Unpopular Book Opinions

Hello, lovelies!

I was poking about the internet as per usual, and I came across this post, which was an Unpopular Book Opinions Tag. Basically it's a series of questions that asks you to name a several popular novel titles/characters that people adore, but you just can't seem to enjoy.

I figured since I was feeling in a bookish mood that I'd give this tag a whirl. Feel free to answer the prompts in the comments as well. (:

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A popular book you didn't like.

I have to go with the Divergent trilogy. I know, it's kind of cheating to say a trilogy as opposed to one book, but I figured I'd bring up this series as a whole. I hated the way Roth handled the ending of Allegiant. It felt very lazy, and I didn't care enough about the characters for the plot twist to matter to me in the slightest. 

I gave up on Tris and Four during the 2nd and 3rd books because Four became more interested in making out and less interested in kicking butt like he used to in the first book. Insurgent was honestly just there to set the scene for Allegiant, and it felt like boring filler to me. I even tried watching the Divergent movie, and almost fell asleep halfway through. Oops!

I actually really liked the first two books in this sort of companion series to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books. I loved the Lightning Thief books, but as this companion series went on, I began to sense a very repetitive trend. Characters get mysterious prophecy that says they must save everyone before a deadline, somebody does a thing that they weren't supposed to, and mild cliffhangers at the end of every chapter.

I was really sad to start disliking these books. It wasn't until Mark of Athena that I started to not enjoy them as much as I used to like Riordan books, and reading the final book, The Blood of Olympus, was surprisingly boring. I wish I didn't dislike these books, but I just didn't like the repetitiveness and lack of new ideas. It was just the same cookie cutter book over and over, but with new frosting to give the illusion of a different book.

A popular author you just can't get into.

Maggie Stiefvater. So many of my friends I know through blogging adore her novels. She wrote the Shiver trilogy, Scorpio Races, and a series I believe is called the Raven Boys. I read both the Shiver trilogy and Scorpio Races, and hated both. 

Shiver I read when I was younger (middle school age?), and being a youngster it mentally scarred me. I later tried reading Scorpio Races when I was a little older, and I was so bored during that book it took me forever to finish. Part of it was because it was a very horsey book and I'm not a horsey person, and part of it was me not liking her writing style. I've yet to find a novel of hers that I enjoy, so perhaps I'll try Raven Boys next.

These are the Pendragon books by D.J. MacHale. I've talked with some good friends of mine, and they ADORE these books. Personally? I couldn't stand them. I thought the plot was repetitive and the author's writing style was more droning than actual action. The sad part was that I read the whole series hoping that the next book in line would be better than the last (spoiler: they weren't!).

A love triangle where the protagonist ended up with the person you didn't want them to be with.

The frustration that this series caused me with the love triangle between Cassia, Ky, and Xander in the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie was not worth it. I wanted Cassia to pick the boy whose name rhymes with meander, but alas, she was a party pooper and decided to pick the boy who I didn't even like. *le sigh* I also had a similar feeling to this series as I did with Divergent, where book one was pretty good, but book 2 and 3 were horrible.

A popular genre you hardly read.

Historical fiction and mystery. It's a very rare occasion where I pick up a historical fiction novel or a mystery. Mysteries are just bad for people like me who like skipping to the end and finding the killer early because I'm impatient, and historical fiction can be dragging if not done right. 

I used to LOVE the Boxcar Children series. They were for elementary aged kids, and they were shorter mystery novels and I used to think they were the best mystery books ever. But then I started doing that naughty thing where you skip to the end and find out who did the thing before the characters do, and that made it significantly less fun to read them. So I suppose it's partially my fault. I did actually manage to find a historical fiction novel recently that I adored (Lost by Jaqueline Davis), but that was something abnormal in my usual reading routine.

A popular/beloved character you didn't like.

John Smith in the Lorien Legacies series just seemed very weak to me, and his whole power with lighting up his hands was pretty weird. I also didn't like his girlfriend, since she acted all pathetic and weak all the time, and then randomly gained the ability to shoot a gun like nobody's business. It was all just very strange.

Cassie from The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, and John Smith in I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore. I can't remember exactly why I didn't like Cassie, but I remember the 5th Wave having a very weird ending that shouldn't have been possible at all. (Deus ex machina, much?) 

A popular series you have no interest in reading.

I actually have no idea how popular these books are yet, but Marie Lu is best known for her Legend trilogy. This series has nothing to do with that one, and I did read the first book, The Young Elites . . . and hated it. It was super dark, and while I'm usually okay with darker books, but this one was just so dark and it didn't make sense that some things happened. I thought the ending was a bad one, which is why I don't plan on reading The Rose Society, which is the sequel to this one.

A show/movie adaptation that you liked better than the book.

At the time of posting this, Mockingjay Part 2 has not come out yet. I went to see Part 1 last year, and it was surprisingly good, especially since Mockingjay was my least favorite book out of the Hunger Games series. Jennifer Lawrence is an amazing actress, and Josh Hutcherson was an adorable Peeta. (His scene where he comes back from the capital after the torture bit was very sad and tears were almost shed.)

I'm one of the few people I know that actually read the LotR books before seeing the movies. I know personally how tough those books can be to get into, but I adored them once I got past the many pages of singing. But the movie versions of these books were very well done. Yes, they cut stuff out, and at one point reordered a large scene, but the actors/actresses chosen for each character were just as I imagined them. (I loved the Legolas and Gimli scenes. Who can resist Orlando Bloom and a dwarf companion?)

A book series everyone seems to hate but you seem to love.

All of the friends I know in person who've read part of this book series have not liked them. All of the people who I've introduced this series to who I've met through blogging have loved this trilogy. Weird, eh? The friends who haven't liked it have disliked the darkness to this trilogy, and several were not fond of the idea of the Shadowhunters, who are people who hunt down demons and keep the mortal world from evil.

Yes. This series does have dark undertones, but I personally believe that these books have darkness, but also so much light to them. The characters in this trilogy are my all-time favorites, and Cassandra Clare (le author) did an amazing new twist on the love triangle between Tessa and her love-interests. I was stunned by how she handled it, but I loved how original it was. The plot is suspenseful and full of all that good fantasy loveliness.

So technically this trilogy is not a super hated trilogy among fans of The Mortal Instruments (as this is a prequel trilogy), but all of my friends in real life (is it weird to call them my "real life" friends?) have disliked them. Personally, I ADORE this trilogy and have reread it countless times because I love it that much.

A popular subject you're tired of reading.

Snotty, rich girl has magical turn-around because she either a.) meets a guy, b.) meets a humble girl who becomes her friend and makes her realize how annoying she is. The book I've shown here is just an example of this plot idea. I'm tired of reading about a very spoiled, stuck-up main character. I just have zero pity for them, and the entire time I'm reading it I just want to give the MC a good shake by the shoulders. Spoiled people are not my favorite type of people, and reading about them is just not very much fun.

I love a good romance novel, but love triangles need to slow down. Unless you make me like both of the love-interests equally, I will not care who the MC picks. And if the MC picks the person I didn't want them to pick, then it's not going to make me feel warm and fuzzy with happiness. The exception to this whole shebang is if the rejected love-interest ends up with a happy ending and isn't left there sad for the rest of his/her life.

Along with this idea, I don't like those plot lines where there's a new girl at a new school and EVERY SINGLE MALE in the near vicinity thinks she's a gorgeous goddess, but she thinks she's hideous. Look, if everyone's falling at your feet, then you have to at least admit you probably have decent hair or something. Also: You don't need a man around to know that you're beautiful, so stop making it seem like that in novels. *hint hint*

A popular style of cover you hate.

I'm really not that picky when it comes to book covers. But I don't really like super cartoonish covers. They just feel very . . . childish? I don't know if that's the word I'm looking for. I just love either simplistic covers, or mind-blowingly gorgeous covers. Cartoon-looking covers just don't get me excited to read a book.

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Well, that's my take on the Unpopular Book Opinions tag! Feel free to answer some of the tag's questions in the comments. (I'd love to know some movie adaptations of books you think are amazing!)

That is all.

Cheers,
Seana