The background (AKA the part you can ignore): As a kid, I used to read voraciously. As an adult, not so much. I have continued writing ever since then, though despite just being a hobbyist fannish writer, I've recently noticed myself hitting some walls I'd like to get over that have finally forced the "WRITERS HAVE TO READ, IDIOT!" advice through my skull. My attention span is pretty algorithm-poisoned by this point, so it's a bit of a struggle, but I'm working on it just grabbing anything from the library that seems interesting.
There's a fic I want to write that features a close-knit group of five main characters, and while one of them is most often the POV character, they're all of equal importance. In addition to the other walls I've hit, I'm finding myself having a lot of trouble juggling them all, especially when they're all in the same place talking to each other, and I want to see how "real" authors pull it off.
The request: Suggest me a book featuring a group of several (more than 3) main characters who are all treated as equally important by the narrative. The group should eventually be at least close enough to all spend time together sometimes, though they don't need to start out that way. Think Power Rangers/sentai/smaller superhero leagues, Star Trek and spaceship crews, or D&D adventuring parties.
I enjoy urban and low/mid fantasy and sci-fi, but I'll check out basically anything that isn't pure slice-of-life, pure romance, or grimdark/tragedy. I'll even take YA, since the thing I'm writing is very "kids on bikes", though I want something maybe a little more modern than the scraps I remember of the Boxcar Children.
by PaperLaur
6 Comments
It’s a horror-ish book, but I would suggest {{Episode Thirteen}} by Craig DiLouie. It has a group of friends and they all have equal importance in the story.
I’d say Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. It is a YA, but I re-read is as an adult and it still holds up as one of the strongest multiple character narrative I have read. It is not overhyped at all.
This may not be to your liking since it is slice of life with romance vibes and some sprinkling of magical realism but I’ll put it out here for anyone else that may be looking. “The unselected journals of Emma M Lion” by Beth Brower. Emma and her people are simply delightful.
The Raven Cycle, starting with The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater is YA urban and mid/low fantasy, and it does exactly this very well
**Meddling Kids** by Edgar Cantero. It’s also just a weird, fun ride.
Okay two VERY different recommendations–The Thursday Murder Club series and Babel by RF Kuang