As a writer, I spend a lot of time worrying about people who don’t exist. Like all those bright-eyed young heroes traipsing off to their first adventure. Sure, they look strong and noble at the start of their story, but what happens to them after they win the battle, defeat the great evil, and save the world? Do they all ride off into the sunset or board a ship to the Undying Lands? Are they okay?
I wrote my new novel, The Bone Maker, because I couldn’t stop wondering about what would happen to those once-brave-and-strong heroes if they were called to save the world again. In The Bone Maker, it’s twenty-five years later, and the five Heroes of Vos aren’t in their prime anymore. They bear scars, inside and out. One of them is broken, one has gone soft, one is pursuing a simple life, one is unable to let go of the past, and one is dead.
Life doesn’t stop just because someone says “the end.” So why should stories?
And that’s why I’ve put together a list of five (very different) novels that I love about older characters who thought the curtain had closed on their show but discovered there was still a whole lot of saving-the-world to be done.
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
I remember when I read this book, my first thought was, “Whoa! You can do that?” Up until that point, I had never read a book where the protagonist was an older fellow who just wanted to retire. Doctor Adoulla Makhslood wants to drink his cardamom tea and not hunt ghuls anymore, but when the family of a former lover is killed, he can’t sit idly by. His investigation leads him and his associates—a holy warrior and a shapeshifter—straight into a nascent revolution, led by a master thief known as the Falcon Prince (love that name!) against the tyrannical Khalif. Full of action, politics, and magic, it’s tremendously fun and un-put-down-able.
The Elenium and The Tamuli by David Eddings
When I was ten years old, my mom bought me a box set of The Belgariad by David Eddings. I read those books until the spines broke. They were my comfort reads (along with Tamora Pierce, Mercedes Lackey, Robin McKinley, and Anne McCaffrey). It wasn’t until years later that I discovered Eddings had also written another two series: The Elenium and The Tamuli, which center around Sparhawk, an older knight with aching wounds who is called from exile to restore his queen. There’s something really special about discovering that a childhood favorite has more books, and they quickly became my new comfort reads. They’re classic 1980s epic fantasy, and I love them.
Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner
The subtitle of this book is “Confessions of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom,” and it is absolutely everything you’d expect and want from a book with that subtitle. Kate Connor is perfectly happy with her life as a retired demon hunter and is not pleased when she catches a whiff of a demon at the local supermarket while she’s contending with a dirty diaper. She’s even less pleased when the demon barges into her kitchen, intent on killing her, while she has a dinner party to prepare. This book is all about achieving that work-life balancing act (when your work is top secret and highly dangerous), and it’s fabulous. Won me over from the moment she tried to hide a demon body behind the pet food.
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
Granny Weatherwax appears in multiple Terry Pratchett novels (including the fantastic Tiffany Aching series), and she is one of the best fictional characters ever created. She’s essentially a wicked witch who decided to be Good. But don’t mistake her for Nice. I was introduced to her in Wyrd Sisters, which, among other things, parodies Macbeth. If you haven’t met Granny Weatherwax yet, you’re in for a treat.
Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
Ofelia is one of the rare elderly heroines in SF. She lives on a planetary colony and intends to spend the remainder of her days there, but when the company that supports the colony loses its contract, the colonists are given thirty days to leave. At her advanced age, she doesn’t believe she’ll survive the journey in cryo-sleep, nor does she wish to leave the graves of her husband and children, so she chooses to stay behind. Alone. Or so she thinks… This is an excellent first-contact novel with a highly unusual protagonist.
***
And one more for extra-credit: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. This book doesn’t quite the fit the list because its protagonist, Sophie, is an eighteen-year-old trapped in the body of an elderly woman by a spell, but I love this book so much (Calcifer the fire demon! the wizard Howl and his hair tonics! the scarecrow chasing the castle!) that I just had to sneak it in!
Happy reading!
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Sarah Beth Durst is the author of over twenty fantasy books for adults, teens, and kids, including The Queens of Renthia series, Drink Slay Love, and Spark. She has won an American Library Association Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for the Andre Norton Nebula Award three times. She lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat.
Love this topic, especially since I likewise tend to enjoy offbeat takes on the question of ‘yeah, but what happened in the aftermath?’, and since my professional life has ended up crossing paths with ways of pushing back on ageism. These suggestions are all new to me and Remnant Population in particular has piqued my interest!
John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War comes to mind on this theme. It’s also a bit of a cheat, because it’s essentially the case of Howl’s Moving Castle in reverse, but it’s predicated on the idea that there can be an unexpected after, especially when a psyche that has lived for 75 years might be tremendously valuable in a fraught military landscape.
Remnant Population was the second Elizabeth Moon book I read, and I loved it even more than I loved the first one. Ofelia is a great hero! I see my own people in her, in her desire to die as and where she lived–especially my mom and dad.
I so admire Moon’s ability to write very different kinds of books. She scratches so many of my readerly itches.
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames and The Aching God by Mike Shel are two very different books (one is fun and kind of silly and one is dark and pretty scary) but they both are about an old adventurer having to come out of retirement because a young woman (friend’s daughter or protagonist’s daughter) is in danger. The sequel to each book represents a transition to the young woman from each becoming the main protagonist of the story.
Bujold’s first two Chalion books (Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls) qualify, provided you consider mid to late 30-somethings to be middle aged (and I absolutely do, in the context of those excellent books). Both main characters had suffered serious life reversals and were able to re-emerge into heroic and satisfying adventures.
Also a special shout out to Brust’s Sethra Lavode, who personifies the goal of this essay of being elderly and kicking ass.
Since it’s not on the list I have to bring up A Crown for Cold Silver and sequels. Absolutely loved the premise of a woman who once took over a country now living a quiet life after faking her death, and when somebody ruins that quiet life she rolls up her sleeves to get right back into it. LOVE those books.
I’d really like to see more aftermath stories. There’s so many interesting ways to explore people and places with established history like that.
Also happy to see Throne of the Crescent Moon on a list! It’s such a fun book.
It seems to me that Watchmen touches on this theme also. Interesting essay, thanks!
Terry Pratchett’s Cohen, a toothless octogenarian hero deserves mention.
High on my list of such books featuring such character is Robert Jackson Bennett’s “City of Blades,” where one General Turyin Mulaghesh is induced to rouse herself out of her PTS-induced torpor to play the inspector-general; and does so with extreme prejudice!
It only just now occurs to me to wonder whose granny Granny Weatherwax is.
Another old protagonist: in Legend [1],
60+ yr old Druss the Deathwalker gets called out of retirement to try to defend Dros Delnoch against a half a million invading Nadir.
1: Also published by New Infinities as Against the Horde because Gygax.
Bujold’s Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen fits here, with one character widowed and considering what she wants from the second half of her life, and the other weighing career and family (and what a delight it was to have a male character making that decision!).
@9: As Equal Rites puts it: “[N]ot really my granny, just sort of everyone’s granny”.
Years ago, I wrote a novella about a middle-aged magic user whose adventure days had passed, and she was now a wife and mother who felt unneeded. Then a new adventure happened. My editor called, weeping, because I’d spoken to her own life in a fantasy setting usually meant for single loners and the young. Child Chosen Ones and warriors in their prime aren’t the only people who should be having adventures and saving the world.
Bujold’s Sharing knife series – we have the middle aged, widowed, and scarred protagonist finding new purpose, plus his boss aunt and other side characters not in the first blush of youth.
Miles Vorkosigan may qualify in the later books – Memory and after.
Janet Kagan’s Mirabile – protagonist’s age is not explicitly stated but she mentions being thirty years older than a trainee. Her boyfriend has adult children of his own.
Not a book but, Star Trek Picard is a very good version of this as well.
@10 Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen certainly has older characters, but it’s hard to characterize it as an adventure.
@@.-@ In Curse of Chalion, Cazaril isn’t so much older as he is badly worn. Ista is more so (Paladin of Souls was the first book I thought of when I saw the headline).
Sticking with Lois McMaster Bujold, I’d note that the male lead in her Sharing Knife books is in his 50s.
So happy to see Remnant Population getting some love. Great book.
I’m surprised that Essun from Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy has not come up yet in the conversation.
@9: “Granny” was a courtesy title for a village wisewoman, usually a midwife, often the only source of health care in a rural community. Of course, it’s only a courtesy if you’re from Granny’s village; for outsiders, she’s “Mistress Weatherwax” to you until you’re invited otherwise.
In that vein, I nominate Grandma Harken, from Ursula Vernon’s “Jackalope Wives” and “The Tomato Thief.” Like Granny Weatherwax, an old lady who you really don’t want to get on the bad side of, but if she takes up your cause, gods and monsters will not prevail against you.
Ahem. (sings) CI-CI-CIAPHAS CAIN, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, and certain fellow Commissars and Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum officers from the Warhammer 40K novels come to mind, as well as Malcador the Sigilite/Hero; Rylanor, the Ancient of Rites, loyalist Emperor’s Children Terminator (oh lord, when you just lay there, partially destroyed for years, to lay a trap to defeat your treacherous now-Daemon Primarch, and have your honor so impress members of the traitor Thousand Sons legion that are there that they assist you and somewhat redeem their souls…); and Bjorn the Fell-Handed, Space Wolves/Vlka Fenryka Terminator.
I join others in recommending Lois McMaster Bujold’s work, specifically Paladin of Souls which features a 40-something heroine on the road to find herself, and The Sharing Knife tetralogy, whose male lead is a disabled 50-something year old.
Just read Bujold in general, really – can’t go wrong.
@15 “In Curse of Chalion, Cazaril isn’t so much older as he is badly worn. Ista is more so (Paladin of Souls was the first book I thought of when I saw the headline).” The book says that Caz is 35 and Ista a few year older. I bet that both would consider themselves middle aged in their world (as well as badly worn, as you say).
“Sticking with Lois McMaster Bujold, I’d note that the male lead in her Sharing Knife books is in his 50s.” I thought about Dag for my earlier post above but he’d never stopped working and succeeding, so I didn’t consider him the kind of comeback story highlighted in the article. Of course, his life became refreshed and meaningful after Fawn entered his life, so I’m not fully disagreeing with you. Also strongly agree with your reference to all of the awesome old folk side characters.
I second the recommendation to read lots and lots and lots of Bujold. The more I think about it, even though when many of us think of the Vorkosigan series we think of young Miles, there are an awful lot of really excellent protagonists and supporting characters from the mid-30s on in those books who still kick ass. Miles himself from Memory onward, Ekaterin, Cordelia, Aral, Alys, Simon…
Cordelia in Shards of Honor certainly qualifies. She’s in her 40s,had career setbacks, and opens a new chapter in her life
The lucidor of Paul McAuley’s War of the Maps is an elderly gent on a voyage of revenge.
His world is a Dyson sphere surrounding our husk of a sun, and the titular maps refer not just to geography, but to the engineered DNA of its inhabitants.
There’s so little good sf being written nowadays, but McAuley is one of it’s ever rarer practitioners.
Nathan Lowell’s Tanyth Fairport series involves an older herbalist/healer going on a quest. The tagline for the first book is “You’re never too old to make a bad decision.”
Caught in Crystal by Patricia Wrede features a former adventurer, become an inn keeper, who gets called to complete some unfinished business. She (and her two tween/teen children) reluctantly head out and have adventures. Highly recommend
Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. A grudging dragonslayer who’s already done this, got the tshirt, doesn’t really look forward to more.
@26: Hambly also wrote the Sun Wolf and Starhawk series, about a mercenary undergoing a helluva midlife crisis. True, he is still successful and highly paid at the start of the first book, but he knows it can’t last.
Also, let it not be forgotten that Bilbo Baggins was an utterly predictable and respectable middle-aged never-was before he went there and back again.
Maskelle in Martha Wells’s Wheel of the Infinite. Her son is now ruler (but estranged). She’s been married a few times. Exiled, but now recalled to the capital for the Hundred Year Rite, she manages to pick up a hot younger swordsman. She has to use her power sparingly or it attracts demons but she’s pretty unafraid of anything.
@17–ooh, there’s another Grandma Harken story? I must try to find it forthwith. Love her in “Jackalope Wives.”
Remnant Population is one of my top five favorite SFF novels, for the reasons here stated. Glad to have some other suggestions from this post and comments!
Barbara Hambly’s Winterlands series (starting with Dragonsbane) starts with John Aversin, a retired Dragonslayer called back to service (because he’s the only one still alive) and shifts to Jenny the Sorceress, mother to their two children.
T. Kingfisher’s “The Tomato Thief” can be found here under “short stories”!
http://www.redwombatstudio.com/portfolio/writing/
Granny Weatherwax is an extraordinary character, but her friend and partner-in-mischief Gytha “Nanny” Ogg is very different yet also marvelous. A shamelessly bawdy sensualist despite age-induced lack of conventional beauty, matriarch of a vast family, fun-loving, amiable…and easily underestimated. A skilled witch, an adept manipulator, the best midwife in Discworld history, physically stong, keenly intelligent, a very useful ally and a formidable enemy. I want to be her, and I’ll never have the nerve. As one book says, “Nanny’s philosophy of life was to do what seemed like a good idea at the time, and do it as hard as possible. It had never let her down.”
@5: Yes! The Crimson Empire trilogy gets too little attention. Its characters are not only diverse in age (and cultural template), they’re one of the most LGBT-rich casts I’ve encountered. It grew on me as epic fantasy with an anachronistic potty mouth, although the vast amount of invertebrate-related squick merits a warning.
The second book in Scott Lynch’s excellent Gentlemen Bastards series, Red Seas under Red Skies, features middle-aged mom of two Zamira Drakasha, who just happens to be a butt-kicking pirate captain. Cross her at your peril.
Thomas Nightingale in the Rivers of London series. In first book he is emerging from a long quiet period, having been left diminished in a diminished world. In each book more is revealed and more magical ass is kicked. He develops as a character. Love his verbal wrangling with Peter. Wonderful character. Amazing books.
I also vote for Old Man’s War and The Hobbit :-).
I like the way Neal Stephenson deals with this in his Baroque Cycle, with all three protagonists aging over the course of the series. The evolution of the characters echoes the tumultuous period of history in which it’s set – very cleverly done.
Second or third on the Hobbit. And of course Aragorn was 88 and Frodo 50 at the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring.
Prospero (not the one you are thinking of) and Roger Bacon are two of my favorite middle aged heros. John Bellairs did a great job of capturing the feel of a long friendship in The Face in the Frost.
Another Bujold fan here. Just read her books because they are all good. I love Cordelia.
Tiger of the Sword Dancer series may not be real old but he has a lot of miles on him and his knees pop when stands up.
For light hearted fare I highly recommend the books of the Paranormal Women’s Fiction (PWF) group and all this new sub-genre they practically created. All of the books and authors have their own spin but all of them have mid-life women starting over and learning they have magic. These are fun reads for when you need a break from more serious works.
Ok, how did I not know Eddings had other series??? The Belgariad I haven’t read as many times as the author of the article, but more than once. I was unaware of Elizabeth Moon too. This article is an excellent example of why to read book lists: not to confirm that you’ve already read the best of something but rather that there are other books out there to discover (which one instinctively knows or at least hopes for) and look, here, we’ll tell you what they are. Thanks!
In The Second night of Summer, James H. Schmitz gives us Grandma Wannattel. She saves an entire planet from A) alien invasion and B) total extinction.
OTOH, we know nothing about her past. She may never have stopped kicking ass.
Edited to add:
Grandma Wannattel lives in the Agent of Vega series. She is a Zone Agent herself. Zone Agents are not a trouble-avoidant group.
Kij Johnson’s The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe follows a fifty-five year old college academic and ex-wanderer forced to go travelling again in search of an errant student.
I agree with #38– Within the Paranormal Women’s Fiction world there is a sub-genre called the Midlife Paranormal Women’s Fiction books, by JC Blake. They’re light weight, light hearted, and of varying quality, and come with titles such as “Hormones. Hexes, & Exes”. Then there’s “Silver Moon: A Wolves of Wolf’s Point Novel”, by Catherine Lundoff, in which the protagonist discovers that in addition to the expected hot flashes and vaginal dryness she’s also experiencing sudden hair growth, not to mention growth of fang and claw. Or there’s Samantha Bryant’s three book series that starts with “Going Through the Change”, about a group of four women leading normal, completely different lives, except that they’ve all used the same natural products made by the same company— and menopause has turned them into superheroes: one is now bulletproof, another can go completely weightless, and a third can shoot fire from her fingers.
And there are many more. Somehow, post-menopausal women are succeeding as protagonists in genre fantasy fiction, in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. I for one am happy to read about heroes who aren’t all 40 years younger than I!
K.F Breene’s Magical Midlife series is a fun one about a divorced woman in her 40s who finds herself the heir to one of the greatest magical powers on earth. It’s a fun set of books, the first couple better than the latest couple.
I also like Elizabeth Moon’s other books like the Serrano and Vatta series, where young women handle the action and the older women control all the finances and politics.
I’m part-way through Yolen & Snyder’s Except the Queen, in which a couple of Sidhe get tossed into human form as elderly women, and have to cope with not just the problems of being mortal but the fact that the elderly, especially elderly women, are ignored in our world. Not sure where it will go — but they are definitely both having learning experiences and surviving despite the strangeness.
@31: Holy frikkit, there’s a sequel to “The Jackalope Wife”! :)
@37. Shane
You beat me to it!!
The Face in the Frost is one of my absolute favorites. I reread it when I’m blue. And “Prospero (not the one you’re thinking of)” makes me giggle every time I read it.
Tea with the Black Dragon?
Anyone?
@48: Yes!
@17, @31: Ursula Vernon/T Kingfisher is excellent at unconventional protagonists. Halla in Swordheart is a middle aged and eminently pragmatic widow, and Sarkis is definitely past his best years (leaving aside the considerable number of years passed while, er, scabbarded). I’m very fond of both of them.
What about Croaker and his pals from Glen Cook’s Black Company? They most certainly fit the bill, don’t they?
Nancy Kress’ first novel, The Prince of Morning Bells (1981), features a Quest resumed after a decades-long detour, with its protagonist now in middle-age, with arthritic aches and personal loss to deal with.
A fabulous article, thanks! I have vastly extended my ‘to read’ list from your suggestions and the comments.
I did find both The Belgariad and the Elenium series and Sparhawk was a favourite childhood character.
I definitely want to add the excellent Burning Roses by S. L. Huang for consideration on this theme. The age and life-station of the protagonists are a huge part of why I loved it so much.
T Kingfisher’s fabulous Paladin books spring to mind for fantasy. For SF, my go-to will always be Bujold, especially the Cordelia trilogy.
Harry Connolly’s A Key, an Egg, and an Unexpected Remark has a wonderful middle aged protagonist!
Great list! Just want to add Elizabeth Bear’s Jenny Casey series — Hammered, Scardown and Worldwired — about a semi-bionic retired Special Forces warrior, kicking ass and saving a near-future world.
Elizabeth Moon’s Remnant Population is still one of my most favorite books.
As soon as I saw your title I thought, “Remnant Population! She’s gotta talk about Remnant Population!” And you did. :) I love that book.
Great list! Allow me to shout one more recommendation into the void of this week-old article:
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip.
I would nominate Tehanu by Ursula LeGuin, the 4th of the Earthsea series.
There’s Theo Waitley’s mother (Professor Kamele Waitly) & father (Jen Sar Kiladi) who each separately wind-up in interesting adventures. This is sort-of abetted by Theo growing up and leaving home. “Fledgling” by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. The beginning of a 5 book series. Part of the Liaden dramas.
@8 , City of Blades was my first thought when I saw the article title. Great series and she’s a great character.
How about Schmendrick and Molly in The Last Unicorn?
Duun in CJ Cherry’s Cuckoo’s Egg?
And Shoku in The Paladin, also by Cherryh?
I love his Twenty Palaces series but A Key An Egg and An Unfortunate Remark by Harry Connolly is on of my favorite books featuring mature main characters.
Of course Granny Weatherwax is my all time favorite and right behind her is Nanny.
@65 And Pyanfar of clan Hani in Pride of Chanur?
Love Remnant Population and Wyrd Sisters. I need to add some ot these others to my reading list, including The Bone Maker.
I like what Jasper Fforde is doing with the Thursday Next series, with her moving into middle-age and still continuing to risk all because there is a cause worth fighting for.
For anyone who has not read Pratchett (or who has forgotten about him) shame on you.
His novels are filled with decrepit (Cohen the Barbarian and his compatriots), old (Granny, Nanny Ogg. Vetinari the Patrician, and any number of senior wizards) and middle aged (Vimes, Sybil, Colon, and Nobbs among many). Few of his characters are teenagers or children. They talk about the problem of growing older and some even die of old age in the course of the books.
But it is rarely grim. Even the Grim Reaper (who speaks in all caps) is fun. As a whole, it’s about people trying to make it through their lives while Pratchett skewers every attitude and trope you can think of.
@65: I love Shoka, and I delight in the twist ending on the last page when the viewpoint briefly switches so we see him from [spoiler]’s perspective.
Mykkael in “To Ride Hell’s Chasm” by Janny Wurts. He’s grizzled old veteran whose body has aged and scarred and has all the aches of age, but he takes on demons and dragons and the trip down Hell’s Chasm to save the Princess of his Lord. Perfectly paced book, you wonder how they make it in the end – and the answer to that is just barely. She is an excellent fantasy writer.
I haven’t read all the comments, but has anyone mentioned Katharine Kerr’s Deverry series yet? The protagonist is an elderly magician and herb man named Nevyn. His life was unnaturally lengthened after making a foolish vow to set right a grievous mistake in his early training that took three lives. He follows those souls through numerous lives slowly untangling the threads of wyrd that bind them all, meanwhile getting deeply involved in the great cultural and political events of his world.
Ransom, the middle-aged philologist of C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, is worth a mention.
One notable omission is Tam al’Thor of Jordan/Sanderson’s Wheel of Time. The retired soldier and current farmer with serious skills that show up later in the series.
There comes a time when teenage protagonists just don’t relate anymore. I prefer books with mature main characters a lot of the time. The Time Shifters Chronicles by Shanna Lauffey is one I would recommend to any SFF fan. Time travel at will and a strong female protagonist who is old enough to know her own mind.
Edie Banister, in Nick Harkaway’s Angelmaker and the story “Edie Investigates”. Elderly woman with a glorious past. Physically slower, Edie remains an undiminished badass. A secondary character in the novel, but first in my heart.
It’s probably an oversight partly due to the incomprehensible lack of US publication rights that no-one has yet mentioned Lady Vincenza ‘Vintage’ de Grazon, explorer and major character in Jen William’s fantastic trilogy that starts with The Ninth Rain. Like the estimable Mulaghesh (one of my other favourites), Vintage does not suffer fools gladly.
Granny Weatherwax was never wicked. She is judgemental and very strong willed but she has standards to which she, mostly, adheres. Nanny Ogg, as mentioned above is no spring chicken and totally delightful. Some others include Pratchett’s Cohen the Barbarian, the older version of Sigmund Ausfaller in Niven and Lerner’s Ringworld prequel series, and Thraxas. Thraxas claims to be 43 but being the reliable narrator he is, there’s some doubt there. He certainly is just a bit crotchety and set in his ways. <g>
Not your traditional science fiction, but still with speculative elements (a brain-based network/virtual reality) one of my favorite middle-aged heroes (gender-neutral term) is Diane Henders’ Aydan Kelly, middle-aged bookkeeper and accidental spy), of the “Never Say Spy” series. As the tag line in the synopsis says, “Pity her enemies. Because nobody’s tougher than a middle-aged woman who wants her dream back.”
K.M. Herkes’ Rough Passages plays with the idea that adult roll into superpowers at middle age – which makes for some great stories and characters! She is releasing a second book in the series, Sharp Edge of Yesterday, in a few weeks – which is basically about a mom with superpowers who makes bureaucracy nervous. Great cast of characters and a must-read if you are a Mom! So many of the cast are moms!
Sherwood Smith’s story “Commando Bats” features three amazing old women.
After a couple of recent reads, wherein the protagonists were young girls/women, I found myself dissatisfied. Upon reflection, I came to the conclusion that I was weary of the young characters and decided to look for novels with older main characters. I want heroes closer to my age who are active, adventurous, brave, and with a sense of humour that refines with age. Your suggestions are timely.