edonil Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 Eh. I tend not to finish books that piss me off as much as you guys have been describing...hence why I tore through the first three Game of Thrones books and don't even care to finish book four. Feast of Crows was just awful, not a single character I cared about, but we'll introduce 30 more! (shakes head) I've definitely had times where I wanted to strangle particular authors for killing off characters* (coughWebercoughAbnettcough), but then I've also wanted to strangle authors for just writing a bad story. Worst possible example has been almost anything Black Library has put out recently. There's a few authors I'll keep up with, but even those series that I greatly enjoyed started to piss me off as they brought in writers who didn't fit it. Example: The Horus Heresy series. Started off so incredibly strong, I loved it. The first four or five books were amazing, the best stuff I'd seen BL put out. And then, they published Descent of Angels, and it was absolutely garbage. A few more books that were good, and then they all started becoming like Descent of Angels. At that point, I stopped reading. Plot, and realistic characters, are important. When will publishers realize that? Books that are nothing but sex and/or violence aren't good books. They're just poor fiction. *As a side note, I don't have a problem with killing off characters. Even when Abnett seems to do it almost at random, it is a mark of how good of a writer he is that I want to throw the book against the wall and hunt him down for killing people. Same with Weber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GamerGaeth Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 Anything Gor. Dear god, the frothing hatred I have for that series cannot be summed up in words. Even worse are the people who think that this is how society should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Amos Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 Medusa's Coil by Zealia Bishop. It was one of those, "Wait, what? Really? Really?" endings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turelio Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 Have him read David Eddings, you'll win the mans love back quite quickly. GREAT author and I've reread many of his series. I'm using the audio books of The Belgariad books at the moment while I get stuff painted. I'm about halfway through book 4 at the moment. I haven't read them since high school, when I re-read them several times. There are a few interesting points I have picked up of foreshadowing and things like that which I didn't realise sooner. Having said that, I still find the main group of characters frustrating in that a lot of them ignore what is going on right in front of them then act surprised when something happens which was obvious a few books ago. Still, I keep coming back to them, so it must say something about them. Pissed me off though? Once, before it was common knowledge that the book was full of sparkly vampires, I tried to read 'Twilight'. I remember as far as the main town being called 'Forks' and that stuck with me, because I wanted to find some and drive them into my eyes. Another one was in high school, where we had to read 'The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender'. Most books that I had to read in school were at the worst partially enjoyable until we had to dissect them, and discuss stuff like the symbolism of the main character waking up and making breakfast was. That waste of paper though nearly drove me insane. The part I remember clearly was that the main character was being mugged or something like that, and she reached to her bag. She then explained that she didn't like guns or mace/pepper spray, listed the contents of her bag over two pages, then carefully sat it down and beat off the mugger. In class I checked, at not one point did the contents of the bag ever come into play again. Essentially, the middle of the book was a useless grocery list. I also remember losing a lot of marks on assignments based on the book, where we were asked our opinion about parts of the book. Turns out the Australian school system English course involves subtle translation skills. The phrase 'In your opinion' should be translated as 'Assuming you liked what you just read'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euclid (#ScottishMeta) Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 I'm trying to read the Wheel of Time series as I have some friends who highly recommended it. It isn't pis*ing me off but its boring as hell so far. The only books in recent years that I have given up on have been: - The Elder Gods by David Eddings. I loved his other series and this was a pile of s**t. - The Helconia Trillogy by Brian Aldis. The writing was brilliant, the story was massive in scape but at the end of the first book it builds up to a massive battle for ages and then..... a few thousand years later at a different part of the world...... BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHARACTERS I LOVED? Someday I will go back and finish this series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwinn Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 I am an avid reader and read anything which I find interesting. I will surely try this book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundwave Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 Why necro a thread with the last reply in 2006?... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edonil Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 (shrug) why not? I didn't really even notice it actually...lol. Just answered when I saw it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Footman Posted September 4, 2011 Report Share Posted September 4, 2011 never really understood the whole 'thread necromancy' thing myself, if you got something to post, who care's if it's a few years old. personally, I can't stand Ann Rice, I tried reading Queen of the Damned once, and couldn't get past the first chapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoyled Posted September 4, 2011 Report Share Posted September 4, 2011 There was one book that comes to mind. It was for a college prep class everyone took that was tweaked for your major, so biology based for me. We had to read and do a paper on a book called Galapagos. The papers were supposed to be more about the biology aspects in the book. Mine were about my absolute hate of the narrator character, a ghost who had no relevance to the story. Only book I ever threw away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tattyted Posted September 4, 2011 Report Share Posted September 4, 2011 Why necro a thread with the last reply in 2006?... because it is a decent question? Agree with GamerGaeth - read one of the Gor books as a kid (it was in the wrong section -should have been in adult -and the librarian didn't notice when she stamped it out) Really wish she had................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absolution Black Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 I have to jump in to defend the Robert Jordan books....I actually loved them up until about book 10. Then I will admit the next couple were a bit rambling and drawn out. But since his passing, and the mantle has been picked up by B Sanderson....Whilst still sticking to Jordan's vision, I have found his writing and style to be a breath of fresh air to the series. I really enjoyed his first book (12 i think) and have the next sitting on my shelf in line to be read. It re-ignited my love of the series. But yes, he does have too many similar sounding characters! And as for books that P*** me off? To be honest..none that i recall. Generally if i can't get into a book after about two or three chapters, I ditch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shae-Konnit Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 I picked up CS Goto's "Eldar Prophecy" on recommendation by one of my pals. Could barely get past the first couple of chapters it was so bad... Use of language, attempts at imagery, dialogue, everything about it just pissed me off: utterly awful on every single level. Also "Twisted Metal" by Tony Ballantyne. Supposed to be a sci-fi story about a planet full of robots but it was just so incredibly boring. For a world populated entirely by robots the level of technology was surprisingly low. Like, the main method of data storage was a slab of metal with characters scratched onto it. And maybe this is personal preference, but I just find it a bit odd reading about an alien world full of robots and they all have names like Frank, Bob and Dave and stuff like that... Again, barely penetrated a few chapters into that book, none of it made sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidKerrSmith Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 The Kathy Reichs book series for Temperance Brennan got on my nerves after the 3 book i read. I got really annoyed how in all 3 books the main character seems to find it a good idea to go snooping around on her own, without backup in any way shape or form for people who just killed someone. WTF woman... did you learn nothing from all of those crime reports you wrote. Yeah, stopped reading them after that. Also, talking about books making you feel sick, I ended up going off American Gods by Neil Gaiman after the motel scene... (just go read it) Took me about a week to pick it up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonedog-7 Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 I'm with Absolution Black on this, Wheel of time i really enjoyed until it hit a really dull patch about book 10, but Sanderson has really breathed new life into the series... just not enough for me to EVER read it from the begining again, but enough to finish it off And Eddings, that's a love/hate one for me, really enjoyed the Sparhawk trilogy, but the second one was pretty much copy/paste... found the same with the Belgariad, first set of five (iirc) books, fine not too bad not great, second set was almost identical... refuse to even try more as everything i've heard from the friends who have tried it is it's the same stuff being recycled AGAIN As for books truly annoying me, i'll echo the comments about the Gor books and pretty much everything that goes over the top like the book Nathan started this thread on, but otherwise there's not much i won't give a shot and persevere through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonas Albrecht Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand takes her hatred of communism and goes sh*tbricks crazy in the opposite direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciaran Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand takes her hatred of communism and goes sh*tbricks crazy in the opposite direction. Same as Sword of Truth Series. Well, except at least what little bit of Atlas Shrugged I've read comes off as though it was written by someone that actually knows the craft a bit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTox Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Great Topic.... During the height of Dan Brown, circa 2004 I believe or at least that's when I heard the most about it, I was unable to get my hands on the highly recommended Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons, so I picked up Deception Point. This book single-handedly made me lose faith in modern authors and I didn't read anything from anyone current for about a year, reverted back to Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Orwell and the like. Though Brown's ideas are pretty good, at least enough to make a story about even if they are lifted from other sources, his writing is god awful. Foreshadowing is supposed to lead the reader towards an "Ooh!!!" or "Ah ha!!" moment later in the book by droping "sublte" hints, not cause them to slap their forehead out of shear frustration because the author has ruined their own pacing. I think I might've thrown the book across the room multiple times, but I had to finish it. Then proceeded to burn it. That book definitely pissed me off :wallbash: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilus Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand takes her hatred of communism and goes sh*tbricks crazy in the opposite direction. I'd give you my opinion of Ayn Rand but I like to keep my politics off this board as much as I can. Lets just say I'm not a fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keltheos Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 This book: [ame]http://www.amazon.com/Sad-Tale-Brothers-Grossbart/dp/0316049344/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315331923&sr=8-1[/ame] I don't think I've ever disliked the main character(s) of a book so completely as these two. My dislike was set within the first couple chapters of the book and carried through until the end - when I nearly threw it across the airplane cabin. I kept waiting for either (and was disappointed neither occurred) a) the Brothers to finally come to some sort of awakening realization. be on the receiving end of a brutal comeuppance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buhallin Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Cryptonomicon. It's supposed to be some panacea for geeks, with a respect to the technical that is rarely seen. Instead, you get about 3900 pages (wasn't it that many? it felt like it) where the crypto discussions are the only thing that's even remotely realistic as seven different unrelated story threads full of characters so overdone they would make Superman go "Really, guys, don't you think he's just a little TOO good?" meander their way along with nothing but "Okay, REALLY?" coincidences to tie them together, constantly teasing you with a Grand Revelation that simply never happens. I've heard that some of Stephenson's other work is better/good, but after that train wreck of a book I'll never read another word he wrote. Also, kudos to those saying that made it to Book 10 of Wheel of Time. I lost it about book 6. To this day, I think Robert Jordan was an impressive author with an unparalleled ability to take a trilogy and compress it into 10 books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keltheos Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 100% agree, Buh. I'd read another book by him ages ago, can't recall which, and I quite liked it. I can only get about 1/3 of the way through the Cryptobrick before I give up and put it back at the bottom of the 'to read pile'...again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilus Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Also, kudos to those saying that made it to Book 10 of Wheel of Time. I lost it about book 6. To this day, I think Robert Jordan was an impressive author with an unparalleled ability to take a trilogy and compress it into 10 books. I'm impressed you guys got past the first book. Something about Robert Jordan's style just killed me. I also disliked his Conan works. I stayed away from the Song of Ice and Fire for years and years because people always said how it was like the Wheel of Time. Now that I am finally reading them I am happy that they are not. Honestly I should have known, I enjoy George R.R. Martins other works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edonil Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 I'm impressed you guys got past the first book. Something about Robert Jordan's style just killed me. I also disliked his Conan works. I stayed away from the Song of Ice and Fire for years and years because people always said how it was like the Wheel of Time. Now that I am finally reading them I am happy that they are not. Honestly I should have known, I enjoy George R.R. Martins other works. See, it's interesting because I was able to get through all of the Wheel of Time books, (looking forward to the end of the series this November) and yet I hit Feast of Crows and never finished it. Never even had an inclination to finish it since then. I just don't care. Best long series I've ever read has been the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilus Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 See, it's interesting because I was able to get through all of the Wheel of Time books, (looking forward to the end of the series this November) and yet I hit Feast of Crows and never finished it. Never even had an inclination to finish it since then. I just don't care. Best long series I've ever read has been the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. Honestly I have not gotten to Feast of Crows yet. So I might end up eating my words. I here good things about the Honor Harrington series. I might reserve the first book at my local library and check it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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