Looking for books with a hero/anti-hero who turns evil

[Cil]

Hi everyone

So I'm looking for fantasy or sci-fi books or book series with a hero or anti-hero as the protagonist, who is predominantly good in the beginning or at least has good intentions but slowly turns more and more villainous as the story progresses.

What follows are some major spoilers for the tv show Game of Thrones as an example for what I'm looking for: (view spoiler)[I know the whole mad queen storyline of Daenerys is very controversial among fans. I however absolutely loved it and thought it a very fitting and logical place to go with her character arc. I'm thinking of something like that. (hide spoiler)]

Some other spoilers for the anime Code Geass: (view spoiler)[The main character Lelouch starts by trying to fight the evil conquerors of his homeland but as the story progresses he turns more and more into a kind of dictator himself. (hide spoiler)]

Just the whole concept of a "fallen hero" is very fascinating for me, since the line between having good intentions and doing truly evil things can be very easily crossed.

With a premise like that I'd even be fine with an "evil wins" end of the story. Or the protagonist could change his/her ways towards the end, whatever.

The character in question should be the protagonist or at least one of the main characters. And I'd prefer something not Young Adult.

Is there anything that comes to mind? Could you recommend me something like that?

I'd be really really grateful!

[Pixiegirl105]

I recommend The Coldfire Trilogy. It is one of the books that really got me into anti-heroes.

Black Sun RisingCrown of ShadowsWhen True Night Falls

[Cil]

@Elisabeth
Thank you very much! Though I probably should have specified that I'm looking for fantasy or sci-fi novels. I'm sorry that I forgot to mention that. I'll edit my original message to include it. Still thanks a lot for taking your time to answer!

@Pixiegirl105
Thank you very much for the recommendation! It sounds pretty interesting. I've never heard of this trilogy before and just from reading the blurb I wouldn't have known it's about anti-heroes. So thank you very much, without your help I certainly wouldn't have found them! :D May I ask if one (or more) of the protagonistic anti-heroes actually get more villainous with time?

[Nicol]

Marie Lou’s Young Elites series and Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimeous series have anti hero’s. They’re both fantasy but Stroud’s is technically middle grade if you don’t mind.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

I believe The Poppy War can be described as such.

I had another book in mind as well but the title just slipped my mind.

[Pixiegirl105]

Hi Cil, I cannot give too much away without giving spoilers, but there are definitely some villains who had "good" intentions in almost all of her series. I really recommend any of her books to read because of how good her characters are. The good novels are not really going to say they are about anti-heros. They let you figure that out for yourself. ;)

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

For the life of me I can't remember the novel, perhaps deemed a classic, which is basically The Count of Monte Cristo in space.

I've got three other books in mind but discovering that the protagonist or friends of the protagonist aren't the good guys is a spoilerific twist.

[Cil]

@Nicol
Thank you very much! Especially The Young Elites sounds really cool! Is it YA as well? Or rather dark (which I‘m pretty much in the mood for right now).

@Pixiegirl107
Yes of course you‘re right that the author shouldn‘t have to tell us if the characters are anti-heroes or not. Though I myself kind of like to know in advance when I‘m in the mood to read something like that. ;-)

@Ryan
Thanks a lot, The Poppy War sounds amazing! I‘d actually also really be interested in those other books that came to your mind. Don‘t worry about spoiling me in this particular regard. I mean I’m aware that my whole question was kind of asking for spoilers. ;-) Maybe just put them under the spoiler tag so others don‘t have to see if they don‘t want to.

[Pixiegirl105]

Cil, I just like the surprise when reading and going...oh wait....i know the direction this is going!! :) the fun part when you start reading now is figuring out who the anti-hero actually is. ;) lol. that being said it is really good.

Some others that are good are Brent Weeks The Night Angel Trilogy. It's about an assassin so definitely not a complete hero type.

The Legend of Eli Monpress the people in this series are not exactly angels and the main character is one of those avoiding his destiny by doing things that bring his bounty up.

[Stephen]

Ryan wrote: "For the life of me I can't remember the novel, perhaps deemed a classic, which is basically The Count of Monte Cristo in space.”

The Stars My Destination is sometimes described that way.

[Leonie]

Brent Weeks Lightbringer series would probably fit. There are several characters who might fit what you're looking for - sometimes depending which part of the series you're in.

The series starts with The Black Prism

[Abbie]

I'll second Young Elites! Marie Lu sure knows how to write a compelling story

[Pixiegirl105]

@Leonie, I considered suggesting the Lightbringer series, but felt that overall even the anti-heroes are actually considered heroes in my opinion.

[Nicci]

Pixiegirl105 wrote: "I recommend The Coldfire Trilogy. It is one of the books that really got me into anti-heroes.

Black Sun RisingCrown of ShadowsWhen True Night Falls"

OMG! IIRC, I had little sympathy for Damien Kilcannon Vryce. I don't want to spoil but his reasoning for turning evil well it goes beyond selfishness and what he did it, shivers.

[Pixiegirl105]

@Nicci, Damien was so annoying through the whole trilogy too! (I feel like if he were a D+D character? He would be a paladin...like Lawful something) This whole thinking about the books makes me just want to reread them again. Is it bad though that I kind of fell in love with Gerald though? lmao!!!

[Nicci]

Pixiegirl105 wrote: "@Nicci, Damien was so annoying through the whole trilogy too! (I feel like if he were a D+D character? He would be a paladin...like Lawful something) This whole thinking about the books makes me ju..."

I wish I had the time to reread the trilogy. My TBR is long.

[Chris]

You could try Red Country by Joe Abercrombie. The main character is trying to put a violent past behind him, but something comes up. In fact, I think that every book I've read by Abercrombie has some characters trying to be better people, but things are never so simple.

[Michelle]

Ryan, are you maybe thinking of the Bio of a Space Tyrant series by Piers Anthony?

[Eva]

Also check out these:

[G.R.]

Another Abercrombie suggestion would be "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold."

I think Grimdark books in general lend themselves to this type of character.

[Andres]

Are we talking about Anakin Skywalker?

[CBRetriever]

Jason wrote: "I have been writing a double trilogy with exactly what you are looking for.."

your post will likely be deleted here too as self-promotion is only allowed in the Goodreads Authors Discussion section of this forum

[Jason]

CBRetriever wrote: "Jason wrote: "I have been writing a double trilogy with exactly what you are looking for.."

your post will likely be deleted here too as self-promotion is only allowed in the Goodreads Authors Dis..."

Well, since now I know, I'll go one step ahead

[Cil]

Hi everyone. I‘m so sorry I dropped off the face of the Earth. I just want to thank you all for your lovely recommendations from a while ago! Unfortunately my real life wasn‘t very kind lately so I couldn‘t really get my head around replying. So sorry about that! But I will check all of your recs out. Some of them sound really great, thank you so much!

Btw, @Andres yes, I meant pretty much exactly like Anakin Skywalker. That‘s the kind of storyline I‘m looking for. :D So weird that I didn‘t think about it myself as an example…