Are there protagoinists you couldn't stand?

[Danielle The Book Huntress]

AndrewP wrote: "Whoever the main character was in The Magicians."

Quentin was obnoxious. I agree.

Ducking, but Willow Rosenberg and Jean Gray (Dark Phoenix).

[Alex]

Greg Mortenson, the fictional character portrayed in Three Cups of Tea (it's not actually a sword or laser book, but he is the worst).

Also Katniss is insufferable, nearly as bad as Bella.

Kvothe is pretty annoying, ups and downs.

[Michael]

"Also Katniss is insufferable"

I concur wholeheartedly.

[Christine]

I'm gonna go ahead and second every damn character in WOT, and add Faraday from the Wayfararer Redemption series. I read this series many years ago, but still remember that I spent most of the series just aching to slap her around a bit. Interestingly, never had an issue with Kvothe and am surprised at all the Kvothe kicking!

[Meghan]

Gary wrote: "Michal wrote: "Yeeeeah, I wasn't too keen on reading about a rapist protagonist either."

Yeah, man, I reread that a couple of years ago and was torn between "Do something! Just shut up and DO some..."

Amen

[kvon]

One of the Neil Gaiman Presents audiobooks was The Land of Laughs. I lemmed it about 2/3 of the way through, after uncounted thoughts of This protagonist is a self-centered twit, who is bad at delegating and research and relationships and keeps secrets from the wrong people. And has daddy issues.

[AndPeggy]

Kvothe. However, I love the series, just can't stand Kvothe. Gave up on The Covenant series because of Thomas for the most part, a character I can not stand combined with writing I'm not that into and I was done. Faile, Tuon and Cadsuane from WOT. I loved when Tam called Cadsuane out on being a bully. Davinar in The Stormlight Archives. (view spoiler)[How self-righteous do you have to be to not understand that maybe other princes don't trust you because you were instrumental in their subjegation to begin with? That doesn't mean they should be treated like children, it means they are smart enough not to trust the man who spits on their culture and put them and their armies to the sword and forced them to kneel to his brother. (hide spoiler)]

[Scott S.]

Svetlana in Pushing Ice. Alastair made her so petty and vindictive that I don't think anyone would have followed her in real life.

[Dara]

There are plenty of times I can't stand Fitz in the Farseer Trilogy.

[Ariel]

Wow. I liked Kvothe. I liked the majority of the WoT characters, but I did grow to hate Robert Jordan by about book 5. I liked Katniss. I think I give all of these characters a lot of leeway because they are young and growing into themselves throughout the books. I have only read two chapters of Thomas Covenant, so can't yet decide if I'll hate him.

But I do hate Bella, and am completely unforgiving of her youth. Not a book but I also hate every character in Breaking Bad, except maybe Pinkman, but he just disappoints me repeatedly.

[Scott S.]

Ariel wrote: "Not a book but I also hate every character in Breaking Bad..."

Seconded. I hate shows like Breaking Bad & The Sopranos, in which there isn't one redeemable character.

[Alan]

Ariel wrote: "I have only read two chapters of Thomas Covenant, so can't yet decide if I'll hate him."

If you mean that you are two chapters into Lord Foul's Bane, you have some exceedingly unpleasant surprises to come. If you mean that you've read the first two volumes of the series and still don't hate him yet, you are much more open-minded than I managed to be.

[Nathan]

Gotta be Kvothe for me. His mixture of arrogance and foolishness gets me every time. But I just dislike him. I hate Denna. I think it is a tribute to PR's skill that he can keep the book together so well with those two characters.

[Dara]

Nathan wrote: "Gotta be Kvothe for me. His mixture of arrogance and foolishness gets me every time. But I just dislike him. I hate Denna. I think it is a tribute to PR's skill that he can keep the book together so well with those two characters."

This.

[Valerie]

Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress wrote: "AndrewP wrote: "Whoever the main character was in The Magicians."

Quentin was obnoxious. I agree.

Ducking, but Willow Rosenberg and Jean Gray (Dark Phoenix)."

YES! I forgot how much I wanted to punch Quentin in the face when I read The Magicians.

[Hyena]

I am digging up this old thread just so I can make sure Thomas Covenant and Katniss are still buried.

[Jaco]

Thomas Covenant was a miserable character with no redeeming qualities. That makes him interesting, I guess, but there was just no joy in Lord Foul's Bane for me.

I loved Kvothe though. Unlikeable person he might be, but he's also a captivating character. And given his intelligence, his talents, the trauma he experienced, and his youth, I found him to be very authentic. Of course he's going to be an arrogant idiot. Unlike Covenant, he at least has redeeming qualities..

[Bruce]

I agree with all those who mentioned Thomas Covenant.

[Jake]

I really disliked Arlen and Leena in The Desert Spear. It drove me crazy how Arlen didn't want to reveal his identity to anyone and how Leena fell in love with Jardir even though she knew he just raped and pillaged whole towns. In the first book she broke down because Arlen let three men die that had raped her, and then she just falls in love with a ruthless killer, I don't buy it.

[Jake]

I meant to write leesha

[Dustin]

Denise wrote: " Dalinar in The Stormlight Archives."

That's an interesting point that I never considered, but isn't that what every High Prince is trying to do to every other High Prince?

[John]

I really hated the Poet from Hyperion! I think his name was something like Martin Silenius. Dude was obnoxious.

[Mark]

Actually, I liked the poet just fine. Who i didn't like was the Keats clone

[Joanna Chaplin]

Pickle wrote: "I detested Kvothe from The Name of the Wind"

I had a mixed reaction to Kvothe. While I was reading it, his decisions seemed sensible and I liked him. But as soon as I put the book down I started to think that he's a ridiculous, over-the-top character and he does things in the most complicated ways possible.

I really love how those books grab me and don't let go, but I also think Patrick Rothfuss could pace things better and have more subtle characterizations.

[Kevin]

I stumbled across this article today. Its focus is mostly on unlikable *female* characters, but it makes some very good points that apply more in general too.
It's very well written, IMO.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/roxanegay/not...

[Darren]

Frodo. Not in the books. Not in the Jackson films. Not in the Bakshi (my favourite) film, nor the Rankin-Bass. Nothing but bad decisions, and what I like about the story is how it shows his idiocy would have ended him if not for Sam.

[Bawa]

Darren wrote: "Frodo. Not in the books. Not in the Jackson films. Not in the Bakshi (my favourite) film, nor the Rankin-Bass. Nothing but bad decisions, and what I like about the story is how it shows his idiocy ..."

My thoughts exactly!!

[library_jim]

Luke Skywalker is pretty annoying.

[Bruce]

Darren wrote: "Frodo ...what I like about the story is how it shows his idiocy would have ended him if not for Sam. "

The first time I read LOTR (as a teenager) I liked Frodo but not Sam. I though Sam was too servant-y and not bold enough. But on reading it again as an adult, I came to see Sam as the one who truly understood the nature of sacrifice, and Frodo as someone who was just along for the ride. Sam is the real hero of LOTR.

[Daniel]

Shivers from Best Served Cold, he started out as a winey wet flannel then ended as a sulky psychopath, good with an axe but crap with everything else. plus I just hated how his arch ended.

[Virginia]

Bilbo. What a sad sack.