I remember starting The Name of the Wind and the frame story of older Kvothe in hiding and all the foreshadowing there making me think I was about to read a life-story about the rise and fall of an infamous and controversial figure that explores the world, discovers the overworldy, plays politics and whose hubris kills a king and releases an evil onto the world.
Instead, the vast majority of the books only deal with 1-2 years of magic school attendance of an pubescent teenager including spring break.
Maybe someone that read the books feels the same as me.
Are there any books that deliver on the promises the frame story of the TNotW sets up?
The recently finished Empire of the Vampire trilogy is similar to this. The protagonist is legendary for his accomplishments and fall from grace, its got a framing story that foreshadow things constantly, and a sequence in a school where the hero learns how to fight and kill vampires.
It's not everyone's jam, but I enjoyed the shit out of it.
I second this, and really enjoyed the whole Empire of the Vampire series. I would put Sun Eater, Kingkiller, and Empire all in the same sub-genre that OP is looking for although Sun Eater is my personal favourite even if it gets a lot of hate on this subreddit.
Thirding EotV! It's one of my all time favorite series.
I really enjoyed Suneater. It could have used a bit of editing, but I grew to enjoy Hadrian's ponderings by the end. And it's nice that the author stuck the landing, the last book brought just enough closure, but left options.
I liken it to junk food.
The story was cliched, and it felt like it was based on the last few videogames the author had played.
But I fucking loved it. I loved the twist at the end.
So videogames are junk food? That sounds awfully condescending.
I mean, let's be real, the writing in many videogames (especially bigger or even medium budget fantasy RPG's) is pretty cliche and weak most of the time. As much as I love the medium, the storytelling is often not the focus. For every Expedition 33 there are about 10 Call of Duty's.
I can't believe you're using Expedition 33 as an example of good writing here, when the obvious inspirations for Empire (Witcher 3 and Last of Us) were vastly superior in that department... E33 has some awful, awful writing in it.
That said, in the end, I don't think calling it junk food based on its inspirations is fair. I, for one, love reading authors who draw inspiration from different sources.
Lol okay.
Sometimes junk food is the best thing in the world.
This is the most neckband 'well acshually' comment I have seen in a long time.
lol
I would say video game writing specifically isn't automatically junk food (and there are some cool stories you can tell in that medium that don't work as well as a book/movie/whatever) but a lot of it is junk food... including some cases where the game itself is fantastic but the writing isn't.
Not just video games, sorry, but many of the plot points felt like they were directly borrowed or taken outright fro. Other mediums, but it was prominently videogames.
The main character dresses like the bloodbourne guy and essentially respawns every night following a day of getting his body almost completely destroyed.
don't think it sticks the landing, but the way down was a wild ride.
i got the opposite feeling with the ending for different reasons. How do I do spoiler paragraphs?
Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings. The main character, Fitz, ticks many of those boxes.
I read Realm of the Elderlings after reading Kingkiller Chronicles, and Robin Hobb is the OG. Her writing is beautiful (so is Rothfuss’ to be fair), but Hobb manages to write complete epics with many complex storylines, and there are like 15 completed books to read.
The “real name binds you” also comes up a few times in Realm of the Elderlings, so I really believe Hobb was a big inspiration for Rothfuss.
Hobb was far from the first to use this. It's been a trope for centuries if not millennia.
Yep, Rumpelstiltskin and Earthsea being examples of this.
I'm just starting on these, and I'd agree.
It's what - being generous here - I think Rothfuss was aiming for when he started of his series.
I'm only two chapters into the first book (loooove the writing so far) and this is the exact same vibe I'm getting.
Robin's writing is always a delight. The Liveship Traders trilogy is phenomenal, read it after the first Elderlings trilogy!
Hot take but the Liveship are the best books because Fitz isn’t in them.
I love Fitz. But him not being in those books allowed Hobb to do what she did with other PoVs in that book which made it special. So it would not be the same remotely if Fitz was in them
I agree that they're the best books but disagree that it's because Fitz isn't in them.
I've only read the first two books of Rain Wild Chronicles from her, and honest to god it's some of the worst books I've read. I keep hearing great things about her as an author, but I have no desire to read her other works after those dreadful books. It's been 15 years since I read them, so maybe, just maybe I will give her other works a go, but they always stick out in my mind as some of the least enjoyable books I've ever read.
You started at book 10 of a 16 book series. They are the "worst" of the series but some context makes them a lot better. Also the other books are quite different.
As I mentioned in another comment, I went to a bookstore in 2010 when I was on exchange in New Zealand, and picked up the first books in a fantasy series, as far as I can remember there was no mention of them being the middle of a larger series. They should function as standalone books as well, even though they're part of a larger series, they're their own series of books after all. I get that people disagree with me starting there, but I didn't know any better, I'm not from an English speaking country, and Robin Hobb is not at all famous here, even today.
I haven't even read those, and I've read 8 Robin Hobb books. Start at the beginning, maybe?
I just went to a bookstore back in 2010 and picked up the first book of a series by an author I'd never heard of. There was no mention of it being in the middle of a larger series as far as I can remember.
Yes. Jeesus. im halfway through the second in RWC. Honestly considering just skipping to the next trilogy. Worried Ill miss something important but... They are so bad.
I'd rather skip them than torture yourself to get through them. Honestly, when I read books like that, I just end up not reading, because there is no draw for me to continue reading the book. Better off finding something that is worth your time.
They are not representative of her at all, and are widely regarded as the worst in her series.
Personally I skipped them.
Yeah I've gathered as much, I was just incredibly unlucky with my timing of when I discovered her books, because those were the ones that were new at the time (2010), so those were the ones I picked up, not knowing they were part of a grander series.
am I the only one who can't stand her writing? she builds up a big story and abandons it in the middle. the protagonist (Fitz) is lost and boring, and graphic rape scenes (Liveship) traumatize me
Its been a long time since I read them, but graphic?
So recommend skipping Liveship? It happens solely in that side series and it happens for a reason. It isn't graphic and it serves a purpose, and it is entirely skippable if it pushes certain buttons for a reader.
Also huge disagree on the gripe about her writing - she writes the journey of the character, not 'a big story,' and she does it very well. Absolutely within your rights to prefer story driven writing, but that isn't a flaw of the writer, it's your preference.
If anyone had told me RotE is similar to KKC after I had read the Farseer trilogy, I would’ve never picked up KKC. I hated Farseer more and more with every chapter, but absolutely loved KKC. They’re quite different.
Actually, to this day I’m afraid to pick up the Earthsea series because of how often RotE fans recommend it.
I dunno about that, Fitz is a really annoying teenager, and he’s a teenager for the entirety of the first trilogy. He’s less Mary Sue than Kvothe, but you have to get into later series before you hit life story type stuff.
Many of the things OP writes happens in the first triology though.
Is this also Misery porn like her other books?
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan is the closest to what you are describing that I have read. I only read the first book because everybody told me to NOT read past the first book, but it was long and had a ton of content. A future version of the main character started out as the narrator of the book (just like in Kingkiller Chronicles) but the character catches up to where the narrator is by the end of the first book, so it feels pretty complete.
Don’t see this recommended enough. The first book was definitely the best in terms of killing it at the Kingkiller Chronicles style. I definitely still want more from that universe. I feel like there is more to explore.
I read them all. I describe them as religious (but not related to actual religion) fantasy, but they were interesting to read through.
Read the rest, they're sooooo good at the end
Respectfully disagree. Biggest drop in quality from book 1 to book 2 of any series I've ever read, and it is not close.
I agree the drop in quality was steep, but not the biggest. Surely that has to go to The Painted Man (The Warded Man in non-USA) series? Epic premise, pretty decent start, terrible terrible continuation.
To be fair, I didn't read that one, so you absolutely may be right.
There was an /r/Fantasy thread awhile back about drop off in quality in a series and Blood Song and Painted Man were the Number 1/2 most upvoted and agreed upon. We can call it a tie. :)
Not as big as the dropoff between 2 and 3.
I agree. I couldn’t put the books down until they were finished. Just now starting on The Wolf’s Call!
Wtf, Blood Song is good but Queen of Fire is... Well it might have been a good book if it wasn't following Blood Song.
I love them all. I get the complaints. Lots of added character chapters in the other books. Not as good as the first. But worth it to me to finish the story.
If you haven't already....
Robin Hobb and Lois Mcmaster Bujold. Two incredible writers who for me stand above most others easily.
Bujold is one of the best to ever do it!
I'd suggest OP could read all of the Penric's Demon books (I think there's 15 short stories and a novella) and in the aggregate they'd add up to about what he's looking for.
If OP is willing to slide over into sci fi, the Vorkosigan Saga follows Miles from a precocious youth to a world weary diplomat in about the best way possible (and it starts 2 novels before he's born!).
Definitely think Vorkosigan fits the vibe more despite the sci fi setting. Only beat Miles really misses is his massive hubristic screw up was at least a personal disaster not some widespread disaster.
As excellent as Penric Demon is, it doesn't really fit OP's suggestion. Penric isn't telling his story after his rise and fall. He's not even risen all that far in the grand scheme; there's no indication that hes a legendary outside a handful of the priesthood who know how the Bastard reacted to Desdemona.
Fair!
Slightly different vibe but The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe does a terrific job of a frame story, foreshadowing and most of want you wanted. It’s much darker and I felt very confused though.
One of the best books ever but, I'd think, not what OP is looking for. Unless OP is keen to join the rest of us in /r/genewolfe to throw around theories as to just what the relationship is between Severian and the Heirodules, Heirogrammates, Yesodians, etc.
Yeah, I would agree with that.
Now, a lot of people will make excuses for various bits of Kingkiller saying that obviously Kvothe is a highly unreliable narrator... and I don't think that's well supported by the text of the two books, but going with that for a minute, if someone did want the good version of what that would look like, New Sun is 100% it.
But that's going in a different direction than the stuff OP asked about.
Is there an ending to the series?
Book of the New Sun? The series was ended and Wolfe wrote a coda to the with Urth of the New Sun, which poses about as many questions as it answers.
lol good to know
Then there's Book of the Long Sun, and Book of the Short Sun...
That's pretty damn close to BotNS
Except the decidedly not famous nor infamous Severian's forays into politics are a sorta desire to join a rebellion, his hubris doesn't kill any kings (or autarchs) and there's no evil released into the world?
So he explored a bit of the world and encountered the otherworldly.
He's very famous and infamous, I can't believe you'd read the book and can say otherwise. He became the autarch and the savior/destroyer of the world. Not only among the commonwealth but the heirodules too.
His foray into politics also ends with him becoming the autarch.
It was not his hubris but he kills an autarch
he releases evil into the world through the flood that comes with the new sun not to mention himself and the guild of torturers he releases into the world.
Sorry, my friend. You're just way off the mark.
Severian is not famous. We are never given any understanding that anybody knows who he is at all, which would be in keeping with the former autarch, who again he doesn't kill or cause to die.
And calling the rebirth of the sun evil? It's decidedly morally neutral.
And he doesn't really affect anything politically. He is manipulated at every turn and ushered into roles while his actual choices only matter insofar as the heirodules are evaluating him.
You can argue about interpretation but the key thing is absolutely none of this is what OP is looking for.
He killed him
Furthermore he becomes the Conciliator one of the most famous people in the history of the Commonwealth and the savior/destroyer of Urth. The Yesodians and other aliens in general also know if Severian.
I don't see how you can say with a straight face the autarch doesn't play politics. That's just factually wrong his political decisions have massive consequences both on and outside Urth
As for the morality of bringing back the new sun, I will say it's complicated but also say that something that results in the death of billions is evil
I don't understand how this is confusing to you. The OP requested a book in which certain things happen. This is not that book. Does Severian conceivably play politics during his time as an autarch? Assuredly. Are those events covered in BotNS? No.
You might as well say that Kingkiller itself satisfied OP, since Kvothe says that he did all of these things off screen.
This has to be the stupidest argument.
At how many points do you have to be wrong to actually admit you're wrong? I don't know if OP would like it but it fits the part I quoted minus the hubris
So we're agreed that it doesn't meet OP's desires?
That was the extent of this bullshit. Unless you'd like to continue to piss in the wind.
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His Wizard/Knight duology also hits a lot of these points. It's a deconstruction of the traditional chivalry/heroic tale.
The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio
Series has been completed with the release of the last book this year.
It starts a bit slow, but steadily grows into a genuinely massive space opera sci fi epic. One of the cool structural choices is that the protagonist’s legendary deeds are revealed right from the beginning, and the series then walks you through how and why he became that figure. Similar to name of the wind.
The payoff is absolutely worth the patience.
I'm on book one and love it so if this is the slow part I'm looking forward to it
Came to say this
Warning 1: Book one is slightly specific and much slower in the first half
But afterthat it takes of.
Warning 2: But its a book with a lot of non modern/contemporary cultural references it doesn't explain it just expects the reader to know. (Dante goja Homer Michelangelo Marcus aurelius etc)
[That are the 2 main reasons people struggle with it. The 3rd one is a spoiler but it comes up often in subreddits like r/worldbuilding and r/worldjerking ]
I've read book 1 and 2 and they certainly seemed very similar to the KKC in terms of how the story was told, Still, one of the things that I personally loved about KKC was how sprawling it was, with the protagonist going on many often different and unrelated adventures and it being both about exploring the world through the eyes of the protagonist and finding about about the story of his life(or at least the version he wants to tell). In Sun Eater otoh, book 2 seemed to set up the main focus of the majority of the remaining books to be about the war with the Always Evil aliens and while op might also be interested in reading several books about that, that's something I personally have no interest in doing and I even feel that books with that kind of focus, is one of the things that the world needs the least from a series of books in this time and age.
A shame really, because I liked how he used a similar approach to KKC, but in a sci-fi setting and enjoyed the first two books, even the first book, which many find a bit slow. But it just seems like it will turn into something very different from how I hoped it would be and how it seemed to be in the first book. A shame, but that's the way things are sometimes.
Just sharing I feel your pain. The beginning of name of the wind where there's the stone spider things that have to be burned and buried? And then just totally never gets back to it?
I have learned my lesson from GOT and Rothfuss to never trust mystery box authors. They never stick the landing.
I read Mistborn after Rothfuss and it was so so satisfying to have an author clearly know where their story is going
UGH THE STONE SPIDER! I know it was so creepy, and had so much promise. I love some creature-world building, and thought we'd have have scenes of maybe their origin, or a darker evil that making even MORE insidious monsters... and Koth or someone having to confront it... whomp whomp....
Say what you will about Sanderson as an author, but the man is productive as hell and has a clear plan about where he is heading with his stories.
All of the sanderson I've read it's so comforting knowing that things *will* be resolved.
yeah i remember loving everything about the stone spiders and the tavern. the tavern felt so lived in and real to me. been looking for something to replicate that vibe for a while but no dice so far
GOT is absolutely not a mystery box though? Fair to say he has absolutely no plan nor did he when he started
That's pretty obviously not the case... for example the first book sets up a lot of things that we can (because we've had 30 years to overanalyze the books) pretty well see where it's going, but those things haven't paid off yet.
Like you can't tell me he had absolutely no plan for who Jon Snow's parents were. Or what happened to Jon Arryn. Or where Daenerys's story was going. Etc.
Huh? He very much did. He just got lost on the way
You realize that the next installment of the series is called The Doors of Stone, right? If we can assume anything is that Kvothe and co will be exploring the answer to the stone spiders.
I got a bridge to sell ya bub
Made of stone?
Its hard to compare to rothfuss, his writing was really strong technically and he did a lot of really interesting things with cadence, beat and meter that people dont realize. The story is good, but its not the story that sets it apart, its the voice. You will see a bunch of "look at this for similar characters, worlds, themes etc." But those writings will not capture the same feeling rothfuss invokes because [most of] those writers are telling a story not exercising creative writing technique with the same priority rothfuss did.
Its sad that he quit writing. Twitch streaming is... ephemeral... the name of the wind could have been something special.
I'm team "the writing was his father's and he never wrote any of it" when it comes to Rothfuss.
That's why he can't finish it. Wasn't his work.
I’m apparently out of the loop. There’s a familial plagiarism theory now?
I also am out of the loop and confused.
I have a hard time squaring that with him bragging that the whole thing was already written 20 years ago, but I also don't have a better explanation for why he would tell that outrageous lie that he did in fact tell, so... maybe?
That's utter nonsense sorry. I can go into why its nonsense but honestly its so absurd its not worth it. Like flat earth absurd.
He can prove it wrong by finishing the books with the same level of prose.
Until then, he's a lying hack (remember, he never honored his charity deal, therefore those are truthful statements).
I know exactly what you mean! hard to describe his writing, now I read KKC just for the writing. I know the story already but it feels so good to read those books
Yeah, considering that Hero Journey type stories are considered to be overdone funny how you read the one hich is not only not finished, but wasn't going to go into bigger things anyway because it was supposed ot be a prelude to a bigger story.
Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny. Very short series, shorter than most modern trilogies, changes directions several times and ups the stakes.
michael moorcock's elric saga
Hear me out...
Read the first 50-100 pages of book 7 of Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings, Fool's Errand. Get just get far enough to wonder what this lonely guy with an old wolf did in his past to end up the way he did. Then drop it and start book one. You get a frame, and an amazing story, side stories, and sequels.
...or you could just read book one directly, since it already has that same frame story of lonely guy with old wolf 😅
Not a story within a story like Kingkiller Chronicles, but The Long Price Quartet seems like it has what you want (I’m currently two books in). Its universe even has a similar feel to Kingkiller Chronicles to me.
I need to add this warning every time I recommend this series: the first book is one of the most unpleasant I’ve ever read, with non-consensual abortion being a major plot point that is practically omnipresent in the narrative. It’s well-written, and book 2 is less unpleasant (just a little fratricide, well a lot of fratricide, but it’s all legal, kind of), but I think people should know what they are getting into before starting book 1.
I can't even remotely see any connection with KKC, but also being two books in it's very very good imo.
I think Covenant of Steel ticks a lot of those boxes. It's pretty good.
Not fantasy, but they tell me sci-fi is acceptable in this subreddit:
Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio.
- Rise and fall of a controversial figure: check.
- Older MC recounting their story from hiding with lots of foreshadowing: check.
- Explores the universe: check.
- Discovers the otherworldly: more or less, but yes.
- Plays politics: reluctantly, but yes, a lot.
- Kills an Emperor: check, even if it wasn't really hubris.
- Releases evil into the world: it's complicated.
- Rich, beautiful prose: check.
I’d say it definitely discovers the otherworldly. I think Sun Eater checks the boxes almost to a T.
This is what I would recommend as well
Yeah, Sun Eater checks a lot of these boxes!
Second
Bio of a Space Tyrant. It’s a bit older, and sci-fi, but does much the same thing.
Warning: It includes some of Piers Anthony's "weird sex with young girls is OK" and "Statutory rape? No such thing in this setting" scenes.
Things that seemed a little bit wrong when I read them in my early teens turned out to be extremely wrong, and I avoid recommending Piers Anthony at all because this is something that happens in multiple books. The worst example probably being Imago where the main character is looking after a non-verbal (possibly comatose) disabled girl and has sex with her but it's cool because that unlocks her magic powers and they go on adventures together.
Piers Anthony is my top author for "Man this is such a great idea for a series at the elevator pitch level of detail, I wish literally anyone else had written it."
The only reason you’d think Imago is the worst is that you didn’t read Firefly
So congratulations I guess
So, I looked up a review of Firefly...
...I'm glad I missed that one.
Oops. I read the books probably 25 years ago. I remember sex, but not pervy sex. Thanks for clarifying.
Yeah, theres so much wrong with his books. From awkward race "celebrations" to all the ways illegally/barely legal young women end up with older guys, and the weirdly misogybist inbetween. I read some as an early teen, still cringe when i remember the details I'd just sorta glossed over.
Last book i read dealt with the "marriages work in xanth" idea, ended up being dark as hell. A couple is having marital problems. Why? The wife has diabetes and got fat. That's the reason. So when they go to xanth, the marriage gets fixed. How? Because the wife reverted to the body of a 16yo, which was described as perfect way too many times. Then the marriage works. Put that one down and never read anything by him again. Even 25 years back, that shit felt wrong.
I have to admit, I read him as a pre-teen. I was an advanced reader and my older brother was passing me stuff he was interested in. I don't remember ANY of that. But thanks for the warning not to engage in any nostalgia reading!
I haven't finished it yet. But the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb comes pretty close to what you're looking for so far
Bear with me, but in a way, the Price of Nothing series. It's like Kvothe becomes grimdark to the max, and the fallout, not just on an empire, but on the world.
Lens of the World is sometimes compared with Name of the Wind.
This is awesome, I was almost positive I was the only one around here who recommends this series.
It definitely reads like Name of the Wind and I would be surprised if it Ruthfuss never read it.
The story is told through letters to a king that the protagonist writes detailing his life leading up to becoming famous.
Patricia C. Wrede’s Caught in Crystal has a similar veining of the main character being an innkeeper with a past as an adventurer that comes out after a mysterious stranger shows up at the inn, though rather than the whole story being a flashback the flashbacks are woven in with things happening going forward. It’s one of the best uses of flashback I’ve read. It doesn’t have the rise and fall of an infamous and controversial figure in the way the bringing of The Name of the Wind makes you expect, but it is a book that scratches some of the itches that that beginning gives in a way the book itself doesn’t.
The SunEater books
Not entirely the same, but worth checking out: Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman. It's got magics, guile and charisma as well as an unreliable narrator who may or may not embellish his own story a bit. Oh, and the nastiest little goblins.
Love "1-2 years of magic school attendance of an pubescent teenager including spring break"
Wouldn't have been so bad if the female character didn't suck so much and he wasn't so stupid.
Baru Cormorant maybe? I'm only one book in though.
This is actually what you are looking for OP. Really spans the age range as the character grows and has a long epic story arc.
Maybe try Red Rising, it's more sci-fi than fantasy, but it's a great trilogy!
So glad I didn’t like the narrator of the audiobook and DNF’ed before the flashbacks even started. There was also rumors that the book ended while he was still in magic school. Like how is the author gonna tell us about all this cool stuff this character did but be like uh not in this book, I’m saving that for later books I’ll never write. To answer your question I think the suneater series is deliver on a similar presence and is probably inspired by Rothy to some degree
Flint and Mirror by John Crowley.
Was about to say the LBJ biographical series by Caro until I remembered the subreddit
I don’t think any Guy Gavriel Kay books hit exactly those story beats but it seems like roughly the vibe you’re looking for.
I think you might enjoy Under Heaven or Tigana.
If you’re looking for a fantasy hero/anti-hero recounting their life story with all the foreshadowing and everything; you can try Snakewood by Selby, it’s about a dying mercenary recounting his time with the band, how they’ve betrayed someone and how that all unfolded (warning though, it’s extremely violent).
Lots of the story building takes place as letters that were sent/intercepted and many things happen offscreen which build the mystery but explain what is happening when everything fits together. 🌸🌸🌼
Reading Sun Eater right now and I think this series should count, on the third book and really like it. Main character can be a bit (a lot) introspective and philosophical but I enjoy reading it
You could check out The First Binding. Same framing aspect as Name of The Wind but has more modern day stuff going on too between the MC telling their story. I liked the first book a lot but ik some people found it too similar to NoTW. I haven’t read book 2 yet so I can’t speak to how the story actually progresses past book 1.
Try Sun Eater
+1 for wtf Rothfuss. I didnt make it through the 1st book because I couldn't stand the masturbation that was the Kvothe character.
As far as your request:
Wheel of Time? I think it check all the boxes (disclaimer only read book 1)
Mistborn 1,2,3 fits that fairly well imo. (Actually finished that series).
Hmm...was hoping I could suggest something less generic but other suggestions are missing one or more aspects of the request.
The First Binding would be my bet for this by RR Virdi. Interesting framing device, uses a lot of stories within stories to tell the story, more time spent living and growing before entering the magic school and, yes, time in the magic school.
Oh, and a plot in the real world with the main character doing things.
I actually tried your recommendation but was disappointed.
The Name of the Wind hooked in more ways than one in the first chapters already while in The First Binding thinks happen but I feel bored instead of hooked. It just doesn't gripe me like Kingkiller.
Fair enough! If you tried it and it didn't work, it didn't work.
Bro you guys need to be reading the Sun Eater series RIGHT NOW. Magnificent prose and themses. HALFMORTAL!!!!! HALFMORTAL! HALFMORTAL!!
Brust's Vlad Taltos series. Much killing! Aristocrats and nobles even!
I thought those books were terrible too. Also thought ‘Mistborn’ was widely overrated too.
If you want a whole life story, but don't mind if the character is MUCH better human than that and not at all controversial, the Sign of the Dragon by Mary Soon Lee
A Wise Man’s Fear
Mistborn Trilogy has some of this.
dick eater is a great series