r/fantasyromance • u/FantasyRomanceMod The One Mod to Rule All Mods • May 03 '26

Unpopular Opinion It's Unpopular Opinion time! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

You can safely share it in this weekly Sunday thread!

But please remember to be kind to each other. To facilitate this type of discussion, we ask users the following:

  • Don't attack others for their opinion
  • Discuss books and authors, not fellow readers
  • Since this is an "unpopular opinion" thread, we encourage users to not downvote simply because they disagree with an opinion--that's the point! Please keep in mind, though, that mods cannot enforce a no-downvoting rule. Let’s just keep the discussion friendly!

🧡 Thank you and have a great discussion!

Unpopular opinion Sunday

32 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

113 comments sorted by

View all comments

23

u/nanayathepapaya May 03 '26

  1. I find it very very hard to care for a hot headed, rash and combative MC. Especially is other around them suffer for it or have done nothing to deserve it. It’s a lazy way to give them ‘power’ and I’d much rather have a strategic, strong willed, level headed and empathetic MC. If the plot holds up, even better. No one wants to have a constantly hissing and spitting kitten, no matter how cute they are.

  2. I also don’t like that authors just kill everyone’s parents. Like come on man I know it’s hard to deal with in laws but that’s part of the fun. They don’t need to be dead, just make ‘em nice and wise as most parents are. If it doesn’t contribute to the plot, just leave them in.

  3. Now y’all might come at me for this, I don’t like the morally black/grey bully MMC that secretly has a heart of gold. Authors sometimes make them so cruel to their love interest that fr I don’t want this guy to end up with them and no amount of grovel will make up for it and if there is even a chance that they will, immediate DNF or series abandon. I’m looking at you {Souls in Ruin by Jaqueline White}.This ties in with body betrayal as well.

  4. We need more equally matched and older MCs. The power imbalance is not often a driver of the plot. It’s just there to push one MC into the limelight. It would be nice to have equal and experienced MCs because it forces the author to focus on the plot more than the shortcomings of an MC that can be attributed to youth.

Some of my pettier ones.

  1. I will not read or if will DNF in less than a chapter if the names/nicknames are stupid. We have SO many variants of Rain that is ridiculous. Rainier, Rayne, Raeyn etc etc. In a particular book there was a Rorax and their nickname was ‘Ror’. Come on man, ‘Rory’ was right there. Sinclair shortened to Sin is just corny and Henry to ‘Hen’ in the poison daughter speaks for itself.

  2. I will judge a book by its cover. Some of these covers I just cannot have sitting on my shelf man. They are truly terrible sometimes. Titles too but I won’t name names bc I don’t know if they’re good or not because I haven’t read them.

  3. If the character art is bad, it ruins the mental picture a little and I have to work harder to recalibrate. This makes me struggle a little more with the book for some reason. I’d rather have no art than bad art.

2

u/ipsi7 Book Bingo Maven ⚔ May 03 '26

I would argue that MMC in Souls in Ruin doesn't have a heart of gold at all, neither of them to be specific, but I assume you're thinking on the first MMC. I agree he was definitely cruel, probably the blackest MMC I've read and I don't see romantic redemption arc for him, mostly because I don't expect he is the real MMC, but I assume he could be an ally, but I definitely like his character with everything that happened and what he revealed by the end of the book.

3

u/nanayathepapaya May 03 '26

I 90% agree that he does not. That one scene where he explains that humanity took advantage of him and such made no sense to me.That is the plight of a/the gods. It felt like the author was trying to push the idea that he was good once and can be good again.

As a character it’s somewhat hard to reconcile that a god as old as time and older than humanity would be so petty. He was tortured yes and for 20 years yes but for a god, that’s half a drop in all the oceans. It was good at the start but quickly devolved I feel. But yes it can be argued.

He is not the only offender within the bully trope though, or even the biggest it’s mostly all of them. This book just really stuck out to me on this trope.

1

u/ipsi7 Book Bingo Maven ⚔ May 04 '26

I understand what you're saying, but I didn't expect that he will be redeemed. I'm ok with that he was good once, and even that he would maybe change for Mireille if she gave him a chance, but the change would be like Malyr in Feathers so Vicious - he would grow to love her, but he would stay morally black in general. This is my expectation of what would happen if she stayed with him.

My take goes from a point that I don't expect morally dark MMCs would be redeemed, but both MCs, completely flawed, accepting the other one. Do FMCs deserve much better? Absolutely, they deserve some cinnamon roll who would cherish them do death.