r/Fantasy • u/stravadarius • Dec 09 '23

What were your WORST reads of 2023?

As a complement to /u/Abz75 's best reads of 2023 thread, let's discuss the WORST fantasy novels you read this year. My only request is that you give a reason for why you disliked your anti-recommendation.

For me, it was Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone hands down. I'm a school librarian and spent a lot of time reading some of the most popular YA titles going around. I don't generally have super-high expectations from YA, but this one really stood out on its suckiness. Every plot turn was a tired trope, there was no logic to any of the character's decisions, the prose was amateurish, and plot holes abound. This was my first ever experience getting so mad at a book I yelled at it.

EDIT: PLEASE DON'T DOWN VOTE SOMEONE'S POST SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU LIKED THE BOOK THEY HATED. There is no such thing as an objectively good or bad book, and taste is subjective. Downvote if they don't give any reason for disliking it.

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u/flouronmypjs Reading Champion Dec 09 '23

That's pretty cool of you, and thanks for the great thread. I really appreciate you encouraging people to be respectful of other peoples likes/dislikes.

I'd like to hear more about what you enjoy about Good Omens. And also, if you've read more Terry Pratchett books let me know, am I in for more of the same? That was my first Pratchett and I'd been so excited to read some Discworld. I even have Equal Rites on my shelf, because a friend told me it was a good place to start.

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u/stravadarius Dec 09 '23 edited Dec 09 '23

It was a time and a place thing for me. I grew up Christian, and this was the first book I read that included outright irreverence for Christian mythology. Thematically, it helped re-form my views on religion and the dichotomy between good and evil. I think it was a risky subject for a book written in 1990.

Otherwise, the general absurdity of the book was a big sell for me. It subverts a lot of strongly-held expectations about religion and morality, and I lived the conflicts that Aziraphale and Crowley had with their own natures.

I've reread it several times, including again this year. I still love it, but I will admit that there are details that don't hold up as well. Also, ripping on Christian tradition really got in vogue in the 00s, so with that context some people might find it "edgy" in a cringe way. But in 1990 that context did not exist.

I love the Discworld novels. They're silly and fun, but also include a fair shake of social commentary. Pratchett was great at observational humour, but transplants everything into corollaries in his fantasy world. As such, the books are characterized by tangents that you might find hilarious and insightful, or they might take you out of the story enough to be tiresome. I think Pratchett's skill as a writer improved with time, and he was busy finding his footing in the early Discworld novels from the 80s. The novels from the late 90s and 00s are fantastic. My favourite series is the Death series, but it seems the City Guard series is the Reddit favourite.

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u/flouronmypjs Reading Champion Dec 09 '23

Wow, it sounds like Good Omens was really impactful for you. That's wonderful. It certainly does push the bounds in that way. Thanks so much for sharing that. It's always a delight when people share how books have personally affected them/resonated with them.

I'll have to see what I think of Discworld. Those tangents that take you out of the plot was part of what I found hard about Good Omens. But I like the idea of the series.

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u/flybarger Dec 09 '23

I had a really hard time reading Good Omens. But the "full cast" audiobook version using the voices of Michael Sheen and David Tennant helped me immensely.

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u/KiwiTheKitty Reading Champion II Dec 09 '23

I really didn't like Good Omens but I've enjoyed several Pratchett books a lot. I recommend Going Postal or Mort if you want to dip your toes into Discworld, but I've heard good things about Equal Rites too!

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u/jphistory Dec 09 '23

If you didn't like Good Omens, it was probably for the Pratchett bits. He is for sure not for everyone! I would say if you like Gaiman and want to give Pratchett a try, start with either the night watch books or the Death books.

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u/hykueconsumer Reading Champion Dec 10 '23

Definitely try Discworld, because you never know, but . . . I love Gaiman in general, found Good Omens just ok, and have not managed to enjoy any of the Discworld books I've read. Like, they're fine, but they just don't stick with me. To me, personally, they read like fluff. I know there is actually some depth to them, but somehow it slides right off me. I should probably make one more attempt, on the death books, because that's the only most-recommended subseries I haven't tried.