DISAPPOINTING BOOKS OF 2019

It's only natural to share the books that I found disappointing after posting about all of the books that I loved last year. There were a number of books that I did not like out of the 61 books that I read. It was inevitable that I was going to read some duds. Additionally, reading is a very subjective activity. Just because I did not like this book, does not take away from it and should not sway your opinion of the book. If you liked it, I'm very happy that you did. It was simply that these books didn't tick the boxes for me. They are in the order that I read them throughout the year. 

THE BOOK THIEF - MARKUS ZUSAK

This one pains me to put on my 'Disappointing books' list. 'The Book Thief' is probably one of the most renowned books out there. It is very popular and very loved which is one of the reasons why I bought it and read it. I was immediately intrigued by the plot and the fact that the story is told from the perspective of Death. From the start of the book, I struggled to read it. This book told me the better part of a month to read. I was not excited to read it. I was not invested enough to run home after work and pick it up. I wasn't enjoying the characters and I certainly wasn't liking the writing style of Zusak.

As I read 'The Book Thief', I struggled to get into the writing. I found the writing style to be incredibly jarring. I found that Zusak word choices to be peculiar and somewhat 'off'. The writing style didn't particularly flow for me and even when it did, I ultimately found myself being thrown through a loop and being thrown out of the narrative. Ultimately, I didn't like the characters or the plot. The writing style didn't bring the book to life for me and it just wasn't what I was expecting. 

THE DISASTERS - M.K. ENGLAND

I picked this book up on a whim when I was left unattended in Barnes & Noble whilst on holiday in New York City last February. I was drawn to the cover of it. It is a very eye-catching cover. I read the inside jacket and thought that it would be a great read.

Nope.

It started off with a bang - quite literally. The action hit the ground running and it continued at that fast pace throughout the book. That wasn't my issue with the book. My issue was with the characters. The main protagonist, whose name I cannot remember and cannot be bothered to look up because I am that annoyed with, really got on my nerves. For a character that was being framed for murdering fellow cadets and for destroying a space academy, he was extremely inappropriate throughout the book. When in mortal peril, the main character would stop and notice how attractive Character A was or how close Character B was and how they smelled in such close proximity. Who thinks like that when their life is in danger or when they're being hunted or shot at? This character apparently and it annoyed me to no end. I felt like this book was a self-serving novel for the author. It smacked of a debut novel to me and I could not get past my hatred for the characters. The premise was excellent. I loved the premise and the action. I just hated the characters that went through it. 

SUPERMAN: DAWNBREAKER - MATT DE LA PENA

This was an utterly forgettable book. I had honestly forgotten that I had read this until I looked up my list of disappointing books in my notebook.

I don't remember reading it.

This book read like an episode of 'Smallville. I didn't particularly find the plot anything unique to Superman. The previous books in the DC Icons series, Wonder Woman, Batman and Catwoman, had much more unique storylines compared to this book. De la Pena missed the ball for me on this book. It didn't intrigue me. I was bored with the characters. I was bored by the plot. Nothing about this book jumped out at me as anything gripping or enticing. It did nothing for me as a reader or a DC Comics fan. I honestly read approximately 100 pages because skimming the rest to see if anything enticed me to read it.

Nothing happened. 

UNEARTHED - AMIE KAUFMAN & MEAGAN SPOONER

This book was one of the most confusing books on this list. I could not get into it at all. It intrigued me from the start but it didn't seem to keep my intrigue for long. I felt that the authors didn't describe what was happening well enough for my liking. The characters go through a temple and have to solve puzzles to move from chamber to chamber. Very Indiana Jones, right? I was lost from the moment the characters stepped into the first chamber. I could not see anything within my mind or imagine anything and as a result, I was simply not invested in this book. I was confused and lost all interest in it. I ultimately skimmed the majority of the book to see if anything clicked in my mind. Nothing did and as a result, I did not like it.

I had thought about giving the book a second chance when I was in a better mood for it. That is not going to happen because I donated the book last month. 

STAR TREK: WHAT LAY BEYOND - VARIOUS AUTHORS

Again, this book was not what I was expecting. I loved the Gateway series in the Star Trek novels. I read them years ago and recently read them again in 2019 before continuing on the concluding novel, What Lay Beyond. I had never read it before 2019 and was excited to see what happened to my favourite characters after they stepped through the gateways and the end of their respective novels. What I got was not what I was expecting. I had expected an all-encompassing novel where my favourite characters would meet and solve the mystery of these gateways.

I did not get that.

'What Lay Beyond' was a collection of short stories that are set apart from each other. Picard goes through something, Colonel Kira has an existential vision quest of some description and Janeway has something similar. I was expecting something more exciting. I was expecting mystery and intrigue and maybe a good old-fashioned phaser fight. Nothing like that happened. This book was such a disappointment after the action of the previous books. It did nothing for my Star Trek fangirl. 

FINALE - STEPHANIE GARBER

As I sit here writing this blog post, I cannot remember what in particular disappointed me about this book. I'm hoping that something comes to me.

The main thing that I did not like about this book was the double love-triangle. I dislike love triangles at the best of times but for an author to use two of them in the same book? It was agony to read. I have loved this series since I read the first book, Caraval. I devoured that book. I fell in love with the characters and the world. Scarlett Dragna was my favourite. I loved everything that Garber threw at her. I loved all of the twists and turns and the ending was incredible. 'Legendary' was a good follow-up to 'Caraval' but it wasn't as good in my opinion. 'Finale' was very high on my reading list for 2019. My best friend loved it and so I was very excited to read it.

I struggled to read 'Finale.'

Tella annoyed me more than she did in Legendary. Scarlett was not immune to my annoyance. There seemed to be a lot of convenient plot devices throughout the book for book characters and for practically every plot twist and turn. Nothing particularly captured my attention. Nothing made me sit up and pay attention. If anything, most of the book made me roll my eyes.

I guess I remembered more about why I didn't like this than I thought. I need to make better notes.... Or I could actually leave reviews on Goodreads.

SORCERY OF THORNS - MARGARET ROGERSON

This book. This book put me in my reading slump in August. I had been curious about this book when I heard about it and debated on purchasing it one day in Waterstone's. I even walked around the whole store with the book in my arms as I read reviews on Goodreads. They were all glowing reviews. I read the first page. I bought it. I read the first 50 pages. I thought that I was headed for a solid four-star book. 

Was I wrong!

After the fifty-page mark, the book took a drastic nose-dive. I couldn't get into it from there onwards. I didn't like what I was reading. I found the plot was losing itself to things that seemed interesting but ultimately felt disjointed with the setting and seemed convenient. I didn't want to give up on it because I had spent money on the book. I hate giving up on books and so I used an Audible credit to finish it because I was already half-way through. I had a Sunday shift and so I had several hours to occupy. I would easily finish it.

The audiobook was one of the worst audiobooks that I've had the displeasure to waste a credit on. I did not like the narrator's voice. They did not bring the book to life in the way that other narrators have. The voices for the characters, particularly the male characters, all sounded too similar to differentiate. I didn't particularly find myself liking any of the characters and so was disinterested in the book. Additionally, there were several instances where it sounded like they had to record segments again but they did not use the same audio settings as before. As a result, the playback sounded off and jarred me out of the audiobook completely when I was in it, however briefly. It was not for me.

Out of 61 books, there were only seven books that I did not like. That's not bad. That's only 11% of what I read. I'll take those odds. Let me know the books that were disappointments to you last year in the comments below. Were any of these disappointing or did you love them? Let me know.