Twilight is a no-brainer.
However, outside that, Bearers of the black Staff by Terry Brooks. Wow. Just wow.
However, outside that, Bearers of the black Staff by Terry Brooks. Wow. Just wow.
Worst Book or Book series you have ever read.
- Thread starter Gizmo1990
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Maybe it was because I was 13 at the time and it was a school assignment, but I HATE Lord of Flies. Stupid book, not because it disgusts me, but because it's just STUPID. What was the point of it? Kids are bastards? People are bastards? Nerds who where glasses must die? If I wanted a story about a bunch of kids murdering each other I'd just watch the news for 5 minutes. Stupid, stupid book.
Edit: Oh good, I'm not the only one. That makes me feel a little better.
Edit: Oh good, I'm not the only one. That makes me feel a little better.
The Brothers Karamazov stands out to me as singularly terrible. Bad writing, bad story, bad characters, bad translation, LONG, and has the distinction of being by a world-famous and celebrated author, and everyone's heard of it. Well it's terrible. Un-readable. Fit for keeping the fireplace lit and that's about it.
But given how many of you mentioned Twilight, I'm guessing you're well acquainted with bad literature already.
But given how many of you mentioned Twilight, I'm guessing you're well acquainted with bad literature already.
I recently read a V.C. Andrews book called Unfinished Symphony. Holy crap, it was terrible. Like above posters, I must finish what I start when it comes to reading, and even though this took me almost 3 weeks (when usually I would read a book in a night or two), I still finished it.
My problems are this:
The main character Melody is either 17 or 18, but is extremely whiny and childish. She travels from Maine to Hollywood to look for her "Mommy" (yes. Through the entire book, she is mommy. Not Mom, not Mother. Mommy.) She finds her about three chapters in, confronts her, decides her mommy doesn't want her -- which should have been obvious considering she faked her death to get away from Melody in the first place.
The rest of the book Melody just kinda sits around and complains that her Grandma Olivia (Whom is actually her great aunt?) is mean and cold hearted. Gasp! She tries to make her take etiquette classes! Gasp! She signs her up to go to a prestigious school! Gasp! Grandma Olivia doesn't want Melody to date her cousin. How cruel!
This whole time Melody's grandfather (...great uncle...) keeps raving about PAPERS IN THE BASEMENT. They're ignored until the second last chapter, where Melody find out her boyfriend/cousin's sister is actually alive. In about 5 pages worth of text they confront people that faked the documents,drive to the asylum, and then find out she committed suicide anyway. Why the hell is that even in the story?? It feels like it was just added on to the end so people wouldn't wonder why she bothered writing about 200 pages of nothing after the mother was found. Not only that, the grandmother conveniently dies in the epilogue, and it seriously is covered in about 2 sentences. The main antagonist!!
Every antagonist is clearly obvious, because they always instantly react by crossing their arms over their chest, and insult Melody in some way. Her mommy's new boyfriend/agent, her grandmother, the etiquette teacher, whatever. Everyone else absolutely adores Melody, and thinks she is the best thing since to ever grace God's earth. There is almost no character development whatsoever. For someone who has written quite a number of books, I don't understand how she (or her ghost writer...?) is so successful! This book is absolute garbage. :|
And they could have totally helped a girl out by putting a family tree or SOMETHING in there. Because everyone in this book is related, and it isn't really explained how. And it is only made more confusing by the fact that she calls people grandma and grandpa, when they aren't her grandparents! Argswhfes!!!
Edit: whooopsie! I mixed up the words protagonist and antagonist. It's been fixed.
My problems are this:
The main character Melody is either 17 or 18, but is extremely whiny and childish. She travels from Maine to Hollywood to look for her "Mommy" (yes. Through the entire book, she is mommy. Not Mom, not Mother. Mommy.) She finds her about three chapters in, confronts her, decides her mommy doesn't want her -- which should have been obvious considering she faked her death to get away from Melody in the first place.
The rest of the book Melody just kinda sits around and complains that her Grandma Olivia (Whom is actually her great aunt?) is mean and cold hearted. Gasp! She tries to make her take etiquette classes! Gasp! She signs her up to go to a prestigious school! Gasp! Grandma Olivia doesn't want Melody to date her cousin. How cruel!
This whole time Melody's grandfather (...great uncle...) keeps raving about PAPERS IN THE BASEMENT. They're ignored until the second last chapter, where Melody find out her boyfriend/cousin's sister is actually alive. In about 5 pages worth of text they confront people that faked the documents,drive to the asylum, and then find out she committed suicide anyway. Why the hell is that even in the story?? It feels like it was just added on to the end so people wouldn't wonder why she bothered writing about 200 pages of nothing after the mother was found. Not only that, the grandmother conveniently dies in the epilogue, and it seriously is covered in about 2 sentences. The main antagonist!!
Every antagonist is clearly obvious, because they always instantly react by crossing their arms over their chest, and insult Melody in some way. Her mommy's new boyfriend/agent, her grandmother, the etiquette teacher, whatever. Everyone else absolutely adores Melody, and thinks she is the best thing since to ever grace God's earth. There is almost no character development whatsoever. For someone who has written quite a number of books, I don't understand how she (or her ghost writer...?) is so successful! This book is absolute garbage. :|
And they could have totally helped a girl out by putting a family tree or SOMETHING in there. Because everyone in this book is related, and it isn't really explained how. And it is only made more confusing by the fact that she calls people grandma and grandpa, when they aren't her grandparents! Argswhfes!!!
Edit: whooopsie! I mixed up the words protagonist and antagonist. It's been fixed.
Yeah, kids are always given that one to read. That's so stupid. That's such a college level book. No high schooler is going to pay attention to it. It's like the Red Badge of Courage. Totally gets ruined because someone thinks it's for high school kids.Midgeamoo said:
I wish I'd never read The Wizard of Earthsea. That is the only book I ever found bad, and the only reason I found it bad was because it was boring. I also hated going through Pride and Prejudice, but that's more because it was just not my book.
I hated that book too. Ugh. And the Grapes of Wrath, another one we had to study in high school.Jack the Potato said:Maybe it was because I was 13 at the time and it was a school assignment, but I HATE Lord of Flies. Stupid book, not because it disgusts me, but because it's just STUPID. What was the point of it? Kids are bastards? People are bastards? Nerds who where glasses must die? If I wanted a story about a bunch of kids murdering each other I'd just watch the news for 5 minutes. Stupid, stupid book.
Edit: Oh good, I'm not the only one. That makes me feel a little better.
"Oh no! The great depression. Whelp, let's go to California!"
"Don't go to California, there's no work there"
"HAHA okay! Thanks for the advice! We're totally going to California anyway."
"No seriously, don't go"
"We're going anyway!"
"We just got back, it's a living hell there. Don't waste your time"
"Yep! Sounds like the land of opportunity!"
...
"Wow, there really WAS no work in California. WHY DIDNT ANYONE TELL US"
The Troy Games- I'm gonna be honest, i didn't mind Wayfarers Redemption (Up until book 5 and 6 anyway) but MY GOD. This book has one of the worst lead characters who i have ever seen, Brutas! He is just so deplorable, so Unforgivingly Repulsive that he makes Edward Cullen look like a decent human being! I mean, yeah, i know morals dissonance with the Ancient greeks and us but i still think even most ancient greeks would have found this guy completely evil. All the other characters are either just bonkers or completely uninteresting (Only character i even remotely liked was Cole and he ends up getting killed by...GUESS WHO!). Plus there is an ending that basically ends with what seems to be some form of cliff-hanger. Brutus apparently is reincarnated in later books but that doesn't make me want to read any of them, cause he's gonna have to have pulled a complete 360 personality wise if he wants me to actually consider him a protagonist in any light.
Also, the twilight series...for obvious reasons.
Also, the twilight series...for obvious reasons.
Thank you. I really started getting tired of people gabbing on about how great the book was. My wife bought it for me a couple years ago and it was the one of the most mind-numbing experiences of my life. The book is essentially a compilation of the most overused fantasy tropes.synobal said:
-Evil King? Check
-Beautiful woman of Noble background? Check
-Aforementioned woman gets kidnapped by the Big Bad or his lead minion? Check
-Protagonist is an apple-cheeked farm-boy between the ages of 16 and 22? Check
-Protagonist finds a Dragon egg? Check
-Family gets killed? Check
-Protagonist gets taken in by an old soldier who mentors him in combat? Check
-Magical Sword? Check
-Mentor Dies? Check
-Protagonist meets a mysterious stranger with a dark secret? Check
-Saves the beautiful woman? Check
-Meets noble rebels? Check
-Protagonist somehow defeats the Lead Minion that no one else can beat despite having all of a few weeks of training? Check
Worst book ever, though, is a toss up. There was a book who's name I forget that was basically a Buddy cop story set in a mythical city. Not only was the writing horrible and the characters inconsistent, the tone was totally off the wall. It was the kind of story and setting that would have worked better as a Terry Pratchet book, but the author played it straight, as if he was writing the medieval version of The Departed. This might have worked if he hadn't also thrown in out of place "humorous" references, like a S.W.A.T. (Special Wizardry and Tactics) team.
Pro-Tip. When it comes to gritty and wacky, pick one. They don't work well together.
The other really bad book was called "Not Exactly the Three Musketeers." I don't even know what to say about this one. The plot was incomprehensible, the world poorly developed, and worst of all, the titular characters were dull as hell. The author tried to make them more human, but all he did was make them unlikable and bland. If you want to see developed flawed characters that are still likable, read the actual Three Musketeers. In the end of the book, one of them dies and it leaves absolutely no impact at all.
Also, the author had a feces fetish. Yes, we know that people's bowels empty when they die. You don't have to mention it every. Single. Time.
Finally, there was some sort of side story about one of the side characters being from our time, but all you really hear about it is when he mentions a flamethrower and laments that no one in the story knows what that is. That's it. There's no explanation, no revelation later in the book. It just dumps that out and leaves it.
Worst series goes to the Sword of Truth just because Terry Goodkind apparently doesn't know how to properly plot a story over multiple books and his characters change based on what the plot at the time needs them to be like. The series divebombed in the last few books.
Books 1 and 6 are still really good.
Ya the Sword of truth series wasn't that bad at first other than the authors rape fixation and fantasies. Then the author decided his soap box was more important than the story or character development so ya... and the last three books were kind a rehash of the first.
Kim by Rudyard Kipling. That was awful...
Worse than even Eragon, which I somehow managed to enjoy the first time 'round.
Worse than even Eragon, which I somehow managed to enjoy the first time 'round.
Well, I really found Jarhead annoying to read.
It's a 300 something page book about a marine bitching about being... a marine?
It was completely stupid and the guy was the laziest human being alive, and he expressed disgust at actually being pushed by his drill sergeant to make something of his military career (he got the author to become a Scout Sniper. Something that is pretty damn hard to do)
There were times when I was literally saying "oh man the fuck up, buddy".
Edit Though the failed sniper scene was pretty powerful.
It's a 300 something page book about a marine bitching about being... a marine?
It was completely stupid and the guy was the laziest human being alive, and he expressed disgust at actually being pushed by his drill sergeant to make something of his military career (he got the author to become a Scout Sniper. Something that is pretty damn hard to do)
There were times when I was literally saying "oh man the fuck up, buddy".
Edit Though the failed sniper scene was pretty powerful.
The absolute worst book I have ever tried to read was 'Vampire Hunter' by Micheal Romkey. It featured a vampire who was on the Titanic (in a coffin) when it sank. Forty or so years later, when the coffin was brought up and he was released, the vampire ended up killing a few people, then spent the entire book (I assume) depressed about the killings. He even went to a shrink to help him with his depression.
And the later Anita Blake books (everything past the sixth or seventh) were incredibly horrific and filled with annoying characters, formulaic plots and lots of Yaoi fangirl wish fulfillment.
And the later Anita Blake books (everything past the sixth or seventh) were incredibly horrific and filled with annoying characters, formulaic plots and lots of Yaoi fangirl wish fulfillment.
Don Quixote.
Maybe if I had read it on my own I might have enjoyed it, I don't know. But when the first time you read something is in a high school english class with an overly pretentious teacher, most books become complete shit, and Don Quixote stood out among those.
Maybe if I had read it on my own I might have enjoyed it, I don't know. But when the first time you read something is in a high school english class with an overly pretentious teacher, most books become complete shit, and Don Quixote stood out among those.
It's Twilight, hands down. Not because it "pussified" vampires. Hell, I enjoy a good romance novel, but Twilight isn't a good romance novel. Bella just decides, out of the blue, that she's in love with some guy she never even talked to. He even says really creepy things about watching her while she sleeps (if I recall correctly) and she doesn't seem to care. So she comes across as an idiot, he comes off as a creeper. After about a million instances of Bella doing what I call "stupid sh*t" I put the book down.
Easy, "The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas" by "John Boyne", it's so badly written it's just sad, the child pronounces Ausswitz as Out-With & The Fuhrer as The Fury, because as we all know children are so dumb that they can't even pronounce things properly, what's really annoying is that he's from Germany and these terrible terrible puns probably don't even work in German. Anyway we had to study that book as our junior cert. novel
I am surprised by all the hate on the Eragon books. I love them.
(even though I find Eragon himself annying in all his ineptness ;-)
My worst reading experience was a Danish novel from the 19th century about a sad woman, who lived a horrible life... forgot the name, but it made me want to kill myself.
Supposedly that was art -.-
(even though I find Eragon himself annying in all his ineptness ;-)
My worst reading experience was a Danish novel from the 19th century about a sad woman, who lived a horrible life... forgot the name, but it made me want to kill myself.
Supposedly that was art -.-