Top 5 Books with Morally Grey Characters

This Top 5 Saturday prompt is from Devouring Books, original post here.

6/27/20 —  Books with Morally Grey Characters

Super excited for this post! This topic? Totally my thing. Let me know if you covered this topic on your blog since I’d love to read it! (and love to add even more books with morally grey characters to my TBR..) These titles are in no particular order, they all left quite the mark though. It wasn’t the easiest thing to limit the selection down to five. For some genres (thrillers come to mind, and make up most of this list) morally grey is kind of their bread and butter.

Without further ado, my five fave choices for this prompt-

1. Sadie from Sadie by Courtney Summers (Review here.)

Imagine a character who is fatalistically obsessed with revenge, devoting her life toward killing another person. That’s basically Sadie, but she also has a richly explained back story and given the nature of her revenge I found it hard to feel much else but compassion for what all she’s gone through. This is a heavy book with some surprising tenderness. Sadie’s love for her sister and palpable loneliness was moving. Definitely a worthwhile and memorable read. Very curious to try more from this author, she has a fairly recent newer book out called Cracked Up To Be.

2. Everyone from A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (Review here.)

It’s been 84 years and I still haven’t read the sequel to this book. Going to have to rectify that this year, before I forget major plot points. I was totally impressed by this book and read it into the wee hours of the night/morning. It has really altered what I look for in fantasy- a grand bunch of multiple perspectives who hate each other is pretty much ideal. Most of the characters are morally gray since they’re so diametrically opposed and yet they’re all protagonists, unknowingly working together to make this story work.

3. Mary Katherine Blackwood from We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson (Review here.)

Mary is mysterious, conflicted and conflicting. As a protagonist, she’s kind of a puzzle within what is already a mysterious book open to interpretation. I also highly recommend the film adaptation, more about that in a future post.

4. ?? from The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (Review here.)

If you’re drawn to morally gray characters that might be on the unreliable narrating side of things, this book excels. Very early on I was questioning the lead characters.

5. ??? from Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (Review here.)

Big Little Lies was one my favorite reads from 2019. It is also simply perfect for this topic. A major theme of the book is about not making snap judgments. Though even informed ones can be overturned if you just know a little more. Everyone has more depth than meets the eye. I loved the way the ending was handled and the weird sense of humor that permeated this book and its often (purposefully?) misleading characters.

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It’s nice to do one of these themed posts again! Have you read any of the books covered above or plan to? Also, let me know who your favorite morally grey character is, or just the first one that comes to mind. Always an interesting topic. Hope you’re having a nice weekend of rejuvenation and thanks for clicking. ❤ Kitty