I read a lot of fantasy/science fiction and it's common to find multiple POV's in these books. Not caring and getting bored of certain (important) characters is what ruins almost the whole book for me.
I want them to feel real, with struggles that they solve throughout the book, not at the exact moment they have to save the world or something like that.
(I read fantasy, but I'm willing to try other genres.)
by IFckingLovePitbulls
24 Comments
I really cared for the characters in Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
I’ll be honest and I’m just gonna say it because I read SF and Fantasy a lot too and find this exact thing. Book wins a Hugo but I don’t care about the characters
So I’ll just say it.
Game of Thrones
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Not sci fi or fantasy but set in the world of video game development. I loved this book so much.
Most recently I got invested in the characters in Robin Hobb’s books, Fonda Lee’s Greenbones trilogy, and in The Binding by Bridget Collins.
It’s not even remotely fantasy, but *A Fine Balance* by Rohinton Mistry. I’m not sure I’ve ever cared so deeply about even minor characters in a book. It’s absolutely devastating though (the downside of having such beautifully written characters), but completely worth having your heart ripped out of your chest.
For me?
The Hands of the Emperor and following books by Victoria Goddard. She made me care so much that I cried at the end of the first book because I was so moved and happy for the main character. Fav books I’ve read in a long time.
Other faves for this:
Vespertine/Margaret Rogerson (YA but doesn’t have YA tropes and no romance)
Anything with robots by Asimov, all his robot characters make me care about them. So like I Robot or the Caves of Steel, IF you are inclined to attach to nonhuman characters that are Just Doing Their Best.
Arc of a Scythe / Neal Shusterman … I ended up caring about all these characters a lot more than I expected. And it’s a great story. YA but imo much more to offer an adult reader than the usual YA with interesting philosophical exploration of morality and immortality as it relates to politics (particularly American style politics).
The emotional connection to the characters in Dungeon Crawler Carl is almost shocking. . . the depth of character development + constant peril, I guess.
Lonesome Dove
Have you read any Connie Willis, she’s really good at writing pathos. I’m thinking of the Doomsday Book specifically. But I think All Clear (and it’s sister book whose name escapes me) work too.
Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Nothing to See Here
Robin Hobb’s books.
The Liveship Trader Trilogy and the Rain Wild Chronicles are my favourites of hers. I also lived it because she has tangible character the development, you start off actively disliking some characters and by the end of the books they’ve grow and matured changed their world view and you feel like you witnessed a person change over time. It’s one of her greatest strengths as a writer.
Martha Wells does an incredible job making me care about her characters – all her early books, Element of Fire, City of Bones, Wheel of the Infinite, and the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy. She writes believable characters with complex problems and dark sense of humor.
Sci fi and fantasy have such a hard time with this because the author also has to explain a whole world to you. Going too deep on the characters detracts from the “sci fi”, going too hard on the sci fi detracts from the characters. Like, I just read rendezvous with Rama and the characters are barely there. It is all about Clark’s sci fi ideas. And they are awesome. It’s just not a character study.
Character depth is way more in the realm of literary fiction imo. Books with serious emotional depth and character development, where sort of all the author has to do is plumb the depths of the human experience. That’s what I’d recommend.
Some of the best books I’ve ever read:
East of Eden
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
All the Light We Cannot See
This is How you Lose Her
Freedom
Crime and Punishment
Slaughterhouse 5
One Hundred Years of Solitude
I find myself needing “palate cleansers” (easy reads, here genres) between fantasy books. Try “Margo’s Got Money Troubles.” Maybe that strategy can help!
i really felt for charlie in Flowers For Algernon, and for Algernon, too
Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (and her other books!) Small cast, gradually expanding, mostly people doing their best. Even the villains have understandable motives. The whole book takes place in a little over a year (and you feel every season, which I love but many don’t care about.) You get the feeling the author cares about the characters too, she doesn’t torture them just to keep you engaged.
Oddly enough, Sky Daddy by Kate Folk.
Hyperion is a pilgrimage book with several characters that are developed and for whom I cared.
The Lions of Al-Rassan
For that matter almost every book by Guy Gavriel Kay
His books tread a strange line between fantasy and history. Essentially he researches a time and place in history, including the events, people, folktales, legends, and myths, and distills down a story from there. (He also did much of the work on The Silmarillion, which really shows in his writing.)
I have read The Lions of Al-Rassan four times and have been openly weeping each time by the end of the book over the fates of the characters
Anne of Green Gables.
I loved the main characters of Hiro Arikawa’s The Travelling Cat Chronicles
I’ve just started Lonesome Dove but I love each and every one of the characters already.
They’ve done pretty much nothing besides sit around chatting, gamble, and fight over the one woman in town, and it’s been incredible.