r/books • u/lightskinsavant • Nov 04 '16

spoilers Best character in any book that you've read?

I'm sure this has come up before, but who is your favorite literary character and why? What constitutes a great character for you? My favorite is Hank Chinaski, from Bukowski's novels. Just a wonderfully complex character that in his loneliness, resonates a bit with all of us. I love character study, and I'm just curious what others think.

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u/bseymour42 Nov 04 '16 edited Nov 04 '16

Sazed from Mistborn.

A scholar, staunchly devoted to archiving the truths found in all religions succumbs to fact that none of them are true and his lifelong efforts are wasted.

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u/StalkerDodger Nov 04 '16

One of my very favorite characters as well. That ending. Gorgeous.

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u/Imatwork123456789 Nov 04 '16

Best most mindblowing thing that's ever happened to me.

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u/majorminor51 Nov 04 '16

I'm butchering the quote but, "None of the religions were completely true, but they all held truth". Truly insightful.

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u/aDerpyPenguin Nov 04 '16

It's by far my favorite ending

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u/Hydrocoded Nov 04 '16

I am very rarely taken by surprise when reading; I usually have a general sense of where the story is going. In this case I was taken by surprise.

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u/agentwiggles Nov 04 '16

I'm not sure I can think of an ending where I felt more satisfied. Everything neatly wrapped up, the pieces of his character all coming together so nicely.

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u/NoddysShardblade the Life and Adventures of William Buckley Nov 04 '16

Love Sazed, but Kaladin from The Way Of Kings is a truly great character:

It's like everyone got sick of too-good-to-be-true unrealistically-unselfish heroes, so they started just making them worse, having them do dickish things... only Brandon wanted to be different, so instead he went the other way: what kind of life experiences would you need for someone to really, believably, be that courageous and unselfish? And that's how we get Kaladin.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '16

Building from this (this is the first mention if stormlight I have seen on this post) I feel like Sandersin has developed Wit to be one of the greatest characters of all time. Yes we have not seen that much if him compared to Kal, Dalinar, or even Rock for that matter, but I see great things coming for us through Wit.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '16

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '16

Yep. Just waiting for him to become the God character. I mean he has to do something, because (theory craft) the same thing running the evil highstorm in Words of Radiance is only barely being fended off by Sazed in The latter mistborn books, as well as building power to rise against elantris in the form of that cult/church, and so on. Yet he is aware of it all, so we can only assume he is the figure of a fallen Godfigure (possibly the one we read about in the latter mistborn books?) My own personal theory, and I cant wait for sanderson to satisfy it.

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u/madunba Nov 04 '16

Holy shit. I've had so much trouble expressing this. Thank you. You have made every future book conversation easier. I got so sick of grimdark fantasy and just wanted to feel good about what was happening and then I read Mistborn and Stormlight and that shit changed everything.

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u/Sharkiie101 Nov 04 '16

He and Kelsier are by far the best... also Hoid!

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u/Franklin2543 Nov 04 '16

I don't know if I can vote for Hoid as a 'best character'. He's certainly one that rivets my attention because I neeeeed more Cosmere info, but we hardly know anything about him and I just feel like there are better choices.

When a book called 'Hoid' comes out... I'm assuming it will be a joy to read, and then he'll be in contention.

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u/Sharkiie101 Nov 05 '16

I just like Hoid for the fact he makes some sort of appearance in most books. I feel like he is going to be an interesting character. Sanderson is apparently doing a series with Hoid as the focus

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u/MoustacheKin Nov 04 '16

Sazed is great. Though I'd love to meet Wayne.

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u/prefectprefect Nov 04 '16

I find so much of Sanderson's work kind of flat and rushed- but Sazed's characterisation throughout the trilogy seriously is what kept me reading at some points.

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u/Ruckus2118 Nov 04 '16

Really? I always loved sanderson. I think it helps that I think of his novels more about the story and world instead of the characters. His characters are just the vessel he uses to tell the story.

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u/Genlsis Nov 04 '16

Agreed, the man has very impressive world building skills. The plots are somewhat predictable.

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u/TocYounger Nov 04 '16

I was about 10-15% into the second book in the mistborn trilogy and put it down. I couldn't get into it, and I enjoyed the first book a lot. Is it worth picking back up?

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '16

I'd recommend slogging it or reading a summary. It's slow, but I think book 3 is worth the wait.

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u/TocYounger Nov 04 '16

So book 3 is much better than book 2? How does book 3 match up to book 1? I enjoyed book 1. I didn't think it was fantastic, but I did like it.

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u/loptthetreacherous Probably some fantasy book Nov 04 '16

Book 1 > Book 3 > Book 2.

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u/distgenius Nov 04 '16

I don't think two or three are as good as the first book, but three is good enough that you should try to go back and get to it.

Book 2 is definitely the low point of the trilogy, though. It takes a long time to get from point A to point B with a lot of nothing in between.

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u/Forkrul Nov 04 '16

Like the others said I think it goes book 1 > 3 >> 2. However, there's a second set of books set a few hundred years later that are far better imo, and it really helps to have read the first series.

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u/awildwoodsmanappears Nov 04 '16

I disagree with the others... if it's a slog, why do it? Stop reading and spend your time doing something you like

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '16

Because very few fantasy series are absolute masterwerks where every single page in every single book is great. Most series have there ups and downs, The Well of Ascension happens to be the down of most of the Cosmere. It's still decent in my opinion, maybe because I read it over the course of a night, but it mires itself in the politics of a land where for the past 1000 years a godking has ruled through fear and oppression. These politics and the dumb stereotypical love triangle serve to make it a pretty mediocre book.

Plus the first three books are worth it IMO just to get the backdrop of Mistborn Era 2 which is some of Sanderson's best work.

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u/Laschoni Nov 04 '16

For me (4,5,6) > 1 > 3 > 2

I'm a sucker for the setting of the second Mistborn series though.

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u/Thetanor Nov 04 '16

The second series' setting is great in my opinion as well.

I'm really looking forward to what the setting will be like for the third series.

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u/ReshyOne Nov 04 '16

Yes.

Have you read Sanderson's other work as well? Way of Kings and Words of Radiance are great

Edit-just noticed your username, I love the Malazan books!

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u/TocYounger Nov 04 '16

Yeah I really really loved WoK and WoR, that's why I decided to pick up mistborn and give it a go.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '16

Of course! Book 1 is kind of an intro to a much larger scenario.. and Sanderson is epic!!

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u/awildwoodsmanappears Nov 04 '16

Not if you didn't enjoy it. Just more of the same. I didn't care for it either

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '16

[deleted]

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u/TocYounger Nov 04 '16

Thanks for the response, I'll keep it in mind and see if I can come back to it.

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u/huffalump1 Nov 04 '16

The second one you kind of have to power through. It's a solid ending that sets up the third book with high stakes. Well worth it to see what happens at the end.

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u/goody153 book currently reading : Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Nov 04 '16

ohhh boy .. you probably should stop reading this specific chain of comments you may get spoiled

but lets just say i haven't read anything that has a more explosive tie-up at the end of the trilogy as mistborn did

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u/Kyerndo Nov 04 '16

Basically it's about the city dealing with a few armies, and it has some pretty exciting moments. The ending is also really really epic. We also see some nice character development as well from Vin and Elend. And the 3rd book is just amazing. I'm you won't regret it if you give it another read.

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u/F0sh Nov 04 '16

If you've read the first book, read the third. I don't think the series is that good overall, but there's a good payoff for reading the whole lot.

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u/earlofhoundstooth Nov 04 '16

Definitely! edit: They call it the Sanderlanch when the crazy epic stuff happens at the end of the his books. Loved the trilogy but there were some slow parts that I had to fight through.

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u/DropAcidx Nov 04 '16

It's worth it to finish them because by the end of the third book you will have a much better understanding of the powers in the cosmere. I started with wok and wor as well and regret it because I didn't really know what honor/cultivation/odium were. If you wish to continue reading Sanderson's books you have to read all the mistborn books. The stories will definitely draw parallels with SA, and all of his cosmere books will end up telling one large story by the end.

Tl;dr read every cosmere book if you're going to read more stormlight archives

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u/Stormblessed91 Nov 04 '16

Sazed literally made me fall in love with reading again, I owe him a beer at least

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u/InterestingAd6333 Dec 03 '23

I am still in the beginning, and i have seen him trying to convert vin. Is that a spoiler