Tagged: bad books
Discussion: The Most Disappointing Book Sequel (For You)
Sometimes an author’s debut novel or their first novel in a new series is just awesome. You fall in love with the characters, the world-building and the author’s writing style and you’re so eager for the sequel that you can hardly wait. You try to make sure your expectations aren’t too unrealistic but you do expect that the second book will be the same high quality as the first…except it isn’t. The writing is trite and full of purple prose, the characters do total 180s and seem to have completely lost their minds and the world-building is revealed to be shaky at best. It’s the curse of Book 2 Syndrome!
This happened to me most recently with Captive by Aimée Carter. Pawn had an unique premise, decent characters and a plot that just kept me guessing. But the sequel Captive was absolutely awful. Where the main character Kitty had been a smart if relatively naive main character who generally knew when to keep her mouth shut, in the second book she just would not shut up about anything. She kept smart-mouthing everyone, revealing important secrets she could have kept for leverage later and just generally having a bad case of verbal diarrhea in order to move the plot along. It was just awful and is one of the best examples of Book 2 Syndrome I’ve ever seen.
What I want to know now is this: Have you ever had a really bad book sequel experience? Whose book was it and why was it so awful/disappointing? Or, if you haven’t ever been disappointed by the second book in a series, what was the most disappointing sequel to a movie you’ve ever seen?
Let me know in the comments below!
What Makes You Stop Reading a Book?
I came across this article by author Terri Ponce via her Twitter feed about what made her put down a book. With her permission I decided to shamelessly steal borrow her great idea for my own article.
As a book reviewer I like to think I have two great perspectives: one is the average reader and the other is a critical eye for dissecting the elements of a plot, world-building and characters. I used to think I would be a fiction writer so I have read just as much, if not more, than many authors about how to structure a plot, how to build unique fantasy worlds and create believable characters that people can relate to. The fact I am also an enthusiastic amateur historian (very amateur) definitely helps in dissecting historical fiction. At the same time, I am also reading for entertainment and generally know what the average reader will and won’t enjoy.
So what makes me stop reading a book? A lot of things, as it turns out:
1. Unrelatable characters.
This is a personal thing, but characters make the story. I can sort of forgive a terrible premise if the characters are amazing, but I cannot forgive an amazing premise with terrible characters. Characters generally drive the story forward and although it’s not so bad in third person, bad characters in first person are agonizingly painful. Why? Because you’re stuck in their heads with no chance of escaping.
By terrible characters I mean Mary Sues or Gary Stus. In female characters it means they’re absolutely gorgeous (but don’t know it) so everyone falls in love with them and in fantasy they will have all of the awesome powers or abilities no one else does. They are basically vessels for the author’s wish fulfillment and it really is tiresome. As for Gary Stus, think James Bond: beds all of the women, is supercool, always has a witty comeback and knows everything. Continue reading
Some Thoughts on the YA Genre
Today I’m taking a break from book reviews so I can post this. But don’t worry, the daily reviews will continue running regularly on Friday again.
1) It isn’t only limited to teenagers.
Both tweens and adults read YA fiction as well as teenagers because some of its themes are universal: love, belonging and trust, to name a few. I mean, how many adults do you see reading Twilight, The Hunger Games or Harry Potter? A fair few adults read YA fiction because if it is written well, it can be enjoyed on many different levels.
2) When it’s bad, it’s really bad. Conversely, when it’s good, it’s really good.
YA fiction, to me at least, can be a genre of extremes. It is usually really good or really bad, with very few books falling in shades of grey. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. When a YA book is bad, it goes the whole nine yards: poor writing, one dimensional characters, a slow plot, you name it. But when a YA book is good it has excellent writing, three dimensional characters and an interesting plot.
3) It has so much romance!
Pretty much every single YA book I’ve read has had romance in it. But then, it sort of makes sense because teenagers deal with romance in their daily lives. Romance isn’t by nature bad (far from it), but it can get tiresome, especially when I read a book that focuses heavily on the romance while neglecting characterization, plot and world-building. Maybe this is just me, though.
4) It can be life-changing.
Books were no doubt my greatest influence. They brought me to new, exciting worlds; helped me escape into the skin of a braver character; taught me things I never would have known otherwise and most of all, gave me a more well-rounded view of life. When I was being bullied for being an above-average student (among other things), I could read Artemis Fowl and feel empowered. When I was fighting with my weight, I would read Uglies and feel good about myself. So many books have changed my life that it would take forever to list them all. Good YA fiction can help teenagers learn more about life, which is why I wish they would cover more of it in school. It would keep more people engaged than reading and over-analyzing Shakespeare or Chaucer.
5) It is one of the fastest-growing genres.
There are more YA books than ever out there! People have finally realized that teens actually, you know, like to read. The market for YA fiction is growing, as demonstrated by big publishers like Harlequin, Simon & Schuster and many, many more running specialized teen lines. This, of course, goes along with the general trend of marketing to tweens and teens specifically. But hey, at least teens are finally having a voice in literature that’s not about to go away any time soon.
These are just five things I’ve noticed about the YA genre in general. What have you noticed about the YA genre? Is its expansion a good thing? What are your favourite YA books?