November RandomKIT: Villains

Welcome to the November RandomKIT! Lately I’ve been thinking about pop culture’s fascination with villains: movies like Maleficent and Wicked, TV shows like Breaking Bad, even Taylor Swift’s song “Anti-Hero.” So for this month’s RandomKIT, I challenge you to read a book that centers a villain in some way.


Image Credit: Emi Thomas, from here.

This theme can be interpreted in many different ways, so feel free to be creative! Here are a few ideas:

• A mystery or thriller told from (or containing chapters from) the villain’s POV
  
• A book with an iconic villain, such as Dracula or Frankenstein
  
• A retelling of a classic from a villain’s POV, such as Circe or Stone Blind
  
• A book whose protagonist is a villain, antihero, or morally gray character – The Count of Monte Cristo, The Phantom of the Opera, The Merchant of Venice
  
• A nonfiction work about a “villain” – biographies of serial killers or bad people in history
  
• An SFF novel that focuses on the bad guys, such as Assistant to the Villain or Hench
  
• Or any other variation on this theme!
  

Please share what you're reading or planning to read below, and don't forget to update the wiki!

I think several of Naomi Noviks books have morally ambiguous main characters, so maybe her new novella The summer war might be an option for me if I get it in time. A girl curses her brother (not so nice), and then later on try to remove the curse (maybe too nice?).

Oh, wonderful! I read (and loved) Assistant to the Villain recently, and was planning on getting to the second in the series (Apprentice to the Villain) sooner than later, so this is perfect timing and that will be my plan :) If anyone's looking for something on the romantic/cozier side that features a villain, I highly recommend the first book in the series!

>3 whitewavedarling: I wound up with the second one without realizing it was the second. This sounds like a good excuse to pick up the first one!

>2 amberwitch: I read that recently, and I'd say almost every (if not every) character is morally ambiguous, with some good and some villainous qualities. So it works, I think!

>4 antqueen: Snap! I'll have to see if I can get hold of the first one as well.

Alternatively, a true crime book People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry has been sitting on my virtual TBR shelf for a long time.

Not sure yet what I'll read, but I was going to recommend Hench and saw you already did!

I just heard there will be a sequel, as well? Or is that already out?

I think I am going to read Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman.

Just a heads-up that I have created the 2026 Category Challenge group: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/24919/2026-Category-Challenge. Stop by to get a head start on planning next year's challenge!

(Cross-posted to a bunch of threads; sorry if you see this a thousand times!)

I have been looking for somewhere to slot Butter by Asako Yuzuki and I think it will fit here perfectly.

I am planning to finish reading Bookshop Dreams and Murder Schemes, featuring a nasty villainous author of fantasy novels!

Going to try to read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase which according to reviews features a maleficent governess as well as wolves.

>12 Tess_W: I *loved* The Wolves of Willoughby Chase in first grade! Have often wondered how it would stand up to reading as an adult.

I will read The Legacy of Villains

Finished Blind date with a werewolf, where a very old, very vain and very scary werewolf go on 5 dates and end up in some pretty strange situations along the way.
Asil is a recurring character in The World of the Marrok, and generally a sort of anti hero or gray character who enjoys killing a little too much. Fortunately he usually manage to limit his murdering rampages to the bad guys.

I've just realised my current read could fit here. I am reading The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei in which a thief attempting to go straight is asked to pull off one last caper - another attempt at a heist that went badly wrong before.

I've read The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman. A man attaches a bomb under a car and a young woman is killed when she starts it. He was known for previous criminal deeds and had already served a prison term.

>17 clue: - I'm waiting on a hold from the library for this, but i doubt I'll get it before the month ends.

COMPLETED The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei

17 I was just lucky. I happened to look at the library catalog and 4 had gone on the shelf that day and were still there. I put a hold on the one at my neighborhood branch and picked it up later that day.

>17 clue: - You must be good luck. I just got a notice that my hold is ready for pickup.

>21 dudes22: Great! I hope you enjoy it.

I read Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan, a portal fantasy where a young woman on the verge of death from cancer is granted a chance to live in the world of a popular dark fantasy series, only to find herself playing the role of one of the main villains.

Hi all, just an FYI that CAT voting is in progress over at the 2026 group! Polls close on Saturday, November 15, so be sure to submit your votes by then to help choose next year's CATs: https://www.librarything.com/topic/374659#8995115.

(Cross-posting this at a bunch of threads.)

Starting Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress. 10,000 years ago some aliens came to Earth and did humanity wrong. Now they're back to somehow make amends.

I just read Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis, about a man with amnesia who turns out to be a dark wizard but decides he doesn't want to be evil anymore. A fun spin on some traditional fantasy tropes.

The Legacy of Villains by Juliet Lockwood ★★★★½

Peter Pan meets Beauty and the Beast in this darkly enchanting enemies-to-lovers retelling. Jolie Hook knew better than to make a deal with the shadowy and charismatic Peter Pan. Not only had he been her father's mortal enemy since the days of the Merfolk War, but he'd also had a hand in her mother's brutal murder ten years ago. So when Pan lures her father to a peace-treaty meeting only to kidnap him instead, Jo has to fight back her violent urges to strike a bargain with her foe: if she makes it to his castle within three days, he will let her father go. All that stands in her way is the Neverwoods, the ancient forest teeming with Peter's beautifully dark magic. As he sends illusions and nightmarish games meant to torment her into defeat, Jolie begins to unravel the mysteries of Peter Pan, including the secrets behind his dangerous shadow magic and his obsession with trapping her in his realm forever. Battling an otherworldly girl from Peter’s past, the vicious truths of the Hook legacy, and her own treacherous attraction to the enemy, Jo races against the clock to save her father and secure themselves as the winners of Neverland’s fiercest, unending war.

A delightful YA Beauty and the Beast retelling featuring Captain Hook's daughter and Peter Pan. This retelling is more of a what happens years after Peter Pan ends. I was immediately drawn into Jolie and Peter's stories and interactions. The appearances of other beloved characters only add to the uniqueness of the story.
I highly recommend this for fans of both tales.

COMPLETED Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

I am counting Au Bonheur des Dames here, because for most of the book Octave Mouret is painted as the villain whose giant and ever-growing department store ruins the small shopkeepers in his neighbourhood. Not to mention his insidious marketing which also tempts noble ladies into shoplifting.

The Good Thief’s Guide to Venice by Chris Ewan
Possibly the best in the series - and with the most charming villain. I wish Ewan would add to this fun series where this time mystery author Charlie Howard has his inspiration stolen - a signed first edition of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon.

I read The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith which I did not particularly enjoy. I'm realizing that I don't like reading from the bad guy's perspective for some reason.

I completed my read of Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman and although most of the characters had commited crimes and were serving time, they were enjoyable to read about.

I probably won't finish before the end of November, but I've started American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Thanks to all who participated in this challenge -- I hope you enjoyed your "villainous" reading! The December RandomKIT is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/375339.

Fox

Picked this nonfiction book as foxes are often viewed as villains by humans, from the garden to the fable.

This book was more about the symbol of the fox in human culture. The chapter titled, 'The Fox in Nature', for example, discusses how Aristotle believed foxes were made of earth, cold, and bony, and their mothers had to lick them into the correct shape after they were born. There was a large amount of discussion about foxhunting, and a surprising amount of cruelty to animals described, even beyond the foxhunts.

This was still an interesting book, it just wasn't really what I thought I was picking up.

I did have one bone to pick, though — the author makes a point several times that part of the reason foxes are so demonised and hated is their 'inability to be domesticated'. However, he also points out several times different species like Fennec and Bengal foxes are often and easily tamed, kept as pets albeit more exotic ones. This is not to mention the famous Russian experiment started in the 50s which reached some pretty strong conclusions about fox domestication in the 70s — and apparently is still ongoing.