Hello, No matter how popular something gets, there will always be those who don't like it, or even hate it. For me, it's The Hunger Games. I loved the first book, but stopped about 3/4 into the second. I honestly feel the author kind of decided "at this point, I could write anything, and thousands will buy it." It had so much going for it, so much potential! Of course, it's perfectly fine with me if you enjoyed/are enjoying The Hunger Games. More power to ya! What popular book/series bothers you?
While I wouldn't go as far to say I "can't stand it," Game of thrones. The series just doesn't do anything for me.
I guess The Kingkiller Chronicle? "Can't stand" is much too strong, I'm just apathetic towards the whole thing. Rothfuss is a cool guy, but his work just isn't for me.
I felt the same about the second Hunger Games (and didn't finish the third) but I generally find sequels disappointing. I just pretend the first is a standalone book. There are lots of popular books I don't rate, but the only one I really hate is the 50 Shades crap. I'm so angry that it promoted an abusive relationship as romantic and as something to aspire to - and when I say abuse, I'm not referring to BDSM. So few people seem to understand what a healthy relationship looks like and this load of crap made it fifty shades worse. The other books I don't like aren't actively harmful.
Star Trek. With literally the SOLE exception of Deep Space Nine or the JJ Abrams movies, and that's because they're all so far divorced from the source materials as to be completely separate series in their own right. The entire franchise is just a nonstop roller coaster ride of bad acting, terrible plots and virtually incomprehensible logical contortions wrapped up in mindless political grandstanding that the rest of mankind generously refers to as a "tv show". Maybe it's me, maybe she's born with it, but when literally HALF of the runtime of several interconnected "tv shows" is made up of some variation on the old tune "I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke And A Copy Of The Communist Manifesto" and the best "actor" you can produce, by a MILE WIDE margin, is William fucking Shatner(!?) then I have to pull out and go home, sorry not sorry. And that's before we get into the whole "everyone who believes in God is insane and/or evil, if not both" thing that TNG basically spells out in several episodes. On top of that, beyond the overwhelming "wokeness" of the whole thing, Star Trek is just...so...fucking...BLAND. It's barely a series. Who is the antagonist? Protagonist? What is their goal?! To go where no man has gone before? Well ok fine, but by that logic going to Rachael Maddow's house would make me Captain Kirk Jr. There literally was no villain or overarching plot in TOS or TNG. There I guess kinda was at least a main villain(s) in Enterprise, maybe, if you squint. And I'll at least grant Voyager that the writers decided there was gonna kinda be this thing vaguely resembling a plot. And the less said about the aptly named STD the better. As I said the only reason Deep Space Nine worked was because it had a fucking overarching plot and a defined protagonist and antagonist, same for the reboot movies...kinda sorta like this thing called a STORY. TLDR: Star Trek is bad, fuck Gene Roddenberry, go watch the Babylon 5 episodes with Dr. Franklin in them if moral grandstanding is what you're looking for cause at least they had plots, characters, story arcs, etc.
I whole-heartedly agree with everything here, and most especially the Babylon 5 comment. Seriously, as far as Science fiction shows of that time period go, it's worth watching. I also apply this to Star Wars as well. Both the giants just don't do it for me.
Harry Potter was mine. It just didn't feel fresh and unique to me and was full of just about every Fantasy trope out there. It just felt like a more mature version of "The Worst Witch". I also didn't feel the writing was that amazing, I mean, it wasn't terrible just over-rated. Twilight and 50 shades was another one for me and the bat shit crazy fans that came from it. Otherwise, I'm not into series much. I get bored fast and find that as the story moves along the quality deteriorates. Silence of the Lambs I liked but the others not so much. I just don't have the patience I think to stay with a series for potentially years. I just keep thinking of all the new material coming out that I'm missing so now I just tend to read one story books or read the first book in the series as if it were a stand alone book, as most are.
I have recently been slogging through some of the David Walliams books for my sons bedtime stories. We found them to be boring and expected more from all the hype. We are currently reading the secret breakers, which are a great action/mystery series for kids.
I would say a few fall in to this catagory. I won't say I can't stand them, but I do get really frustrated and, at times, angry with, and thats any series of books by Jack Campbell. Why? repetition. 1. By the time you get to the last book in the series half of it is just going over everything that has happened in the previous books, and it like that all the way through, So book 2 will recap book 1, book 3 will recap books 1 and 2, book 4, books 1,2 and 3 and so on. When you hit book 6, things are getting a little sodding old. 2. His characters have the same moral arguments again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and....... its gets really aggrivating and you just want to scream 'punch him/her in the chops and tell him/her to stfu already'. You cant go a chapter without a moral argument, and they are vomit inducing issues as well 'save yourself, don't sacrifice yourself for me' - 'I wont leave you' (You could probably reduce the word count by a 5th if you cut all that crap out) Jack Campbell has brilliant vision for his stories and, with the exception of the above, writes them really well, but these two issues drive me nuts. So much so that I couldn't finish the lost frontiers series. I think I got to book 4, took a break and never went back. Any Tom Clancy books not written by Tom Clancy. Low quality drivel. Only managed a couple before I tossed them to a charity shop. Robert Ludlums Jason Bourne Series. I hate flash backs. Constantly jumping around between the past and now. Hate it hate it hate it. Any of the soldier series (Soldier A, Soldier B etc..) not necessarily a 'popular' series in the away Clancy, Ludlum and Campbell are, but popular enough to be in book shops. Truly awful writting. Maybe some of the books are ok, but I read one, and I will never read another. Clearly written by people who never spent a day in the military and went around looking for military slang terms, using so many and so often that the books were almost written in a different language.
I sometimes feel like I don't like anything that's really popular. And I swear I'm not intentionally being a hipster, it just works out that way! Lord of the Rings? Endless accounts of people walking. Chronicles of Narnia? Sanctimonious and condescending. Harry Potter? The first two or three books were decent silly children's fantasy, but then it started taking itself seriously. The only really huge series that I like is actually Hunger Games. And even there I'm willing to admit that the first book is the only one that's really great, with the second two just struggling to contrive some way to continue a story that had reached its natural end. I also really like Game of Thrones... the last few seasons, that is, the ones that everyone else hate. (again, I swear I'm not doing this on purpose!) As I see it, the last seasons were the ones where the showrunners stopped pretending to be clever, thus making it possible to just sit back and revel in the dumbness. The earlier seasons are just clever enough that the dumbness really jarred.
My experience with Brandon Sanderson matches the discussion well. I have only read the opening pages of Stormlight, though and cannot say for his other writings. For you anime fans, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Did the Earth just shake? I put this in the same category with Sanderson, nonetheless. Not that I'm really crazy about anime as a whole. I figure if I can't stand the first part of a story, I shouldn't stick around for the second part, but hey, that's just me. My thoughts exactly on Game of Thrones, only applied to Patrick Rothfuss. My only other comment on Game of Thrones is I think of it as an epic literary "Where's Waldo," without a Waldo to find. That may not be a bad look for fantasy. Actually, Patrick Rothfuss is the only fantasy writer I really like and sometimes it's hard for me to slog through even his plots. It's just the genre for me, mostly. Up to this point, same here. Actually, I think Harry Potter got better, not worse. I have not read Narnia, just by association with Tolkien. LOTR and The Hobbit aren't repulsive to me, unless I try to read them too fast. I just find them dull, both in story and style both.
I found The Lost Fleet a struggle, but did manage to complete it. I get that the ship battles are all very realistic and based on actual Naval experience, but he managed to kill the excitement of space battles, which I didn't think was possible. So much orienting the ship to x degree at y angle and accounting for light delay. It probably makes perfect sense, but it was very esoteric description for me. There are some clever concepts and there were definitely times he managed to pull a tense cat-and-mouse feeling out of me, but it was hard going at a lot of points. I have one of the later Lost Frontier novels but to get to it I have to go through 3 of them and I'm not sure I've got it in me. Tried Terry Pratchett this year and it's a one and done. Not a fantasy fan at the best of times, and also not a big comedy guy, so while I can see how he is so beloved, his books are pretty much a clash of styles for me, and I found myself eye-rolling and wishing the pages away. Recently finished Dune as well. Definite positives, but I found the mental gymnastics and introspection a little dragging. I couldn't decide through most of the book how I felt about it. Overall I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't endorse it as "The greatest science fiction novel ever written" as is advertised on the blurb. I would be up for continuing the series, but I've heard the sequel is heavier on the Bene Gesserit mysticism, and might have to give it a year or two. Similar feelings on Asimov's Foundation series. The first one felt a lot longer than its 200 pages. So much happened off-stage and the time jumping was clever but gave you nothing to latch on to. Felt more of a documentary than a novel at points. I have heard that this series gets betters as it goes, so will give the next one a try soon. I'm firmly in the Clarke over Asimov camp for now. We'll see if that changes.
The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe is a brilliant book, but I wasnt keen on the rest. That said, I read it as a kid and I would imagine if I read it now, the writting would seem childish.
I like The Lost Fleet because Campbell made the space battles somewhat realistic instead of the asinine “airplanes in space” trope that is so common.
It does make it more interesting I don't think people truly realise how vast space is. The sun to neptune is about 4.5 BILLION kilometres. Thats about 2 days of travel at the speeds the alliance fleet normally do. At 'close range' ie, light minutes, they are covering a distance in excess of a million kilometres each minute, with double that distance if closing head on with the enemy. Thats about 6 minutes to get from the Earth to Europa. Can ships really go that fast though? The fastest any man made object has gone in space is 266,000 km/h, so far far slower than the ships in his book. (About 4,400 km/m or 74 km/s) Will we have the tech in the future to go that fast? And he doesnt address the issue of time diallation either. Still, he does a better job than most. Some other space battle books, like those in 40k, address issues of distance and time, but not to the extent JC does. \Nerd hat off.
Its often the way if you read a book first you dont like the tv show or film and vice versa. I love Sharpe the TV series and hate the books. I love the Lost Kingdom series as books, and think the tv show is an abomination. And that happens so many times. I'd like to do the GoT books, but I dont have time to read them. Normally I would get them on audio, but the narrator for the series is awful.
Anything written by E L James. (Imagine long and distinguished rant here). The Foundation Trilogy, I know my heresy here is high amongst the Asimov fans. It circled back around by the near 200 pages or so at the end of the 3rd book. Laurel K Hamiltons Anita Blake Series. Really a vampire hunter that is a human version of a succubus (but not a demon or demonic in anyway). And the fact that the characters overall are just dripping with cliches and batshit insanity that makes it so over the top, that it becomes more of a parody of itself, and can't be taken as serious as it tries to set it's tone to be. IDK, I don't tend to favor reading popular/overhyped books/series, they tend to be more on the bad side. So more modern works tend to be frowned upon by me, since they are never going to measure up against the older and much better written authors that actually knew how to spin a good yarn without making all the gaffs that modern authors do.
Star Wars. I just don't care about it. I've been hammered with Star Wars since I was a child. Didn't like it then, don't like it now. It's useless. I just can't find anything in it to hold my interest. More recently, Harry Potter. I've read the first book and it was too childish. I've watched the movies instead. Can't see what an entire generation finds so awesome about it. It's Star Wars all over again. Apparently the craze will not fade.
Another one I forgot about: The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Tried to read what some call Kings Magnum Opus but found myself falling asleep quite quickly.
I read Dune. Seriously, it was one of the most disappointing books I'd ever read. It started out so strong and then it just became all mythical without logic, rhyme or reason and storylines that were foreshadowed just got dropped. I still don't understand how it's supposed to be "so good". I loved the LOTR movies. I've never read the book. I can see it's written well with a strong voice, but my gosh I can't stand world-building for the sake of world-building. I just don't care unless I'm emotionally invested, and I need it to be related to the characters/plot for me to care. I've read 50 Shades, first book cover to cover. Couldn't care less about reading the second one. I'd say that's probably the most spectacular fail any book could achieve - for a reader to have given you the space of an entire book to hook them, and leave them feeling like they really couldn't care less. Dune I felt something for - massive frustration, disappointment, but I felt something. There was something in it. 50 Shades? Zilch. Nada. Just felt nothing, no irritation, no anticipation, no excitement, no disappointment, no anger. Literally nothing. It isn't like I didn't give it a chance. I didn't find the writing as terrible as people say technically on a sentence-by-sentence level, but the whole thing was bland. Speaking of Hunger Games, I didn't like the second book either. The first and third are great though. I adored it. Adored Katniss. Adored the writing.
