Worst Books of 2023 | VLOGMAS DAY 4

[@mglarson5936]

I hate when people excuse bad writing and overly simplistic world building in YA books … like I’ve read some YA and MG books with fantastic worldbuilding.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

Exactly!

[@zoerice4227]

I'm a very picky reader, so i barely read anything, but I absolutely looove worst book vids. It's like sitting down to listen to gossip about people you don't know 😂

[@AnaPleiades]

This is so true!!! Hahaha😂

[@kari_325]

Thank you for saying fourth wing! I don't understand why this book is so popular. Are there people getting paid to give it 5 stars?? 😂

[@HuckleberryCyn]

3:35 I love Susan Dennerd, but I could not with the Luminaries. Watching grown women moon eyed over all the “ugh Jay” has given me the worst secondhand embarrassment that I’ve ever experienced. Ma’am, that is a 15 year old. Stop it.

[@IsaBellaRetz]

Ngl, I was so excited to hear you talk about the crazy audiobook for fourth wing. I got the sick version and only finished because I'd never heard a narrator struggle like that. I genuinely thought the hype was a joke for two months because of how cursed the voice-over.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

it is still WILD to me that the audiobook was truly that bad before like who releases an audiobook with a sick narrator??

[@AnnaPatriceThePhoenix]

VA is absolutely one of my favorite series of all time, but just like Divergent (another fave) you couldn't pay me enough money to reread it 😂 My teenage/20 Y.O. brain had fun, but at 30 I simply cannot lol

[@BlackCatBritt]

I read The Luminaries waaay back in January and it still actively pisses me off with how bad it was. I'm mostly angry at the loss of amazing potential it had, coupled with how drawn in I was not just with the trade cover, but the book box special edition of it was absolutely STUNNING. I felt personally betrayed by how much I hated it, & I've never been so glad I held off on the special ed until I read it from my library first bc boy, what a waste of $ it would've been.

[@TheLittlebats]

I think the worst book I read this year was "A Court of Silver Flame". ACOTAR is going to stay a trilogy in my heart. I'm honestly shocked at how well received that book was.

[@ACityofBooks]

I have to agree with you on The Illuminaries, I ended up giving it 2 stars, like I enjoyed the tension with Jay and that's all I could tell you? Felt like I didn't have any cadence to the world building at all, but I did somehow finish it. And TOTALLY on Vampire Academy - they're bad, of its time and I reread them purely out of nostalgia and cotton candy.

[@ConfusedVonne]

I found the repeated mention of teeth clicking to be the most uncomfortable and confusing description 😂I still don't know how one clicks their teeth, I understand kissing your teeth but not clicking!

[@BreeBuonomo]

I received an ARC of the Luminaries and felt awful that I couldn't get past chapter 2. The writing was not great and I was so damn confused that it wasn't worth my time. I honestly forgot I even got that early copy LOL

[@N332]

I just love how for yearssss you've said "i don't care" anytime you hate a book others may like. Too real.

[@nataliebaker918]

What was Susan Dennard thinking?! It's like she found some of her writing from high school and got it published. Very disappointed because I loved the Windwitch series

[@cori4727]

Fourth Wing was just soooo not good. Nothing made sense. And enemies to lovers getting together in the FIRST book? Hell no.

[@EmilyParagraph]

I think the worst reading experience I've had this year was Gideon the Ninth. I bought a copy at discount alongside another book I was sure I would like (and did), but over the years, I've never been sure how I'd take to Gideon. I got 100 pages in and slammed the book shut bc I found the prose grating. Then a month or so later, I decided to try again on audiobook, since I've been able to get through books through that medium. I got 65% of the way through and returned it to the library because listening was actively making me angry. I'm glad people love that series, I'm glad the author is doing well, but I would need to be paid at least $1000 to actually finish that novel

[@suzannar7006]

I adore Gideon The Ninth but I completely understand why someone would hate it. I'm actually shocked it's doing well at all. It's so weird and hard to follow. Don't feel bad for not being a fan

[@TheNutmegStitcher]

Lol! I gave Fourth Wing about 5 minutes on audio and immediately returned the book to the library.

[@pinksuperstar2]

I'm with you on the tattoo of Fourth Wing. Don't get me wrong; I love book tattoos. But at the same time, I feel like at least when the book is either fully completed or halfway through before you realize, yes, this series is for me. Fourth Wing? I'm sorry, it's a no for me.

[@ConfusedVonne]

This year I read Once & Future, the king Arthur retelling... I felt like it tried to be an epic scify/fantasy (ran before it could walk) but nothing followed a linear path, a lot of jumping around, things happening off screen and characters making illogical choices - the list goes on. But it was an interesting concept just executed poorly.

[@aliceemmons181]

Girl the spin-off of Vampire Academy is WORSE. Like I do actually like the main couple (whereas Dimitri bored me to tears AND grossed me out), but the supporting characters are blocks of wood + nothing happens in half the books. Like when they had good moments they were great but I was so bored half the time and the ending was BS

[@leahrosereads]

I didn't have any 1 stars either (yay for DNFs)! 4 of my 2.5 or lower were monster romances and I'm always sad when I don't love them but the biggest disappointment was How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. I loved Horrorstör but everything else of his has been a flop for me.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

ooh yeah I've heard mixed things about his stuff

[@renee_3364]

I felt soooo bad for giving The Luminaries a one star review based on the ARC back when everyone was still so excited and giving it glowing reviews. I’m happy to see some other reviews at this point that agree with me so I don’t feel like the complete odd one out anymore.

[@Catcupid]

I didn't expect to have so much to say, so let me apologize in advance. Ogres didn't feel like a novella to me. It really had short story energy. I was a bit meh on it, but I think I was more disappointed since I loved Spindles end from the year before. I hated the spare man with such a passion. For all the reasons you said. Also my mother has chronic pain and she was greatly annoyed that she could turn it off whenever she didn't want to deal with it. I do disagree about The Luminaries. I thought the book fit very nicely into that 10-14 age range in young adult. I think that is a section of young adult that gets ignored as a lot of them seem to be feeling older than there intended audience. It did give me more nostalgic vibes for earlier YA and I did read it in like a day as a great palette cleanser. I do see how some of the world building clearly came off as a bit of a group project. I also agree that stopping a book that isn't working for you is the best way to go. That went better for me this year as well. Though why we both finished the spare man is beyond me.

[@scrollsofdragons362]

Luminaries felt like I was reading a middle grade book that happened to be boring. I liked Fourth Wing but it's sequel? Gives nothing

[@BooksToAshes]

Honestly, with all these authors out here doing way too much and getting themselves in trouble, I would never get a book tattoo specific to a certain series. Maybe a lowkey one (a dragon is fine) but having obvious connections to a certain series and author?? Too risky imo

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

SO RISKY

[@Hazel-C]

Far and away the worst book I read this year was Once Upon a Broken Heart and it was the very first book I read this year

[@kittymachine3798]

The Spare Man officially moved Mary Robinette Kowal from a fave author to a probation author. There's so much I loved about the Lady Astronaut series, but all of her writing is plagued with these cheap "privilege struggles." After 3 books, it becomes intolerable.

[@kai_winchester_66]

lol I love the Vampire Academy series but we all have different opinions :)

[@havenfromstorm]

I think The unfortunate side effects of heartbreak and magic is probably the worst book ive read. Really poor character development.

[@SFF180]

People are getting Fourth Wing TATTOOS!? 😶

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

tragically yes

[@AbiofPellinor]

Ooooh no. I have The Luminaries on my tbr in the fancy special edition... Shit 😂😂

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

:))))

[@DisgruntledAlchemist]

Ugh. The Luminaries. Such a let down. Especially since Truthwitch is so amazing. I also DNF.

[@anybethmae]

ngl I don't think Dennard is actually that skilled of a writer. I reread Witchlands because I hadn't yet read Witchshadow. I really don't think she only vaguely knew her plot during Truthwitch. She had to completely rework a character and build an arc with Windwitch. Sightwitch is a novella but so important to the series that it clearly had to be written to build the world and lore to set the stage our characters were already on. I skipped Sightwitch for my reread since novellas generally aren't required reading for series. Wrong choice 🙃 I have a notes app to keep characters and history and lore straight. Good writing would've been building towards that since the first book AND wouldn't require the reader keep notes to understand what the fuck is happening lol. That said, I do appreciate both the character and writer growth throughout the series and enjoy the magic system and character relationships as well as expect to be satisfied with the culmination of everything. Suffice to say, I didn't have high hopes for Luminaries and haven't bothered even attempting it

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

lol I have a copy of The Spare Man 😬

[@OkamiRose]

(Dissenting take- I enjoyed it quite a bit)

[@rukbat3]

@@OkamiRoseI also liked it! I actually ranked it first on my Hugo ballot. Granted, it wasn’t a strong year overall, but still. . . .

[@anthonycurrie5065]

Why does the online book community blow up books like forth wing? I remember when it came out, nearly all of the book people I follow were hyping it up, saying it was the best they’ve read. I read it and was like how? I’m fairly experienced with fantasy, and dragons and such but forth wing was just terrible. It leads me to question the reading comprehension of the majority of the online book community. Why does The online book community do this?

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

I think it's less the whole community and more people that are newer to reading and books like this are what get people into reading because they can fly through them. that's why books like Twilight still stand out in people's hearts for similar reasons.

[@anthonycurrie5065]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@ThoughtsOnTomesinteresting. That makes sense now, and is very saddening. It overwhelms me when books of “forth wing” style are THE books of the moment. It makes it hard for me to find new authors outside of my ‘go to’ author group. I want to read new Authors, but not when they produce poorly written books such as Forth wing

[@NaomiKoblens]

Worst book hands down maybe ever was things we never got over by Lucy Score, idk if you’ve read it yet but if you havent; dont go there I know you’ll hate it. Didnt know romance books written by women could be this misogynistic 😩

[@boldbookhoarder]

Luminaries is such a bad book. I DNFed it as well earlier in the year and *hated* it. Still hate it. Absolute garbage.

[@zixaz00]

100% agree with The Spare Man. I really disliked that one.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

I'm annoyed I had to read it for the Hugos

[@AnaPleiades]

My work friend recommended Fourth Wing to me. She has really good taste in books. You have really good taste in books. But your opinions are polar opposites. I now need to read this to find out where I stand 😅

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

ooof lol

[@zacmatney7938]

People getting freaking tattoos for a book series that isn’t even halfway through or isn’t even fully finished man people need to chill😡 that’s why I hatttte fanbases

[@nataliebaker918]

I can see young people loving Fourth Wing ..

[@jillc2700]

I tend to dnf things if I’m not enjoying them and I’ve been in a reading slump for a while so everything with a grain of salt I guess. My librarians gave me Fourth Wing but I didn’t get on with it… 🤔😝🥹 i managed to barely make my goodreads goal but it also counts dnf books as read so, there’s that. Also if I finish a book I tend to give it a base two star unless it’s really horrible. 😨 But i didn’t really care for Shadow and Bone (ooops), A House With Good Bones, A Letter to Three Witches, and Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox.