recommend me some dashing rogues
October 30, 2022 4:14 PM Subscribe
I'm in the mood for a book of a very specific feel. A swashbuckly Robin Hood type adventure about a dashing rogue. Seeking recommendations.
It doesn't need to be a Robin Hood-specific novel - he's just an example of the type of hero I feel like reading about. Another good example, though it's been a while since I read the novels, is Jack Shaftoe from the Baroque Cycle.
At the moment my life is pretty stressful and I could do without a novel that is too dark or depressing. Ideally I'd love to read some stories about wisecracking charismatic antihero type people who go around righting wrongs and outsmarting the baddies, and I would also appreciate a fun love story angle as well. Doesn't need to be heteronormative either.
Fanfiction recommendations along lines such as the above would be welcome as well.
Thanks, Mefites! I know this is quite a bizarrely specific request, but I have faith in you all.
It doesn't need to be a Robin Hood-specific novel - he's just an example of the type of hero I feel like reading about. Another good example, though it's been a while since I read the novels, is Jack Shaftoe from the Baroque Cycle.
At the moment my life is pretty stressful and I could do without a novel that is too dark or depressing. Ideally I'd love to read some stories about wisecracking charismatic antihero type people who go around righting wrongs and outsmarting the baddies, and I would also appreciate a fun love story angle as well. Doesn't need to be heteronormative either.
Fanfiction recommendations along lines such as the above would be welcome as well.
Thanks, Mefites! I know this is quite a bizarrely specific request, but I have faith in you all.
Is YA okay? The first thing that came to mind is The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. Clever plot, pretty light, ancient Greece inspired setting, charismatic wisecracking narrator.
Also YA, but the Bartimeaus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud also came to mind. Very funny, very much narrated by a reluctant do-gooding antihero.
On preview, I see I've been beaten to my first recommendation!
posted by geegollygosh at 4:30 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Also YA, but the Bartimeaus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud also came to mind. Very funny, very much narrated by a reluctant do-gooding antihero.
On preview, I see I've been beaten to my first recommendation!
posted by geegollygosh at 4:30 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
[Harry Flashman] is a cowardly British soldier, rake and cad who is placed in a series of real historical incidents between 1839 and 1894.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 4:40 PM on October 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 4:40 PM on October 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
I don't know if they're available anymore, but the Han Solo adventures by Brian Daley?
A lot of Sherwood Smith's novels involve swashbuckling of various types, particularly Lhind the Thief and Crown Duel.
T. Kingfisher's Swordheart has some swashbuckling.
Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner.
Robin McKinley's Outlaws of Sherwood is probably my favorite retelling of the Robin Hood legend.
posted by suelac at 4:41 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
A lot of Sherwood Smith's novels involve swashbuckling of various types, particularly Lhind the Thief and Crown Duel.
T. Kingfisher's Swordheart has some swashbuckling.
Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner.
Robin McKinley's Outlaws of Sherwood is probably my favorite retelling of the Robin Hood legend.
posted by suelac at 4:41 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse universe contains several books along these lines. They are on the YA-that-many-adults-enjoy side of things. I'm sure a bigger fan of the books is lurking this thread and can add more color, but the Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom duology is a fun mix of antihero swashbuckling, heisting, and light romance. Some of the characters are motivated by dark pasts and societal woes, but I didn't find it overbearing.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Beck Chambers is a space adventure with a motley crew of fun aliens. It's notably optimistic and downright cozy for a sci-fi book, revolving more around crew dynamics than the nuances of intergalactic travel.
The Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch is often recommended for this sort of vibe -- a group of elite con artists robbing from the rich through a series of cunning plots. I'll admit I wasn't the biggest fan of it, but friends with far better taste than my own love it.
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss features a wisecracking antihero and a thoughtful magic system with some wonderful scenes. Its fallen out of favor because it's very much a Mary Sue story and Rothfuss is taking the George R. R. Martin approach to publishing timelines. That said, I absolutely devoured it my first readthrough and if you don't expect total resolution you could do a lot worse.
posted by matrixclown at 4:51 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Beck Chambers is a space adventure with a motley crew of fun aliens. It's notably optimistic and downright cozy for a sci-fi book, revolving more around crew dynamics than the nuances of intergalactic travel.
The Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch is often recommended for this sort of vibe -- a group of elite con artists robbing from the rich through a series of cunning plots. I'll admit I wasn't the biggest fan of it, but friends with far better taste than my own love it.
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss features a wisecracking antihero and a thoughtful magic system with some wonderful scenes. Its fallen out of favor because it's very much a Mary Sue story and Rothfuss is taking the George R. R. Martin approach to publishing timelines. That said, I absolutely devoured it my first readthrough and if you don't expect total resolution you could do a lot worse.
posted by matrixclown at 4:51 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett, the eighth in the Discworld series, the first about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. I feel like Sam Vimes fits the character you're looking for.
posted by evilmomlady at 5:06 PM on October 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by evilmomlady at 5:06 PM on October 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
For an old-school romp, there's always The Prisoner of Zenda.
posted by humbug at 5:10 PM on October 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by humbug at 5:10 PM on October 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
I recently enjoyed The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry, by C. M. Waggoner. Female swashbuckling hero, lesbian love story. A light read, pretty fun!
posted by dorey_oh at 5:15 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by dorey_oh at 5:15 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
You might enjoy The Queer Principles of Kit Webb (m/m) and The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes (m/f, both bi), by Cat Sebastian.
Not great literature, but a fun queer take on Robinhood.
posted by Metasyntactic at 5:33 PM on October 30, 2022
Not great literature, but a fun queer take on Robinhood.
posted by Metasyntactic at 5:33 PM on October 30, 2022
Was just going to recommend Cat Sebastian!
posted by matildaben at 6:17 PM on October 30, 2022
posted by matildaben at 6:17 PM on October 30, 2022
You need Simon Templar, The Saint himself in your life, ASAP.
If you're going to read the books, start with one of the early compilations like Enter the Saint, Alias the Saint, Featuring the Saint (for example) before you jump into the early book-length novels (The Last Hero, The Knight Templar, etc.) not because you won't be able to follow what's going on--you absolutely will-but so that you can get a better sense of the character and his friends and then be better able to appreciate the characterization and the storytelling in the longer-format works.
If you want to turn to TV and movies, you'll want to start with the Roger Moore TV series. A lot of the episodes are taken from the printed stories, so it's always fun to see how they translate to a visual medium. And just a warning, no matter what people say, there was never a movie adaption of the character starring Val Kilmer. It is just a bad figment of people's imagination--a warped vision brought on some very unfriendly liquor or drugs (or maybe a combination of the two).
I might also suggest you seek out Sir Percy Blakeney, the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. The book is good, but the Leslie Howard movies are equally strong (if not better).
And beyond Percy, the same Saintly website linked to above has a suggested reading list for similar types of rogues, damned saints, and honourable villains.
posted by sardonyx at 6:19 PM on October 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
If you're going to read the books, start with one of the early compilations like Enter the Saint, Alias the Saint, Featuring the Saint (for example) before you jump into the early book-length novels (The Last Hero, The Knight Templar, etc.) not because you won't be able to follow what's going on--you absolutely will-but so that you can get a better sense of the character and his friends and then be better able to appreciate the characterization and the storytelling in the longer-format works.
If you want to turn to TV and movies, you'll want to start with the Roger Moore TV series. A lot of the episodes are taken from the printed stories, so it's always fun to see how they translate to a visual medium. And just a warning, no matter what people say, there was never a movie adaption of the character starring Val Kilmer. It is just a bad figment of people's imagination--a warped vision brought on some very unfriendly liquor or drugs (or maybe a combination of the two).
I might also suggest you seek out Sir Percy Blakeney, the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. The book is good, but the Leslie Howard movies are equally strong (if not better).
And beyond Percy, the same Saintly website linked to above has a suggested reading list for similar types of rogues, damned saints, and honourable villains.
posted by sardonyx at 6:19 PM on October 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
The first thing that came to my mind was renchmans Creek by Daphne du Maurier - I cant remember if he was a pirate or a smuggler, but the hero is certainly dahsing. And if you like The Prisoner of Zenda there is also The Henchman of Zenda, an m/m parallel retelling of the story by K J Charles.
posted by Fuchsoid at 7:07 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Fuchsoid at 7:07 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Seconding Guards Guards, and also any of the other Vimes novels. But the first Discworld books that came to my mind were the ones with Moist Von Lipwig, Going Postal and Making Money. Tremendous fun!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 7:58 PM on October 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 7:58 PM on October 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
You might like the Parasol Protectorate books by Gail Carriger.
It's a tremendous mashup, a steampunk vampire romance novel series, with your rougueish heroine killing vampires with her parasol.
posted by hovey at 8:01 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's a tremendous mashup, a steampunk vampire romance novel series, with your rougueish heroine killing vampires with her parasol.
posted by hovey at 8:01 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Elizabeth Peter's Vicky Bliss mysteries. Vicky is an art historian working at a museum in Germany, Schmidt is her boss/sidekick, and Sir John Smythe is the thief/love interest.
posted by Constance Mirabella at 8:08 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Constance Mirabella at 8:08 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
I always seek out swordsy books because I enjoy fencing, so I am excited to follow this for recommendations!
For the swashbuckling hero with lots of good swotdplay, I quite enjoy Sebastien De Castell's Great Coats series.
https://decastell.com/
posted by chapps at 9:14 PM on October 30, 2022
For the swashbuckling hero with lots of good swotdplay, I quite enjoy Sebastien De Castell's Great Coats series.
https://decastell.com/
posted by chapps at 9:14 PM on October 30, 2022
Skimming our bookshelves… Butterfly and Hellflower, eluki bes shahar;
Zodiac, Neal Stephenson; no swords, but wisecracking and righting wrongs and derring-do ;
Red Noise, John P Murphy, very swashbuckling, possibly a little too grim;
A bunch of Patricia Briggs, eg When Demons Walk;
Melissa Scott’s Trouble and her Friends;
Gillian Bradshaw, Island of Ghosts, not an antihero so much as a "after losing everything, what?" hero.
posted by clew at 10:21 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Zodiac, Neal Stephenson; no swords, but wisecracking and righting wrongs and derring-do ;
Red Noise, John P Murphy, very swashbuckling, possibly a little too grim;
A bunch of Patricia Briggs, eg When Demons Walk;
Melissa Scott’s Trouble and her Friends;
Gillian Bradshaw, Island of Ghosts, not an antihero so much as a "after losing everything, what?" hero.
posted by clew at 10:21 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
A very long and definitionally swashbuckling series, the Robert Carey books written by PF Chisholm, and the spin-off starting with Do We Not Bleed? published as Patricia Finney.
posted by clew at 10:26 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by clew at 10:26 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Brigadier Gerard adventures by Arthur Conan Doyle are good old fashioned fun. There is nobody more boastful. courageous or dashing . . . by his own estimation.
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:33 PM on October 30, 2022
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:33 PM on October 30, 2022
Some of KJ Charles's books might work. Any Old Diamonds, for instance. She also has a version of the Prisoner of Zenda.
Red Heir, by Lisa Henry.
Maybe also Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books - science fiction, so has a bit of a different feel and more angst than I think of with swashbuckling, but he does go around righting wrongs and aiming, sometimes succeeding, for dashing.
Smart Bitches has done a Rec League on heists.
posted by paduasoy at 1:00 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
Red Heir, by Lisa Henry.
Maybe also Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books - science fiction, so has a bit of a different feel and more angst than I think of with swashbuckling, but he does go around righting wrongs and aiming, sometimes succeeding, for dashing.
Smart Bitches has done a Rec League on heists.
posted by paduasoy at 1:00 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
"The Lies of Locke Lamora" is a 2006 fantasy novel by American writer Scott Lynch, the first book of the Gentleman Bastard series. Elite con artists calling themselves the "Gentleman Bastards" rob the rich of the city of Camorr, based on late medieval Venice but on an unnamed world.
posted by SweetLiesOfBokonon at 1:38 AM on October 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by SweetLiesOfBokonon at 1:38 AM on October 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
Another vote here for Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series... fun to read, and quite amusing in audiobook, too.
posted by stormyteal at 2:02 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by stormyteal at 2:02 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
Michael Chabon wrote one of these, Gentlemen Of The Road, "a swashbuckling adventure set in the kaganate of Khazaria around AD 950, following two Jewish bandits who become embroiled in a rebellion and a plot to restore a displaced Khazar prince to the throne."
Great fun.
posted by vincebowdren at 5:21 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
Great fun.
posted by vincebowdren at 5:21 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
The book version of 'Barry Lyndon' by Thackery is much more breezy and roguish than the uptight film version of 'Barry Lyndon'.
posted by ovvl at 6:44 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 6:44 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also here to recommend Scott Lynch's stuff. There are so many amazing images that stick in my mind, years after reading them!
(But just know that it looks like the fourth one, The Thorn Of Emberlaine, may never see the light of day. *sigh*)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:52 AM on October 31, 2022
(But just know that it looks like the fourth one, The Thorn Of Emberlaine, may never see the light of day. *sigh*)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:52 AM on October 31, 2022
2nding Harry Flashman - you can basically read the series in any order. However, just want to mention that the language is not very...inclusive. It's let's say... reflective of historical accuracy? But this is 100% everything you asked for!
posted by london explorer girl at 8:06 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by london explorer girl at 8:06 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
A Patricia Finney recommendation! She's one of those writers I assume nobody else knows about. Yay.
posted by suelac at 11:22 AM on October 31, 2022
posted by suelac at 11:22 AM on October 31, 2022
Swashbucklers of bygone times:
Maurice Druon's Les Rois maudits series ... inspiration for GRRM's Game of Thrones
Stanley John Weyman
H. Bedford-Jones
Rafael Sabatini
Robert E. Howard Lord of Samarcand
http://glorioustrash.blogspot.com/2011/08/lord-of-samarcand-and-other-adventure.html
Harold Lamb "Swords From the..."
http://www.popmatters.com/review/114928-swords-from-the-desert-and-swords-from-the-west-by-harold-lamb/
A.E.W. Mason The Four Feathers
http://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2013/07/four-feathers-novel-and-films.html
Talbot Mundy
http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/2010/07/in-righteous-cause-stories-of-adventure.html
Baroness Emma Orczy
http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=orczem
The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50598
The Great Quest by Charles Boardman Hawes
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40265
The Mutineers by Charles Boardman Hawes
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9657
Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5142
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1555
A Maker of History by E. Phillips Oppenheim
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19341
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/594
Eiji Yoshikawa
http://books.google.com/books/about/Taiko.html?id=FMSBAAAAIAAJ
Mika Waltari-- Mikael Karvajalka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventurer_%28novel%29
Leo Perutz The Marquis of Bolibar
http://www.violetbooks.com/REVIEWS/jas-perutz.html
Mór Jókai
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=J%26oacute%3Bkai%2C%20M%26oacute%3Br%2C%201825-1904
Writers of the 20th and 21st centuries
George MacDonald Fraser: The Flashman Series
Gary Jennings
Wilbur Smith
Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series and the Phoenix Guards series
Alex Bledsoe's Eddie LaCrosse series
Glen Cook's Garrett P.I. series
Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards
Dorothy Dunnett-- Francis of Lymond Series and then Nicolas series
posted by ohshenandoah at 11:46 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
Maurice Druon's Les Rois maudits series ... inspiration for GRRM's Game of Thrones
Stanley John Weyman
H. Bedford-Jones
Rafael Sabatini
Robert E. Howard Lord of Samarcand
http://glorioustrash.blogspot.com/2011/08/lord-of-samarcand-and-other-adventure.html
Harold Lamb "Swords From the..."
http://www.popmatters.com/review/114928-swords-from-the-desert-and-swords-from-the-west-by-harold-lamb/
A.E.W. Mason The Four Feathers
http://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2013/07/four-feathers-novel-and-films.html
Talbot Mundy
http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/2010/07/in-righteous-cause-stories-of-adventure.html
Baroness Emma Orczy
http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=orczem
The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50598
The Great Quest by Charles Boardman Hawes
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40265
The Mutineers by Charles Boardman Hawes
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9657
Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5142
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1555
A Maker of History by E. Phillips Oppenheim
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19341
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/594
Eiji Yoshikawa
http://books.google.com/books/about/Taiko.html?id=FMSBAAAAIAAJ
Mika Waltari-- Mikael Karvajalka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventurer_%28novel%29
Leo Perutz The Marquis of Bolibar
http://www.violetbooks.com/REVIEWS/jas-perutz.html
Mór Jókai
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=J%26oacute%3Bkai%2C%20M%26oacute%3Br%2C%201825-1904
Writers of the 20th and 21st centuries
George MacDonald Fraser: The Flashman Series
Gary Jennings
Wilbur Smith
Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series and the Phoenix Guards series
Alex Bledsoe's Eddie LaCrosse series
Glen Cook's Garrett P.I. series
Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards
Dorothy Dunnett-- Francis of Lymond Series and then Nicolas series
posted by ohshenandoah at 11:46 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
Retellings of Robin Hood:
Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley is great and might have been my favorite, until I read...
Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi - set during the crusades like the common Robin Hood story, except it's about Rhama al-Hud, an Arabic girl who really just wants powerful foreigners to stop fighting wars in her homeland.
Elizabeth Peters is great. The Vicky Bliss books are fine, but I think the Amelia Peabody series is better - and there's more of it! Early books focus on Amelia's (overestimated) deductive skills and predilection for whacking tomb robbers with her parasol while her husband Radcliffe rants about the poor techniques of other archeologists and tries (unsuccessfully) to disguise himself in fake beards. In the later books their son becomes an actual master of disguise and a grudging spy while their ward becomes one of the first female doctors in Egypt. More romance ensues, of course.
Theif's Covenant by Ari Marmell (and the sequels) should fit your bill perfectly. Snarky master-thief Widdershins has her own personal god who lives in her head, argues with her incessantly, and helps her perform minor miracles of the sneaking and fighting variety. Together, they are up against the priesthood, the aristocracy, and the Thieves' Guild in an attempt to steal whatever they can get away with - but they might need to save the world while they're at it.
The Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood might be a little cozy for your taste, but Greenwood's description of her inspiration was something like "what if James Bond was female and lived in Australia in the early 1900s?" So Phryne Fisher may be a wealthy, titled young woman, but she also drives a race car, flies airplanes, goes undercover, hangs out with communist dockworkers, and has flings with all sorts of attractive men.
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy might suit you too - the name pretty much says it all, I think.
Seanan McGuire's InCryptid books could also be good. The Price family trade is Cryptozoology - studying plants and animals not recognized by modern science and (when necessary) protecting humans and cryptids from each other. They value biodiversity, cultural sensitivity, and extensive weapons training. Each book is a fast-paced adventure with a healthy dose of silliness and a romantic subplot.
Finder and sequels by Suzanne Palmer - space adventure, not quite as light as some other things on this list but still happy overall.
Waypoint Kangaroo and Kangaroo Too by Curtis C. Chen are spy-in-space adventures about a young guy who has the inexplicable ability to store and retrieve stuff from his own personal pocket universe.
posted by sibilatorix at 1:42 PM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley is great and might have been my favorite, until I read...
Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi - set during the crusades like the common Robin Hood story, except it's about Rhama al-Hud, an Arabic girl who really just wants powerful foreigners to stop fighting wars in her homeland.
Elizabeth Peters is great. The Vicky Bliss books are fine, but I think the Amelia Peabody series is better - and there's more of it! Early books focus on Amelia's (overestimated) deductive skills and predilection for whacking tomb robbers with her parasol while her husband Radcliffe rants about the poor techniques of other archeologists and tries (unsuccessfully) to disguise himself in fake beards. In the later books their son becomes an actual master of disguise and a grudging spy while their ward becomes one of the first female doctors in Egypt. More romance ensues, of course.
Theif's Covenant by Ari Marmell (and the sequels) should fit your bill perfectly. Snarky master-thief Widdershins has her own personal god who lives in her head, argues with her incessantly, and helps her perform minor miracles of the sneaking and fighting variety. Together, they are up against the priesthood, the aristocracy, and the Thieves' Guild in an attempt to steal whatever they can get away with - but they might need to save the world while they're at it.
The Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood might be a little cozy for your taste, but Greenwood's description of her inspiration was something like "what if James Bond was female and lived in Australia in the early 1900s?" So Phryne Fisher may be a wealthy, titled young woman, but she also drives a race car, flies airplanes, goes undercover, hangs out with communist dockworkers, and has flings with all sorts of attractive men.
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy might suit you too - the name pretty much says it all, I think.
Seanan McGuire's InCryptid books could also be good. The Price family trade is Cryptozoology - studying plants and animals not recognized by modern science and (when necessary) protecting humans and cryptids from each other. They value biodiversity, cultural sensitivity, and extensive weapons training. Each book is a fast-paced adventure with a healthy dose of silliness and a romantic subplot.
Finder and sequels by Suzanne Palmer - space adventure, not quite as light as some other things on this list but still happy overall.
Waypoint Kangaroo and Kangaroo Too by Curtis C. Chen are spy-in-space adventures about a young guy who has the inexplicable ability to store and retrieve stuff from his own personal pocket universe.
posted by sibilatorix at 1:42 PM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Count of Monte Cristo?
posted by bz at 2:03 PM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by bz at 2:03 PM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
Seconding the Miles Vorkosigan books. The Warriors Apprentice or The Vor Game are good places to dive in.
posted by jeoc at 5:18 PM on October 31, 2022
posted by jeoc at 5:18 PM on October 31, 2022
If you've never read Howard Pyle's "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" I do recommend it, especially the illustrated version.
posted by TimHare at 7:56 PM on October 31, 2022
posted by TimHare at 7:56 PM on October 31, 2022
The Princess Bride! The book is so much fun and no-one ever buckled a swash better than Inigo Montoya
posted by tardigrade at 12:54 AM on November 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by tardigrade at 12:54 AM on November 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Leiber's Grey Mouser series.
Lawrence Watt Evans has some stuff that probably works.
https://evilhat.com/product/thirsty-sword-lesbians/
Thirsty sword lesbians, if you want to create your own stories and worlds
posted by Jacen at 9:55 PM on November 1, 2022
Lawrence Watt Evans has some stuff that probably works.
https://evilhat.com/product/thirsty-sword-lesbians/
Thirsty sword lesbians, if you want to create your own stories and worlds
posted by Jacen at 9:55 PM on November 1, 2022
Response by poster: Omg! Sooo many rogues to choose from! Thank you all so much :)
posted by unicorn chaser at 1:49 AM on November 6, 2022
posted by unicorn chaser at 1:49 AM on November 6, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:24 PM on October 30, 2022 [8 favorites]