As usual for Tuesday posts, when I’m less interested in a prompt, I’ll do one of my own. Here in Minnesota we are rapidly approaching hot-cocoa season! I thought I’d share ten books with main characters who are unrelenting rays of sunshine and goodness. If you like your protagonists with a helping of moral bankruptcy, there’s a list for that too. Interestingly, four of these are novellas and three are cat squashers, leaving a lot fewer ‘normal-sized’ novels on this list than I was expecting.
- Sign of the Dragon by Mary Soon Lee: this epic poem about a fantasy emperor and his adventures has a lot of darkness and suffering in it (it gets much darker than you’d think at times), but the Emperor himself is the best ruler you could ever possibly hope for. He will sacrifice all of himself for the good for his people, and he pays the price many times to save those with less power than him. Don’t come looking for a real critique of monarchies, however.
- Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers: a tea monk has a midlife crisis and is suffering burnout. He goes on a pilgrimage to the wilderness and meets a robot, and they proceed to have many discussions about self-worth. Two heartwarming protagonists for the price of one!
- The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison: when the fourth in line for the throne, exiled to the edges of the kingdom due to his half-goblin heritage, is suddenly raised to the Elven throne, he has no idea what he’s in for. There’s some light political intrigue and a lot of stress about how his life has changed. However, Maia is ultimately a character who tries to approach every situation by acknowledging the humanity of those involved.
- An Inexplicable Act of Doom by Steven Cavehill: Icarus and Moros from Greek mythology fall in love and go on adventures in this YA cozy/epic mashup. There’s lots of great food, and the gods are appropriately self-serving for Greek myth.
- The Bone Harp by Victoria Goddard: what if the hero who saved the world from the nameless evil has been living with his trauma for centuries? This traces a war hero (and war criminal)’s path towards healing, redemption, and acceptance. He doesn’t know if he can escape the violence of his past, but he desperately wants to.
- If Found, Return to Hell by Em X. Liu: a magic call center worker gets dragged into a possession case that quickly morphs into one of the better found family stories I’ve read.
- Penric and Desdemona by Lois McMaster Bujold: when a himbo gets possessed by a demon who has lived 13 lives, he decides to make friends instead of trying to be ‘in control’. What results is a protagonist with radical levels of empathy in a world and setting rendered as seriously as any epic fantasy.
- Chai and Charmcraft by Lynn Strong: In this North African fantasy setting, a prophet prince chases a vision of a man tending a Jasmine plant and finds the love of his life. Turns out the ripple effects of that meeting are more than either could anticipate, but even the antagonists in both of their stories have their best interests at heart. Also a truly prodigious number of cats lounging in sunbeams!
- The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard: another Victoria Goddard book? I really need to read more by her, as her prose style really works for me. This follows the second in command of a massive empire, desperately trying to reform it while also being as good of a friend as he can to his boss. You’ll find plenty of competence porn, family members baffled by how important he really is, and so many heartwarming moments.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
