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My least favorite thing: Love Triangles!
I have to admit, I don’t really like love triangles. Sure, I can admire a well constructed one, but in general, I like my romance to have a little more certainty. I hate spending a book unsure who she is really going to end up with, because the author is doing too good of a job of making both guys likeable. Granted though, you can usually tell who the “winner” will be, which also irks me when I like the other one better. Or even if I like who I’m sure the main pair will be, I feel so sorry for the leftover that I can’t help but be a little angry at the author and character for leaving the other one out.
And the thing I hate most about love triangles is that there seem to be only three ways to end them. (Here I’m only talking about love triangles where all three characters are real parts of the story, and this doesn’t count for unrequited love usually either.)
1. One of the competitors turns out to be evil/bad/too self-involved, some characteristic that makes it perfectly reasonable for the girl to say goodbye to him. Now, this can be well done where the main character has to make a decision about killing a former friend/lover, but in general it’s pretty obvious from the get-go to at least the audience that the love interest is going to turn out bad.
2. Another character is added into a mix who the leftover member of the love triangle can fall in love with. I like this option best, especially if I’ve grown to like the leftover person.
3. Leftover has to die. Typically saving main character’s life/allowing them to live. I hate this option. And now I’ve run into two books in the last month where I could tell pretty early on that that was where the book was headed. One of those books I put down, figuring I’ll pick it up later, the other was one I’m already invested in, so I have to finish it. But I’m almost happier to be prepared that he is going to die. Took me about half the book to figure it out, and I’m a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t realize it earlier. If you want to know what book it is, well, just think about what I’m all excited about just being released. Yeah. I’m invested, but I’ll probably cry when I get there. I did flip to the back of the book to make sure that what I thought was going to happen does happen. I’m mean to myself like that.
So, in general I don’t like love triangles. Every once in awhile one will come along that I think is so well written, so tragic, that I fall in love with it anyways. Wicked (musical) is like that for me, with Glinda, Fiyero, and Elphaba… but even that one has a somewhat tragic ending.
Love triangles just don’t seem to end well. -_-
**Edit -
So I must of misread something at the end of that book I was reading and second guy didn’t die. Though, there is one more book and I wouldn’t be suprised if he didn’t make it to the end. At least the girl finally seemed to have made her choice. Whidh is a little surprising cause I think the author likes the other guy better. So who knows, maybe the “winner” will die instead. Books sometimes pull that as well.
I’m with you! Love triangles are not my favorite, though I admit they have a way of pulling me into a story. I just want everyone to be happy!
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crichoux reply on September 24th, 2009:
I know! I want everyone happy too ;_;
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I’m glad I found your blog since I’m a big fan of YA fantasy (and a writer as well).
I hear what you’re saying, though I usually get sucked into a good romance–even if there is a love triangular. I do agree, though, that you’re stuck with three options and none of them are perfect. The second option you have is the best, because at least we are left feeling like everyone is happy. It seems a bit too easy if one of them dies. Kind of like the character Diana in the Anne of Green Gables series who would kill off characters in the stories she wrote when she didn’t know what to do with them anymore.
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crichoux reply on September 24th, 2009:
I don’t know if its too easy if one of them dies… but, yeah, it is kind of an easy way out to some degree.
Same with them suddenly falling in love with someone else - that has to be done right, or we end up not liking the character for changing affections too fast.
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Ah, another non-fan of those pesky love triangles! I nearly always hate them and when a book is headed that way, I try to avoid them, but sometimes you are too far in to pull away from the looming disaster.
And as for the love triangle, either the other significant other is so much better than the one that they end up with you want to slap that person silly for being so stupid, or they are so awful and disagreeable that you want to know why that person ever had any difficulty choosing (often happens with the ones that are revealed to be bad).
I really hate when they kill off the leftover saving the main. That is just so painful… Like in “Eyes Like Stars,” I have this bad feeling that they are going to try and throw a love triangle in and I so don’t want that.
Are you reading “Catching Fire”????
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crichoux reply on September 24th, 2009:
Yeah, I was reading Catching Fire.. thankfully, I misread the ending and nobody died. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the guys dies in the next book. Either that or magic love interest will come along to steal leftover’s affections. But, that would seem out of character for either guy.
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I know! I hate how one average girl is the one getting two brilliant guys she can’t choose between. It especially annoyes me in Catching Fire.
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