He is not the hero. The hero is the woman with the knife. But he is on the cover, usually in silhouette, usually with a jaw you could open letters with, and if you have read more than two of these you can spot him from the first scene. Here is a field guide, for the benefit of newcomers to the genre and the people who love them.
Identifying features
- The title. He is a High something. High Lord, High Commander, High Prince. The word “High” is doing a lot of work and so is he.
- The eyes. They are a colour that eyes are not. Violet. Silver. Molten gold. If his eyes are brown, he is her brother or her friend and you can relax.
- The scar. One. Across the jaw or through an eyebrow. From a war you will hear about in Book Two.
- The wings. Optional, but increasingly standard. If he has wings, there will be a scene where she touches them and he goes very still, and you will have to put the book down and look at the wall for a moment.
- The voice. Low. Everything he says is said low. Even “pass the salt” is said low.
Behaviour
In his first appearance he will be dismissive. In his second he will save her life while making it clear this was an inconvenience. By the midpoint he will have said something cruel in a crowded room and then, alone, looked at her as though it cost him something. It did. It’s the plot.
He does not sleep. He trains. He broods on battlements. He has a study full of maps and a drawer full of letters he has written and not sent. If a book has a man with a drawer of unsent letters, he is the one. Put the kettle on.
The reveal
Around page 300 it comes out: the cruelty was protection. The bargain was a sacrifice. The thing he did in Book One that made you throw the paperback across the room was, from his point of view, which you now have, the only way to keep her alive. You are furious with yourself for forgiving him. You forgive him. Chapter 41 has a bath in it.
Why it works
I have thought about this in the chair for some time, and I think the appeal is not the jaw. It’s the certainty. Out in the world, you are never quite sure whether the difficult man is difficult because he’s hiding a wound or because he’s just difficult. In here, you know. The genre promises that the mystery of him will be solved, that the coldness has a reason, and that the reason is you. It’s a murder mystery where the body is his personality and the detective is a woman with a knife.
Also the wings.
Reading notes
Pack a bookmark dagger, since the books have one on every other page anyway. Read the court scenes fast and the training scenes slow. Do not, under any circumstances, read the bath chapter in public.