Feature & Follow 1.21.2013

Hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read

Q: Who is your favorite villain from a book?

Good question!

I like villains with complex motivations. I want to read a villain who can inspire their people to follow them because of their kindness and goodness. Yeah, I want a good villain.

It drives me nuts when the bad guy will kill off his followers because they failed. That's just a stupid policy. Then you have to replace him with someone with less experience, and failures are an important part of learning.

So one of my favorite villains is Dustfinger in the book Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. Dustfinger has one goal: to return home. And he'll hurt anybody to get what he wants.

But at the same time, he's caring and compassionate. And as a reader, I want him to achieve his goal . . . even though his methods aren't the best.

Another favorite villain is Allie Beckstrom's father in Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk. I mentioned him in another post. Throughout the series, you don't know whether to root for him or against him. His methods are evil, but he's after a noble goal:  to purify the taint in magic. Of course, he also wants eternal life, and it seems as though he's willing to take his daughter's life to achieve that goal. But then every now and then, he does something nice and good. Leaves you in a quandary as to whether to trust him or not.