Queen Levana, The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Levana is capable of mind-controlling others, and glamouring herself to appear more beautiful than she is. That, combined with her desire to murder the emperor, kill her family, and take over the world gives her a spot on the top 10.

Amarantha, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

She wears her worst enemy’s eye on a ring so that he can watch all the atrocities she commits after she killed him. You can’t say she isn’t original. Extra points for having all the men under her control and being the Fae Queen too.

Astrid and Athos Dane (The Dane Twins), A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab

Purely sadistic, cunning and terrifying, the Dane twins have an incredible amount of hard won power. I can’t quite pinpoint it, but something about them sends chills down the spine.

Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

No list of villains would be complete without this criminal mastermind, who needs no explanation. If you haven’t already read the original Sherlock Holmes stories, what are you waiting for?

President Snow, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Donald Sutherland portrays President Snow in a scene from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. Photograph: Murray Close/Lionsgate/AP

You have to be pretty heartless to send 12 children to their deaths every year. And the thing with the roses makes him scary in a less traditional way.

Natasha, The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

She forces someone who committed treason against her to marry her as a punishment, which is all kinds of creepy.

Thiago (The White Wolf), Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor

The things he does are horrific in so many ways, and Karou having to masquerade as him after what he does to her makes it so much worse.

Dolores Umbridge, the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

‘Every bit as reprehensible as Lord Voldemort’ ... Imelda Staunton (left) as Dolores Umbridge in the 2007 film adapatation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Photograph: Allstar/Warner Bros/Sportsphoto Ltd

Like the Apparat, Umbridge doesn’t even admit to being evil. She hides behind pink and kittens, and terrifies us a lot more than Voldemort, the main villain of the series, because of how easily she gets away with what she does.

Men in general, Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill

Because of how far they must have had to go to let things get to the stage they have got to in the book.

The Apparat, the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

So it was a tough choice between the Apparat and the Darkling, who are each brilliant villains in their own right. However the Apparat hides his true intentions behind religion, and pretends to be a friend to Alina when in reality, he is just as bad as the Darkling.

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