The Art of the Unreliable Narrator

An unreliable narrator refers to someone who misleads an audience through their storytelling. They may exaggerate or withhold certain details and present events in a way that suits their own perspective, tainting their credibility and taking the consumer through twists and turns on a deceptive journey. This narrative technique can be seen across genres in not just literature, but in film and television, too. 🖤

When it comes to literature, readers often begin books wholly trusting their narrators. As the conduit for the story, it can be easy to blindly believe their point of view, but sometimes authors want to challenge this faith and thus use an unreliable narrator to take advantage of it. Sometimes unreliable narrators are written as if they want to deceive the reader intentionally, but other times their unreliability be may unbeknownst even to them if their character doesn’t understand the full truth, has lost memories, or is otherwise biased.

A story’s unreliable narration may be made evident early on, with a delusional remark, an obviously false claim, or perhaps even a subtle suggestion that the character’s wellbeing is compromised. Or, the revelation may be deliberately delayed so it can be used like a plot twist for shock factor, consequently forcing the reader to reconsider everything they thought to be true.

There are many ways authors can approach writing a story with an unreliable narrator, and below are some of our fantasy favourites! 📖

✨ The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

‘I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me.’

In The Name of the Wind, Kvothe retells his own story to a chronicler, openly mythologising himself and forcing the reader to have to try and separate his grand persona from the truth.

🧜‍♀️ The Wicked Sea by Jordan Stephanie Gray

On the run from a dangerous captor and years of abuse, mermaid Zephyra of the Syl has shed her tail, grown legs, and hidden herself on land in the merrow-loathing kingdom of Mortia, left to steal and barter on the dirty streets. But her freedom is short-lived when she’s caught by brutal warlock, Arion, who offers her a deal she can’t refuse.

The Wicked Sea is dual POV, but it puts a unique spin on unreliable narration by beginning with an intriguing epigraph that states: ‘The story you are about to read is impossibly biased and objectively false. Names have remained unchanged for vengeance’s sake. Proceed with caution, and remember: Don’t believe a single word. Don’t trust a soul.’

🌊 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, and its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases and rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid, for he understands the tides and the pattern of the labyrinth itself, and he lives to explore the house. There is one other person, a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel.

In Piranesi, the main character lives in a boundless and beautiful house, but this isolation and his limited perception hides a dark reality.

👁️ Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal, and the world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to the 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, and so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war. Now, The Reestablishment starts think about Juliette differently, and she has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

Shatter Me’s main character spends time locked up inside an asylum, causing her perceptions and idea of reality to become fractured.

💭 The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer believes life can’t get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can. She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is. She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.

In The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the protagonist deals with post traumatic stress, making it difficult for both her and the reader to distinguish what’s true and what’s false.

💎 The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The king’s scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king’s prison. The magus is interested only in the thief’s abilities. What Gen is interested in is anyone’s guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.

The Thief is told from the perspective of a boastful young prisoner that claims he can steal anything, but his true motives are deeply hidden by his narration.

You can purchase the FairyLoot Exclusive Editions of the first 3 books in the series here.

🩸 The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven, and he watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. But his will is enacted through the Raven’s Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself, and his magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. Now, the power of the Raven is weakening, a usurper has claimed the throne, the kingdom borders are tested by invaders who long for the prosperity that Vastai boasts, and they have made their own alliances with other gods.

The Raven Tower is narrated by an immortal god who may not be able to lie directly, but is able to be strategic about what information is revealed and withheld.