Top 5 hyped books I didn’t like

Hello bookworms!! Welcome to Top 5 Tuesday!! This week’s topic is top 5 hyped books I didn’t like.

*cough* Fair warning, there are going to be some unpopular opinions ahead. Seriously. I’m not expecting any crossovers with you all today. Because today we’re talking about our top 5 hyped books that we didn’t like. And I didn’t like some of the big ones.

If you missed the July-September topics post (yes, we’re doing them in bulk now!!), please click here. Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, and is now being hosted here @ Meeghan reads.

top 5 hyped books I didn’t like

From Blood and Ash – Jennifer L. Armentrout

Oh wow. So, I don’t think I’ve actually spoken about my intense dislike of the Blood and Ash books. Yes, books, plural. Because despite almost despising the characters, worldbuilding and writing, the overarching plot is so far fetched that it’s like watching a truck smash into a train. Which then derails and hits a bus. That then t-bones a car. In front of a retirement village. Next to a pre-school. While a family of ducks cross the road. By which I mean, I am invested, despite wanting to punch Poppy in the face for her stupidity.

Speaking of the characters, Hawke is a total wanker. One of my friends likened him to Rhys. Personally I think he’s more like the lovechild of Rhys AND Tamlin, with some Eris thrown in for good measure. Also, I’m not joking about Poppy’s idiocy. She literally has people spell out what’s happening three times, but then has a lightbulb moment of exactly what they are saying 8 chapters later. It’s infuriating and such lazy writing.

Oh, and let’s talk about the writing. I’m sure everyone who is audiobook reading these isn’t aware, but Armentrout actually changes the spelling of the character’s names every so often. And not just one character. Naill has been referred to as both Naill and Niall. Hawke has been Hawkthrone, Hawkethrone and Hawkethorne. And there was another but I’ve clearly blocked it from my memory. Also, Armentrout uses classic fantasy wording in some parts, but then has a character say “Go get ‘em, girl.”

And the worldbuilding? PLEASE. They use swords, but the world has electricity, hot running water and gunpowder. But there’s no guns, so why is it called gunpowder?? It’s the most inconsistent worldbuilding I’ve ever read.

Will I finish this series? Probably, but I’ll hate read them. Kieran is the real reason I’m still reading these ridiculous books.

Hush Hush – Becca Fitzpatrick

I was SO HOPING that Hush Hush would be another Fallen / Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but alas, I really disliked this series. In fact, I ended up DNFing the fourth book, Finale, about 50 pages before the end because I just didn’t care anymore.

The characters were poorly constructed, two-dimensional, and just awful people. I didn’t know who I was supposed to cheer for because I didn’t like any of them. Everyone is so controlling, trying to ensure that others don’t do something. But no one will have a conversation with the others to say “oh hey, if you could not go here that would be tops because I’m trying to save your life, after I endangered it.” The miscommunication trope is WAAAAY too much in this series. It’s over. Please stop using it. And Patch is a total jerk.

Maybe if I had read this series when I was much younger, then I might not have disliked it so much. But in all honesty, I just don’t think the story has aged well, and it’s not for me.

Turtles All the Way Down – John Green

This book was SO HYPED. I think Green had been on some writing hiatus since The Fault in Our Stars or something. So Turtles All the Way Down was supposed to be some great big fanfare amazingness that was also about mental illness. I genuinely hated this book.

I thought the characters were not well fleshed out, to the point where I’m not even sure there was a physical description of the main character. And there was nothing else going on in the story except for the mental illness. Like, no other memorable plot points.

Also, can we talk about triggers?? Not that the mental illness aspect or OCD is a trigger for me. But there’s one scene in the book where she’s in hospital, and she drinks something – I was gagging for days, and I STILL think about it every single time I see this stuff. Which, these days, is A LOT.

And for a book that was hailed as the best book Green had ever written, I expected more.

Autoboyography – Christina Lauren

Autoboyograhy is the only Christina Lauren book that I have read. And I haven’t read another BECAUSE of this book. I think in my review of this one, I was being overly generous because of the hype around it. Well… I’m not worried any more, so let me tell you what I really think.

I felt like this book tried to be Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. And it really wasn’t. Its downfall was probably because it threw in too many things that were then unresolved at the end. Like a creepy student/mentor relationship aspect and religion. And not just any religion, but Mormonism.

But primarily my problem with it was that the authors didn’t know what they were writing about, and shouldn’t have touched this with a ten foot pole. This book is two white, and presumably not queer based on their bios, women writing about two male gay teens. Who are in the closet. Struggling with their sexuality and how that works in the world they live in. And also a really unrequited crush on both sides that they just “can’t ignore”.

Look. I’m sure Lo and Christina read recent bestsellers and thought “we can totes write a queer coming out book”. But maybe they shouldn’t have. Because this book is awkward and the ending is a dumpster fire of unresolved issues that they neatly swept under the rug.

Darkdawn – Jay Kristoff

Of all the books on this list, Darkdawn disappoints me the most. I don’t know why, because I actually like very few Jay Kristoff books. I have DNFed the Lotus War trilogy in the first book, and the LIFEL1K3 trilogy in the second book. And I definitely should have DNFed the Nevernight Chronicle in the third book. Because this book was TRASH. And not the cute kind of trash, like a raccoon. But the kind of trash that smells like urine and is in an alley behind a dumpster.

OK, so maybe I’m being a bit harsh. But it’s mostly because I had such amazing high hopes for this book. See, I LOVED Nevernight and Godsgrave SO MUCH. Like, they made my fave book posts the years that I read them. So when I ended up hating this book, the fall was that much worse.

I felt like the book was written by a completely different person. The characters all behaved in really different ways to how they had in the past two books. The fight scenes were chaotic and hard to follow at best. And the writing, ok, it was always over the top – but it worked in the first two, and now it’s way too dramatic and overdone.

This book is the tough, burnt steak that you got, when you ordered a piece of sauteed chicken. It should have been glorious, but instead was just disappointing.

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What are 5 hyped books you didn’t like?