Book thoughts: DNF edition
Apr. 28th, 2024 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkSo far, 2024 has not been that much better of a reading year than 2023 was...
Into the Sunken City by Dinesh Thiru
Genre: YA, science fiction, heist
I swear, heist books are cursed for me. The only one I've enjoyed was The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi; every other one has let me down.
When I heard the pitch for this book—a sci-fi retelling of Treasure Island involving a heist in a drowned casino—I thought it was awesome. But I'm not that familiar with Treasure Island (the closest I've come is watching Disney's Treasure Planet), and I suspect this book was a faithful retelling, pacing-wise, because I found the beginning of the book a bit...slow. I also didn't like how much Jin and Thara clashed? Their relationship seemed to be a constant up and down.
I DNF'ed about 40% of the way through because I just wasn't feeling motivated to continue. I may pick up the book again later to give it another try.
A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat
Genre: YA, horror
I'm a sucker for a haunted house book. I found this book kind of slow until I think 25% of the way through, and then I got completely hooked.
And then...I ended up abandoning the story in one of the final chapters. I'm not someone who loves "cozy" comfort reads, but the level of violence at the climax stressed me out so much that I jumped ship.
Darker By Four by June CL Tan
Genre: YA, fantasy
The author's debut novel was a 3-star read for me, and this book had a cool premise. Chinese urban fantasy involving cultivation, Exorcists, and the Ten Courts of Hell? Sign me up! Plus, the audiobook narrator is one of my absolute favorite narrators.
So imagine my surprise when I was aggravated enough to DNF this book at the 20% mark.
The recurring theme in a bunch of 2024 releases so far, for me, is that they are absolutely TERRIBLE at getting the reader invested in the protagonist(s) within the first few chapters. Coupled with the inciting incident not making much sense, I just didn't care enough to keep reading.
Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan
Genre: Adult, fantasy
Another book I wanted to love and tried really hard to finish, but even on audio with one of my favorite narrators, I think this might be a DNF around the 2/3 mark.
I went into this book apprehensive because it got a lot of mixed advance reviews. I definitely agree with those reviews that this book had a lot of problems—but I think my biggest problem was the character of Cordelia. Not only did I despise her character (I don't know if this was the author's intention, but she came off as a "race traitor," e.g. willing to make things worse for other fathomfolk for the sake of her own selfish desires), but it was also stressful to put up with her POV chapters, knowing she was scheming to make things worse for the other POV characters. Other reviewers have complained about how impulsive Nami was, but for me, Cordelia was the worst part of this book, and I think I could have pushed through if her chapters hadn't been there.
I've read some spoilers about things that happen to certain characters later on, and I just don't think I have enough interest to finish this.
*
As I'm typing out my thoughts, I realize that I don't like "stressful" reads.
Again, not that I'm someone who likes "cozy" reads, either. I like conflict. I guess my definition of a "stressful" read is a story that foreshadows that bad things will happen to the main character(s), because that causes a feeling of dread for me.
I like books in which characters had bad things happen to them in the past and then struggle for revenge/catharsis. I like books about characters coping with how trauma has shaped them and figuring out how to move forward. I don't like rooting for the characters to succeed only to see them receive disabling injuries/lose it all during the story.
Switching gears a bit—I mentioned above that I feel like a lot of new releases are doing a terrible job of making me invested in the protagonist(s) from the get-go. I'm normally not a mood reader or someone whose enjoyment of books is impacted by external factors, but it's gotten to the point where I AM starting to wonder if the problem is *me*, because it can't be that most books coming out this year have the exact same problem, can it???
I generally try to read the beginnings of books on Amazon to see if the writing style will be a turn-off, and Amazon previews can go online up to a month before the book's release. And even for unreleased books whose previews I've read, I STILL find the opening chapters atrocious at getting me to care about the protagonist(s).
What makes me care about the protagonist? First and foremost—a distinctive personality. Where this goes wrong for me is when authors immediately try to give the protagonist "witty banter" or a "badass attitude" in order to convey their personality. This doesn't work because too many authors have used these elements as shorthands for a personality, so they've effectively become generic, ironically.
Make me care about the protagonist by showing me something unexpected about them, and by giving them an air of mystery.
A sword for hire who is all "IDGAF about making people suffer as long as I get paid"? Boring. Seen that done a hundred times.
A sword for hire who's all "I'm out of money, but I can't bring myself to wring the fee out of the person who just swindled me"? Unexpected. Now I'm intrigued about why the character is like this.
Into the Sunken City by Dinesh Thiru
Genre: YA, science fiction, heist
I swear, heist books are cursed for me. The only one I've enjoyed was The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi; every other one has let me down.
When I heard the pitch for this book—a sci-fi retelling of Treasure Island involving a heist in a drowned casino—I thought it was awesome. But I'm not that familiar with Treasure Island (the closest I've come is watching Disney's Treasure Planet), and I suspect this book was a faithful retelling, pacing-wise, because I found the beginning of the book a bit...slow. I also didn't like how much Jin and Thara clashed? Their relationship seemed to be a constant up and down.
I DNF'ed about 40% of the way through because I just wasn't feeling motivated to continue. I may pick up the book again later to give it another try.
A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat
Genre: YA, horror
I'm a sucker for a haunted house book. I found this book kind of slow until I think 25% of the way through, and then I got completely hooked.
And then...I ended up abandoning the story in one of the final chapters. I'm not someone who loves "cozy" comfort reads, but the level of violence at the climax stressed me out so much that I jumped ship.
Darker By Four by June CL Tan
Genre: YA, fantasy
The author's debut novel was a 3-star read for me, and this book had a cool premise. Chinese urban fantasy involving cultivation, Exorcists, and the Ten Courts of Hell? Sign me up! Plus, the audiobook narrator is one of my absolute favorite narrators.
So imagine my surprise when I was aggravated enough to DNF this book at the 20% mark.
The recurring theme in a bunch of 2024 releases so far, for me, is that they are absolutely TERRIBLE at getting the reader invested in the protagonist(s) within the first few chapters. Coupled with the inciting incident not making much sense, I just didn't care enough to keep reading.
Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan
Genre: Adult, fantasy
Another book I wanted to love and tried really hard to finish, but even on audio with one of my favorite narrators, I think this might be a DNF around the 2/3 mark.
I went into this book apprehensive because it got a lot of mixed advance reviews. I definitely agree with those reviews that this book had a lot of problems—but I think my biggest problem was the character of Cordelia. Not only did I despise her character (I don't know if this was the author's intention, but she came off as a "race traitor," e.g. willing to make things worse for other fathomfolk for the sake of her own selfish desires), but it was also stressful to put up with her POV chapters, knowing she was scheming to make things worse for the other POV characters. Other reviewers have complained about how impulsive Nami was, but for me, Cordelia was the worst part of this book, and I think I could have pushed through if her chapters hadn't been there.
I've read some spoilers about things that happen to certain characters later on, and I just don't think I have enough interest to finish this.
*
As I'm typing out my thoughts, I realize that I don't like "stressful" reads.
Again, not that I'm someone who likes "cozy" reads, either. I like conflict. I guess my definition of a "stressful" read is a story that foreshadows that bad things will happen to the main character(s), because that causes a feeling of dread for me.
I like books in which characters had bad things happen to them in the past and then struggle for revenge/catharsis. I like books about characters coping with how trauma has shaped them and figuring out how to move forward. I don't like rooting for the characters to succeed only to see them receive disabling injuries/lose it all during the story.
Switching gears a bit—I mentioned above that I feel like a lot of new releases are doing a terrible job of making me invested in the protagonist(s) from the get-go. I'm normally not a mood reader or someone whose enjoyment of books is impacted by external factors, but it's gotten to the point where I AM starting to wonder if the problem is *me*, because it can't be that most books coming out this year have the exact same problem, can it???
I generally try to read the beginnings of books on Amazon to see if the writing style will be a turn-off, and Amazon previews can go online up to a month before the book's release. And even for unreleased books whose previews I've read, I STILL find the opening chapters atrocious at getting me to care about the protagonist(s).
What makes me care about the protagonist? First and foremost—a distinctive personality. Where this goes wrong for me is when authors immediately try to give the protagonist "witty banter" or a "badass attitude" in order to convey their personality. This doesn't work because too many authors have used these elements as shorthands for a personality, so they've effectively become generic, ironically.
Make me care about the protagonist by showing me something unexpected about them, and by giving them an air of mystery.
A sword for hire who is all "IDGAF about making people suffer as long as I get paid"? Boring. Seen that done a hundred times.
A sword for hire who's all "I'm out of money, but I can't bring myself to wring the fee out of the person who just swindled me"? Unexpected. Now I'm intrigued about why the character is like this.
