Are you looking for books to read this summer? Do you like a story where the main character doesn’t want to be the main character? Where she is forced to step up, be the hero, and save everyone? Maybe you are looking for stories with a reluctant hero trope.
What is a trope? A literary trope is a common plot structure, theme, storyline, or character trait found repeatedly in storytelling. For example, the hero’s journey, or quest, trope, found in books like The Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you like books that take you on a journey to rescue someone, destroy something, or search for truth, you might look up hero’s quest tropes.
But if you’re like me and sometimes you want a hero who’s not such a hero, here are 10 Fantasy Books where the hero is forced into the job and must learn how to become one.
1. The Hobbit
I already mentioned The Lord of the Rings, but what heroic character started it all? A reluctant hero named Bilbo Baggins. Dragged out of his cozy hobbit hole, Bilbo is forced by dwarves and a wizard on a quest for dragon treasure. J.R.R. Tolkien’s book is perfect for readers who want to read about a small, everyday type of guy forced to be a hero and save the day.
2. Redwall
Book one in Brian Jacques’s Redwall series stars a young mouse, Matthias, seeking a legendary sword to defend Redwall Abbey, where he lives, from an invasion of evil rats. He doesn’t want to be a hero; he just wants to protect his home and friends.
Since Matthias and the other characters are talking animals, this book also has talking animal tropes and maybe a quest trope?
3. The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan’s first book in his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series follows a twelve-year-old boy who is always thrown out of school for fighting or causing trouble. Desperate to stay in his new school, trouble finds Percy again, and he is forced on a quest to learn who he really is and why monsters are out to get him. I know there’s a quest trope here as well as other tropes. See, you’re learning to find tropes in stories.
4. Harry Potter
Now that you’re an expert in fantasy tropes, we can debate whether Harry Potter is a reluctant hero and in which books. J.K. Rowling’s first book in the series, Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone, is the one I vote for as having a reluctant hero trope. In this first book, Harry Potter is a poor orphan (trope?) forced to live with his horrible aunt and her awful family. He’s overjoyed when invited to live and study at a special boarding school. A school for wizards. He can’t wait to study magic and become a magician, but a hero, no.
5. Keeper Of The Lost Cities
Another twelve-year-old with school troubles. Sophie Foster can hear the thoughts of everyone around her. It’s not much fun for her and often gets her in trouble. When she meets another boy who can read minds, Sophie discovers she’s not who she thought she was. Her gifts lead her into the role of reluctant hero.
Shannon Messenger’s book is just the beginning of Sophie learning who she really is and how she can become the hero she was destined to be.
6. Wings Of Fire
Tui T. Sutherland’s series of talking dragons (another trope) opens with the first book, The Dragonet Prophecy, and the reluctant hero Clay. The young Clay and four other dragonets are the chosen ones, destined to end the war between dragon tribes. But Clay doesn’t want to be a chosen one (another fantasy trope); he wants his freedom. That freedom comes at a cost, and the price is to become a hero and save your friends.
7. The Princess And The Goblin
This is an oldie but a goodie. George MacDonald’s 1872 fairy tale inspired writers like C.S. Lewis and even J.R.R.Tolkien. The Princess Irene is saved from evil goblins by the miner’s son, Curdie. While Curdie is brave and kind, he doesn’t consider himself a hero. Until he’s the only one who can fight the goblins and rescue the princess again (damsel in distress trope). There’s another reluctant hero in this book. Princess Irene. Her curiosity gets her in trouble and leads this reluctant hero to save Curdie after he saves her.
8. The Horse And The Boy
Book 5 in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis features another troubled boy. Shasta runs away from home when his father, who he discovers isn’t his real father, tries to sell him into slavery. The boy is helped by a talking horse from Narnia (talking animals trope). Bree teaches the boy to ride and tries to train him to be heroic, but Shasta is only interested in seeing the magical land of Narnia and being free.
9. How To Train Your Dragon
The book, not the movie. In this hilarious and wonderfully illustrated book by Cressida Cowell, our reluctant hero, Hiccup, wants to pass the Dragon Initiation Program and become a full member of his Viking tribe. That means he has to catch and train a dragon. Any dragon. The small boy ends up with a small dragon that is almost impossible to train.
Hiccup doesn’t want to be a hero, or even the next chief after his father. But when he becomes the only Viking to speak dragon, Hiccup becomes a hero and a dragon whisperer.
10. Manjucatus The Not So Mean
Probably because these and other great books influenced me, I wrote a fantasy adventure starring a dragon who is definitely a reluctant hero. In fact, he could also fit into the fantasy tropes of talking animals and anti-heroes. Manjucatus The Not So Mean is book 3 of my Tales of Enda series. The dragon Manny is a sneaky, cowardly liar who would steal anything he can get his claws on.
