I see so many books (romance, fantasy, etc.) where in the good/evil trope, by the end of the book or series the ‘evil’ person or party turns good. Anyone have any suggestions of the ‘good’ turning bad/evil?
I love fantasy, and preferably no sci-fi, but other than that I am open to anything of any genre. Thank you!
by Pluto-Wolf
4 Comments
I have nothing to recommend but commenting as this is something I’d like to read as well!
Man the spoilers in this post are gonna be crazy. I recommend American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Not telling you which one of those or who. One of my favorite books.
Tamora Pierce’s ‘Provest’s Dog’ trilogy includes a surprise betrayal in the third book. ‘Babel’ by R. F. Kuang may also meet your criteria depending on what you’re looking for.
Not sure this is exactly what you are looking for, but one of my fav books is **American War** by Omar el-Akkad. It’s set in an unspecified near future, where the climate-ravaged country has taken up arms against each other, north v. South, in the second American Civil War (this time over fossil fuels).
The north has all the financial and military advantages, but the South refuses to surrender, so they’ve been locked into this low-grade conflict for years or maybe even decades. It’s so bad that the South has basically collapsed on itself – no more schools, infrastructure is nearly non-existent, “Southern” currency is now worthless.
The main character, Sarat, is introduced at the beginning as a small girl, 8-9 I think. She and her family lives in the South, dirt poor living in a corrugated metal box. Though they are poor, she is a really happy, bright, curious, independent child with siblings and both parents who all love each other.
But when the war finally touches the family in a concrete way, she is dragged along a years-long search for safety and identity in the American South. It’s a tedious life, punctuated only by short bouts of death and despair. It is, in short, what I imagine is the experience of someone who is particularly well-primed to buy into extremist views and terrorist tactics.
The story follows Sarat through decades until her death. By then. She has done some breathtakingly evil things. But you can’t help but wonder if you wouldn’t have done exactly the same thing.
So she’s definitely good at the beginning, but what has to be the polar opposite to good in the end. Not sure if it counts though, since she did start out as a child.