Five Friday Favourites is a weekly event hosted by Book Badger, where once a week, a five favourites subject is posted and everyone is welcome to join in. You can find out more about Five Friday Favourites and the future subjects here.
This weeks topic was supposed to be on my not-so-favourite Fantasy books, but I actually don't read much fantasy. Or maybe I just can't really work out which books are supposed to be fantasy. But I have decided to change it a little and go for my not-so-favourite dystopian books because I read a lot more of that genre and have a lot to pick from.
Allegiant by Veronica Roth, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff , Ashfall by Mike Mullin, Starters by Lissa Price & Partials by Dan Wells
Allegiant is on here because it's one of the worst books I have ever read, not just the worst dystopian. I actually can't think of one part of it that I actually liked, other than the fact that it ended. It was very hard going, so boring to get through and the storyline was a recycling of ones from the past two books. I hated Tris and her whining and I hated the fact that Four didn't have a unique voice, he sounded just like Tris. I just despise that book from beginning to end.
How I Live Nowwas a book that I was actually expecting to love but was so disappointed by. Daisy was such a nasty main character, I didn't like her at all. The storyline was very strange and so much didn't make sense. I wondered why nobody questioned why a fourteen year old boy and a fifteen year old girl were having sex, add in the fact that they are cousins and you think someone, anyone would have had an issue with it. Plus, I wanted an explanation of the war and what is was about, who invaded and HOW they managed it but you don't get anything. It was really frustrating.
How I Live Nowwas a book that I was actually expecting to love but was so disappointed by. Daisy was such a nasty main character, I didn't like her at all. The storyline was very strange and so much didn't make sense. I wondered why nobody questioned why a fourteen year old boy and a fifteen year old girl were having sex, add in the fact that they are cousins and you think someone, anyone would have had an issue with it. Plus, I wanted an explanation of the war and what is was about, who invaded and HOW they managed it but you don't get anything. It was really frustrating.
Ashfall was far too slow going for me to really enjoy it. The romance aspect was really weak for me and I didn't really get it. I found a lot of situations totally unbelievable. Who sees their mother get raped and killed and mourns for about five minutes before becoming obsessed with having sex. That just doesn't ring true for me and it really bugged me when I was reading this.
Starters and Enders both make it on to my list because I didn't really enjoy either of them, in fact, I think Enders is the worse of the too. They just weren't very good books. The romance was weird and not one I could by. The premise was really great but wasn't executed well. These were fast-paced but too much so, it felt like too much was happening in them and it was hard to keep up.
Partials is one that I know a lot of people loved but it just wasn't for me. I remember being very bore by that book and it's main character. I didn't connect to her at all and I don't remember liking her very much either. I don't remember anything from the book now, not even the main storyline, which is a sign that I didn't like it at all. I usually block out most books I end up hating because they didn't really provide me with anything worth remembering.
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My Weekly Book Haul: 17/05/2014
Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas: Review 5/5
Discussion: Sharing is Caring - Blogger Love
Top Ten Tuesday: Books About Friendship
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West: Review 5/5
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: How I Live Now Movie Review
Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas: Review 5/5
Discussion: Sharing is Caring - Blogger Love
Top Ten Tuesday: Books About Friendship
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West: Review 5/5
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: How I Live Now Movie Review
You want to know the biggest and most ironic thing about this week is? This week was originally least favourite dystopians, but I realised I read about 3 and liked 2, so it really didn't work for me, so I changed it. Go not conforming to everyone else! :D Good choices too! I have to say, I am weighing up Divergent, but more a basis that now that people are more bothered about the films, I will (hopefully) have unclouded influence from others on my opinion. Starts and Enders have never hit my radar but Partials has, and I am considering it if I can find it in the library, because if it's free, no problem, am I right? ;) Great choices though hunny, and the font thing has been changing everywhere, don't worry about it :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! Looking at other lists I realise I probably could have done Fantasy, I was thinking more epic fantasy books like A Song of Ice & Fire. I would love to see what you make of Partials, so many people loved that so I feel like I might have just been a little too harsh.
DeleteDon't you hate it when blogger is fussy. >_> MEH. It does that to me too. Once it made ALL my text in the middle of the screen and I even was changing it manually with the html code, but nooooo. It wouldn't budge. I think I deleted the post and started again. Ha! Blogger, ah, but we do (sort of) love you.
ReplyDeleteSoooo...I confess to being a lover of Allegiant AND Partials (although that whole section were Kira was just all scientific, I struggled with because a) she's freaking sixteen years old. Is she some sort of genius as well?? and also b) I had noooo idea what they were talking about). *ahem* BUT. STARTERS. Gah. I don't love that series at all. I read the first and it just...*brain dies a little* It was kind of lame, and the whole twist at the end with her boyfriend being a creepy old man? EW.
I know, blogger is a bitch at times. I wish I had time to start it all over again but I was in such a rush and so behind that I just had to give up and post it.
DeleteThat was the bit in Partials that I hated the most, all the science and Kira parts ;) I just didn't really get any of it and didn't find it very interesting. It made me lose interest in the main story and I didn't connect very well with Kira as a character.
Starters! I HATE THAT SERIES. I know, that twist ending was really, really, really, strange. Did not get that at all or the romance that appears in book two.
I 100% agree with everything you say on Allegiant. It was down right horrible, and soo freaking boring!
ReplyDeleteI did really like AshFall, but I'm into that natural disaterish stuff. The two after that aren't as good though. They focus more on the corruption and government change since everything went down. They are more fast paced than the first I think, but not nearly as interesting.
I bought Partials, like ages ago when it was on sale. Still haven't started it. Story of my life.
And I have not heard of this meme before. Pretty cool!
I know, I feel like 0 exciting things happened throughout that entire book. That's quite an accomplishment considering how long it is.
DeleteAshfall just wasn't what I was expecting and I found myself getting really bored with that one. It was really hard for me to get through it. Happy to hear that the books get worse though, glad I didn't continue the series now.
I loved Ashfall, but I'm really struggling with Partials. I couldn't get into it so I DNF'd it. Then I decided to try again and I started the audiobook. It was much easier to get into than reading it myself, but my iPod lost its place and I haven't bothered to try to find it again. I will finish the book, but I don't know if I'll continue the series.
ReplyDeleteI think How I Live Now scarred me for life and the sad part about that is that I'm pretty sure I really liked the parts of the book that didn't deal with the cousin relationship. I don't think I knew that there was a movie. I'm not much of a movie watcher, but since you liked the movie much better than the book, I might have to check it out.
Partials just really didn't work for me, I'm not even sure why but I just wasn't very invested in the story. It definitely didn't interest me enough to want to continue on. The same with Ashfall if I am honest.
DeleteThe movie was a lot better than the book for me. In all honesty I could look past the cousin thing - I know it's not illegal in most places, they had never met and all that, but it was still really creepy. But I couldn't look past the fact that they were so young and related and NOBODY comments on it once in that entire book... WEIRD!
Allegiant was definitely my least favourite of the series, for the fact that Four became so darn whiny, the fact that I wanted to smack him when he messed stuff up, and for that ending, but overall I really enjoyed the series and got through Allegiant pretty quickly. It was the first book I'd pre-ordered since the last HP book when I was 16 (I'm now 24) so that has to count for something! R x P.S have you ordered anything with the discount codes yet???
ReplyDeleteI was on the Book People but actually couldn't find any that I wanted on there :( I hated how whiny Four became, I just couldn't stand him in that book. Before that he was my favourite character and then she just ruined him!
DeleteCongrats on all the books this week!
ReplyDeleteI never made it past Divergent because of all the bad reviews for the others even though I loved it. I just don't want to series ruined for me so I opted to abandon it with only good memories LOL!
YAY!!! You were one of the smart ones. I wish I had quit after Divergent, now I just have to pretend like I did ;)
DeleteI can fully understand why you didn't like Allegiant, I personally loved it but then I love the series in general, the only thing I didn't like about it is how fast the fight scene at the end was, I felt that the whole book was leading up to it and it could have at least been giving a few chapters instead of it being over and done with within minuets, you know what I mean? I also think that Four did star to lose himself too, I would have loved this serires a bit more if it was from a duo point of view and not just Tris but I think Four is such a good character.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like How I Live Now either, it was the first book I read by Meg Rosoff when I was around 16 and it has just put me off reading any more by her because the story line was so twisted. I just couldn't get on with the fact that they were cousins. It's also the reason that, though everyone else loved it, I couldn't get on with Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma, because even though it was a well written book I could see past the incest.
I've never read Ashfall but it actually sounds like a good book from the summary. I'll have to get a hold of it and tell you what I thought of it. I've wanted to read Startes for a while now so I'll have to tell you what I think once I've read it along with Ashfall.
I happen to have loved Partials, but I think I read it when I was going through a massive dystopian phase, I'm going to re-read it soon though so I can finish the series so my opinion might change, although I don't think it will haha
All in all great list, and sorry to see you disliked these books. Also, even though disliked it than you for putting Ashfall on my radar haha
I loved Four as a character before book three, but that's not really his fault. The author just really didn't know how to pull off the two POVs. They basically sounded the same and neither felt unique.
DeleteI didn't get How I Live Now At All and it has put me off reading anything else by the author. Forbidden is one of my favourite books though, I could see past the incest because the writing was so beautiful. But, I also have no brothers so that helps. If I did then I don't think I'd be able to read that book.
I will be happy to hear what you make of Ashfall when you read it! :)
Yeah I know what you mean, but I read some of the novellas last night from his point of view and it would have worked well. It also just annoyed me because it showed what I was missing haha
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only one, the book was just to strange for me to want to read any of her others right now.
I have a younger brother and although I don't that's the reason I couldn't see past the incest, I don't think it helped. It was a shame because like I said, the book was really well written and if it hadn't had that in it, I would have loved it.
Hopefully I'll like it haha.
I really hope you end up liking it, I was so disappointed when I didn't. I think if I had a brother then it would super creep me out far too much to see past the incest story. As I don't, I can totally pretend that if my brother looked like Ryan Gosling then I might be slightly tempted too. I joke... I swear!
DeleteHahah me too, I hate being disappointed by books.
DeleteI really believe that's what put me off so much and I was disappointed because it was such a good book, the character development and the written was flawless.
.... I'm not even going to say what I thought when I read Ryan Goslings name, that man is too beautiful to turn down regardless of the situation haha ;).
Uh-oh. I ordered both Paritals and How I Live Now from Amazon not too long ago, but they haven’t shown up yet in the post. Both were second-hands so I guess that’s not so bad if I don’t like them!
ReplyDeleteI’ve given up on Allegiant. I was reluctant to read it as I didn’t particularity like Insurgent, but I always thought I’d get around to reading it eventually. I was avoiding spoilers for so long, but unfortunately I was surfing the net for non-book related stuff, then… boom… spoiler right there. Not marked either. *Le sigh* Shame you can’t unread things like that!
I hope you do love them though, I was disappointed that I didn't. I really hate when a book gets spoiled like that, it's not fun. I managed to avoid the spoilers but wish I hadn't, then maybe I would have given up on it too and saved myself the struggle of getting through it.
Delete