Hi, so I’m doing research for a book I’m working on and I need recommendations. I’m trying to find books where the story mainly centers on a charismatic leader within a friend group, someone whose personality is magnetic enough that everyone else orbits around them and why they hold the group together.
So far the only examples I’ve come across are mostly in YA or chick-lit: Alison from Pretty little liars and to some extent Blair from Gossip Girl, but I want to explore that same dynamic in other kinds of stories. What I’m especially looking for are recommendations where that charismatic friend, most often the leader I think, is very clearly the nexus of the group, and where the author does a good job of making you feel why everyone follows or a drawn to them.
It could be in literary fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, or anything else. I also really want to find examples with male characters or mixed friend groups too. Although I still accept YA or chick lit recommends as well.
by shurimalonelybird
6 Comments
The Great Gatsby
Ok this might be a little bit of stretch but hear me out ✋ Consider The Neapolitan Quartet. Lila is described as extremely magnetic, everyone in her neighborhood is intensely drawn to her, they very much do orbit around her. There’s no tight knit friend group there, instead you get this complex web of various kind of relationships, both good and bad, close and distant, that’s why it’s a stretch but god Lila is perfectly written and you can just SEE and FEEL why everyone (ESPECIALLY the narrator) is so obsessed with her.
Miles from VorKosigan saga
Philip from Magic 2.0
Threadbare the Golem
Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series, beginning with *Daughter of the Blood* for a dark-themed fantasy example. Notable in that the nexus character is never used as a viewpoint character, so you only ever experience them through the eyes of the other characters around them.
I typically recommend beginning the series with *The Invisible Ring*, because it does a much better job of introducing the reader to the setting. However, it’s a prequel of sorts, and takes place before the nexus character is even born.
Hmmmm might i suggest:
The Kindest Soul by Elizabeth Taylor?
Idk 🤔 hoping for someone whos read this also to express some thoughts
Cliche answer but you described Darrow from Red Rising