I would like some books (of any genre, just so long as the book and story is good) where the villain is just an irredeemable piece of sh*t that you just love to hate. A character that you can tell is just evil, perhaps terrifyingly so, and every part of the book they are in, they dominate the scene, or at least they share the dominance with the protagonist really well.
by iTsB-Raid
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Might not quite fit what you’re looking for, but my first thought is Barney’s Version, by Mordecai Richler. I think it opens with something like, “I met my third wife at my second wedding.”
Love the Master and Margarita. Complex fun villains throughout.
Yellowface by RF Kuang. I never hated a protagonist so much.
I also loved Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Hunger Games prequel) for this. It’s from a teenage Coriolanus Snow’s perspective and he chooses to be the worst at every turn.
East of Eden. Cathy Ames is beyond terrible but my god, she is captivating.
The Poppy war (R.F. Kuang)
A song of ice and fire (George R.R Martins)
The First Law series is a superb series filled with antiheroes. Everyone to a lessor or greater extent is a self serving asshole. (A couple of exceptions) but it’s so hard to find a “good guy” in these books. One of the absolute best fantasy series out there.
I only read it for the first time a few years ago and it has quickly become one of my all time favorites.
Never met a soul that loves Judge Holden. I don’t even know that I loved hating him. He struck genuine fear in me. (Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy)
I loved to hate that twit Percy from The Green Mile, both book & movie.
Fosco in The Woman in White is such a fun villain.
Flashman, love to hate him