October 25, 2018

Discussion: Worst Books In My Favorite Series

Ok guys, so this is definitely meant to be a lighter discussion. So for most of these books, I don't really think they were trash, just that most of these were definitely weaker in a lot of aspects than the other books in the series. However, there are 2 books in particular on this list that honestly, really did suck and I genuinely didn't like them. But for the most part, I did like the books on this list, but I could tell they were missing things others in the series did have.

Topic:

Worst/Weakest Books In My Favorite Series

1. Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas - Ok, So I think we've established I really enjoy the ToG series. Especially from Heir of Fire on. So why do I think book one is the worst of the series? Throne of Glass itself had 100% a different feel for me from the rest of the series. It felt clunky. It was the most awkward book of the series for me to read. It felt like I was reading it in chunks. It absolutely did not have the smooth flow that picked up about halfway through Crown of Midnight and continued through the series. Another reason, I was a bit bored with it. The action bits felt more repetitive and the talking points lacked the way with words Sarah puts in them now. Now I get it, Throne of Glass was pretty much her first book and she was definitely working on her writing style with it. And I think she 100% found it by the time she got to Heir of Fire. I won't hold that against her. I'm just saying overall, Throne of Glass, definitely not the best in comparison to the rest of the books. But am I glad I persevered through Throne of Glass despite the clunky feel, you bet I am!! I do know however a lot of people feel Crown of Midnight is their worst of the series, so if that's you, tell me why! 

2. Restore Me (Shatter Me #4) by Tahereh Mafi - So I did really enjoy Restore Me. I did. But in comparison to books 1-3, I felt it was definitely lacking. There was so much happening in the first 3 books, whether plot wise, or with the characters growing themselves. Restore Me just lacked in comparison to that. We saw Juliette really come out of the shell she was hiding in in Ignite Me. I LOVED that Juliette. She was fierce and a force to be reckoned with by the end of it. And then Restore Me came and it really felt like it took away everything from Ignite Me. Juliette immediately reverted back into the unsure, not confident, frightened girl she was in the first books. She refused help when she knew she needed it, imploded her relationship with Warner over things he was literally just learning himself but acting like he always knew. So much of her character growth was just tossed out for Restore Me and that bothers me. I get a fair amount of the story was needed for the build up for the next books, but to completely destroy and change the Juliette we followed in the first three books. Yeah, definitely made Restore Me the weakest book in the series even with the shocking surprises. 

3. Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2) by Laini Taylor - Honest to god, this felt like filler. Daughter of Smoke & Bone was the bomb!! I fell in love with the story immediately. And then DoBaS came and it felt like nothing happened at all. We get so much dialogue and side stories. The only big thing happened right at the end. This was just a huge filler book to bridge the events of DoSaB and DoGaM. It was a lot of repetitive talk involving chimera and seraphim and a lot of repetitive actions on both sides. It was just a series of small little events that set things up for the big events of the third book. I honestly felt like we could have cut a number of things from DoBaS and still had a good book and it could have been much more effective and interesting.

4. Burn (Pure #3) by Julianna Baggott - Ok, this was actually one book that was the worst that I actually didn't enjoy. The only one on this list really. This book had so much potential and it just fell flat. Super flat. Pure and Fuse were amazing and built up such a dark, gritty world. And then Burn just Burned all that down. One of our main characters completely changed. Like unrecognizable change. He made choices that book 1 and 2 him would NEVER had made. He turned into the person he was trying to hard not to be. There is no realistic way someone could make that much of a change. On top of that, nothing was wrapped up. There's so many loose ends its not even funny. And they didn't have to be. So many of them could have easily been wrapped up in the story but were ignored. On top of that, there was so much guilt tripping with one character that was NOT needed. There was an unneeded death which seemed thrown in there just for fun to make things more emotional and not for any significance. And we literally end the story in the middle of the big event the series was working for. This was a joke of an ending. Sorry, not sorry. This was bad. 

5. The Shade of the Moon (Last Survivors #4) by Susan Beth Pfeffer - So I loved the original books in this series. They were some of my first dystopian books and I just fell in love with the genre because of them. And then all of a sudden 3 years after book 3 came out and we thought the series was finished, this came along. And honestly, it was NOT needed. So they decide to tell it from Jon, Miranda's little brothers perspective. And he is just such an awful main character. He holds this huge grudge against his sister for most of the book, he acts like a coward and goes along with stuff he knows is wrong because he's to chicken to fight it and he acts like an entitled brat. It was such a chore for me to get through the book with him. He was not even close to the kid we met in the first books. And then the Enclave they end up in/near. Ugh. I'm sorry, with the way people acted in it, the families I knew would have left and just survived on the outside like they had been instead of putting up with the shit they did and having to suffer losing someone for no good reason. This book like Burn, was a joke. 

6. The Midnight Star (The Young Elites #3) by Marie Lu - Yeah. I felt robbed at the end of this. We build this entire series around Adelina and her darkness and all the bad things that happened to her. It's literally the core of the story. And the ending threw that out. I understand a small part of why it ended like it did, to give Adelina redemption. But if this ending was always the end goal, then the first two books should have been written differently. Because what we're given at the end is a character we spent little time with but are expected to be ok with. And the ending itself was unrealistic. It seemed like it was just accepted no questions asked by everyone in the story when there was no way that really would have happened. I know this sounds vague but I'll spoil the story if I'm specific. But if you've read it, you know the things I'm talking about.

7. Champion (Legend #3) by Marie Lu - Yeah, unfortunately Marie Lu's series enders have a double feature on this. And if you've read the Legend trilogy you know exactly the problem I have with this and why its the worst. The ending, again. Felt robbed again. We built up June and Day's story so much. Hell, we see June wait by Days side for 5 months and he doesn't know who she is after that surgery. And despite the doctors saying he should regain his memory eventually. 10 years later and he still only vaguely knows he knew June. What a joke. And now we're getting a new Legend book next year. Focusing on Eden and Day but supposedly has June as well, taking place this magical 10 years later. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm not super keen on Eden and quite honestly, I don't want to watch June and Day restart again. Or having him suddenly remember as if fans are just going to forget the end of Champion. 

8. The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #3) by Michelle Hodkin - Mara was changed a lot in this book. Some for the better, some not. It seemed that while she grew to stop fearing the people hurting her, she lost a part of her. She doesn't have huge reactions over a certain event with Noah, she makes a certain event with Jude kinda dull, she doesn't seem to feel much about killing people. It felt like this book lacked some of the feeling and intensity and emotion the Unbecoming and Evolution had. And despite the interesting revelations in this book, it wasn't enough to bring it up to the level of the first 2 books. I know I'm not alone with this book either. 

9. Requiem (Delirium #3) by Lauren Oliver - I also know I'm not alone with the book as well. A lot of others thought this was the worst of the series because of the ending. And I agree 100%. That was a bad ending. There was so much left hanging. We are left with a bunch of loose ends. It's another book that ends right as the huge event happens. And we get no resolution for the characters. Alex and Lena are never wrapped up after Alex drops the I still love you bombshell. We don't really get to see what happens with Hana leaving Fred when she knew something bad was going to happen. This ending was so frustrating. It was just so abrupt.

10. Talon (Talon #1) by Julie Kagawa - Ok, so usually I'm not super bored by the first book in any Julie Kagawa series. Except the Talon saga. This book was over 400 pages long and so much of it was just background and not much happening. It was like repetitive training or hanging out with all the other characters. Nothing incredibly interesting or super huge to the plot happens until the very end of the book. And I even read this in both audiobook and physical versions and both still gave me the overall feeling of being bored. Honestly, it was just so slow for a first book. i loved the rest of the series after this, and I understand why so much background had to be put in it, but it really did drag the first book down to be honest. However, this is the only Julie Kagawa series starter I've had an issue with, so I think it's really just the way this particular series had to be written.

Do you agree with some of these books, or do you feel others are the worst? Would you like me to do another one of these posts in the future?? Let me know in the comments!