Literature/Awesome: Difference between revisions

 

 

* [[Anathem/Awesome|Anathem]]

* [[A Series of Unfortunate Events/Awesome|A Series of Unfortunate Events]]

* [[The Baroque Cycle/Awesome|The Baroque Cycle]]

* The Bas-Lag Cycle:

** [[Perdido Street Station/Awesome|Perdido Street Station]]

* [[Belgariad/Awesome|Belgariad]]

* [[Berserker (Literature)/Awesome|Berserker]]

* [[Beyond the Western Sea/Awesome|Beyond the Western Sea]]

* [[Black Company/Awesome|Black Company]]

* [[Bolo/Awesome|Bolo]]

* [[Chalion/Awesome|Chalion]]

* [[Chrestomanci/Awesome|Chrestomanci]]

* [[The Chronicles of Narnia/Awesome|The Chronicles of Narnia]]

** [[Prince Caspian/Awesome|Prince Caspian]]

** [[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader/Awesome|The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]

** [[The Magicians Nephew/Awesome|The Magicians Nephew]]

** [[The Last Battle/Awesome|The Last Battle]]

* [[Cold Comfort Farm/Awesome|Cold Comfort Farm]]

* [[Conan the Barbarian/Awesome|Conan the Barbarian]]

* [[The Dalemark Quartet/Awesome|The Dalemark Quartet]]

* [[Dark Lord of Derkholm/Awesome|Dark Lord of Derkholm]]

* [[The Dark Tower/Awesome|The Dark Tower]]

* [[Deverry/Awesome|Deverry]]

* [[Dragonfly the Next Guardian/Awesome|Dragonfly the Next Guardian]]

* [[Eighth Doctor Adventures/Awesome|Eighth Doctor Adventures]]

* [[The Elenium/Awesome|The Elenium]]

* [[Ella Enchanted/Awesome|Ella Enchanted]]

* [[The Firebringer Trilogy/Awesome|The Firebringer Trilogy]]

* [[Gotrek and Felix/Awesome|Gotrek and Felix]]

* [[Graceling/Awesome|Graceling]]

* [[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Awesome|Harry Potter]]

* [[Hexwood/Awesome|Hexwood]]

* [[Holes/Awesome|Holes]]

* [[Immortals After Dark/Awesome|Immortals After Dark]]

* [[Jack Reacher/Awesome|Jack Reacher]]

* [[Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell/Awesome|Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell]]

* [[The Kalevala/Awesome|The Kalevala]]

* [[Kate Daniels/Awesome|Kate Daniels]]

* [[Liaden Universe/Awesome|Liaden Universe]]

* [[The Lovely Bones/Awesome|The Lovely Bones]]

* [[Malazan Book of the Fallen/Awesome|Malazan Book of the Fallen]]

* [[Mary Poppins/Awesome|Mary Poppins]]

* [[Matthew Reilly/Awesome|Matthew Reilly]]

* [[Mortal Engines/Awesome|Mortal Engines]]

* [[Nightside/Awesome|Nightside]]

* [[Odd Thomas/Awesome|Odd Thomas]]

* [[On Stranger Tides/Awesome|On Stranger Tides]]

* [[Over the Wine Dark Sea/Awesome|Over the Wine Dark Sea]]

* [[The Phantom Tollbooth/Awesome|The Phantom Tollbooth]]

* [[The Princess Diaries/Awesome|The Princess Diaries]]

* [[Redwall/Awesome|Redwall]]

* [[Rivers of London/Awesome|Rivers of London]]

* [[1632/Awesome|Sixteen Thirty Two]]

* [[Snow Crash/Awesome|Snow Crash]]

* [[Soon I Will Be Invincible/Awesome|Soon I Will Be Invincible]]

* [[Sword of Truth/Awesome|Sword of Truth]]

* [[Temeraire/Awesome|Temeraire]]

* [[The Thirty-Nine Steps/Awesome|The Thirty-Nine Steps]] and sequels

* [[To Kill a Mockingbird/Awesome|To Kill a Mockingbird]]

* [[Tom Clancy/Awesome|Tom Clancy]]

* [[Trylle Trilogy/Awesome|Trylle Trilogy]]

* [[The Vampire Diaries/Awesome|The Vampire Diaries]]

* [[Virgin New Adventures/Awesome|Virgin New Adventures]]

** [[Horus Heresy/Awesome|Horus Heresy]]

* [[Wars of Light and Shadow/Awesome|Wars of Light and Shadow]]

 

 

* If you thought Dave Bowman owned in the movie, you should see how he survived HAL's attack in the book.

 

* In ''Heroes Die'', {{spoiler|Caine's [[The Slow Walk|Slow Walk]] onto the arena sand to confront Ma'elkoth and rescue Pallas Ril (a.k.a. his wife Shanna), which results in an epic battle, the brutal killing of Berne, Caine taking a sword through the gut, and Pallas Ril [[Taking a Level In Badass|Taking A Level In]] [[A Gof Am I|Goddess]]. It ends with the traitor Lamorak getting his head cut off by his own sword and punted into the hands of Ma'elkoth, who inadvertently reveals the conspiracy to betray Shanna in the first place, ultimately vindicating Caine and ruining his treacherous boss's career.}}

** And before that {{spoiler|Talaan}}'s [[You Shall Not Pass]] [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. Even if you thought that was stupid, you have to admit {{spoiler|she}} went out ''fucking hardcore''.

** And his line in the Shaft: ''"I will move my fucking legs."''

*** The entire escape from the Shaft and conquest of the Donjon is an extended Moment of Awesome for Caine. ''"They'd told you I'd die down there! I told you I'd be back! '''WHAT'S RULE TWO?'''"''

** Later, in the same novel, when confronted by Caine in the Khryllian prison, he responds with scorn to the possibility of his death in trial by combat. When Caine tries to make him back down by pulling rank as the ''kwatcharr'' of the Black Knives, Orbek growls at Caine, ''a man feared by 90% of the population on two planets'', [[What the Hell, Hero?|and asks him if he's lost his fucking mind.]]

 

* In the first book, one character has to fight off a Celtic god, despite being A) not entirely in command of his magic powers and B) cursed with death by occult pneumonia. OK, he dies, but he already knew that would happen. And then, he gets to ''come [[Back From the Dead|back]]''.

** The second series gets more of these ('cos it's set [[After the End]], where there are more opportunities for badassitude). One character gets the power of the Morrigan (Celtic patron goddess of [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Guys]] and [[Badass|Badasses]]), and proceeds to use them to single-handedly kill a hundred-strong neo-feudal/organized crime syndicate in Birmingham (including the fracking ''psychopathic demon'' they had in the basement).

== [[China Mieville]] ==

* In ''[[Perdido Street Station]]'', how Isaac kills the Slake-Moths. {{spoiler|After discovering that they eat minds, he rigs up a [[Magitek|crisis engine]] to combine the logical computer-consciousness of the Construct Council with the insane mind of New Crobuzon's Weaver and ''amplify'' them, creating what amounts to a giant honey-trap - all while fighting off the New Crobozon Militia.}}

** Which is arguably less awesome than his {{spoiler|apparently having orchestrated their going there in the first place, as well as the resistance.}} And then there's his big showdown with the Brucolac...

 

== [[Clive Cussler]] ==

* ''

 

* Despite being known better for writing [[Funny Moments]] rather than Moments of Awesome, there ''is'' a notable example in ''Nicholas Nickleby''. [[Boarding School of Horrors|After weeks of observing and enduring countless abuses]], our titular character finally loses his temper and intervenes when a crippled, possibly mentally stunted and horribly abused runaway is about to be flogged. He then promptly gives [[Sadist Teacher|Headmaster Squeers]] the most well-deserved beating of his life, stopping only ''after his arm gets tired.''

 

* The climax of ''Inside the Illusion'' really takes the cake for the whole series. Senna Wales, the witch who has been previously [[The Chessmaster|pulling all the strings]] and [[Manipulative Bastard|guiding the other characters along]] has the tables turned on her when {{spoiler|her mother, Anica Wales}} makes a deal with Merlin to capture her. Their plan is to {{spoiler|lure Senna out in the streets of Egypt at night, separating her from the others of the group who could potentially help her, forcing her to confront them alone,}} leaving her to {{spoiler|face Merlin, a mage even stronger than she is and with a thousand years of experience, with Senna's mother there to lend ''her'' witch powers in case Merlin somehow fails}} while {{spoiler|the entire city they're in is under the control of the Amazons, who are allied with Senna's mother.}} And just to make totally and completely sure that Senna has no escape and is caught like a rat in a trap, {{spoiler|Merlin brings a dragon to the party for back-up.}} And then what happens? {{spoiler|Senna, [[Magnificent Bastard]] that she is, instantly readjusts her plans, fools them both, uses Christopher as a decoy, tricks Merlin into wasting his magic, uses all of her powers as a witch and a gateway to their full extent, and ''she wins.'' The battle ends with Merlin exhausted and running in defeat, his dragon ''dead'', the Amazons driven from Egypt with their queen no longer among the living, and Anica begging her daughter for forgiveness. Basically, Senna faced two mages who are [[Crazy Prepared]] and vastly more experienced than herself, with no prior warning or prep time, and thwarted them. ''She's that good at [[Xanatos Speed Chess]]''.}} After the confrontation is over, {{spoiler|Senna}} is heavily exhausted by clearly enjoying the victory, and comments to {{spoiler|Anica}}, "You underestimated me." If that isn't a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for the whole book, or ''the entire series'', then it's hard to imagine what is.

** Doubles as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for Sobek, the crocodile god Senna talks into invading Egypt, and [[Psycho for Hire|Keith]] the neo-Nazi punk she uses to {{spoiler|slay Merlin's Dragon}}. Merlin gets his own back in Book 11 when he, solely through the use of illusion and his [[Master of Disguise]] abilities, {{spoiler|completely derails Senna's plans to take over Everworld, by causing her to shoot her own men, and ignore the assassin in their midst. It should be noted that he does all this, ''after'' Senna and her thugs have taken complete control of Ireland and are holding the entire cast at gunpoint, and without ever physically or magically confronting Senna}}. Some fans hate the scene because they view it as [[Character Derailment]] for Senna, but it's definitely a personal Moment of Awesome for old man Merlin.

* [[The Hero|David's]] personal crowning moment comes when he, while in a hopeless situation and less than a day away from dying, convinces [[Noble Demon|Nidhoggr]], a [[Kaiju]]-esque dragon to help him, flies the gigantic beast over to Fairyland, helps him avoid the death trap set up for him, and simultaneously saves everyone's lives while resolving all of their problems. The same incident marks the first time in the books that he did something despite Senna's disapproval (which is very hard for him, given that she practically has him brainwashed).

 

Well, Mr Keats. I would accept the challenge!

 

* ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' has a cottage industry of Moments of Awesome: The Leap of Beren. Lúthien beating Sauron and Morgoth. Túrin Turambar slaying the dragon (and in ''Unfinished Tales'', visiting his aunt in occupied Hithlum). Fingolfin's battle with Morgoth. Glorfindel fighting the Balrog. Fingon's fall. And above all, [[Badass Normal|Húrin of the House of Hador]], [[Badass|the last of the Free Peoples standing]] on the battlefield of the Ni­rnaeth Arnoediad, wielding an axe two-handed. Every time he slew ([[Charles Atlas Superpower|and he was getting stuck into the trolls by this point]]) he shouted "The day shall come again!" He shouted this seventy times.

*** Húrin's Moment of Awesome comes when he {{spoiler|meets his wife at the grave of their children}}. She asks him what took him so long and he sums up decades of being tortured by Morgoth with "It was a long road. I have come as I could." Now that is badass.

** Fëanor's speeches - hell, Fëanor in general - are, if possible, ''subverted'' Moments of Awesome. They would be textbook Moments of Awesome, except that he's hot-tempered, ruthless, completely obsessed with revenge and his Silmarils, and at least a little crazy. Things don't go very well for his followers, not to mention their neighbors...

** Exley, Vincennes and White putting together the truth - {{spoiler|the connections between the hooker killings, ''Fleur De Lis'', the smut books, Mickey Cohen's mob goons, Sid Hudgens' murder, the involvement of Dieterling and Preston Exley, and the kicker, "Captain Dudley Liam Smith for the Nite Owl"}} - and Exley's promise to White that if he keeps quiet about {{spoiler|Preston Exley's involvement}}, he'll let White kill {{spoiler|Dudley}}. Scary Captain Ed, indeed.

** Bud White tarnishing Exley's reputation by leaking new leads in the Nite Owl case to a scandal rag.

* ''White Jazz'' is basically one big one for its main character Dave Klein, who despite having everyone in the world and their mothers after him manages to not only survive, but save the lives of all his loved ones as well, quite a rarity in Ellroy's work. And then at the very end of the book he casually murders the remaining villains almost as an afterthought.

 

* Wrath of a Mad God has one for Pug where he {{spoiler|opens a Rift in front of Kelewan's moon and a second one in front of an emerging Dread Lord resulting in a Colony Drop destroying the entire Planet.}}

 

(When things with these books are spoiler-tagged, ''you do not want them spoiled''.)

* In ''The King of Attolia'', the title king {{spoiler|Eugenides}} is considered by most of his people to be an idiot, a usurper and a barbarian. His attendants live to play pranks on him, egged on by Sejanus, a favored younger son of the most powerful baron. Then their helpless, inept monarch proceeds to {{spoiler|reveal that he knows who exactly is responsible for each of the pranks pulled on him, drive Sejanus to confess to regicide ''in front of the attendants'' who have just been placed in a very compromising position by ''him'', and exile Sejanus' older brother, thereby bringing an end to the house of the most powerful baron in Attolia}}. Then, a few minutes later, he and his queen have a discussion that reveals that {{spoiler|he promised to destroy the baron in six months and did it in 98 days}}.

* Swordsmaster Jose Maria is a [[Technical Pacifist]], sworn never to harm any human. But that only applies to ''humans'', so when he gets cornered by the Gorgon swarm which killed his wife, he demonstrates exactly how deserving he is of the title of master.

 

* Edward killing {{spoiler|Victoria}} in ''Eclipse''. This was awesome because Edward never does anything violent (as in kicking someone's ass onscreen) and is usually very kind and controlled. He used his powers to manipulate both villains and then ripped Victoria's head. Pretty awesome.

* Edward saving Bella from the rapists with his volvo.

* The Sacrifice of HMS Thunderchild, {{spoiler|the battleship destroys two martian vessels at the cost of itself and her crew just to allow a few refugee vessels to escape. Although London has fallen to the Martians, they are now shown to be not invincible}}

 

* The ''Worldwar'' series is full of such moments. ''Colonization'', not as much.

** The crew of Dora, a Nazi railgun, shows that [[Not So Invincible After All|The Race isn't unstoppable]] in the best way possible. By blowing up two of their spacecraft. The best part of it was when the perspective hopped to the [[Smug Snake|Lizards]] on board discovering that [[Oh Crap|their antimissile system won't work on an oversized artillery shell]]. One has enough time to regret invading Earth.

* And who could forget Rhiow in ''The Book of Night With Moon''? "WHAT HAS BECOME OF MY CHILDREN?"

 

** The culmination of Phaethon's ''massive'' [[Plan]], in which he sucessfully outmaneuvers every single person, character, and institution that opposed him, usually without knowing what he was doing.

** The Solar Array (a supercollider built ''around the equator of the sun'').

** Helios Prime's [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: staying behind on the Array when even [[A Is]] fled and being burnt to death, but defeating a monster solar storm singlehandedly and saving {{spoiler|his son's life}} in the process.

** Daphne Tercius getting over her own trauma and inferority complexes, and [[Percussive Maintenence|rebooting]] Phaethon from his [[Heroic BSOD]]. Also a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]].

** Amelia Windrose Earhardt-- after a failed escape attempt has left her and her friends imprisoned, fitted with [[Restraining Bolt]], and under constant watch prior to recieving another dose of [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]], {{spoiler|Uses [[Flaw Exploitation]] ''on herself'' to ensure that the memory wipe won't hold.}}

** The entire last half of the third book; Colin discovering [[The Power of Rock]]; Victor's true form revealed; {{spoiler|Echidna's}} [[Mama Bear]] rampage, in which she takes on ...

{{quote| Pendrake: "Maybe these supernatural beings are pretty tough. Let's see how the magic of modern science stands up to them. I have the Presidential emergency launch device in my car and can code in new targets. The bad guys foolishly disabled their own ability to override the launch signal. I can hit any spot on the planet. Let's nuke Acheron.}}

** {{spoiler|Merlin}} revoking the powers of a [[Physical God]] insisting that, contrary to all evidence, [[Humans Are Bastards]]--and telling him to sit down and shut up until they're ready to deal with him.

** In ''Tai-Pan'', Culum Struan had a Crowning Moment at the very end of the book when {{spoiler|he orders his late father's Big Guy to go aboard his father's nemesis's flagship and ''fetch'' his fiancée.}}

** And Jamie McFay had one in ''Gai-Jin'' just after {{spoiler|Malcolm's death}} when he confronts Norbert Greyforth and {{spoiler|punches him right in the face for insulting Malcolm.}}

* Patrick O'Brian's ''[[Aubrey-Maturin]]'' series has a number of moments for both its protagonists over their twenty-book run: Jack Aubrey winning various spectacular sea battles, Stephen Maturin wrecking the entire French intelligence system, and so on and so forth, but to this troper, the best Moment of Awesome goes to Jack's fussy steward Preserved Killick in book nine, ''Treason's Harbor'': while marching across a desert in the Middle East (long story) Jack and his crew are confronted by a group of Bedouins who {{spoiler|steal their camels by inciting them to run away, except that Killick grabs the legs of the one with Jack's personal effects and gets half trampled to death restraining it, afterwards crying "I served the bugger out."}}

** Not to mention Stephen saving the ship from being killed by a horde of hostile Spaniards the crew couldn't have dreamed of fighting off. How? By asking the Spanish captain if he had a doctor on board who was familiar with [[The Black Death|the plague]]. Needless to say, the ship was ''not'' boarded.

* In ''The Rosetta Key'' By William Dietrich, Ethan Gage, after being shot at with his own gun by his nemesis Najac, fights his way through an entire Napoleonic French Platoon with nothing but a metal bar in less then 60 seconds, and then surving as Najac fires on him at point blank range - with the ramrod still in the barrel. Gage survives and proceeds to use the ramrod in his chest to pierce the other mans heart - {{spoiler|Of course, the only reason he survived the ramrod was because it had hit a gold cylinder he had kept in his shirt.}}.

* Roughly speaking, [[Vernor Vinge]]'s novel ''A Deepness in the Sky'' ends in two massive Crowning Moments of Awesome - first for Pham Nuwen, then for {{spoiler|the Spiders}}

* And also when Captain Yvette Deladrier does the impossible and stops a space ship to wait for some incoming troops. "If the Almighty ever needs someone's help to keep the stars in their courses, I know where He can look."

* ''[[The Icemark Chronicles]]'', an awesome trilogy of books which doesn't get nearly enough love, has more than a few. One that springs to mind is Tharaman-Thar, the King of the Snow Leopards, surviving a huge explosion and going on to ''wrestle a Triceratops to death.''

** Pretty much everything Oskan ever did. He has shown his willingness to die for his home and his loved ones no less than once per book if my memory is accurate. In the first book, he calls down lightning to kill a portion of the invading army that was about to kill Thirrin, despite {{spoiler|knowing full well it would probably kill him.}} When the allies arrive, his ringing of the bell and alerting the defenders of this fact is so awesome it moves this troper to tears. In the third book, when {{spoiler|death finally comes for him, he accepts it with unrivaled dignity, greeting it warmly, as if a friend.}}

* In the ''[[Tom Swift]]'' IV novel "Mind Games", Tom and company are playtesting a new computer-assisted Tabletop RPG, "Galaxy Masters"; unfortunately, the DM playing the villain Dedstorm is a [[Munchkin]] supreme, and he has the tactics to back up his blowhard demeanor. In the grand finale, Tom hits upon two [[Game Breaker|GameBreakers]] that turn the entire game around (and expose some nasty problems with the game mechanics): he destroys one of the game's [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]], both of which are needed for the villain to win (but only one is required for the heroes), and when the heroes are backed into a corner by Dedstorm's legion of Energy Wraiths, with Tom's lone weapon short on power, he comes up with an unorthodox combination of function cylinders (that basically involves ''duct-taping them together'' in order to circumvent the fact that they're not supposed to be ''turned backwards'') that turns the weapon into an energy vacuum, sucking up the Wraiths and recharging his gun. When the DM realizes Tom has him beat, he leaves the table, whining "it's just a stupid game".

* In [[Stephen King]]'s ''Firestarter,'' Charle McGee getting shot at... and ''vaporizing the bullet in midair'' just before she does the same to the man who fired it. She then proceeds to prove to her captors just how bad an idea it was to mess with a pyrokinetic. The whole scene ends with her sinking her power into a lake, evaporating it, and looking through the steam at the hazed-over sun. She briefly fears she may have affected it directly, but reassures herself that she couldn't possibly do that. And then, a little voice deep inside her says, ''not '''yet''' you can't.''

** An illustration of Andy being awesome. After Andy utters his threat, the chief rapist tells him, "You do anything like that, and I'll put all eight inches of this steel in your ear. Got it?" This is Andy's response--''and he's smiling when he says this'':

{{quote| "I understood what you said. I don't think you understood ''me''. I'm going to bite whatever you stick into my mouth. You can put that razor into my brain, I guess, but you should know that a sudden serious brain injury causes the victim to simultaneously urinate, defecate...and bite down." *pause* "In fact, I understand that the bite reflex is sometimes so strong that the victim's jaws have to be pried open with a crowbar or a jackhandle."}}

* In ''[[Thursday Next|Lost in a Good Book]]'', Thursday is put on trial for changing the ending of ''[[Jane Eyre]]'' in the previous book... in the courtroom from Kafka's ''The Trial'', a place whose bureaucratic ridiculousness is specifically designed to not allow the defendant a chance in hell to go free. However, Thursday puts everyone off guard by not fighting the court's incompetence as she is meant to, but conceding every single point the prosecution makes, starting from when it gets her name wrong. This causes so much confusion that eventually the prosecuting attorney is arrested, and with no one to prosecute Thursday's trial is delayed and sent to another court. Given that this turns out to be the court of the Queen of Hearts from ''Alice in Wonderland'' this doesn't do her much good, but that one moment is beautiful.

** Later in the novel, after {{spoiler|she brings Acheron out of his prison in ''[[Edgae Allen Poe|The Raven]]'' in order to rescue her husband}}, Thursday gets locked in a room without any writing whatsoever, so that she can't escape into the BookWorld. [[Great Expectations|Miss Haversham]] comes into the real world looking for her, and gets her out by reading the washing directions on the label of Thursday's pants.

* The (currently mostly obscure) novels of WWI-era Scottish writer John Buchan have these in spades. Apart from [[The Thirty-Nine Steps/Awesome|his most famous novel and its sequels]],

** In ''Salute to Adventurers'', the pirate Red Ringan demolishes a band of thugs...while disguised as a Quaker.

* ''One Thousand and One Nights'' is perhaps the only time a Moment of Awesome appears in the [[Framing Device]]. Sheherazade single-handedly averts the murderous rage of the King by telling him a story which ends on a [[Cliff Hanger]] so enticing that he has to keep her alive so he can hear the ending. Then she does it ''a thousand more times'' until he is cured of his hatred of women.

* In the second book of [[The Inheritance Trilogy]], ''Eldest'', a minor character from the first book, ''Eragon'', proves his awsomeness by not only rallying the village into taking up arms against a squad of trained military soldiers and a pair of human-like condors who eat flesh, but afterwards convinces nearly the ''entire village'' to abandon their home, march over freezing mountains, steal a cargo ship from a guarded city, sail through a whirlpool, and join a rebel movement. This troper sometimes opens the book just to read his parts of the story!

** Sloan's calling out Eragon in ''Brisingr'' is a truly magnificent [[What the Hell, Hero?]] moment, and Eragon's reaction subtracts the "Heroic" part from the [[Heroic Sociopath]] normally associated with him.

*** Elva gets a similar moment later on in the book. Of course, she, like Sloan, is also treated as unlikeable because of it.

* The Heritage/Legacy/Inheritance trilogies (no, not THAT Inheritance Trilogy) by Ian Douglas are pretty much ever-escalating Crowning Moments for humanity and the Xul. First, the Xul manage to rule the galaxy for ''ten million years'' after obliterating the rulers before them. Humanity goes to war against them and manages to avoid being completely wiped out of existence. {{spoiler|Then humanity discovers that the Xul have a Dyson Cloud around the ''black hole at the center of the Milky Way''. Humanity's response is to ''hit it with a star''.}}

* [[Father Brown]] in his first appearance. At the beginning of the story {{spoiler|he is seemingly kidnapped by Flambeau, the biggest criminal in Europe who is after a blue jewelled cross that Father Brown is transporting. At the end of the story, Father Brown reveals that not only is he not carrying the cross (he switched parcels so it is now winging its way in safety to Rome) and not only did he purposely orchestrate events of the story in order to allow the police to follow them but also that Father Brown knows every villainous trick that Flambeau knows and then some from just listening to criminals in confession. The story ends with a pre-Wayne's World moment of 'we are not worthy' from not only Flambeau but also France's leading detective}}

* John Grisham's ''The Runaway Jury'' is a Moment of Awesome "Marlee" and "Nicholas" have been planning for years. They basically destroy the tobacco industry's stock value in one fell swoop.

* [[James Patterson]]'s ''Cat and Mouse'': "Look at this can of Coke. Ordinary can of Coke. ''Your'' Coke, Simon."

* ''[[The Lies of Locke Lamora]]'': where to start? {{spoiler|Locke escaping from the Duke's spymaster while ten stories up a tower filled with secret police who know who he is? The brutal [[To the Pain]] he deals out to the Falconer? The final duel with the Gray King? Or hey, let's talk about how he pulled off a con by ''telling the mark exactly what was going on''.}} And to give someone besides Locke credit, there's {{spoiler|Jean killing the Berangias twins, two women who make their living fighting ''sharks''.}}

** I'm gonna go with {{spoiler|punching an old lady in the teeth.}} He had reasons, but really, the action just sorta stands on its own.

** He also gets one just a few minutes before, where he convinces nearly all of {{spoiler|Gustavo}}'s men into abandoning him and getting the hell out -- all while entirely unarmed and undoubtedly outgunned. Then, when {{spoiler|Gustavo}} responds by trying to his head off with a shotgun, Luck takes it like the classy sonabitch he is just to see the look on his face [[Healing Factor|when he comes back up]] thirty seconds later.

* [[The Saga of Darren Shan]], in ''Killers of the Dawn'' when {{spoiler|fighting Steve, the Lord of the vampaneze and Gannen, Mr.Crepsley ''does a backflip onto a bar, feet above a pit of flames and stakes, with his enamies right behind him.'' And it swiftly rolls into [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]]...}}

* In Peter F. Hamilton's ''[[Nights Dawn|Night's Dawn]]'' trilogy, spacecraft cannot operate their FTL jump-drive within any significant gravitational field. Trapped deep inside a gas giant planet's gravity well with the hounds of hell at his heels, Our Hero {{spoiler|Captain Joshua Calvert}} cheats this limitation by {{spoiler|hitting the switch as he flies through the Lagrange L1 point, where the planet's gravity is exactly cancelled out by the nearest large moon. He is nicknamed "Lagrange" Calvert thereafter.}}

* ''[[Gods Debris]]''. Every. Single. Sentence.

* In the second book of R.A. Salvatore's "The Cleric's Quintet", we've spent a book and a half without seeing magic from the supposed cleric hero. As he's holding in the guts of a friend that just saved his life along with the life of the prince, he attempts to heal for the first time. Nothing happens and he yells to his god "Damn you Denir if you don't help me now!"

{{quote| '''Zeus''': '''DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY BEFORE YOU AND YOUR SPECIES DIE?'''<br />

'''Achilles''': Surrender now, and we'll spare your goddesses's lives so that they can be our slaves and courtesans. }}

** Elphaba gets several, though they are dwarfed by the failures she often grieves over.

*** Freeing the Cowardly Lion Cub.

*** Killing Madame Morrible (Erm, maybe).

*** Inspiring enough people to create the [[Arc Words]] for the rest of the series: "Elphaba Lives."

** Arguably, the whole battle against the Chechens and others is one big [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for all the Keldara.

** Captain Kacey Bathlick is doing supply/ambulance duty via helo for the embattled Keldara troops when she gets her new keldara crew chief blasted in two by a 12.7mm bullet flying over a high pass guarded by three bunkers occupied by hostiles. In response she gets in the other helo, which has been rigged with a full weapons system, goes back to the pass and utterly annihilates the bunkers and the men manning them to the point where all that is left is three smoking craters. While playing metal on the external speakers.

* [[Pride and Prejudice And Zombies]] has one in pretty much every zombie attack, but perhaps the biggest doesn't involve them at all: Elizabeth, her Chinese combat training having been disparaged by Lady Catherine, faces off against three of the Lady's Japanese ninjas. She blindfolds herself before the match and promptly kills all three of them, including strangling one with his own intestines and ripping out another one's heart and taking a bite.

* Mariam in Khaled Hosseini's ''A Thousand Splendid Suns'' get's one when she {{spoiler|stops Rasheed from strangling Laila by finally giving that [[Complete Monster]] what's been coming to him every single goddamn moment he's been in the book, and killing him once for all. And then, she manages to top it by surrendering herself to the Taliban police, getting herself executed, so that Laila could escape with her children and live with Tariq in Pakistan, managing a Moment of Awesome and a [[Tear Jerker]] at the same time.}}

* Tad Williams' ''Tailchaser's Song'' - Tailchaser almost single-pawedly takes on one of feline kind's three ''gods'' in his quest to merely be reunited with his mate Hushpad.

* Everything Jack Shaftoe does in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy? And Eliza with the harpoon, and what about the duel at the Tower of London?

** ''By Heresies Distressed'' gives us the last stand of Empress Sharleyan's Imperial Guard, fighting and dying to the last man to protect Sharleyan's life, being given cover fire by Sharleyan herself, and delaying the attempted assassins long enough for Merlin to arrive on the scene and save the Empress and the Guard's sole survivor.

** ''A Mighty Fortress'' gives us Madame Ahnzhelyk Phonda, who successfully smuggled over 200 potential victims of the Inquisition to safety, some right out of the temple city of Zion, by a combination of [[Crazy Prepared|Crazy Preparedness]] and a level of [[Refuge in Audacity]] that left Cayleb "almost reverent." The first stage of this plan: Smuggle people aboard iceboats carrying shipping with Grand Inquisitor Clyntahn's name on it, ensuring that nobody would dare disturb it.

* [[The Dragon|Dionys McCannock]] tries to [[I Shall Taunt You|taunt Edmund Talbot]], in the climactic battle of ''[[Council Wars|There Will Be Dragons]]'', but it's brushed aside by Talbot, who then replies with an epic verbal smackdown, quite [[Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] in nature, all the while dancing around the attempted blows by an increasingly infuriated Dionys. (What, you thought I was going to mention [[Marty Stu|Herzer]]?)

* ''Have Courage, Hazel Green!'' has a brilliant Moment of Awesome in the courtyard scene.

** "The Other has played its knight." Followed shortly by a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] in Orlando and Sam's reunion.

** The entirety of the "Star over Louisiana" chapter, when the Other finally shows Felix Jongleur just exactly what it thinks of him and his schemes by executing one of the greatest {{spoiler|[[Death From Above]]}} moments in literary history.

{{quote| "I have sent for your, sir, to ask you to sell me your ship."<br />

"No! by all the devils, no!"<br />

* In [[Vampire Academy]], even though Dimitri {{spoiler|turns Strigoi and Rose thinks she kills him}} he manages to send her a letter including {{spoiler|the stake that Rose stabbed him with, and Strigoi can't even TOUCH stakes}} and promises that Rose would see him again. Definately a Crowning Moment of Badass for our little Dimka.

* The ''[[Kitty Norville]]'' series is relatively restrained when it comes to Crowning Moments, but still earns a few.

* [[Wicked Lovely|"There won't be another girl."]] Awesome because {{spoiler|after spending the majority of the book running away from being the Summer Queen, knowing that if she takes up the staff and isn't [[The Chosen One]] she's doomed to be [[An Ice Person]] possibly for eternity, she takes her rightful place on the throne on her own terms. Also doubles as an [[Awesome Moment of Crowning]].}}

* The short story "The Man At the Table" by C.B. Gilford features a wonderful Awesome Moment. Byron Duquay is sitting at a card table, preparing for guests, when an escaped killer, Rick Masden, enters his home. Duquay convices Masden to sit at the opposite end of the table for a drink. Masden demands money and the keys to Duquay's car. Duquay says he will give Masden neither, and then proceeds to tell him that if Masden attempts to get up with his knife, Duquay will upend the table on him and grab his own, larger knife. Masden is a clearly less muscular than Duquay, and at a disadvantage in a physical fight. Masden quickly realizes that Duquay was expecting company, and that Duquay is trying to delay him until help can arrive, which Duquay admits calmly. They reach an arrangement where Masden will leave his knife behind and leave empty-handed. It is just then that the other guests arrive, and Masden is apprehended. {{spoiler|[[Batman Gambit|we learn that delaying Masden wasn't Duquay's real gambit. Bluffing him into thinking that he could and would fight Masden was. Duquay was paralyzed from the waist down, unable to stand. His wife had placed him in the chair earlier so he would feel like less of an invalid when playing cards with his friends.]] }}

** Odysseus, has a military crowning moment when he kills over 100 armed and armored men by himself in Book 22 of ''The Odyssey''. His intellectual crowning moment is his cunning escape from the man-eating cyclops in Book 9 (although he can't help having a "[[Badass Boast]]" moment, revealing his real identity and alerting the cyclops's daddy, Poseidon, to his naughty ways).

** In Chapter 14 of the Odyssey, Juno asks Sleep (Hypnos) to put Jupiter to, well sleep for her. He recounts what happened the last time he did that--namely, Zeus woke up, realized what had happened, and was about to drown Sleep when Night (Nyx, Sleep's mom) steps in. And Zeus is so afraid to do anything that might piss Night off that he backs off. How cool is that?

* In [[Beverly Cleary|Henry and Ribsy]], Henry lands a 29-pound salmon with his ''bare hands''. If that's not awesome, I don't know what is.

* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''The Star Beast'', [[Badass Bureaucrat|Under Secretary Kiku]]'s negotiations with the Hroshii.