Worst Book or Book series you have ever read.
- Thread starter Gizmo1990
- Start date
Recommended Videos
I am the same way, which is why I define a terrible book, as one I simply can not finish, no matter how much I want to know how it ends. So with that criteria in mind:Gizmo1990 said:
Jane Eyre
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Anything Charles Dickens
Personally I enjoyed Harry Potter, Twilight, and Eragon despite all the people that hate them. Although I do understand why people dislike them.
As much as I like some the books in the series some of the Sword of Truth books are pretty hit and miss. It tends to focus on relationships a bit too much and not enough on fantasy. It also has a habit of introducing characters and then never reusing them and I suppose you could say some of the characters are too goodie goodie. If it wasn't for Zhed the novels would be crap. As said before by another user there was an excessive amount of rape in the books. I get there is a massive war going on I get whole D'Hara Nazi thing I get the whole Old World invaders are like Communists but do they have to rape so much? Did anyone else see a kind of Nazi/Communist parallel in the books or was it just me?
Brian Lumley's Ship of Dreams. He took a shit on Lovecrafts dream cycle stories, which were already fucking dire to begin with.
Oh, and some awful Warhammer Fantasy novel I picked up in the library. Tabletop gaming nerds are apparently not the most discerning of readers.
Oh, and some awful Warhammer Fantasy novel I picked up in the library. Tabletop gaming nerds are apparently not the most discerning of readers.
I was twelve years old and got it for my birthday, because I liked Sci-Fi at the time.ECasThat said:
The Twilight series, I've read them all, I read them before the massive hype, and they are the worst pieces of writing I've ever seen. It is so poorly written and the main character is so awful and nothing seems to please her, she often talks about how miserable she is and barely a page goes by when she doesn't trip over something or forgets to breathe. The worst book was the 4th one, it had a silly plot and a silly ending.
I tried reading the first twilight, got half way through, decided that the bullshit wasn't worth anymore of my time, so yeah the first book of Twilight would be the worst IMHO
I've read all the Twilight books. My displeasure with the series is justified.
No matter how mediocre Harry Potter is, Harry Potter is War and Peace compared to the Twilight "saga".
As Doug Walker once said, Bella is selfish, male-dependent, uncaring, manipulative, self-centered, pretentious, idiotic, and whining. I agree. She isn't a likeable character.
The writing is laughable at best. The plot is just silly.
The series is probably the only bit of literature I will describe as awful.
No matter how mediocre Harry Potter is, Harry Potter is War and Peace compared to the Twilight "saga".
As Doug Walker once said, Bella is selfish, male-dependent, uncaring, manipulative, self-centered, pretentious, idiotic, and whining. I agree. She isn't a likeable character.
The writing is laughable at best. The plot is just silly.
The series is probably the only bit of literature I will describe as awful.
Only if you have a rudimentary understanding of Eragon's plot, it's the differences that make it a different storyJegsimmons said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Story
By far the worst novel I finished. Boring writing, stupid ammoral characters that you really don't give a shit about, dark/mature whatever for the sake of it way worse than any video game, and just don't remember anything else because it was terrible.
By far the worst novel I finished. Boring writing, stupid ammoral characters that you really don't give a shit about, dark/mature whatever for the sake of it way worse than any video game, and just don't remember anything else because it was terrible.
Call of the Wild by Jack London. Just awful. The only book I ever gave up on with only one chapter left. That's how little I cared about the characters and story. It was better to never know than put myself through the agony of reading any more of the god awful book.
I couldn't get past the few coupla chapters of The Last of the Mohicans . I can stand the mildly interesting digressions of Victor Hugo and others, but if you take pages to describe how someone is sitting on a horse? Next, please! It made me feel better to find out that even Mark Twain, a contemporary of James Fenimore Cooper, poked fun at his long-winded style.
Not so much "worst books ever" as "most disappointing"--the Millennium Trilogy. Even though I'm no great reader of thrillers in general, I could still discern the grating mediocrity in the writing. The only redeeming value there is Larsson's fantastic creation of Lisbeth Salander, who is unlike any other heroine I've come across. But that's it--everything else was deficient
Not so much "worst books ever" as "most disappointing"--the Millennium Trilogy. Even though I'm no great reader of thrillers in general, I could still discern the grating mediocrity in the writing. The only redeeming value there is Larsson's fantastic creation of Lisbeth Salander, who is unlike any other heroine I've come across. But that's it--everything else was deficient
Left Behind, don't remember the author. Started off really promising, then it turned into a book about the Rapture and preached incessantly. Was awful.
EDIT: Found a link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind
EDIT: Found a link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind
The Warcraft books by Richard Knaak.
I've read several of the books oft mentioned in the thread (Lord of the flies, twilight, Eragon), and Knaak is just so much more awful than those it's depressing. At least it has made me appreciate other works more though.
However it sort of ties with Atlas Shrugged, simply being a disgusting book to read for its philosophy that offended me as a human being, however in its defense it's just a book and it helped me define my own philosophy so I still give the cake to Knaak.
Also, Harry Potter? Really? I understand it not being your thing or just thinking it's way overhyped, but the worst thing you've read? Honestly? Either you've only read like 3 books in your life or you're just letting the fandom push you in the opposite direction of an honest opinion, which is just... silly.
I've read several of the books oft mentioned in the thread (Lord of the flies, twilight, Eragon), and Knaak is just so much more awful than those it's depressing. At least it has made me appreciate other works more though.
However it sort of ties with Atlas Shrugged, simply being a disgusting book to read for its philosophy that offended me as a human being, however in its defense it's just a book and it helped me define my own philosophy so I still give the cake to Knaak.
Also, Harry Potter? Really? I understand it not being your thing or just thinking it's way overhyped, but the worst thing you've read? Honestly? Either you've only read like 3 books in your life or you're just letting the fandom push you in the opposite direction of an honest opinion, which is just... silly.
Hey, Grapes of Wrath had the best intro ever. It was told from a turtle's perspective.I have a theory that the turtle is actually the main character and Steinbeck got totally hammered the night after he wrote that sequence and forgot about the turtle.Tasachan said: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"
OT: The worst book I've read was probably Floating in my Mother's Palm. It's one of those books that only an English teacher would read and enjoy. You know the ones. They're supposed to be all about "growing up" when really it's just a bunch of disconnected events with some vague puberty and sex metaphors thrown in.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series is brilliant as a whole, but the Girl with the Dragon Tatto book is atrocious. He spends 200 pages sitting in a bloody cabin reading files, then something itneresting does happen and its over in 5 pages before another 100 pages of boredom. I forgive it though as the second and third are both fantastic. I'm glad I suffer from the same problem the OP does, once I start a story I *have* to finish it, or else I'd never have gotten to the good stuff.
And on that theme, Twilight. I know a lot of people have said it already but its a series of books that teaches girls its ok if their boyfriend hits them or breaks their ribs as long as he loves them. Friends at work recommended it so I gave it a chance, then had to find out how the story ended so ended up reading all four. Ugh. Dont spend three books building up to an "epic battle" than have you epic battle be two groups standing in lines having a chinwag. Ugh.
Finally, Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns. Drivel. Start to finish awful. Tired overdone plots, atrocious dialogue, awful characters that behave stupidly and act contrary to their established personalities. Avoid. Utter bilge.
As for good books, look no further than Peter F. Hamilton. Legend.
And on that theme, Twilight. I know a lot of people have said it already but its a series of books that teaches girls its ok if their boyfriend hits them or breaks their ribs as long as he loves them. Friends at work recommended it so I gave it a chance, then had to find out how the story ended so ended up reading all four. Ugh. Dont spend three books building up to an "epic battle" than have you epic battle be two groups standing in lines having a chinwag. Ugh.
Finally, Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns. Drivel. Start to finish awful. Tired overdone plots, atrocious dialogue, awful characters that behave stupidly and act contrary to their established personalities. Avoid. Utter bilge.
As for good books, look no further than Peter F. Hamilton. Legend.