Five novels where the hero doesn’t save the day

Curtis Craddock lives in Aurora, Colorado, where he teaches Computer Information Systems classes to offenders at a correctional facility. The newly released An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors is his first book.

One of his five favorite books where the hero doesn’t save the day, as shared at Tor.com:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

A book that features burning books as a central trope is in a pretty dark place to begin with. Guy Montag, a Fireman employed to perform this villainous task, has second thoughts about his occupation. The story deeply explores the notion of censorship and the dumbing down of media as a form of pacification, which is more relevant today than ever. It’s a dire warning about the seductiveness of the easy path. With nuclear war being a thing in this future, Montag doesn’t manage to save the day, but then who really can save a world without books?

Read about the other entries on the list.

Fahrenheit 451 is among Jeff Somers's six often misunderstood SF/F novels and on Alice-Azania Jarvis' reading list on firefighting.

--Marshal Zeringue