Maxine Kaplan's favorite books for NPCs at heart

The second I read about Hench, I knew it was the book of my dreams. Hench is about Anna, a floating temp doing back-office admin work for criminals and, eventually, supervillains. I mean, come on: ‘nuff said. But this book delivers far beyond its (absolutely delicious) premise and ends up being a meditation on the power of data, and its analysis and manipulation, in shaping our views about good vs. evil, and the radicalization of bored millennials. It’s also really funny. It’s great. 

This is where I add my voice to the vast Internet chorus singing the praises of Gideon the Ninth, a/k/a “Lesbian Necromancers in Space.” The hype is not overblown. The read is not homework. The writing is luscious, delirious, and sharp. The world-building will blow your mind. But the reason I’m including it on this list is the characters. The (large) cast is populated by distinct Types ™ that will be familiar to any gamer or regular reader of fantasy/sci-fi/horror. They are decked out in pre-determined, class-based aesthetics. They are warriors and scholars, and that is it. But Muir peels back the layers of these roles in the most unexpected ways, revealing the truly weird people underneath, and their truly weird motivations and relationships. This one will stay with you.

This one is personal to me. I found this book when I was 8 and fell in love. Like: I have a tattoo from this book. And, yes, it’s about a princess, the very antithesis of a background player, but hear me out.

The Ordinary Princess takes place in a fantasy world that exists in conversation with the classical Western notion of fairy tales and fairy tale princesses. Except in this one, the evil fairy at the christening gifts the newly born, perfectly princess Amethyst (later called Amy) not with a death sentence, but the proclamation: You shall be ordinary. The twist? Amy loves being ordinary. Wants to be ordinary. Fights for the right to be ordinary, to be herself. It is deceptively moving and lives deep within my soul.

This book combines a lot of potentially tired gothic signifiers into one slim package. You’ve got the tortured ghost of the young mother. The scarred young shut-in nearing spinsterhood. The domineering aunt tasked with marrying her off. The cold and distant father just as eager to unload her. However, none of these tropes go where you expect them to go. Iseult Wince, the titular unsuitable young woman, has an inner life and motivations that are deeply weird—borderline horrifying, but most importantly, weird, and all her own. Spinsterhood is the least of her problems. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this YA by the incomparable Patrick Ness. Turning the contemporary Chosen One trope on its head, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is about Mikey, just a normal kid—in a high school beset with the occasional, say, zombie problem that the other, more special kids have to take out. It’s both a classic of the genre while also lovingly parodying it. It will make you feel seen. Read it.