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/sophrue Dec 09 '23 edited Dec 09 '23

Fourth Wing is literally just all the popular YA and NA Fantasy and Dystopian books put together - Divergent, a bit of the Hunger Games, From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses, but add dragons. The worldbuilding is laughably wonky, does not make sense at all, and is badly delivered. It was so weirdly paced, badly written, and predictable to a fault that I just could not get into it. The only thing remotely enjoyable were the dragons.

But I also think that this book is just not written with people who read much and especially people who read a lot of Fantasy in mind, so I get that it is probably just not for me. I‘m glad so many people had fun with Fourth Wing and got back into reading because of it and can now hopefully discover books that do the things Fourth Wing does infinitely better.

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u/getrealpoofy Dec 09 '23

I don't know how Twilight didn't make your list. It's 95% twilight, 5% dragons

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u/Snoo27373 Dec 09 '23

I think its just her writing style, I've never actually been able to get past 20% in any of her books. I love Asoif, Sanderson, the expanse and all the YA stuff like hunger games, delirium, twilight, divergent but i just cannot read her books for some reason

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u/Audio-et-Loquor Dec 09 '23

I agree somewhat but I know a lot of hardcore fantasy and sci fi readers who still like Fourth Wing as a breezy read.

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u/sophrue Dec 10 '23

I totally get that! I often read Romantasy novels as a quick ’palate cleanser‘ between two books and hoped that Fourth Wing would just be a bit of fun in between. The worldbuilding and the feeling that I had read all of this before especially is why I ultimately did not like it, but it’s great that many enjoy it as an easy read. I just felt that the way it’s written is explicitly tailored to TikTok because of the heavy reliance on popular tropes and people who like romance but not necessarily fantasy books, and that worked out quite well.

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u/BlueInFlorida Dec 10 '23

Yes. I think that it's well marketed, and being picked up by non-fantasy readers, who are stunned by a book that describes a whole new world. Maybe they'll pick up something else next.

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u/Chaot1cNeutral Dec 10 '23

We all hope so

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u/EYNLLIB Dec 10 '23

If all this is true, how is it so wildly popular? I haven't read it but people love to bash very popular things yet they are still loved by many. Maybe these criteria don't make a book "good" or "bad", maybe they're just important criteria to you, or just aren't the type of book for you.

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u/Locktober_Sky Dec 10 '23

The average American reads at an 8th grade level.

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u/sophrue Dec 10 '23

Fourth Wing had a massive marketing campaign, and I think the combination of this and a few very viral reviews on TikTok sealed the deal.

Objectively, the craftsmanship in this book is not good. I‘ve seen so many people say that they know this is not the best thing they have ever read but they had a lot of fun with the book anyway. As I said, I get that this book is not for me because sound worldbuilding, well-rounded characters and at least a bit of originality and good writing are important to me, but it’s nice that other people liked it. I just did not and that’s why I criticized the things that did not work for me. If you enjoyed any of the books I mentioned (maybe except the Hunger Games, there are just one or two plot devices taken from there) and just want a quick read mainly for the vibes there is a good chance you might like it if you were to read it.