Gen-like characters in other books?

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I hope this doesn't count as off-topic, but what other book characters remind people of Eugenides? Yes, I'll admit it: I'm angling for book recommendations by way of hero recommendations, since if I love a hero, I will enjoy the book he's in, even if other aspects of it are not to my liking, and if I can't find a character to fall in love with, I'll have a hard time loving a book. (Shallow? Me? What? Er... that would be a yes. When in a certain mood, anyway.)

My own particular favourite type of Gen is the King of Attolia variety. Reading The Scarlet Pimpernel at a formative age has given me a lifelong love of heroes who are far more clever than everyone around them thinks they are. I love the super-clever hero who can pull the strings of everyone around him, who hides deep feelings behind an inscrutable mask, who lets himself be misunderstood or even disliked by everyone around him in the interests of the (usually very important) game he's playing. I've already encountered - and loved - several whom I would put in this category, but I won't say who they are yet, since I'm interested to see who other people recommend.

And while I'm here…



By the way, I've just finished rereading the entire series. Book 3 is definitely my favourite - the sort of book that makes me feel as if I'm overflowing with sheer love and awe as I'm reading it. I love outsider viewpoints of a favourite character, especially if the viewpoint character initially dislikes my hero but ends up realising their merits. The King of Attolia could have been written just for me, it contains so many of my absolute Favourite Things.

However, I'm very pleased to discover that I also loved the second book this time, too. I've always had problems with this one, since I initially found it rather disappointing, and I've never been able to shake off the memory of this initial reaction. I missed Gen's narrative voice - even though I'm actually not normally a fan of first-person narrative (although several of my favourite books are told in the first person. Hmm...) I spent far too much of the book worrying that he was broken beyond repair, and the war stuff confused me and made me desperate for a map.* Plus, I always have problems believing in love stories that aren't based on long acquaintance, so that aspect of it left me uneasy, as did all the references to Gen's extreme youth. I hadn't realised that there would be a third book, and I finished with serious doubts that Eugenides would be successful or happy in the future. Even when I'd read and adored the third book - which actually removed many of my causes of concern about book two - I couldn't entirely forget these memories of disappointment.

Fortunately, and at long last, I have now entirely shaken off these concerns. I'm very ashamed to admit it, but this was actually the first time I'd reread all the books back-to-back in order; in fact, while I've reread the first and third books several times, I think this may well have been my first full reread of book two. (No, no, don't hound me out of the community, please.) I still love the other two more - and the third book most of all - but I now love all three of them. Yay!

* I seem to remember hearing that the fourth book will have a map. If so, I will be very happy. I know The Tough Guide to Fantasyland pokes fun at the obligitory nature of maps in epic fantasy novels, but I really felt the need of one in the second book.

Comments

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

Hee. My daughter and I were just free-spieling a crossover fanfic with the Thief series, Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan books, and Lee / Miller's Agent of Change series, in which Eugenides, Miles Vorkosigan, and Val Con yos'Phelium are playing "Grand Theft Spaceship". (Sample dialogue -- Miles: "Gen! Where did you come up with that cheat code? My God, that's brilliant!" Gen (smugly): "No, MY god." Val Con: "As it should be. The gods owe us much.")

(My own tastes are a little less "clever" than "short, dark, and borderline psychotic", though.)

For other clever heroes, my first thoughts were some of Georgette Heyer's characters, such as Avon in THESE OLD SHADES and the "old gentleman" in THE MASQUERADERS and oh, whatzisname in THE TOLLBOOTH. And there other classics of "hidden in plain sight" heros like Zorro, of course. Not thinking of many in contemporary genre fiction, more's the pity. Jules Cassidy, in Suz Brockmann's romantic suspense novels tends to fall into that category when he's a secondary character, but not so much when he's the hero of the story, alas.)

You specified heros, but this is a classic model of heroine, going all the way back to Katie Crackernuts. Mara, the heroine of McGraw's book of the same name, for example, is quite clever and continuously underestimated, as is Aly, in Tamora Pierce's DAUGHTER OF THE LIONESS books.

I'd love to hear other suggestions, too!

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, you just broke me with the sheer awesomeness of a post that involved not only Gen, Miles Vorkosigan, Justin Alastair, and Tremaine of Barham, but crossovers of some of them. :D

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

"short, dark, and borderline psychotic"

Hee! You've just made me very interested in finding out more about this Val Con, given the company you're suggesting he'd keep.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to read the Vorkosigan books. A lot of people on my Friends list are fans, and I even bought The Warrior's Apprentice a few years ago, but I've not read it yet. I really must rectify that soon. I'd not heard of the Agent of Change series, but it does look promising on Amazon. Also, several people on my Friends list like Heyer, but I've not read her, either. I'm not quite sure how I missed her when I was a teenager, when I read historical novels pretty much exclusively.

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Another Suz Brockmann fan? I am not alone?

[savetheworld42.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the Daughter of the Lioness series. Until you mentioned it, I hadn't realized how similar it is to The Thief. There’s a protagonist of high rank whose parent was skilled at sneaking, capture of protagonist, use of him/her for master’s cause, involvement of the gods, a throne at stake, and a reveal of his/her true identity!

I know you already figured this out, but I'm so excited at this revelation! No wonder I'm a big fan of both series!

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

The only character that every reminded me vaguely of Eugenides, just because of his snarkiness, was Bartimaeus from the Bartimaeus Trilogy. :3

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

I loved those books. <3

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

By coincidence, I just finished rereading that series last weekend. :-)

[white-riot5.livejournal.com]

I adored KoA for exactly the same reasons and you've just described my favourite kind of character to read about. Clever and outwardly cool, almost always in control, but hiding inner turmoil. No other character personifies your description so perfectly as Francis Crawford in Dorothy Dunnetts Lymond Chronicles, seriously, I can't rec them highly enough. They're historical fiction, the writing is gorgeous and rich, they're not easy reading but these are my favourite books and Lymond my favourite fictional character of all time.

I'd also suggest the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. These books involve mysteries to do with egyptian archeology, set in the victorian era. They're such fun to read and character driven rather than totally focused on the mystery element. I think you'll enjoy reading about Ramses, Amelia's son who becomes a main character in book 9, so you could pick up the series from there like I did.

Check out The Lies of Locke Lamora, that fit's your criteria pretty well and is a brilliant read.

I'd love to hear about the characters you've already encountered, as a book hasn't really engaged me in the same all encompassing way these books did in quite a while!

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

Ditto to The Lies of Locke Lamora!

[zumie-ashlen.livejournal.com]

Lord Vetinari in Terry Pratchett's Discworld books reminds me of Gen quite a bit, but less emotional.

*wonders how long it will take Viviolo to pop up since this is her favorite trope*

Speaking of tropes, I was unaware that we apparently have one (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Sounis). :D

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

Aw, crap. Now you're going to have me poking around on TvTropes for hours. The site just makes me lol and I can't stop reading when I make the occasional visit.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Sorry not to have any good hero suggestions, but...

I finished [QoA] with serious doubts that Eugenides would be successful or happy in the future

Although I did in fact like QoA on my first read, especially Attolia's about-face subterfuge at the end, I had exactly the same reaction -- I was really, really worried for Eugenides. Luckily, I only had to wait two days to get my hands on a copy of KoA. I can't imagine what it was like to have to wait years for that book to come out!

And, as you say, reading KoA put my fears to rest. It was the moment when Attolia fainted that really reassured me.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I had to wait six years! Although I wasn't really waiting, since for most of that time, I didn't know that another book was ever going to happen. It was a wonderful surprise when it appeared, and when it was just so wonderful and so perfect for me.

[(Anonymous)]

Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs has a hero who has managed to convince everyone that he's a harmless idiot. . . and then has to un-convince them in a hurry.

Yay Peacable Sherwood! But, I love Richard, too.

~mwt

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec! The amazon.co.uk reviews intrigue me, so this is going on my wish list post-haste.

I really liked Richard, too. Peaceable Sherwood is totally, absolutely my type, but one of the things I really liked about the book was that I liked his adversary very much, too. I liked the whole lot of them, actually, and my only wish is that the book was twice as long.

By the way, when I said I was "rather disappointed" in book 2, I only meant that I loved book 1 so much that my expectations were sky-high. I did like book 2 very much - once I'd reached the end and been reassured about certain concerns - even though I had some reservations (some of which could well be attributed to the fact that I read it while sleep-deprived on a trans-Atlantic flight, and stupidly didn't reread it immediately when I got home and was in a more receptive mood.)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

You might like Psion by Joan D. Vinge. tiegirl recommended it to me and I fell in love with the main character, Cat. He's not as clever as Gen, but he is as honorable and as shifty. He hides his true motives and acts like he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. Oh, and he gets hurt in each book, sort of like how Gen does.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Heroes getting hurt is, in my eyes, a Very Good Thing indeed. *blushes* *but adds book to Amazon wishlist despite blushes*

Ooh, and you're reading Knife? I really enjoyed that book!

[diadactic.livejournal.com]

There Aspirin's MYTH series. The sort of hero has all sorts of abilities.. but never realizes it! Also, his dragon is super intelligent and keeping him as a pet (instead of vice versa) and he never realizes.

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

You know, Lady, your account of your reading and re-reading of the series could have been written by me (except then it would be mixed up and garbled and incomprehensible). This is exactly how I felt upon first read and re-read!

[hwaet.livejournal.com]

delurking to say: has no one mentioned Dorothy Sayer's Lord Peter yet? Rich, clever, intriguing, funny, and all that angst beneath the flippant exterior.

Sir Percy is shocked. He disapproves.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I KNOW I WAS READING ALL DOWN THIS THINKING, HOW COULD WE NOT HAVE BROUGHT UP LORD PETER YET???? *is currently obsessed with Lord Peter, for those who don't know*

And Sir Percival Blakeney, Baronet (The Scarlet Pimpernnel). Fortuantely Peaceable (Sherwood Ring) was already mentioned, or I might have lost faith in the recommending powers of this community. And, though he isn't really quite the time, Chrestomanci also. As in Christopher Chant (Chronicles of Chrestomanci). Might as well thrown in Shevareth (Crown/Court Duel) as well.

[viviolo.livejournal.com]

I love this trope so much that I kind of want to marry it.

My favorites have already been mentioned (Lymond, Lord Peter, Miles, Peacable Sherwood, Shevraeth and Inda, many a DWJ and Georgette Heyer character, Aly, Mara). I do wish there were more Chessmaster heroines around, in general. :( Does Honor Harrington count? (does anyone here know who she is?)

Oh, what about Mairelon from the Magic & Malice duet by Patricia C. Wrede? He's definitely on the lighter end of the spectrum, but he's delightful nonetheless.

Moving more into Children's Lit, there's Artemis Fowl, but he's more of a Diabolical Mastermind than an Obfuscating Stupidity sort.

I re-read KoA about once a week on average. It would be sad, if it weren't KoA.

Everything I could ever want in a book + Awesomeness to the millionth power = King of Attolia

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

There's a sequel to Mairelon the Magician? I didn't love the first book, but I enjoyed it well enough, and am definitely interested in reading a sequel.

I think my husband's read the Honor Harrington books, but I haven't. While my half of our book room is dominated by fantasy, land-based historical novels and history, his consists of science fiction, sea-based historical novels and military history. In fact, I plan to scour his shelves in a minute, searching for good characters, since any book recs I get from this thread will take a while to turn up from Amazon. (Books that I want to read are very seldom published in the UK, so I always have to buy them, rather than get them from the library. Grr!)

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I just feel a need to say I rewatched Aladdin tonight and found myself quoting the entire conversation between Eddis and Eugenides in the cell in Ephrata after Attolia has left, about being king.

I KNOW IT'S A CHEAPSHOT but there you have it.

[viviolo.livejournal.com]

I'm now imagining Eugenides singing "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" somewhere in QoA, and I want you to know that it's entirely your fault.

[openedlocket.livejournal.com]

Uhhh I may be heavily opposed when I say this but...ARTEMIS FOWL PLEASE, but then Costis would have to be Butler and Eddis can be Holly...and and... *lost in crossover theatre*

Lady Jane where are you? I need someone to second this Artemis Fowl thing...and that crossover :D.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. well see I would have to disagree with Eddis as Holly, except it DOES kind of fit, except hm. *ponders this* I think I would definitely say you might enjoy Artemis Fowl (except his hijinks don't necessarily rely on him putting forth a false impression, but rather hiding his brilliant plans from everyone else) if you enjoyed TT, though.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

I've said this before, but not for a while, so -- Alan Breck in Kidnapped.
Because we love him most for his faults. We don't love Alan because he is brave and loyal and a master swordsman -- we love him because he is all those things, but he is also vain about his clothes and loses all David's money at cards. We love him because he not only hides in the heather a few feet from a redcoat officer, but also learns by heart the tune the man is whistling, and can later whistle it for David. And -- also very Gen-like -- he can take a joke on himself.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I must reread Kidnapped. I haven't read it since I was... ooh, probably about 10, which is more years ago that I would like it to be. I had a big thing for Scottish historical novels at that age and spent the next 3 or 4 years gradually collecting Walter Scott novels from second-hand bookshops. My family had a holiday in Scotland when I was about 14, and I begged them to take me to Appin - though that wasn't just because of Kidnapped, but also for another book I loved at 10: The Dark Mile, by DK Broster. I returned there a few years ago, too. Those childhood book enthusiasms really can shape you for life.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Well, and if you're looking for the mask-wearing, string-pulling type, there is always the Count of Monte Cristo.

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

If you've read The Scarlet Pimpernel you've probably already read Scaramouche, but yeah, if you haven't try, that. The opening quote is "he was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad". I really think he's influenced many of the trickster-heroes that have come after him.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Scaramouche, no. I'm not quite sure why, since it's just the sort of book I devoured when I was a child/young teenager, and I do remember watching and liking the film. *adds yet another book to wish list*

[(Anonymous)]

How about Montmorency? I'm not sure if anybody else in the world has ever read these books, but they have a main character who is so Gen-ish in some ways that it cracks me up (And the rest of the book isn't half bad either.) It's about this thief in late 1800s London who figures out a rather ingenious method of thieving after getting out of prison... OK, so maybe his moral compass doesn't exactly point north, but the books are awesome!
~toastisyummy

[chibi-amber.livejournal.com]

I love Montmorency! Though.... I have to admit he's not quite as bright as Gen. There were a few parts where I was cringing and thinking, "Gen would be appalled at how indiscreet he's being..." But Monty has his own charms and I love him! :)

[tencups-i-swear.livejournal.com]

When I first read QoA I wasn't at all worried about Gen . . . something of the assurance of a third book and the ending of the second book-["Do you believe me?" "Yes," she answered. "Do you love me?" "Yes." "I love you." And she believed him.]-made me certein that Gen would be fine. Well, mostly fine. In the end at least. :)