Book Review: Great British Fictional Villains by Russell James
For a wide swath of fiction, a well-written villain is essential. They provide the impetus for the hero to act, scatter obstacles in their way, and act as a dark mirror to the hero’s personality. In many cases, the villain of a story turns out to be far more memorable than the protagonist.
Thus this compilation of villains by a British crime writer. Per the title, it celebrates primarily antagonists created in British fiction, from Professor Moriarty to the Daleks. Mind, the net is cast wide in some respects, so there’s at least one entry that does not match one of each of the words in the title.
There’s essays on the various kinds of villains, and the broad time periods that produced them. In addition to the many illustrations (most in the public domain) there are charts for such things as Charles Dickens villains. But the main meat of the book is the A-Z listing of the author’s choices of top villains.
This section is heavy on Jacobean drama and Victorian potboilers, with relatively less from the modern era. I was particularly disappointed by the absence of British comics. Not one Judge Dredd villain made the list! Still, the very famous blackguards like Fu Manchu are cheek to jowl with some true obscurities.
There’s a minimal index.
The best use of this book, I think, is to give to teenagers who enjoy reading to give them more clues to things they might want to track down. But it would not go amiss as a gift for older villain fans either.
