Tomorrow, my review of The Reign of the Kingfisher by T.J. Martinson will come out. The book contains heroes, villains, activists, and anti-heroes of all stripes. The book inspired me to put together this list of my favorite heroes from standalone novels. To be on this list, a hero must face immense odds, risk their life, and emerge triumphant—and with something a little extra in the way of plot or setting to appeal to my own weird taste in literature.
Here we go, in no particular order:
- Gentry from The Reckless Oath We Made, by Bryn Greenwood.
- Carolyn from The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins
- Lee from The Readymade Thief, by August Rose
- Aiden from The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton
- Lord Ballister Blackheart from Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson
- Aster from An Unkindness of Ghosts, by Rivers Solomon
- Esther from The Book of Esther, by Emily Barton
- Akhmad from A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, by Anthony Marra
- Anana from The Word Exchange, by Alena Graedon
- …and Andy from Redshirts, by John Scalzi