Characters I Love To Hate – Part Two!

Hello hello and welcome or welcome back to my little corner of the internet. Today I’m bringing you a post that is a follow up to one of the most popular posts I’ve ever written: Characters I Love To Hate. I loved writing post number one, and with how well it went down, I simply had to write a second one, and I’m delighted to say that, being a heartless cow, there are plenty of characters I absolutely love to hate, so bringing you some more to despise with absolute joy is my pleasure.

That does make me sound a tad evil. Oops.

The characters I picked for my first post came to me naturally without even thinking really, whereas this time I had to sit down with a list – to make sure I didn’t hate the same person twice. Easy to do! But I’ve managed to hate on different characters, my darlings, so be sure to check out both posts. Share the hate, as the saying does not go.

Sebastian – The Mortal Instruments
We first meet Sebastian in City of Glass, and at first he seems kinda shady, but mostly alright. But as his real character comes to light it becomes very clear: this dude is evil. As the books progress – see my reviews for City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls, especially the latter – we see more of the darkness in him that he really cannot shift, and wouldn’t even want to if given the choice. Ellie, Fiona and I are (finally!) reading City of Heavenly Fire this month and I am really excited to see where the storyline takes Sebastian and my happy happy hatred of him.

The Faceless Man – Rivers of London series
The Faceless Man first appears in book two, Moon Over Soho, and is one of the best villians I’ve come across in a book series. Without giving too much away, he moves from a distant entity to a major character in the space of one book, leading to us talking and learning about him a lot more in the following books. He’s witty as well as downright nasty and so is brilliant to hate, because you want to see more of him but also want him to stay far, far away, because you know he’ll only lead to more trouble! My reviews of the following books up to where I’ve read are here:
Whispers Under Ground
Broken Homes
Foxglove Summer
What Abigail Did That Summer
The Furthest Station
The Hanging Tree

Alistair – From Blood and Ash series
Alistair first appears right at the very beginning of book two, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, which picks off moments after From Blood and Ash has finished. I automatically disliked him, I must admit, but it was more a gut reactions than anything else. That changed as the book progressed – these are chunky books remember, so plenty of time for changes – and I saw him as a bit of a meddling presence, but a well meaning one. That then changed AGAIN, by the end of the book, and the beginning of book three, The Crown of Gilded Bones. With Alister, it’s to the point that several of my bookish friends and I exchange memes shreading him apart. I think that’s all I need to say really. Arsehole.

The Darkling – Shadow and Bone
I read Shadow and Bone earlier this year after meaning to for a long time, and The Darkling is the catagorical character you love to hate. He goes to all sorts of lengths to try and prove that he is a nice guy, and c’mon, any bloke that needs to resort to doing that is waving alllll the red flags. By the end of the book, any inclination you may have for him is sure to disappear, and by the start of book two – which I must admit ended up on my DNF pile – he might as well have a neon arrow pointing to his head saying, “hate me”.

Emilia – Kingdom of the Wicked
Okay so according to all the other fantasy book lovers in the world, I am in the minority here, but I hated Kingdom of the Wicked. I didn’t think it was particularly well written, the story was pretty obvious, and the characters were two dimentional. One of the biggest problems was the lead characters, Emilia. She wasn’t even the bad guy, and I absolutely couldn’t stand her. I know people are getting ready for book two to be released and I just… eugh.

Nesta – A Court of Thorns and Roses series
I mentioned another character in my first post in this series, but I need to mention Nesta too. Regardless of the supposed character redemption through A Court of Silver Flames, she’s an absolute arse to Feyre and to everyone else before hand, and as I’ve said multiple times, I hate that book so much I pretend it doesn’t exist. I can understand, to some degree, her behaviour in A Court of Wings and Ruin because of the trauma of everything she’s been through, but she was a nasty person before as well as after. Maybe I’ll eventually change my mind if I even change my mind about ACOSF but I doubt that will happen.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoying some healthy hatred with me! There will be plenty more to spread around at some other time I’m sure….