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Who were your least favorite characters? Mine was Caithness McNabb and Dr. Nicholas Drake. They were truly evil and I couldn't stand them. I also didn't like Caithness's sons. They were evil just like their mom, especially Raff. I thought Drake got his just deserts and thought that Caithness should have shared his fate.

I agree with you, Gali. I couldn't stand the McNabb family, and Drake gave me the creeps!

LivreAmour217 wrote:I agree with you, Gali. I couldn't stand the McNabb family, and Drake gave me the creeps!

Indeed they did! The author portrayed them well!

Yes Dr. Drake and the McNabb family were not very nice at all.
Vermont Reviews

I really hate the Dr. Drake type of character, being evil for the sake of power - however, people with these traits do exist in the world, so I tolerate that style of character because an underlying reality exists beneath the choices made by a character like Dr. Drake.

Yes I have to agree, I can't stand people like that in the real world either, therefore I could not stand them in the book either.

gali wrote:Who were your least favorite characters? Mine was Caithness McNabb and Dr. Nicholas Drake. They were truly evil and I couldn't stand them. I also didn't like Caithness's sons. They were evil just like their mom, especially Raff. I thought Drake got his just desserts and thought that Caithness should have shared his fate.

I agree
Vermont Reviews

Jace was by far my least favorite character; for the entire last half of the book, I'm like "Dude, get over yourself." But he is a victim of one of the most common plot holes of fiction: the Earth-shattering event that somehow all main characters are entirely oblivious of. I mean, I don't care what my neighbor, brother, or neighbor's brother did to me in the past, there are much bigger things than hurt feelings. Every single time I thought Jace was going to move into the role faithful supporter, he backslid. Somehow, the tension between he and Conor always bubbled up to the surface. In the end, the character that was perhaps the most mature in the first half of the book became the biggest snivelling brat for the last half.

I felt like Caithness and Dr Drake filled their roles appropriately. I also feel like they were given too much "screen time" to ramble on at points but they more or less did I what they needed to do.

I too feel like Jace was way too caught up on one moment for all the wisdom he was supposed to have. There definitely hits a point where it is counter intuitive to act on emotion and the wisdom should have pointed to that point much sooner than it did.

As I reflect more and more on the book I find myself absolutely loathing Madoc. For lack of a better term, he froze and as a result was useless. His head was (excuse the bluntness) up his ass the entire book but he still expected loyalty and a champion from a son he couldn't bother to even say hello to. Someone has to nearly threaten him to get Madoc to do anything before the final battle. Then he follows a teenager and isn't mentioned again for another 20 pages. It's absolutely maddening that it was Madoc's wife, Madoc's son, Madoc's people, Madoc's kingdom, Madoc's enemy, Madoc's boat.... I'm just going to stop the list there and try to move on from my anger.

Gnome wrote:I felt like Caithness and Dr Drake filled their roles appropriately. I also feel like they were given too much "screen time" to ramble on at points but they more or less did I what they needed to do.

I too feel like Jace was way too caught up on one moment for all the wisdom he was supposed to have. There definitely hits a point where it is counter intuitive to act on emotion and the wisdom should have pointed to that point much sooner than it did.

As I reflect more and more on the book I find myself absolutely loathing Madoc. For lack of a better term, he froze and as a result was useless. His head was (excuse the bluntness) up his ass the entire book but he still expected loyalty and a champion from a son he couldn't bother to even say hello to. Someone has to nearly threaten him to get Madoc to do anything before the final battle. Then he follows a teenager and isn't mentioned again for another 20 pages. It's absolutely maddening that it was Madoc's wife, Madoc's son, Madoc's people, Madoc's kingdom, Madoc's enemy, Madoc's boat.... I'm just going to stop the list there and try to move on from my anger.

A good point about Madoc. He was irritating with his passivity and demands.

I am the author of ROAN and I was fascinated by the above comments about Jace and Madoc. I don't know if you saw my interview but when I create characters I too am surprised at which direction they go. No matter what I did I just couldn't write Jace out of his funk, wisdom or not. But remember he will be great but he is only 17. He's a shy guy without many close friends and he really feels betrayed by Conor. Notice that his own hurt feelings don't keep him from doing what's right. He whines I know but he rises to the challenge. I do know this much, Jace and Conor are friends forever despite any problems they may have and that will be shown in the books to come.

Now about Madoc. I have been fascinated by this prince of Wales for nearly 40 years. Did you know that he really existed? He is reputed to have discovered America. Google him and have fun looking at his history. By the way, he had a brother named Rory who accompanied him to AMERICA. How cool is that? Anyway, I was surprised that with all his power Madoc refused to become close to Conor. But remember there's more to his story and I hear it on the wind that Madoc's time of dithering is over.

Seamusberen1955 wrote:I am the author of ROAN and I was fascinated by the above comments about Jace and Madoc. I don't know if you saw my interview but when I create characters I too am surprised at which direction they go. No matter what I did I just couldn't write Jace out of his funk, wisdom or not. But remember he will be great but he is only 17. He's a shy guy without many close friends and he really feels betrayed by Conor. Notice that his own hurt feelings don't keep him from doing what's right. He whines I know but he rises to the challenge. I do know this much, Jace and Conor are friends forever despite any problems they may have and that will be shown in the books to come.

Now about Madoc. I have been fascinated by this prince of Wales for nearly 40 years. Did you know that he really existed? He is reputed to have discovered America. Google him and have fun looking at his history. By the way, he had a brother named Rory who accompanied him to AMERICA. How cool is that? Anyway, I was surprised that with all his power Madoc refused to become close to Conor. But remember there's more to his story and I hear it on the wind that Madoc's time of dithering is over.

Cool! I didn't realize he really existed. I will Google him later.

Good to know he Madoc will be more active in the books to come.

Seamusberen1955 wrote: But remember there's more to his story and I hear it on the wind that Madoc's time of dithering is over.

This is wonderful to hear. I hope someone/thing is able to kick him where he needs to be and we see some action. If not action for future books, maybe a backstory. I'm sure he has had a rich and interesting life if only for the murder attempts he's survived.

This is an interesting question. For me, whether I like a character or not has nothing to do with whether I find them morally repugnant or not. Yes, the whole McNabb clan, including Dr. Drake, were detestable, but that made them strong characters. I like it when an author can give their readers well-developed characters. These characters did their job well, and as such, I had no problem with them.
My least favorite character, by the time that I had finished the book, was Madoc. His substance was weak, by design, perhaps but weak none the less.
Initially, before I had finished the first half of the book, I found Conor and his new found friends to be a little less than substantial. That problem corrected itself though as time progressed.