We spend a lot of time reading books. Some of them, maybe a disproportionate number, we like. Others, not so much.
Disproportionate because, at least for me, it’s difficult to get through 500 pages of something I dislike.
This is one of those occasions where you are encouraged to be constructive in your criticism. Hopefully, with some wit.
Leave a review for a book you didn’t like and tell us what to read instead.
My review of Abarat by Clive Barker from a few years ago:
I’m 27% of the way into this book and I give up. If Clive Barker’s name wasn’t on it, I never would have guessed this was him. It is baaaaad. Nothing like his other works.
The prose is . . . childish. I feel like I’m reading YA written by a particularly untalented teenager. Protagonist Candy Quackenbush is suuuper special, we’re told. She has weird dreams, unlike most people, apparently. Her teachers and peers hate her for no discernable reason, in the most unrealistic way possible. I mean, I have actually had a teacher yell and call me weird in front of the whole class, so I can say with authority that the school scene was ridiculous.
I guess people like this for the world building? I only care about that in stories that are told well, with compelling characters and events that unfold with meaning. Like Imajica. Or Weaveworld. Or The Great and Secret Show. Even books like Sacrament and Galillee, which weren’t my particular cup of tea, were well told and constructed, engaging enough to keep me reading. I just can’t believe this dreck was written by the same guy.
I enjoyed Imajica, Great and Secret Show, etc, but have tried numerous times to read Weaveworld. I can’t do it. It never grabs me.