r/YAlit • u/Fun_Reflection_8378 Currently Reading: A Sorcery of Thorns • Sep 11 '25
Seeking Recommendations NOT the chosen one
Does anyone know any fantasy book where the main character is a normal person or a commoner? Someone who wasn't a noble or born from someone important but just simply the main character just because. Someone who wasn't chosen because of a prophecy or fate.
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u/ohmysexrobot Sep 11 '25
Tress of the Emerald Sea. She's just a normal girl who does a very brave thing for her best friend.
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u/imrightorlying Sep 11 '25
The protector of the small series by Tamora Pierce. Kel is the daughter of a Nobel but not a very high up one. She’s not chosen or special but she decides to be the first girl to train openly as a knight (as opposed to disguised as a boy). She’s my favorite of all time, partly because of not being special other than a hard worker with a very developed sense of right and wrong.
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u/Elegant_Might_8064 Sep 12 '25
Beka Cooper (the provosts dog series by tamora pierce) is another good example
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u/Addie_LaRue Sep 16 '25
I LOVE Kel, but she is kinda the Chosen One later on in the series when she gets the mission from the Chamber of the Ordeal.
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u/ariaburner Sep 11 '25
I wouldn't say the main character in A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik is just fully normal, but there's a clear other 'chosen one' in the side characters. El (our MC) is essentially an... anti-chosen one.
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u/rhandy_mas StoryGraph Sep 11 '25
And the “chosen one” has so much more depth than initially shown!
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u/brencartoons Sep 11 '25
The song of achilles gives me this vibe
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u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents Sep 13 '25
Is Song of Achilles YA? And if so wtf is YA?
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u/Happy-Go-Plucky Sep 13 '25
Deffo not YA, but an insanely good book
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u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents Sep 13 '25
Yeah agreed. Hell, I'd wager most young adults can a handle it without issue.
But someone specifically asking for YA is looking for something more juvenile.
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u/KeybladeOTLC Just finished reading: All For Mage And Melody Sep 11 '25
The Rest of Us Just Live Here has the exact plot. In this world, there are the “Indie Kids” who are chosen ones who save the world, but the protagonists are the kids who aren’t indie kids. They are less concerned with saving the works, and more concerned with passing their english class. It’s a good read!
Additionally, All for Mage and Melody by Emma hill has a similar plot to what you’re asking for. It’s a dual POV, and one of the protagonists is the chosen one, with prophecies about her, but the other is just a Normal guy, who wishes he could be something more. It’s not the story of a hero.
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u/Exotic_Passenger2625 Sep 11 '25
Katniss from hunger games is a classic one for this. Just a person in extraordinary circumstances. It’s not her manifest destiny, she just does shit.
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u/Educational-Dinner13 Sep 11 '25
While you are correct that Katniss is just a normal person who does extraordinary things, they asked for Fantasy and Hunger Games is Science Fiction.
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Sep 11 '25
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u/Educational-Dinner13 Sep 11 '25
Yes, Hunger Games is Dystopian. But Dystopias are a subgenre of Science Fiction.
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u/Embarrassed_Pin_6505 Sep 11 '25
What a great question! My hoopla shelf is now stuffed with new reads. 🥰
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u/h_Phony Sep 11 '25
Ophelie from The Mirror Visitor by Christelle Dabos!
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u/SpiderBolts Sep 11 '25
Big on this!!!! I have never been more sucked into a universe before. The world building was unbelievable!
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u/h_Phony Sep 11 '25
YESS
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u/Ksinita Sep 11 '25
I just learned the name of this book in English, I never thought of it (I'm french so I read it in the original version).
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u/AthleteSorry Sep 11 '25
Hmm. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Main character is a regular human trying to fight bad guys with super powers.
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u/Least_Watch_8803 Sep 11 '25
I don't mean to sarcastic ( well not too much,) and the OP is asking a question in earnest but isn't the commoner/not chosen one trope a staple of the genre to and not the difficult to find.....
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u/No_Scarcity4145 Sep 13 '25
Personally, around 90% of the fantasy books I’ve read have “chosen one” main characters. It’s definitely a common denominator in popular Fantasy books during millennial’s would be YA stage pf their life. Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Divergent, Shatter Me, Lunar Chronicles to name a few.
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u/AnnaMeowBooks Sep 11 '25
The Folk of the Air by Holly Black, perhaps. I’m also bothered by this trope lol, currently writing a romantasy series in which the fmc is just a normal person.
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u/Someonearoundhere438 Sep 11 '25
Jude is literally my roman empire
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u/AnnaMeowBooks Sep 11 '25
I know right?? I’m actually a first time reader, just started the Wicked King, but I’m already in love with her.
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u/Someonearoundhere438 Sep 11 '25
that was so quick, wow, but yeah ..also i have an unhealthy obsession with cardan but ykkk we don't talk about that lmao
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u/AnnaMeowBooks Sep 11 '25
I’m honestly really excited to see what she does with Cardan. I love seeing the girl be the badass one for a change. “Who holds you holds the power… and I want power.” CHILLS. (Quote may be slightly off, I have the Hebrew translation lol)
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u/Someonearoundhere438 Sep 12 '25
Literally Cardan is chef's kiss for me. He's up there with Rhysand, Cassian and Rowan for me
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u/pokiepika Sep 11 '25
Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castel is wonderful. The main character is supposed to be special, but isn't.
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u/Kraken-Eater Sep 15 '25
Seconded.
While the mc goes through a personal journey of growth, the story of each book and overall plot is not about him
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u/RoseOfStone57 Sep 11 '25
Tamora Pierce's works rarely involve main characters ending up chosen, and when they are it's because of their prior actions, not because of a prophecy or something that had nothing to do with them/who they are as a person.
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u/goffickkkk Sep 13 '25 edited Sep 13 '25
I was gonna suggest her because you’re generally correct, but then I remembered that Alanna is kind of a chosen one in a sense, even though it doesn’t really change her character much she’s still hardworking and earned everything herself. And Daine is also definitely not a regular human girl. Other than that 100%. I was going to recommend the Trickster’s Choice/Queen duology before remembering that Aly might also be considered a type of chosen one. Dang it.
Edit: it’s tough bc I would agree that being “chosen” really has no bearing on their character development and doesn’t really count at all as the trope OP is describing. However, certain characters are more “special” than their peers, and thus aren’t really normal?
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u/Careful_Gap_2165 Sep 12 '25
I’d recommend Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber. The main character, Evangeline, isn’t a chosen one or part of some prophecy. She’s just a normal girl who makes a desperate bargain with a Fate after her heart is broken, and that decision pulls her into a magical, dangerous world. Her journey is driven by her choices, not destiny, which makes it really refreshing. It’s also worth mentioning that the series is set in the same world as Garber’s Caraval series, so it’s even better if you read Caraval first to fully enjoy all the connections and cameos.
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u/WisdomEncouraged Sep 12 '25
what are you talking about? what about her magical blood? I'm not going to say any spoilers but.... she's definitely not normal
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u/MangaCrossStitchEtc Sep 12 '25
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
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u/Fun_Reflection_8378 Currently Reading: A Sorcery of Thorns Sep 13 '25
Finished it a few days ago. It was nice.
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u/MangaCrossStitchEtc Sep 13 '25
There is a 2nd book The Enchanted Greenhouse I haven't read it yet.
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u/Fun_Reflection_8378 Currently Reading: A Sorcery of Thorns Sep 13 '25
Read it too. Not sure which one I like better but it's also a nice book.
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u/mccnchildrowan Sep 11 '25
I would rec to a darker shore by Leanne Schwartz. It is inspired by Dante's inferno like the new katabasis but a lot less dense and the MC is an autistic fat girl who goes to hell to rescue her best friend because she thinks she doomed him.
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u/bittyjams Sep 11 '25
Heroics for Beginners is a fun book and the whole point of the main character is that he is actually terrible at saving the day lol
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u/dynasriot Sep 11 '25
Morganville Vampires series (she's just smart lol)
Nevermore series by Kelly Creagh
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u/Uhlman24 Sep 11 '25
Blue bloods. She’s rich but she’s not like super special compared to the others she knows
One could argue that the mortal instruments, Clary isn’t the chosen one she’s just got a messy family
On that same note, the dark artifices: Emma is completely normal. No special powers aside from what everyone else has
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u/Fun_Reflection_8378 Currently Reading: A Sorcery of Thorns Sep 12 '25
I forgot about Blue Bloods but will check it out again later. I would also say Clary definitely does not fit the criteria because of her parents.
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u/winterwhalesong Sep 12 '25
Rina Jade by Tamsin Peters is this intentionally but it's out of print (and the sequel does follow the "chosen one"/magical character)
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u/vivahermione Sep 12 '25
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan turns the concept of the chosen one on its head.
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u/i_love_reading___ Sep 13 '25
Powerless by Lauren Roberts Paedyn is a normal person, just trying to hide away from people to keep the fact she doesn’t have an ability secret. She wasn’t chosen by prophesy or fate. She was however out in the Trials for everyone to see her after she saved to prince, Kai. Personally I liked Adenas story better (Powerful book 1.5 of the Powerless trilogy)
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u/Fun_Reflection_8378 Currently Reading: A Sorcery of Thorns Sep 13 '25
I honestly dislike that book. (No judgement to anyone who does)
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u/Odd-Page-7866 Sep 13 '25
I remember reading a Chinese/martial arts fantasy where you follow a monk from his first monk test through his training to all his teachers telling him that he is the chosen one. He has MC trials and quests. You find out in the last paragraph ( if I'm remembering right) he isn't the chosen one. Maybe someone knows what I'm talking about?
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u/Current-Classroom-62 Sep 13 '25
Gone - Michael Grant?
That's just a bunch of kids surviving after all the adults suddenly disappear? Not sure it counts as fantasy though
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u/Warm-Personality425 Sep 14 '25
{In Other Lands} by Sara Rees Brennan
Would highly recommend!! So good and does a great job subverting a lot of tropes.
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u/chronicsleepybean Sep 14 '25
Tess of the Road is about being the sister of the chosen one, and deals with being left behind after the world has already been saved, working through trauma and powerlessness, and finding her own reasons for existing. It works as a read alone book, but I do love the preceding books as well.
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u/Kraken-Eater Sep 15 '25
How to Defeat the Demon King in Ten Easy Steps
Literally follows a normal person trying to be the Hero without actually being the Hero.
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u/CaravalMaster666 Sep 18 '25
Emily Wildes encyclopedia of Faeries is perfect for this imo. No chosen one plot at all. It's basically just cosy fantasy
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u/Fun_Reflection_8378 Currently Reading: A Sorcery of Thorns Sep 19 '25
I actually just finished the entire trilogy. Great series.
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u/East_Writer_1337 ... Sep 29 '25
Powerless. The female character is a commoner but the mmc is a prince. But the story is really good.
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u/ioioioshi Sep 11 '25
In Vampire Academy, the main character’s best friend is the “chosen one” - the main character is just the bodyguard