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Series you were disappointed with...


ProfessorMLyon

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Was out and saw Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts, and realized that I never finished reading her series Wars of Light and Shadow. I can remember reading the first book and think it was pretty good with an interesting premise, but that the books that followed were pretty dull and long-winded.

Have any of you books or series like that, where they start pretty strong but by the end you just have no desire to keep going?

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Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams (Despised this but kept going just in case the ending was good. It wasn't.)

The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb (Interesting premise and was fairly interesting, unlike MST, but the ending was not the best.)

Sword of Truth series, as mentioned. I liked the first book but I just couldn't finish the series. I'm not even sure what book I ended at...somewhere around 10 I think.

Edited by Thor
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The Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

^ this ^

I read the first one, and i everyone keeps telling me i need to read more before it gets good, but I just can't read 'em. Reading the first one felt like a chore. I had high expectations for it, too, because a lot of people talk good about these books are.

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Thomas Covenent the Unbeliever. I am about 60% of the way through the first book and I can't make myself finish it. I am so bored. I think if I read this book when it came out in the 1970s, it would be new and fresh and I would like it. However, today it seems like it is really generic. All the fantasy tone stories and just the prose bores me to tears. I don't think it is a fair criticism, since the stuff that bothers me about it is that it seems generic. However, it probably seems generic because so many other authors have copied him.

I still can't make myself finish the book.

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Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams (Despised this but kept going just in case the ending was good. It wasn't.)

The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb (Interesting premise and was fairly interesting, unlike MST, but the ending was not the best.)

Sword of Truth series, as mentioned. I liked the first book but I just couldn't finish the series. I'm not even sure what book I ended at...somewhere around 10 I think.

I didn't like the way the Farseer trilogy ended either, but it's actually a trilogy of trilogies. The next one is the Liveship Traders series (which doesn't have Fitz, but has a different character from the first set in them), and then is the Tawny Man trilogy, which picks up with Fitz and the Fool and everyone else you know and love, and it actually ends much better than the first trilogy, in my opinion.

And in reply to Joe ST, I actually loved the Hunger Games, but I didn't care for her other series, Gregor the Overlander. I liked the books themselves, but I hated the way it ended.

Edited by Scattered
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I really disliked Hunger Games. It had so much potential, plotwise and all, but I was simply horrified at the graphic violence. I never read the second, but I hear it gets worse. And I garuantee the movie will be more bloody than the book, because Hollywood is just like that.

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Malazan Book of the Fallen was ok series for me, but it had a few moments that really derailed the story for me (especially the Felisin fiasco)

The relatively recent series that I have disliked was the one that started by Mazerunner, which was recommended (i think) on the Brandons blog. The ending was.. ridiculous.

Sword of Truth, oh yes, sword of truth. I got to book 5, I think, when the series lost any semblance of sense altogether. They seemed to invent a new power per a book, too.

Never read "Hunger Games", but assume from the name that they would suck for me.

Can't recall any others at the moment.

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Guest Jacob Santos

I really disliked Hunger Games. It had so much potential, plotwise and all, but I was simply horrified at the graphic violence. I never read the second, but I hear it gets worse. And I garuantee the movie will be more bloody than the book, because Hollywood is just like that.

LOL. I disliked Hunger Games for the exact opposite reason. It wasn't graphic enough. I guess I'm a little spoiled with Battle Royale, where almost every character gets a death scene and some even get a backstory so you feel for them more.

What I didn't like about Hunger Games is as follows:

1. Romantic Novel Good Grief, you already know she is going to go with the nice boy. What is the point of her swooning over the "bad boy" archetype, when 90% of teen romantic novels has the female characters going after the "nice boy" archetype. I did like it when the "nice boy" archetype finally calls out Kat's BS and she totally realizes too late that she is a total female dog. I LOLed.

2. Much like Battle Royale, except I don't care about the characters. It was pretty mellow as far as death scenes go. I'm sure I believe the author when she says she has no idea nor never read any of the dozen or so similar concepts her books draw upon. If you compare her book to the others in that subgenre of teens or preteens murdering each other for sport or adult humor, then her series isn't all that great.

The depths of Lord of the Flies, Battle Royale for example encompasses the human condition and envisions the fear of being pushed in to a situation where you are mostly a fish out of water and the only ending is one of death. I did not feel that fear when reading (listening) to Hunger Games. I felt, (hindsight bias, the other books were already out by the time I started the series) no fear in that the character would survive. I knew it. Of course, I mean I've read Fearless and was constantly disappointed when the female character wasn't beaten to death and laid in some alley some where to bleed out.

3. Unrealistic It is actually conceivable that a larger group of people could overpower the smaller district given, however as the book states, most of the military hardware and might is buddy buddy with the capital district and therefore would be the majority of the people you would want on your side.

1984 book puts it much more simply, a people who are subverted remain subverted unless they have an incentive to put down their lives or their lives are already in jeopardy. In Battle Royale, certainly the parents were upset and some fought back (expanded universe), but they were easily killed or imprisoned. It doesn't affect enough of the people as a whole to really matter. Which is alluded to in the book as well, but war sucks and it consumes a lot of people's lives. A lot less people die in the games than in a war.

The series also suffers from scope problems. I think some things were taken from 1984 without realizing why they were that way.

Well, I can and do overlook these flaws based on the fact that the setting is interesting, the emotions are powerful and it is "clean" enough that I can recommend the book to others without the third chapter causing them to vomit.

Shannara series for me was a disappointment. Well, I would recommend the first book, it was... slow during some parts, but still enjoyable. It was a different take on magic that I had not experienced until I started reading Earthsea and other "limited magic" fantasy series. I have read the immediate prequel (was quite good) and immediate trilogy or 4 book series afterwards (might have skipped a book).

Oh Wheel of Time was disappointing as well. However, I'm getting back into it and will give it another attempt. I'm hoping the audio version is better. With Kate Reading and Kramer, I'm sure it will be.

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I don't want to turn this into a Hunger Games thread, so I'll keep this short and spoiler-free. I loved it for these reasons:

1. A protagonist that isn't constantly trying to be noble or do the right thing. She's in it to survive, no question about it, and anyone that gets in her way better watch out. She also doesn't spend a lot of time feeling sorry for herself, which happens in fantasy novels quite a bit these days.

2. As far as love triangles go, there's almost no swooning at all. In book one, her feelings are barely mentioned. In books 2 and 3 it becomes a larger issue, but it always takes a backseat to whatever goal she's trying to accomplish. There are other things going on in the novel besides "which boy will she pick?". Also, the boys in question aren't constantly snapping and snarling at each other, which is refreshing.

3. The Capitol. I think it's extremely realistic to have a group of people so desensitized that they can watch this and relish it every year, without ever thinking about what it means to the people involved. Some of my favorite parts were the scenes that showed the character growth in Katniss' prep team.

Did anyone read The Magicians by Lev Grossman? That was another one that I didn't like the ending.

Edited by Scattered
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Like Satsuoni mentioned, The Mazerunner series. I thought they started good and I was looking forward to the last book, but it completely killed the series for me. And The Wheel of Time series is good, but I felt that the current 13 books is a little overdoing it.

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Riverword series. I really liked the first book and the concept of the books. I didn't like where the author went with the series. I also didn't like the moral angle they gave to it. I read these several years ago, so I may not remember it exactly. I would have liked it more if it was darker and the riverworld was a big zoo or something.

Malazan Book. I only read the first one and got very bored. The guys at the Elitist Book reviews really liked them. Probably just taste difference. I can't put a finger on what I don't like about it other than it didn't engage me. There was one character who talked funny, that alot of people liked who just bored me. I believe I read that the series gets better with book 3. I may read more at some point in the future.

Lord Fouls Bane: I am 60% of the way through the first book and cannot make myself finish it. Being reading it off and on for 2 years. It bores me to tears. I think it bores me because the writing style is too fantasy generic. People telling epic tales nad such. Plus the good vs. evil thing is too rigid. That being said, if I read the book in the 1970s when it first came out before being exposed to more modern fantasy I probably would have really liked it. That being said, I thought the beginning was GREAT. The whole idea of a guy with leprosy as a hero character was a great idea. Most fantasy books make heroes out of people who are great physical specimen. Well alot of people get sick or diseases through no fault of their own. They can be engaging characters also.

Edited by guess
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I don't want to turn this into a Hunger Games thread, so I'll keep this short and spoiler-free. I loved it for these reasons:

1. A protagonist that isn't constantly trying to be noble or do the right thing. She's in it to survive, no question about it, and anyone that gets in her way better watch out. She also doesn't spend a lot of time feeling sorry for herself, which happens in fantasy novels quite a bit these days.

2. As far as love triangles go, there's almost no swooning at all. In book one, her feelings are barely mentioned. In books 2 and 3 it becomes a larger issue, but it always takes a backseat to whatever goal she's trying to accomplish. There are other things going on in the novel besides "which boy will she pick?". Also, the boys in question aren't constantly snapping and snarling at each other, which is refreshing.

3. The Capitol. I think it's extremely realistic to have a group of people so desensitized that they can watch this and relish it every year, without ever thinking about what it means to the people involved. Some of my favorite parts were the scenes that showed the character growth in Katniss' prep team.

Did anyone read The Magicians by Lev Grossman? That was another one that I didn't like the ending.

I liked the first one to a point. The second one seemed to be a rehash of the first one. Ok, lets go back to the arena. We already did that... how about exploring something else.

I agree with your points, my only disagreement is that it is a Children's book and those are written for a younger audience. I have not read Lev Grossman yet, but I have heard great things about it. However, isn't that adult fiction? I generally avoid children's books because I just don't like the style (I didn't like them when I was a kid either), but I read the Hunger Games due to all the publicity. I wanted to see what it was about. I have not gotten to the 3rd one yet, but I'll finish it. I am not real hopeful. That being said, I think children's books should be measured in the context of what they are trying to do. I don't think Collins could have done what you wanted with a book for kids.

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I agree with your point about rehashing the arena, I thought it was a strange move too, but the whole experience of it is really so different, and everyone's motivations are different, so it didn't really bother me. Plus it's a necessary step leading to the events in book 3, which is a whole different animal.

Lev Grossman is adult fiction, and the book is great, I just thought it had a depressing ending. Although there is a sequel out now, so maybe that will improve things.

The Blade Itself trilogy was even more disappointing. I loved the books all the way through - I couldn't wait to see how everything was going to work out. But then nothing worked out and it was completely awful. I have never been so disappointed by a book series before. I actually gave them away because I know I will never want to read them again.

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Sword of Truth. LOL. "Awesome! We saved the world again! ... Oh shoot! In saving the world we have just doomed it by inadvertently starting something far worse!" I kinda liked the ending. But man that stupid Chainfire story arc... Ugh... On the other hand, in Faith of the Fallen it was kind of interesting to see from Nicci's viewpoint, even if the book made it appear that Goodkind sort of ripped off Atlas Shrugged... Then again, I didn't really like Atlas Shrugged so I guess that doesn't really bother me :P

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It was actually the Internet that ruined Sword of Truth for me. I read it when I was young and impressionable and not very widely read, and I loved every book up to book 4 (the last I read). Then I made the mistake of reading reviews on book 5 when it came out...and I realized that all of the haters were pretty much spot on, and it changed my perception of everything I had read, and now I won't touch them with a 29.5' pole.

As for series that disappointed me...the Liveship Trilogy by Robin Hobb. It came very highly recommended by people whose opinions I trust, and it was well written I suppose, but I just didn't like any of the characters. Well, there was *one* character I liked, but that's not enough to carry a whole series. I finished the trilogy mostly because I was hoping things might get better, but they didn't.

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As for series that disappointed me...the Liveship Trilogy by Robin Hobb. It came very highly recommended by people whose opinions I trust, and it was well written I suppose, but I just didn't like any of the characters. Well, there was *one* character I liked, but that's not enough to carry a whole series. I finished the trilogy mostly because I was hoping things might get better, but they didn't.

Did you read the Farseer trilogy and Tawny Man trilogy too? I'm not sure who the one character you liked was, but there is one character from Liveship that shows up in both the other trilogies, which take place in a different part of the country with different characters.

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Eragon, so much for me. Eragon was my first real obession back in 4th grade. My friends and I acted out scenes on the playground and I regularly used the Ancient language. But Eldest was so bluh that I didn't even read the last two.

Maximum Ride still hurts. The first three are so awesome, and still some of my favorite books of all time. But from The Final Warning on? It's like badly written save-the-planet fanfiction. But published. With the author's name on it. Uuuuuuggggggghhhhhh. I nearly cried after reading The Final Warning it was so bad. I felt like I'd been betrayed, that someone had taken these awesome characters that I loved and raped their personalities and plots. Uuuugggggggghhhhh again.

I've also been regularly dissapointed by quite a few YA novels. The Mortal Instruments and its spin-off The Infernal Devices for one. I read Incarceron and was dissapointed, never picked up Saphique. There's more but I can't really remember all of them. I tend to forget things I don't like.

RE: The Hunger Games

I was a fan of the series, and I'm planning on going to the midnight premiere and enjoying myself thouroughly, but I have to say Farla's "Let's Read" of the series was incredibly enlightening. She picks apart quite a bit of what's wrong with the series and it's incredibly entertaining to read. I'd encourage both fans and haters of the series to check her out.

Here's the first chapter: http://farla.livejournal.com/274937.html

And here's the rest: http://farla.livejournal.com/?skip=20&tag=hunger%20games

Edited by FeatherWriter
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Did you read the Farseer trilogy and Tawny Man trilogy too?

No to the first, and no to the second.

I'm not sure who the one character you liked was, but there is one character from Liveship that shows up in both the other trilogies, which take place in a different part of the country with different characters.

The monk kid. I forget his name.

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Lev Grossman is adult fiction, and the book is great, I just thought it had a depressing ending. Although there is a sequel out now, so maybe that will improve things.

The Blade Itself trilogy was even more disappointing. I loved the books all the way through - I couldn't wait to see how everything was going to work out. But then nothing worked out and it was completely awful. I have never been so disappointed by a book series before. I actually gave them away because I know I will never want to read them again.

The sequel to The Magicians is just as good, with an even more depressing ending. Read it, though.

I haven't been able to get through the second book of The Blade Itself. I just don't care enough about anyone in the story or what the story is even about, and excellent writing can only take you so far. Malazan had this exact same issue, except without the excellent writing. But then, my feelings on Malazan have been well-documented on other parts of the site.

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Ryan - well, I don't remember the monk kid, but it's not him. If you didn't like Liveship Traders you probably won't like the others either, but they definitely have a different feel to them, I think.

Shivertongue - I actually just started The Magician King this morning. That sucks about the depressing ending, but if it's as good as the first like you say, at least it will be worth the read.

I know exactly what you mean about Malazan. I have never felt that way about any other series of books, where I just didn't care about anyone or anything the author was talking about. At least in The Blade Itself I kind of liked Logan and Glokta, but Logan's story didn't have a payoff at all, and Glokta's wasn't worth the time I put into reading it.

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I know exactly what you mean about Malazan. I have never felt that way about any other series of books, where I just didn't care about anyone or anything the author was talking about. At least in The Blade Itself I kind of liked Logan and Glokta, but Logan's story didn't have a payoff at all, and Glokta's wasn't worth the time I put into reading it.

I've heard things about the second and third book of Blade Itself that have let me know I won't enjoy them. Some might claim my tastes are less refined for that reason, but I will - and have - argued that "bleak" and "dark" do not equal "refined". And I honestly don't care if I'm not reading stuff for "grown-ups" (which is what I've heard Malazan fans claim, as they degrade those who don't put Erikson on a pedestal). I read for entertainment.

Okay, cutting myself off now before I go into a rant.

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