Top Ten Tuesday: Villain Origin Stories I Want to See

A weekly meme by The Broke and the Bookish

So I recently started my reread of The Young Elites to prepare for The Midnight Star (I'M NOT READY!) so I am super focused on villains and villain origin stories which is perfect looking at this week's prompt. I definitely love TYE because it's all about Adelina's descent into madness and villainy. I want that more. I want more how they became evil stories. 

1.) Mrs. Coulter in the His Dark Materials trilogy - My Review

Mrs. Coulter recently became my favorite literary villain after rereading this series last winter. She's so freaking devious and one of the great things about her is that she thinks she's doing the right thing. I want to know why she thinks that.

2.) Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series

I don't really consider Snape to be a villain, but I kind of want a Snape villain story. I want to see more teenage Snape because that means more Marauders. But I also want to see Snape as a Death Eater stuff. 

3.) The Darkling in the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo - My Review
I am not one of those Team Darkling people. I like him, I think he's a very compelling villain, but dudes he is the villain. Anyway I'd love to learn more about him and how he got to be The Darkling we know today. Added bonus of seeing a younger Baghra who I love.

4.) The Thirteen in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas - My Review

Okay so I don't consider the Thirteen to be villains but I want to see an origin story of them so badly. And I think you could argue that if we had a story of them and the witch wars time period then like maybe it's be a little villainous.

5.) President Snow in The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

President Snow is a really amazing villain. I'd kind of love to see a young Snow and his rise to power. Like imagine seeing the rebellion of the districts which lead to the first Hunger Games. Oh man, am I the only person who wants that real bad?

6.) Jaxon Hall in The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon - My Review

If you have read The Mime Order then you absolutely know the kind of villain origin story I want about Jaxon. But in general I find Jax super fascinating because he's not wholey bad and that always makes for a good villain story.

Honorable mention to Nashira Sargas

6.) The Commandant in the An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir - My Review

And here is someone that I think is in fact wholy evil. The Commandant is one of the most devious villains I have ever seen and I kind of want to know why or should I say how she got to be that way. WHO HURT YOU?!?!

8.) The Chandrian in The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss - My Review

I mean I know we can't talk about The Chandrian or else you know, bad stuff, but I want to know about these super mysterious figures in this world. I hope when we finally get the final book in this series we learn a ton more about them,

9.) Littlefinger in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin - My Review

I mean it's hard to call anyone a villain in this series. Everyone is terrible and also fantastic. But I kind of want to see more of Littlefinger's perspective. What's his endgame. He's one of the biggest schemers in this world and we aren't in his head. I bet it's scary in there.

10.) Ati in the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson - My Review

Mistborn spoilers ahead... We've gotten some peaks into Ati aka Ruin in the Mistborn trilogy but I want more. I want to see Ati and Leras creating the world but from Ati's perspective. Oh man, that would be such a fascinating book.

There you have it, the villains whose origin stories I would like to see. What villains do you want to learn more about? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Top Ten Tuesday: Sympathetic Villains

A weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

So I started my reread of The Young Elites yesterday and oh man do I love that book. And I have seen a few people talk talking about their villain squads in anticipation of The Rose Society coming out in less then a month. So I decided I would do my top ten favorite sympathetic villains.

1.) Adeline Amouteru in The Young Elites by Marie Lu - My Review

I had to. Adelina is seriously one of my all-time favorite characters because she is so dark and tortured but she's also so sympathetic. I don't blame her at all for going crazy and I'm excited to see her descent into madness.

2.) Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling - Goodreads

I always thought Snape was the consulate opportunist. I thought he was playing everyone and that in the end he was going to be like "I was on your side the whole time." But then we got his backstory and it was even better.

3.) Peter in the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth - My Review

Uh, Peter. I mean I found him so devious and interesting in Divergent and then when we learned about his moral code and sense of karma or justice in Insurgent I was fascinated by him. Plus his development is just ugh, brilliant. Peter was like the only thing I liked about Allegiant.

4.) Circe in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray - My Review

I found Circe so dark and devious in the first book especially when we learned more about her but then you see her development throughout the book and it makes her all the more interesting and sympathetic.

5.) Queen Levana in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer - My Review

How brilliant was Fairest? Before reading it I absolutely hated Levana but wow did it make her so sympathetic. I mean she's devious and pretty damn evil but her backstory made me so conflicted.

6.) The Darkling in The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo - My Review

I know a lot of people are Team Darkling. I'm not but I get it, I do. He's charming in his way but he's also dark and unapologetic in his diabolical actions. There is something to be said about that in a villain. His backstory in Ruin and Rising was pretty great too.

7.) The island of Nil in the Nil trilogy by Lynne Matson - My Review

Seriously you guys, I love that the setting of this book is also the villain. It's one of my all-time favorite antagonists ever. It's such a creative concept and the island is a sneaky little jerk sometimes. But learning it's history and unlocking it's secrets in Nil Unlocked was fascinating and made me like it even more.

Source

8.) Manon Blackbeak in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas - My Review

I find it so hard calling Manon a villain but she is not Team Celeana (yet?) and her allegiance makes her an antagonist. But she is so sympathetic. And maybe my favorite character in those series. She's a serious badass and her development is amazing. I am a proud member of Team Ironteeth.

9.) Victor Vale in Vicious by Victoria Schwab - My Review

It's even harder calling Victor a villain. He's basically the protagonist of this book but he admits to being a villain a bit so I'm including no him. But Victor is so sympathetic. He has an odious moral code and does some pretty nasty things but he does make you wonder if the ends justify the means.

10.) Jamie Lannister in A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin - My Review

Another tough one to put on this list but then I think back to Jamie during book 1 and remember that he has done some pretty bad things throughout his life and during this series. I forget all of this because now I understand Jamie and why he made these choices and he is a bit of a tortured soul. I love torture and turmoil in a villain.

Who are your favorite sympathetic villains? Do you like any of the ones I listed? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READIG!

Crossing Over - Villain Stories

Crossing Over is a feature I started to encourage the reading of "adult" books based on a "young adult" book that has similar themes, characters, or plots. Think of it as If You Liked this then Try but with varying age ranges. It's retelling month here at My Thoughts Literally and I wanted again to do another special edition but then I thought about a draft post I have been hanging on to since October. It includes one of my absolute favorite retellings but it really looks at a different spin on the stories.

So this time I've decided to do things differently. This time I want to recommend a YA novel based on the adult book that I found it very similar to...

Wicked by Gregory Maguire - Add to Goodreads 

Maybe you've seen the musical but don't judge the book by what you saw. Wicked is quite a dark and dramatic story. It is the first book in a High Fantasy series with a compelling and interesting world that is not what you expect it to be, this isn't your grandmother's Oz. But it's also essentially a villain origin story. Many of the characters in the book are complex and devious and despite the fact that you know them to be evil, they stay sympathetic and likable.There is a lot more political intrigue than you expect and even some unexpected plot twists.

The Young Elites by Marie Lu - Add to Goodreads 

The Young Elites is quite a dark and dramatic story and when I was reading it I couldn't help but compare it to Wicked in my mind. It is the first book in a High Fantasy series with a compelling and interesting world that is not what you expect it to be. But it's also essentially a villain origin story. The characters in this book are complex and devious and despite the fact that you know them to be evil, they stay sympathetic and likable. There is more political intrigue than you expect, unexpected feels, and it is full of so many shocking plot twists.

I was incredibly blown away by The Young Elites (Check out my review). I loved the characters, the drama, the plot twists, and the emotional roller coaster it took me on during and after reading it. It reminded me a lot of my thoughts for Wicked. And when I finished reading it I couldn't get the similarities between the books out of my head. And not necessarily the plot at all, but the way the book made me feel. I definitely would recommend TYE to fans of Wicked and vice versa.

Have you read both of these books? Just one? What did you think? Leave me a comment. And because it's retellings month here on My Thoughts Literally, and because Wicked is probably my favorite retelling, I'm curious what your favorite retelling is. Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!