Unreliable Narrators in SFF

[Lord Snow]

My interest was sparked by a discussion of the narrator of the Amber series (by Roger Zelazny), who may or may not be an unreliable narrator .

I find the subject of unreliable narration to be enticing and dangerous in the same time (Great to date in high school, but not really marriage material). It could add a lot to a story, but done wrong, it could also just make everything confusing and annoying. It also raises some meta-questions about the entire concept of first person writing - most people use it as just a stylistic choice,but then some other people expect you to start suspecting everything their characters say when they tell the story in first person.

So I'm curious - what interesting and remarkable SFF books use the unreliable narrator? I know Kvothe is one in The Name Of The Wind, and so is the doctor from Black Company. Anyone else?

[MMCJawa]

Alistair Reynolds frequently relies on some variation of this trope in his science fiction works

Some of the POVs in Song of Ice and Fire probably fit this as well.

[Judy Bauer]

Among Others by Jo Walton fits this, if I remember correctly. And in her more recent book, My Real Children, the main character has two distinct sets of memories about how her life and world events played out, and is trying desperately to disentangle them.

[Kalshane]

While I have read and enjoyed books with a (theoretically) unreliable narrator, I'm not a huge fan of the concept. When the narrator in question is your only view into the world of the book (which is the case in almost all first-person stories) it seems unfair to the reader for them not to receive the full or correct story. It's like having to walk around with blinders or fish-eye goggles on.

[Drejk]

Glen Cook: Garret, P. I. series.

[Krensky]

Most of Gene Wolf. Certainly the Book of the New Sun and the Soldier series.

The Hyperion Cantos, especially the first two books.

[Werthead]

The Kingkiller Chronicles. There's hints throughout the first two books that Kvothe is basically making half this stuff up, which is why he tends to focus on mundane things in his detailed recollecting and the heroic, big stuff he's famous more he skates over more quickly (as if being embarassed by it).

[TimD]

Pretty sure the Dresden Files qualify.

[Lord Snow]

TimD wrote:

Pretty sure the Dresden Files qualify.

D'ho, of course! I knew that.

Quote:

My Real Children, the main character has two distinct sets of memories about how her life and world events played out, and is trying desperately to disentangle them.

Huh, that's neat.

[GeraintElberion]

The Worldwound Gambit, if I remember correctly...

[John Woodford]

Steve Brust's Vlad Taltos books. Also, arguably, the Khaavren books. Comparing the two gets interesting. Properly done, unreliable narration illuminates the character of the narrator in a way that's tough to do otherwise. Improperly done, well, any sufficiently unreliable narrator is indistinguishable from bad plotting/worldbuilding.

[Krensky]

Not all of the Dhragea books have an unreliable narrator. Certainly the Kharaven Romances are, and the books talking about parts of Vlad's life in exile might be, but a lot of the series isn't unreliable narrator, it's non-omniscient narrator.

An unreliable narrator is (or might be) lying, decieving, or prevaricating to the reader. A narrator who doesn't know everything is not an unreliable one.

[Hitdice]

I nominate The Prestige by Christopher Priest. (The book, not the movie.)

[Werthead]

Christopher Priest's novels don't really have unreliable narrators, more like unreliable universes (although THE PRESTIGE is probably the most straightforward book he's ever written) :)

[Hitdice]

Werthead wrote:

Christopher Priest's novels don't really have unreliable narrators, more like unreliable universes (although THE PRESTIGE is probably the most straightforward book he's ever written) :)

I'm not saying you're wrong, but given Alfred Borden's journal, you know? (No, I don't dare even spoiler it.)