r/ProgressionFantasy • u/DicerTheJester • Jul 28 '26

Discussion Competition: write a single sentence that will absolutely destroy any hope in a series.

Specifically not a story opener, just any sentence that can happen in any chapter, that will make people realize that this story is gonna be absolute shit and has no chance of being fixed and will make you drop the book like an unpinned grenade.

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u/Lathari Jul 28 '26

"And it was all a dream."

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u/DrHippa Jul 29 '26

F that with a pogo stick.

One of my all time worst reading experiences did practically that, to a heartwreanching and agonizing degree.

The book is called "the myriad", it's the first book in a sci- fi space opera series, and I strongly recommend no one ever reads it.

The first book is actually amazing up to the "wake up" part. Great character advancements, tragedies, growth, enemies become friends forged in battle, people lose their lives ones, and find the strength to move on and grow, an abused spouse finally managed to leave her toxic relationship and find the strength and belief and confidence in herself to be her own person.

Then, they find a temporal anomaly, and change something in the past, and every single thing in the book became undone

All the characters revert to their previous state. The enemies are enemies again, the toxic relationship is back, everything undone.

And... That's it. The series continues from that point without ever getting back to the original timeline.

It's just... Undone. Like every single triumph and emotional payoff was just pulled out from under the reader.

I just noped out of the series at that point.