5 Characters Who Need to Be Cancelled
Often in my favorite books, I have a healthy HATRED for the villains. Whether they’re lunchroom bullies or all-powerful dictators, bad guys are just so much fun to despise. So here is a list of characters that just need to be straight up cancelled, so you can hate them too. Because if there anything more fun than yelling into your book at a fictional person, its yelling into your book at a fictional person with a friend.
Stacey Sanderson from Throw Like a Girl by Sarah Henning
Stacey is a vile, hateful person and I hope she is unhappy for the rest of her fictional life! When Stacey says something to our main girl Liv while their teams face off in the most important softball game of the year, Liv throws a very well deserved punch. This punch, while totally justified, causes Liv to lose her scholarship to her fancy private school. With no other options, Liv transfers to the town’s public school Northland, the school Stacey was playing for. Now Liv has to face the teammates of the girl she punched every single day. Enter Grey, injured star quarterback with a perfect plan: If Liv joins the football team as his temporary replacement, he’ll make sure she gets a spot on the softball team come spring. Needless to say, hijinks ensue and the shadow of that punch follows Liv around for a while. Stacey is just awful, and the fact that she deserved to get hit but Liv is still punished well beyond her due just makes her worse. Go away, Stacey.
Aidan from The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
Would it be a blog post by me if I didn’t mention a Holly Black book? Everyone knows I am obsessed with The Cruel Prince and there are plenty of characters in that series that need to go, but I’m trying to restrain myself. So, I am going to nominate Aidan from The Coldest Girl in Coldtown for the axe. He is kind of the worst. From the beginning we know he’s a dreadful boyfriend to Tana, and things only get worse as he’s infected by the vampire virus. He doesn’t have grandiose evil plans or the desire to actively harm anyone, but his selfishness makes him do terrible things to other people. Ugh. He’s just awful and I love hating him.
Blackwell from The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker
MMMMMKAY. There are a lot of characters from this duology I could name, but for those of you who haven’t read it yet, some might be spoilers. So, suffice it to say that Blackwell from the start is a dreadful gentleman who I thoroughly despise. Don’t worry, from scene one, he’s terrible so I don’t think I’m spoiling too much. Besides being Inquisitor, head of the witch hunters who have been killing off wizards and witches in the kingdom of Anglia, Blackwell is a devious villain who will do anything to get what he wants. Suffice it to say, what he wants is not pleasant. He takes pleasure in causing pain and is unscrupulous. Blackwell just plain sucks and he only gets worse! Please leave, Blackwell.
Mark Kinney from Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
There is a lot that could be said of the toxicity of the relationships of all the characters in Killing Mr. Griffin, but the character who I would like to see cancelled most is Mark Kinney. Mastermind and plotter behind the whole prank, Mark’s actions become continually difficult to understand with and his manipulation of all the other characters is disturbing. Without Mark Kinney, the whole Mr. Griffin fiasco would never have happened. I’m gonna say we can safely cancel Mark Kinney.
The King from Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
Ew! Even just thinking about the King grosses me out. He is straight up sadistic. In a world where demons and humans live side by side, humans with no demon qualities are referred to as paper castes. The world is ruled by a demon-king, and every year he takes a number of paper caste girls into his palace to be his ‘paper girls,’ concubines honored by the court. However, this ‘honor’ is not pleasant. Not only does the King keep paper castes oppressed and tormented, he steals Lei away from her family, keeps her prisoner with the other paper girls, and takes pleasure in causing pain. CANCELLED, PLEASE!