Top 5 Wednesday was created by gingerreadslainey and is now hosted by Sam from Thoughts on Tomes if you want to know a little bit more about them you can check the Goodreads group here.
This week we are talking about unlikeable, not villains per say, just main or side characters who are (mostly) not intentionally unlikeable. It was actually pretty hard to find five characters at the top of my head but some of them came to mind very, very fast:
Onyesunwu – Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
Onye is not trying to be unlikeable and growing up the way she did, bullied and hated by everyone, it’s hard to turn into a little sunshine!
Dennis Beaumont – Harlequin by Nina Allan
I should have a review of this pretty soon (even though because of BooktubeAThone I’m 9 books behind on reviews..) but I have mixed feeling about this novella. It’s very good but it was hard for me to enjoy the reading experience because, well, I pretty much despised Beaumont. The guy obviously suffered from PTSD but still, even if I don’t think he was trying to be an a-hole, he played the part very well!
John Anderton – Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
If you watched the movie starring Tom Cruise, you might frown at the screen. Do not be fooled, in the book, Anderton is one hell of an unlikeable character: arrogant, rude and paranoic. The best cocktail.
Philip K. Dick write those kind of characters incredibly well.
Mycroft Canner – Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer
Mycroft is an ex mass murderer so, yes, not really the kind of super likable guys. However, since the story is narrated by him, it’s easy to forget that and to see him as the victim which, I’m not gonna lie, is a tad unsettling.
Anderson Lake – The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
I don’t know if Anderson is the right choice, he may be intentionnaly unlikeable but I don’t believe he is. I do find him unbearable but I am pretty sure he tries to do what’s best for him and his company even if he is, in my opinion of course, the perfect representation of the abusive and evil corporate dude.
What about you? If you did a T5W, don’t forget to link it down below, I want to see your choices! 😀
The Curious SFF Reader 
I haven’t read any of the books you have mentioned and all seem intriguing , and your blog looks fantastic as well , Thanks for the Follow 🙂
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Thank you! 😀
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Only one I’ve read here is Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer, and I agree with you about Mycroft. Though it was really hard for me to come to terms with the Mycroft who was telling us the story and the Mycroft who did all those awful horrible things, I suspect there was some “unreliable narrator” thing going on there!
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Yes it was hard to think that “sweet little Mycroft” was actually completely insane, especially when he cared so much about Bridger!
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