Books You Had to Put Down

[Elegy he/him]

To add to the Painted Man discussion, I dropped it after the first book and it seems I haven't missed much. It's been a while, but I remember the author randomly deciding to have horrible things happen to main characters without any set-up or reason, which is, imo, the antithesis of good storytelling. It's one of my least favorite fantasy books ever.

I'm also sick of hyper sexist fantasy worlds as an excuse to portray gratuitous violence against women - it's overused and tiring and doesn't add anything new to a genre that is widely regarded to have sexist tendencies anyway.

[Weltall]

Dan Brown's Lost Symbol. I'd read his earlier books mostly to see what all the fuss was about and didn't particularly enjoy them but still finished them, though I probably shouldn't have. But when it came to that one I just gave up around halfway through and didn't touch it or any of his other books again.

And... I'm sure there have been others (both of the 'had to stop period' and 'needed a few minutes before I could keep going' types) but for some reason I just can't think of any right now.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Weltall

[Snorkel]

I twice tried to read The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks.  It didn't grab me.  And it did seem awfully derivative.

I also couldn't get into Anne McCaffrey's Dragon-thingy series.  I feel bad about it, because Brandon keeps recommending her books.  I recall getting to a point where the main lady gets slapped across the face for something really minor, and then it's treated as though that's a totally acceptable way for people to behave.  Nope, I was done with THAT!

[Dunkum he/him]

26 minutes ago, Snorkel said:

I twice tried to read The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks.  It didn't grab me.  And it did seem awfully derivative.

I've read a bunch of his, and honestly, Sword of Shannara is very derivative.  Elfstones is a bit better, and wishsong better still.  The first of them I read were the Scions of Shannara series, so going back to read the older books was sort of like reading history and backstory of those later ones

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

On 8/31/2020 at 1:29 PM, revelryintheart said:

I also had to put down Dune Messiah (book 2 of the Dune series). I loved the first book, and was excited to read the rest of the series, but there was this really weird plot where someone was trying to get the main character to have a kid with his sister. So yeah I stopped after that

I got through that one, but I dropped book three, because it gets even weirder from there.

[Elegy he/him]

Edit: Oops, this comment was originally meant for the "Books you're reading" topic. 

Anyway, regarding stopping mid-series (rather than mid-book), I've never read Wise Man's Fear, despite liking (although not loving) Name of the Wind. I generally like to read series when the last book is in sight (......), plus what I read about the tropes in there really made me not want to read it... I do respect Rothfuss' writing though.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Elegy

[Dunkum he/him]

12 hours ago, Spren of Kindness said:

I got through that one, but I dropped book three, because it gets even weirder from there.

I made it through book 3, and yea, it gets weird, but I was advised not to even bother with anything after that.  I did later go read some plot summaries on books 4-6 and....they somehow get even weirder.

[Snorkel]

10 hours ago, Elegy said:

Edit: Oops, this comment was originally meant for the "Books you're reading" topic. 

Anyway, regarding stopping mid-series (rather than mid-book), I've never read Wise Man's Fear, despite liking (although not loving) Name of the Wind. I generally like to read series when the last book is in sight (......), plus what I read about the tropes in there really made me not want to read it... I do respect Rothfuss' writing though.

I need to re-read those now. So many people have been put off by the naughty scene, and I just remember it as being quite short, bland and non-gratuitious.

[jamesbondsmith He/him]

One of the main ones I remember is Dracula

Spoiler

when Lucy's mother chucked out all the garlic because it smelled funny and 'oh she looks so much better'. Gee, I wonder why she felt better with a bunch of garlic hanging in her room with a vampire on the loose (granted, it's not as if she knew, but still).

Another which may not be popular in a Brandon Sanderson fan forum is Wheel of Time. I stopped reading partway through the first one because I couldn't stand what I call the 'storm you nah storm you nah storm you' style of narrative conflict. No-one can agree on anything, everyone else is obviously lying or just plain stupid, and it's all ridiculously petty. I keep wondering if I should try again, but other things get my attention.

[Shard of Reading he/him]

Personally the only book that I could not finish for the life of me was a series of unfortunate events. It was just so weird.

[Condensation she/her]

I had to put all of the books down, I can't hold them forever!

[Chasmgoat he/him]

I had to put down my book, He was sick and was not going to last long.

[Dunkum he/him]

1 hour ago, jamesbondsmith said:

One of the main ones I remember is Dracula

  Reveal hidden contents

when Lucy's mother chucked out all the garlic because it smelled funny and 'oh she looks so much better'. Gee, I wonder why she felt better with a bunch of garlic hanging in her room with a vampire on the loose (granted, it's not as if she knew, but still).

Another which may not be popular in a Brandon Sanderson fan forum is Wheel of Time. I stopped reading partway through the first one because I couldn't stand what I call the 'storm you nah storm you nah storm you' style of narrative conflict. No-one can agree on anything, everyone else is obviously lying or just plain stupid, and it's all ridiculously petty. I keep wondering if I should try again, but other things get my attention.

that sort of thing never quite stops.  im in book 13 of my reread, and there are still people doing that, so if you couldnt stomach it early on, it is only going to get worse.

[Iarwainiel I she/her]

@Condensation and @Chasmgoat -

@Elegy you and I agree on a whole bunch of these books!

[Condensation she/her]

1 minute ago, Iarwainiel said:

@Condensation and @Chasmgoat -

@Elegy you and I agree on a whole bunch of these books!

*theatre bow* Thank you very much!

[Chasmgoat he/him]

36 minutes ago, Iarwainiel said:

@Condensation and @Chasmgoat -

@Elegy you and I agree on a whole bunch of these books!

So were three of those emojis for me and 3 for Condensation (can I call you Connie @Condensation ) or were 5 for me or what?

[Condensation she/her]

1 minute ago, Chasmgoat said:

So were three of those emojis for me and 3 for Condensation (can I call you Connie @Condensation ) or were 5 for me or what?

Yes, you may. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a nap. See you tomorrow.  Just kidding, I'll be back in... less than 3 hours.

[Chasmgoat he/him]

Just now, Condensation said:

Yes, you may. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a nap. See you tomorrow.  Just kidding, I'll be back in... less than 3 hours.

I wish I could sleep in school. 

[Condensation she/her]

4 hours ago, Chasmgoat said:

I wish I could sleep in school. 

That would be awesome.

[Iarwainiel I she/her]

21 hours ago, Chasmgoat said:

So were three of those emojis for me and 3 for Condensation (can I call you Connie @Condensation ) or were 5 for me or what?

Synergy - the whole is greater than the sum of its (2) parts. ... or do I need an emoji for each of you now as well?

Srsly you guys rock!

Also, I wish you could sleep in school too - - naps are helping me quite a bit as I'm working full-time from home (that means I have to make up the hours in the evening, so it comes out even overall).

[Chasmgoat he/him]

1 minute ago, Iarwainiel said:

Srsly you guys rock

thanks!

[Condensation she/her]

3 hours ago, Iarwainiel said:

Synergy - the whole is greater than the sum of its (2) parts. ... or do I need an emoji for each of you now as well?

Srsly you guys rock!

Also, I wish you could sleep in school too - - naps are helping me quite a bit as I'm working full-time from home (that means I have to make up the hours in the evening, so it comes out even overall).

Thank you! You rock too.

I am so happy, there wasn't swim team today so I got to sleep in until 10:30!

Last night, I had to put down Flashback so that I could go to sleep.

[NottTheBrave he/him]

I put down the fifth wheel of time book a while ago, and I’m starting to think I might not pick it back up.