearly wasn't reading about the good guy but could root for him anyway.
While the main character was no good guy, there was nothing about him worth rooting for.
Don't get me wrong, I love anti-heroes. I like characters who work outside the lines. I like characters who not only do things I wish I could do but can't because I'm not willing to spend the rest of my life in jail, but also get away with them. I like reading about the wrong person trying to do the right thing.
However, part of what makes an anti-hero is that there's good in them somewhere. It might be the warm heart behind their gruff exterior. It might be the tiny spark of light in the darkness inside them. But it has to be there. There has to be something to separate an anti-hero from the villains they fight.
This book had none of that.
The protagonist, as he was no hero of any kind, had no redeeming qualities I could see. Flashbacks show where his life changed, and this isn't someone who edged down the slippery slope toward villainy, or someone who tripped. This is someone who saw it as a cliff and leaped off. And yet, it seemed like the reader was supposed to empathize with him because of his tragic past, that he truly was supposed to be an anti-hero.
I don't think so. Without that core of good, we're left with a protagonist who sees no trouble with torture, murder, and rape. We have a character who would be the antagonist in most other stories. And being driven by revenge is fine until he just sort of drops that because it doesn't suit him anymore.
I didn't read the whole story; I got bored with it and was utterly disappointed. It's possible things could have gotten better, but after 100 pages, I just didn't care enough to find out. So I wouldn't call this a review, but I wanted to really get into why the character didn't work for me at all.
So, now I'm curious: what do you think makes an anti-hero? Have you seen characters like this, who shoot for that and miss? And how would you write an anti-hero to make sure they truly were one?
Next entry: sequel talk. @_@
Right now, the best anti hero making the rounds is Riddick. He is not a good guy by anyone's standards, but he every so often has a very human moment. Otherwise, he's a badass with a gun and shiner job. And it's fun to watch him extinguish his opponents.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten about him. @_@ I still need to see the first and third movies, but I enjoyed the second.
DeleteI totally agree that a good anti-hero has to have those redeeming qualities. If they don't have them, they're just purely evil villains. Who can be appreciated in their own terms, of course, but who shouldn't be presented as anti-heroes.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I've read some villain-protagonist stuff, and it can be fascinating when it's done well. But it doesn't work when that character is presented as the hero.
DeleteI'm with you - the anti-hero has to have something, even if it's the littlest, tiniest sliver of humanity, or else we just won't care about him/her. If there's no sliver, the protag is a villain, as Trisha said, not an anti-hero. (GEEK ALERT COMING) I loved the Dragonlance books when I was a kid, and I remember that Raistlin - please tell me someone knows what I'm talking about - was mostly an absolutely irredeemable, power-hungry, evil guy, but he always showed kindness and mercy to the truly downtrodden races of that world. And that was enough, I think, to make him the sort of anti-hero you're talking about. Now, I haven't read those books in years, so I might not agree with my pre-teen self,but that's how I remember it.
ReplyDeleteI read quite a few of those books, and I do indeed remember Raistlin. ^_^ He also had his brother, and some true, real friendship with the rest of that group, even if he rarely acted like it. I don't know if I'd say he was irredeemable, at least in the early books, but it was clear that he'd chosen his path, and he could have chosen differently.
DeleteGods know there's probably all kinds of fanfic out there about him making a different choice. ^_^
I've never been a fan of the true anti-hero. (Although my own main character has traits of one in the beginning.) I started a book like that a few years back and stopped reading for the same reason - no redeeming qualities.
ReplyDeleteI can see why anti-heroes wouldn't appeal to some people, especially because it's so easy to do one wrong. I've seen a lot done right, though, which is part of why this book was such a disappointment.
DeleteSo which book was it?? I want to know!
ReplyDeleteSympathetic anti-heroes can be tricky... too bad this one didn't work out. :/
Not saying. :P I wanted to talk about this without someone who loved the book coming in and yelling at me that I'm wrong. Or worse.
DeleteAnd yeah, I'd heard a lot about this book; I really wanted to enjoy it but that was not the case.