Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is a bit open-ended, “Ten Bookish Things I Want to Quit Or Have Quit (aka ten book series I think I’m going to abandon, ten bookish habits I want to quit, ten authors I quit reading, ten types of books I’m quitting, ten tropes I want to stop reading about, ten books I marked as DNF (did not finish) recently, etc. Get as creative as you want).” This was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but since I don’t usually write DNF reviews, I thought I’d ought to share the last ten books I DNFed. These are the books I attempted to read, but for whatever reason ended up putting them down. I may revisit them again. Covers are linked to Goodreads.
1. Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley – If you’ve read this one, you know it’s kind of weird with an unconventional writing style. I don’t think I got through a fourth of the book before putting it down. It’s just not for me.
2. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard – This book got a lot of mixed reviews, so I ended up putting it off for a long time. I finally checked it out from the library and knew almost immediately that I would not enjoy it.
3. Stray by Elissa Sussman – I’d by lying if I told you I know exactly why I couldn’t finish this one. Can’t remember much, simply that it wasn’t holding my attention.
4. Talon by Julie Kagawa – I love dragons. Dragons, dragons, dragons. So when I got this one from the library, I was eager to get started. Unfortunately, I could tell right away that this was not going to end with me singing its praises, so I put it down.
5. Red Rising by Pierce Brown – This book is so popular, so much so, that I wanted to give it a chance even though it really didn’t sound like my kind of book. I think I read the first chapter before deciding I wasn’t feeling it. I may revisit this one in the future.
6. Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland – This post is really testing my memory and I am failing miserably. I don’t really remember why I didn’t continue with this one. Great cover though.
7. Get Even by Grechen McNeil – I don’t think I was really in the mood for this kind of book at the time, but I’d actually like to get around to it again.
8. The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall – I actually forgot that I attempted to read this one. I was thinking about it the other day and was trying to remember why I hadn’t read it yet and it was because I dnfed it.
9. Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios – This has such an intriguing premise, but for whatever reasons (I ought to write these reasons down), I didn’t finish it.
10. The Cemetery Boys by Heather Brewer – And I’m going to, of course, end on a book that I can’t remember why I didn’t read it all the way through. But the odds are I read the first chapter and decide against continuing.
Have you read any of these books? Which should I give another chance to? Are you like me and can’t remember why you DNF a book or are you one of those thorough bloggers who document why you didn’t continue a book (I applaud you)? Share your thoughts in the comments and be sure to leave a link to your own TTT post, so I can visit you.
Red Queen was nothing to write home about. I mean, it was fun but it sure wasn’t original basically X-Men x The Hunger Games. But I do like those two things, probably why I kept going with it….
I’m thinking about trying The Conspiracy of Us.
By the way, I hope you’re liking The Accident Season! I enjoyed that one a lot more than I expected to! 🙂
Check out my TTT.
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Yeah, I don’t think I’ll ever revisit Red Queen. I’m thinking of retrying the Conspiracy of Us, mostly because I can’t remember why I put it down. I am really enjoying the Accident Season. I’m only about forty pages in, but liking it so far.
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I was definitely in the “meh” camp for Red Queen. I really should have DNF-ed it, but I have such a hard time stopping reading books once I start.
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I know a lot of people have a hard time DNFing books, but I find it really liberating because who wants to be stuck reading a book they aren’t enjoying?
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I don’t know. It must be some eternal optimism that maybe the book will get better!
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It’s nice to know my eternal cynicism is counterbalanced somewhere in the universe 😉
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I bought a copy of Magonia recently. I have heard some mixed things about it though!
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Yeah, approach with caution. I’d love to hear what you think of it though.
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A teacer keeps dropping by my desk telling me to read Red Rising and now I learn you didn’t finish it. Hmmm, Guess I’d better go back and read the reviews before I launch.
My TTT
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It’s…oh, how do I describe? I tried to read it, but it needs your entire focus and the premise didn’t really appeal to me, so giving it my full attention would have felt more like a chore.
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The only book I want to read from that list is Get Even… but I’m a little weary about it since I didn’t think the other book I read by her was spectacular or anything. I’ve heard A LOT of mixed things about Red Rising and Red Queen, that’s why those are off my list. I don’t read a lot in that genre, so I don’t want to read anything that will ruin it for me.
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We’re in the same boat because I gave one of her books a rather low rating, so I’m not sure if I’ll even like this one, but I do like the premise. I hear nothing but mixed things about Red Queen and haven’t really looked for too many reviews of Red Rising. Maybe I should, it might persuade me not to give it another chance.
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Oh I have read some good reviews about The Red Queen. It seems it isn’t a good read after all..
By the way here’s mine: http://wp.me/p4ZhSl-hJ. 🙂
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I wouldn’t recommend going into it with high expectations. The negative reviews I’ve read say that it’s a hodge podge of fantasy elements which lacks cohesiveness.
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Oh. I will take note of that. Thank you!
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If I don’t like it, I usually just leave it at thought without analyzing why too much. Unless I’m like 75% done and then stop, then I’ll really think about what it was I didn’t like, so I can do a review on it.
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I have to be really far along too to not put a book down, also if it’s an ARC, I’ll finish those even though I might want to throw it out a window.
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Me too, I feel like I have to finish to be polite, and I almost feel like my reviews can’t be taken seriously in a way if I didn’t finish.
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I don’t personally review DNF books, but I’ve seen a few bloggers make a post for the books they’ve DNFed which isn’t a full review but a summary of why they put them down.
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Oh yeah I read Magonia. It certainly isn’t for everyone.
I decided not to read Talon for the time being. I’ve heard some things about how the perspective is written that doesn’t appeal to me and I already wasn’t in love with the author’s other series.
I want to read Red Rising because it’s sci-fi, but I’m not sure it’s completely my thing so I haven’t put in the effort in acquiring it.
Great list. 🙂
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Talon is written kind of like a contemporary book rather than a fantasy if that helps. Science-fiction isn’t really my genre unless it involves zombies or fairy-tale retellings (Lunar Chronicles!), otherwise it doesn’t really hold my interest. Thanks!
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Hype scares me and usually puts me off reading a book, which was the case for a long time with Red Queen. I ended up trying it and not making it very far, before DNFing it. Wasn’t for me, either!
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I was so excited for Red Queen before it came out and then the floodgate of excitement happened and my own excitement came to a screeching halt. There was so much praise for a book that hadn’t be released yet, so I sat back and saw a lot of disappointed readers once it’s released. Yes, I checked it out for the library so I could at least try it, but it would have resulted in another negative review.
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The only book on your list that I have read is the Conspiracy of Us which I listened to on audio while driving across the great state of Montana. By the time I made it home, I was basically done with the book. Sometimes living in such a massive state has it’s perks.
Thanks for sharing your list.
Amanda
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Montana seems like such a lovely state, beautiful scenery. How did you like the book?
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I love Montana to pieces (which I kind of have to say since I live here) and I enjoyed the Conspiracy of Us. I gave it 4 stars. It is basically a mystery book where you have no idea what the real truth is until much closer to the end. Some of the inconsistencies bugged me such as every important overheard conversation always happens to be in English even when they are in Paris or Turkey. Once I got into the book, I really did enjoy it. If you decide to read it, I hope you do as well.
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Number one makes me very sad, but I totally understand! Magonia was such a weird book, I can see how it would end up on a lot of DNF lists. In fact, that it isn’t on more of this week’s list is surprising to me! I’m a little worried cause all of the rest of your books are on my shelf or wishlist! Here’s hoping I have better luck with them 🙂
My TTT
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Yeah, I’m glad you enjoyed it though! I really do hope you end up enjoying them even if I didn’t 🙂
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Great list. I came close to DNFing Magonia, too. It just wasn’t my type of book.
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I keep seeing that a lot, which is too bad because I was really excited about it.
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So many books, too little reading time to waste on books we aren’t enjoying!! 🙂 My TTT
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I completely agree!
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I actually have a lot of these books on my TBR but just haven’t to them yet. I had been contemplating Talon, but I was put off by Kagawa’s Iron King book that I decided she wasn’t my cup of tea.
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I wasn’t a big fan of the Iron King either and that should have given me a clue about this one. I’m just happy I didn’t end up buying it.
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I haven’t read any of these books and now maybe I shouldn’t! The only title I’m interested in is Exquisite Captive because I loved I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios. I don’t feel the need to pick it up anytime soon though.
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I haven’t read anything by this author, but I think if you enjoyed another book by her, you may have better like than I did.
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I hope I like Red Queen better than you did, I have yet to read it!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/top-ten-tuesday-25/
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I hope you enjoy it more than me too. Some people love it, so I hope that’t the case for you.
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I hope so too!
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