Most of the books I read in 2017 were pretty good, actually. I think I'm just getting better at what I think I'll like and avoiding the stuff I know I won't. I sort of had a hard time curating this list, but don't you worry, I'm down to throwing so much shade at books, I'm giving out awards.
Most Disappointing: The Becoming of Noah Shaw, Michelle Hodkin
Most reviews of this new series by Michelle Hodkin have been pretty mixed. Of my friends' reviews of this book, the average is 2.67/5 stars (and I tend to be picky when it comes to adding people on goodreads). At the end of the day (and three-ish months after reading it) I cannot for the life of me tell you what the plot was. The end of the Mara Dyer trilogy wasn't the greatest, but do we really need to keep picking up the pieces from it? I thought this was supposed to focus on Noah, a different character, with different sturggles, and hance, a different plot. But instead it's Noah's weird mundane problems and Mara's continuing downward spiral as an anti-hero. I want the Noah with daddy issues and undying love for Mara, not what happened in this novel.
Most Predictable: Last Star Burning, Caitlin Sangster
While I know that other people appreciate this book a lot more than I do, this book still felt extremely predictable and familiar. It felt like a mash up of every dystopian novel I've ever read. Complete with a conflict in love interests, a "special" main character, and a world of secrets *cue the ouuuhhhs.* You can tell by the cover that this book is extremely influenced by Japanese culture, which means a diverse cast of characters, except nothing is actually said that makes you think the characters differ from white people (and the author is white - which is fine, but- you know what I mean). Everything that you might expect to happen, happened. And anything you didn't expect to happen still made too much sense. Everything was easy and the "plot twists" were omigod what??? oh, okay, makes sense moments. You know what I'm talking about.
Most Meh: Jesse's Girl, Miranda Kenneally
Miranda Kenneally's Hundred Oaks series continues to be a guilty pleasure for me. Despite feeling just okay about them after reading. You're gonna get exactly what you think you're going to get with Jesse's Girl, and absolutely nothing else. These families have no problems, the characters have no depth, and the setting is extremely middle class. Conflict doesn't exist. Hence, the most meh of the year.
Biggest Waste of Time: All The Crooked Saints, Maggie Stiefvater
I'm slowly coming to realize that I just don't like Maggie Stiefvater's writing. Which is not to bash anyone who does... it's just not my taste. I had no idea that this novel was magical realism going into it, which obviously startled me at first, but I figured eventually I would get used to it. I didn't. I think Stiefvater needs to figure out how to drive plot and characters at the same time, because right now, she's not doing it very well. This novel has hardly any character interaction, despite spending so much time describing each character and who they are with extreme detail. Meanwhile, Stiefvater is representing an ethnicity not only by writing about them, but doing so in a genre of narrative that they've created and claimed. My conclusion? This book wasted my time.
The Worst: Otherworld, Jason Segel
If you follow me on Twitter, this will come as no surprise to you. I am constantly tweeting out my review of this book to warn people that not only is the book triggering at times, but the main character is a misogynistic piece of shit. His undying love for his love interest causes him to assume people have eating disorders and threaten to leak girls' nudes. The main character is so bad, actually, that the antagonist isn't even another character, but a video game. On top of that, no characters
develop at all throughout the novel, and random plot points jump out of nowhere. See for yourself, my Goodreads updates while reading:
develop at all throughout the novel, and random plot points jump out of nowhere. See for yourself, my Goodreads updates while reading:
So that's that. Those are my awards for my least favourite books I read in 2017. Congratulations, books, you sucked. If you hated, or maybe loved these books, let me know! Let's discuss!
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