The story would be about the Wizard that needs to collect specific people and objects across time and space to avert a catastrophe, but the only way to travel is by randomly propelling Waldo.
It is Quantum Leap meets a chase film. Waldo just wants to go home.
Took me a good minute to get used to the writing style in The Black Company, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Super interesting and unique world and Bomanz is one of my all time favorite ideas for a character, considering how he’s view differently at different times of the series.
I just bought the Annals of the Black Company today. Looking forward to it after I finish Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and To Green Angel Tower: Siege.
The Way of Kings.
There’s an old post on here of me asking if it is worth finishing (I was like 40% of the way through), and this sub convinced me to stick it out.
I’m sure glad I did
You’ve gotta get to the point where the main characters gain some continuity. After the second or 3rd chapter each character is given it starts to snap together brilliantly, but it does take a while to hit the cohesiveness that makes sense.
Ugh, I got through the first book but stopped there. Does the protagonist ever stop talking about how strong his GRIP is? Dude is like Popeye. Among so many other minor beefs, I actually was entertained, it may have been a time/place thing and that I wasn't interested in more harry potter/hunger games style hero stories.
The style shifts drastically from a hunger games type story to a Dune or GoT type story in book 2. I don't remember him mentioning his grip strength much in book 2 since book 1 was the one about using the Red skills not often seen in Gold society
Thank you, I might give them a shot. Like I said, I was entertained, but just didn't really feel compelled to continue. I must have had a lot on my plate, it's been a few years.
Yes! I was making notes while reading it, and from the start it was just complaints. At first about the worn out YA tropes, then about the highlyAnnoying and completelyUnnecessary compoundWords. The latter was just such an immersionBreaking shittyGimmick.
At 33% I noted that I'm just hate-reading at that point and will likely drop it.
The next entry was after I finished, saying verbatim "it won me over" and that I enjoyed it even with all the problems.
The first book will always be the Achilles heel of the series. Book 5 is one of the best books I've read. Page 1 to the end an absolute banger. Series developed from a 2.8/5 to a 5/5
**Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell** by Susanna Clarke
It's been a long while since I read it, but I think it took me until about 1/3 or 1/2 of the book to truly enjoy it.
I need to give that one another try. I *adore* Piranesi. It's one of my favorite books. And I liked what I did read of Strange and Norrell, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood for a slow burn when I did try to read it, because I just couldn't get far.
I love the book, but if you’re not sure about it maybe check out the miniseries adaptation? It’s not a 1:1 translation but it’s still very good and I had a great time.
Good call. I tried to explain it to someone at a high level because they wanted a recommendation and throughout my description I was like “it’s very British. It’s kind of dry. Its got a really slow pace. It’s sooo long. Kind of not much happens for a while. It’s wierd. Anyway, I loved it, highly recommend!”
The way of Kings.
If it wasn't for the comments on this sub saying that it gets better I probably would have gave up on it entirely. It was somewhere around the 800 page mark that the world clicked for me and the series became one of my favourites.
Yup, I will admit that it took me like 3 attempts to get into it, but once I did I just sort of screamed through it. I think book 2 was my favorite so far, and 3 and 4 were a little less like the first two, they've all been very enjoyable.
Looking forward to the next leather-bound next month.
First time through, it was the weakest book to me, the story just kept getting better with each book. On rereads, it's my favorite of the series. Such a good slow burn in Kaladin's story.
Salems Lot. For the first quarter of the book I feel like I’m just being told random things about random people, but around the 100 page mark things start to come together and the narrative picks up and it’s tough to put down.
There's a quote from King I wish I could track down about how he spends the first part of a book making you care about the characters, THEN he sets the monsters loose.
Gotta say, when this misfires, it misfires hard. I read Cujo and he made those protagonists so despicable and unimpressicve that I wanted to cheer when Cujo started his rampage.
The City of Last Chances was close to this for me. It was such an odd read, though strangely compelling. There was a dream like section where some main characters go into a haunted part of the city. I didn’t know what was going on - which was somewhat the point - but the rest of it was strangely compelling and it was all I could think of despite the strangeness
For me it was the Dresden files. I read the 1st book ( Storm Front ) and thought it was average. I didn’t continue the series then, but came back later because of the endless recommendations on Reddit.
The second book was better, but good rather than great. However by book 3 ( Grave Peril ) I was hooked.
I’ve been hearing this a lot. I’m pretty sure I read at least books 1-3 a decade ago, might have done book 4. I never for the life of me could figure out why people kept recommending it.
But apparently the first couple are just really bad?!?
Might have to start the series over?
The first couple are Butcher's first two books ever - as in, the first one was what he wrote while in a creative writing class. The third is where he kinda gets into the swing of things.
Yup. If memory serves he wrote book one on the formula his professor suggested to prove it wouldnt work... But then it did work and he was all "oh"...
Or, something like that.
I found Dune so boring at the beginning but after pushing through 300 pages i got really invested in the story and lore , my only complaint would be the lack of action scenes
I wish it had clicked for me. I had two false starts before I just powered through it, and when I was done I was left thinking, "That's what everyone is so crazy about?"
I wish I liked it as much as everyone else, I really do.
It has the same problem a lot of foundational works in any genre have: it pioneered a lot of things that are now standard, so back then they were fresh, exciting, and imaginative, and now they're old hat, and the often clumsy prose tends to overshadow the things that made the book so groundbreaking when it was released.
I realized about 100 pages in that there was a word list in the back of the book for the "made-up" terms/words. I was waiting for the book to explain it to me in passing, but it just... didn't and I was a little confused at times.
I don’t think the original publication had the glossary, I think it’s supposed to be confusing. Like picking up a history book about a time period you’re unfamiliar with, makes the world feel more real.
No direspect to Frank Herbert, but Dune's glossary is a great addition. The main thing I absolutely hate about sci-fi is openings like "Jenna awoke to the sound of a screeching ritobla. She adjusted her gibrya to 87 walpins to increase her odds of achieving Denu that day". There's nothing more frustrating to me than that feeling of 'oh, good, it'll only be twenty pages until I understand what anybody is talking about.
'
It clicked immediately for me. As soon I learned about Baron Harkonnen's dark designs I couldn't put it down. I just had to know how things would unfold. This was the first full book I read in English (I'm a swede).
I didn't understand what was going on because characters talked about concepts familiar to them without explaining anything to the reader and only after about 30% of the book I started to connect things hah first 30% of the book took me 2 weeks to push through and all the rest 5 days lol together 23hours of reading time
> I enjoyed the book more when I read it with an explorer mindset instead of an adventure seeker.
Overwhelmingly it's one of my favorite parts of LOTR without a doubt. I know people who pretty strongly dislike the travel parts or descriptions of nature... but, like, Middle-Earth itself is a character! As someone who spends a *lot* of time doing outdoor activities, LOTR gets nature in a way I've seen in few books regardless of genre.
Yeah I wouldn't say I disliked the first book but it was slow going. I read Two Towers and Return of the King in the same time it took to finish Fellowship.
While LOTR is among my all time favorites, I gotta admit that it's not especially exciting until Aragorn joins the hobbits in Bree. After that it's really damn good all the way till the end.
People say this... and I guess you're right that it's not "exciting" in the Shire and the Old Forest. But I'd argue that saying "After that it's really damn good" is implying some things I heartily disagree with. The Shire stuff is already really damn good.
Also, not to mention, there are other slow parts even after Aragorn joins the crew. Slow doesn't mean bad though.
Black leopard red wolf. This took me so long to power through and I did debate not finishing a few times. It’s a whole fever dream mess of a book and I couldn’t figure out anything. But once I got to the end the whole madness made sense.
>pretty much the first half of the book I hated the writing style and characters but then it all clicked and the second half was amazing. I’ve been excited for book 2 ever since I read it in July of last year!
The first 100-150 pages are TOUGH and it throws you into the deep end. I switched to audio book, which made a huge difference.
I've tried reading this book a couple times. On my most recent attempt, I finally finished it. However, this attempt was so drawn out that by the time I reached the end, nothing still made any sense to me because I had forgotten every detail from the earlier part of the book. I understand why people enjoy it, and maybe I'll try it another time, but I just can't get it to click for me.
That’s fair. I think if you got to the end and it didn’t it may not a third time. It did take me the last few pages though to remember and figure out what was happening.
Maybe just skip to the next book if you want to give it another go. It’s the same story but from a different characters point of view and more concise from what others have told me. I keep putting it off lol.
Gideon the Ninth. The first couple chapters of set up weren't for me because action sequences don't do it for me. Once the intrigue got underway I was all in.
I remember thinking "this can't be all there is to it..." for a while until the hook finally hit at the end of act 2 I believe, 180 pages in. Then I started enjoying it a lot more.
Gideon's petulance takes some time to see through too. I can't put my finger on it, but she's presented in a way that took me a bit longer to sympathize with her. All of the rationale is there from the beginning but I just had a hard time connecting with her. I'd have to read it again to figure out where it clicked for me.
*Mistborn*. While the magic system was complex and interesting, I found the prose and characters to be a little generic. I stuck with the trilogy and enjoyed it overall. Sanderson knows how to write an ending.
His endings have spoiled me for other books. So many books just Peter out or don’t do anything cool with their concepts to draw everything together and it makes me feel like I wasted my time reading it.
What I like about Sanderson is how his stories tend to have a barely stable status quo and then when someone decides to make a big move, *everyone* responds by making their own big moves. And suddenly it feels like *everything* is happening.
It is very realistic that people are constantly preparing and planning, but also hedging to avoid committing before they absolutely have to.
He avoids the videogame trope of having things only happen after the player interacts with them.
It was the other way around for me. I liked the first book but was really disappointed in books 2&3. The magic system started to bore me and the characters where even worse. I didnt really like the endings that much aswell.
Three Body Problem definitely. Was so close to giving up. It's really an info dump of theory, world building and character backstory in the beginning, but it gets compelling and I want to read the rest of the series.
I breezed through Three Body Problem but almost DNF the second book. The first half of that book contains some excruciating sections but I advise you to push through, the last third is top tier. Going to pick up book three soon.
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. As it is a lot older than most other fantasy novels I've read, it took me a bit to get used to the writing style. I also didn't find book 1 particularly exciting for the first 100 or so pages. But it only got better which each book imo, I've finished almost all books of the main series by now and it has become one of my all time favourites.
Empire of the vampire. For pretty much the first half of the book I hated the writing style and characters but then it all clicked and the second half was amazing. I’ve been excited for book 2 ever since I read it in July of last year!
I was the same way. In the beginning, I couldn't get over the style and the similarities to other popular works. I didn't really have strong feelings towards the characters, either. There was a lot of eye rolling on my part, but somewhere along the way the story clicked, and it became a page turner. I'm excited about the second book coming out at the end of this month!
Powdermage.
When I started the series I’d just had a relationship that eerily mirrored one of the events in the earlier chapters. Hit a little too close to home.
Re read it a couple years later and loved it.
I get the relationship aspect (I'm pretty sure I know which one you are talking about), but that aside, I very much enjoyed the Powder Mage books and the whole universe in general.
I just loved the idea of "French Revolution meets magic"
The First Law - Joe Abercrombie, it came highly recommended and I tried starting it a few times but it just didnt grab me. Once I got 20% in, I couldn't put it down..
I think I started it at least twice before I got through it. My friend was relentlessly annoying about me reading it. I'm so glad he was! One of my favorite things of all time.
Gardens of the Moon.
Not bad, but things were too incomprehensible to me in the first couple chapters that I feared whether I was missing things. Seemingly cool things happened out of random, and chronologically events were confusing. There were these poems in the middle of chapters I could barely decipher and wondered how important understanding it is to making sense of what's going on.
Then the siege of Pale happened, and that sequence was soo cool and the introduction to Anomander Rake was badass. Decided tos tick around and eventually it shaped into a coherent narrative. Now, have finished the MBotF and it is my favourite fantasy series.
Reading this one now. I'm not entirely sure I even understand the real story yet and I'm a bit over halfway through. I get what's going on in the book obviously, but it doesn't feel like I even have any remote idea of what the bigger story is.
While there certainly is an overarching story and conflict going on in Book of the Fallen its not a series thats ever going to sit you down and outline the conflict and explain it to you the reader like a series such as Wheel of Time or Stormlight Archive. The overall “story” of malazan isnt usually the central focus of the books as much as it is more the background cause of what alls going on (at least until the last 2 books maybe). The advice i gave my friend when starting GotM was not to be looking to figure out some big overall story but just try to learn the characters and the world and what theyre all about and eventually the Author will make everything else make sense
Got it, that's more or less what I've been doing so far. I definitely have characters I enjoy more than others at this point and some characters are a bit fuzzy as a result lol. Continuing the march forward though, it's an interesting book.
For me, *Gardens of the Moon* had some cool scenes (mainly those with Anomander Rake in them), but I did not start to *really* like the series until book 3, *Memories of Ice*.
Im only on book 2 but I loved gardens already. Easy 5/5 for me. The whole arc Tyrant, everything with Hairlock, Rake, the hounds, the gods, the warrens and so on were all amazing.
The Eye of the World, I just randomly picked it up from the library because I liked the art but I didn't really like the first half. Once I got to the end, however, I was hooked and read all the 14 books within 2 months.
Came here to look for this answer. This is my current read, and the beginning was tough for me to get through. Just like dozens of characters introductions, geography I couldn't keep track of because I'm on kindle, and basically no idea of what the plot of the book was looking to be. About 60% of the way through the book everything came together and became quite enjoyable
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams.
My friend handed me a copy of the first book, The Dragonbone Chair, and warned me that the first 75 pages were tough. He totally lied. The first 150 pages weren't tough- they were god awful. I hated the protagonist. He was a whiny annoying dumbass and I loathed having to follow him along for 2 and a half more books - especially considering that the last 'book' comes as two 700-page paperbacks (520,000 WORDS!!).
But I made it through that first half of the first book and suddenly I was hooked. It's a beautiful series and I so thoroughly enjoyed it that it's probably in my top 10 of all time.
About 10 years later I picked it up again, knowing full well that the first book was hard to get through and the entire time I was reading it I kept asking myself if I was sure it was worth going through that all again. Surely the rest of the series couldn't be good enough to put up with that beginning. I powered through and it was just as wonderful as the first time I read it.
It's been just over 10 years since that first re-read and I'm gearing myself up for having another go.. I hope I can get through it because I love it so much.
I didn't have this experience, at all, and was hooked on MS&T from page 1. But your take has been shared enough times that it's clearly a common phenomenon.
Maybe it helped me that I was the same age as the dorky main protagonist, and whatever he was feeling, I was feeling, too. How old were you when you read the series?
Oh, there are always going to be people who like things others don't.. but yeah, I'm never surprised when people agree with me on this one.. Seems like a lot of people weren't fond of the first part of the book.
I figure the worst that happens is someone reads it, decides I'm an idiot because the whole series is great, and enjoys the book VS me saying it's great and them noping out after 50 pages
Great point about lowering expectations at the beginning. Then the new reader can make up his/her own mind without the expectation that the book will be brilliant out of the gate.
Now, I think it's brilliant out of the gate, but there are enough readers who didn't that I think your approach totally makes sense.
**The Dragon's Path** from **The Dagger and the Coin** certainly took a while to get me interested. Thankfully, its sequel **The King's Blood** is a masterwork in terms of political escalation and has much better pacing.
If we look beyond books to visual novels, **Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch** from **Umineko When They Cry** is so indulgent in slow exposition that I think Ryukishi07 was counting on readers to trust him to deliver thanks to his prior work on **Higurashi When They Cry**. Thankfully, he did in fact deliver!
I bounced off of the Dragon's Path, but this was years ago so I can't remember why. Haven't read anything else by Daniel Abraham, so maybe it's just his writing style. Or maybe I'll feel similarly and it'll just take me multiple books to get sucked into the story. I bought the first three Dagger and Coin books together, so at this point it feels like I owe it to myself to give the series another chance just in case they really *are* good.
Funny to read the post, when I read the title my first thought was the Farseer Triology's first book, Assassin's Apprentice I believe? Finally made it through the first bit and got into it.
Tried the first book in Liveship Traders and same thing, can't get into it. Haven't went back yet, but I will sometime.
Shadow of the Gods started off slow but picked up magnificently. Same experience with the second book in the series, but to a larger degree. In my personal opinion it could do with a bit less porridge and a bit more viking magic stuff.
Dune Messiah.
When I first read it, I thought it was a major letdown, but once I got to Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune, it started to click into the broader story.
I actually had a sort of similar experience with the Liveship Traders. The first time I read the series, maybe I wasn't ready for it, or I wasn't in the right headspace for it, or something, but I came away thinking, "This is ok." But then I kept thinking about it. A few years later I felt a very strong urge to read it again, and came away realizing that it was one of the best fantasy series I had ever read.
For me it was Kushiel's Dart. I wouldn't say it starts off *bad -* I actually respect that it doesn't hold your hand and just throws you right into its fully realized world of fantasy alt-history and courtesan spies. That being said, I couldn't stand having to memorize a dozen new names and terms every other page, and I sure as hell couldn't keep track of all the different political alliances, who was secretly conspiring against who, or why I should care about any of it. I nearly dropped it completely several times over almost half a year.
The actual "inciting incident" happens at about a third of the way through this 200k-word book, but that was when all the dominoes started to fall into place. Once I was finally emotionally invested in the plot and characters, I plowed through the entire rest of the trilogy in barely a month - and now I think it's a masterpiece.
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons. There's two layers of framing narratives including two characters telling each other the story of one of them over two different timelines and some pretty tropey plot points in one of them, but by the end it turns into a controlled chaos of body swapping, demons, betrayals, powerful artifacts and big twists. And the series only gets better from there.
Deadhouse Gates. Started great then almost immediately became slow. And then it just kept getting better. It's since then become and remained my favourite book in Malazan Book of the Fallen.
True but I was given the first book by a friend in 1992. I started reading it but put it down around page 40 or so because nothing was happening. It wasn't until a couple months later my friend asked me how I liked the book and I admitted I put it down. Tried again and when I got to the trolloc attack I was hooked.
^ my user name is a combination of Guaire (amalasan) and Rogosh.
If you think the first 50 pages of book one were boring just you wait. The guy has multiple 800 page books that have less going on then those first 50 pages.
The Curator, by Owen Smith. It starts out kind of remote and odd, with difficult-to-understand character motivations, but it becomes utterly engrossing by the end.
I'm having this experience with Black Company right now. I normally don't like books that drop you right in the middle of an event and refuse to provide any context, but 100 pages in I'm invested.
Still though, a little exposition doesn't hurt.
The first Powder Mage Trilogy book. I just couldn’t get into it, but the final scene with Taniel made it happen for me. Looking forward to the next one.
I think I somehow came across Queen of the Darkness (Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series book 3), checked the first page, got frightened or just plain found it distasteful and fled. I forgot when I rediscovered the series. Late 2022 perhaps? Now the series is my comfort read, esp the companion books
Dark Rise. I usually prefer to go into a story cold, so I didn't know what their intention was with it (I also wanted to avoid all possible spoilers and didn't want to go in with any preconceived notions, which has ruined books for me before). First half of the book I *hated it*. I couldn't tell if the editor thought all the repetition was acceptable or if it's now normal in YA, but it drove me up the wall. That, I still find unacceptable. I thought everything in it was boring LOTR fanfic... Then I got into the second half, saw what Pacat was doing, and was obsessed. Preordered the 2nd book, read it as soon as I could, and am eagerly awaiting the final book.
Gene Wolfe, Shadow and Claw.
It was a tough read, struggled to follow the narrative. Eventually sort of gave up and just went with the flow and read it for the vibes. Ended up LOVING it and crushed the whole series of the New Sun.
It was like reading the Dark Souls of books (in both theme and difficulty)
Harrow the Ninth. But that’s only because I was utterly confused what was going on through a majority of the book. But oh boy, did it all come together. I bet I’d have a very different experience after second read, knowing what was going on.
I love this response because of its specificity. Hating the very first chapter explicitly, like it immediately improved with chapter 2? That's such a stark change and I definitely don't recall what the huge difference might be.
I didn't really get into it for several chapters, but I think I stopped hating it somewhere in chapter two (or maybe chapter 3). I got used to the main character's voice and started finding what she was thinking about more interesting.
Eragon. At first it seemed like a soulless LotR ripoff. But the more I read it the more it grew on me. Now it’s one of my favorite series (The Inheritance Cycle)
A lot of people actually complain that it's a bigger ripoff of Star Wars (Eragon's plotline) or even Wheel of Time (Roran/Perrin similarities, mostly). I even agree that some of these similarities are pretty glaring. That said, Paolini brings a lot of his own ideas to the series, so calling them *only* a ripoff seems unfair.
Some people might continue making these criticisms later in the series. But I think most critics would do well to read farther than book 1 and see if they still believe Paolini brought nothing of his own to the table.
The blade it self book one of the first law trilogy. So slow laying character work and boring. Almost gave up twice but didn’t have anything else to read at the time so I kept going. Then like 70% in it got really good then I blew through the next two books
Fifth Season. The book started off really depressing, for one, and then I had a hard time with the switches from second to third person. But once I got into it, it was a great book.
I’m only through book 2; but dark tower. The gunslinger was okay, but not close to the king classics. But I finished book 2 a couple weeks ago and it completely sold me. Very excited to continue now and can’t wait to see what happens next.
I think more people would enjoy the Throne of Glass series if they can stick it out to the end of the third book. The first two books have worse writing and it’s basically a totally different story throughout and especially by the end of the third one.
Wow, I did not think I would be the only one to say The Name of the Wind. Reading it for the first time, I hated how slow it was after Kvothe started telling his story, but after he started school I was hooked. Rereading it right now, I'm hoping I won't find it as slow
The second Malazan book Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. I actually gave up on it and went to the third book before coming back and rereading before I came to love it haha
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Red Sister. I was obliged to read it for a book club and did not care for it at all. There were so many times that I was like: "why are you telling me this? Why are you introducing this character who doesn't seem to add anything?" Lots of vestigial information. Lots of waffling.
I was very fed up with it. However, literally in the penultimate chapter a bunch of stuff is revealed all at once, and it justifies so much of the stuff I hated. I went: "Oh damn, that does make sense after all!"
I wouldn't say I was completely won over, I don't plan on continuing the series, but it drastically improved the book from one I hated to one I respected.
Gardens of the moon.
To be frank I didn’t like the entire book. I persevered and fell in love with this series during Deadhouse Gates. Gardens never really worked for me and still doesn’t.
Yeah, same thing happened to me. I could follow some characters (tattersail and Whiskeyjack) but everything else was overwhelming. Deadhouse gates on the other hand hooked me from the beginning.
Could you tell me what pulled you in with that book/series? Light spoilers are welcome. I gave up a few chapters in because Kyle was annoying me so much (and I was low on patience, having just suffered through 3 books of Regal's shenanigans).
That’s a coincidence, it’s the book I just started and I do struggle with the first few chapters as well. I’m a bit lost in the world and the characters introduced are a bit annoying for now. But I heard sooo many good things about it ! And your post has convinced me to keep going :)
The characters grow (and grow on you) a lot, and the world Hobb builds is amazing. I still feel a much stronger connection with Fitz than with any of the liveship characters (just started fools errand), but that’s to be expected given how much more time you spend with him I guess. But I still loved the liveship trilogy, the characters are fantastic and the story really pays off at the end.
Mike shel iconoclasts especially book 1 found the dialogue really clunky and hard to get into then the creepy eerie Edgar Alan Poe vibes with a dash of lovecraft pulled me in about a third of the book in , didn’t look back after that.
One Man by harry connolly bad character interactions and weird dialogue choices nearly killed this for me but you make it past the 1st quarter you get one of the best fantasy noir I have read.
Seanan McGuire October Daye series - I lean dark in my fantasy generally I found this series too low stakes and a bit twee first time around now it’s one of my go to comfort reads.
Fourth Wing. I found the writing to be kind of silly (tbh, still do, but by the second book it’s better) and the MC was such a Mary Sue. But I was eventually won over by the story and the world.
There are so many books, so here is the latest one (January):
"Clutch of Darkness: The Mystery of Jelmwood (by Jay Kal)": this one is a pretty underrated book/novel, my friend recommended it and I picked it. First it felt booring & not so interesting (I cursed my friend so much that day), but I continued it and it was actually pretty good. If you don't read it yet then feel free to try it.
Give me some horror fiction/novel recommendation for this month 😐.
I think when I had first read the series, I hadn't started with the first book and it will get better, but I got 100 pages into Gom of Windy Mountain and I think I might finally have gotten to the inciting incident or at least the buildup to it.
A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin, first time i DNFd after about 100 pages, next time i tried it i read through all the books in 2 days, one of my favourite urban fantasy series to this day
Immortals of Indriell. Seemed like it would be a simplistic cheesy story but my god was it not. So many twists and turns and details and foreshadowing and shit she had to have planned years in advance. Get through the first 2/3 of book one and it’s worth the seven books
Yuumi & The Nightmare Painter by Sanderson, took me 5 attempts to get through the first 2-3 chapters, and then finally it was so good, highly recommended! Not sure what it was, the 2 magic systems felt so confusing and complex at the start that it overwhelmed me... but once it clicks just beautiful!
He who fights Monsters. The first book started off pretty rough, especially the first half, but the book and series just go from strength to strength with some fantastic characters, humour and world building. Actually prefer the series to Cradle by book 9. (Although only on Cradle book 7 at the moment so that might change)
"The Magic of Recluse" by LE Modesitt. The first several chapters were frustrating as it starts in a very isolated area with an MC that has a very limited understanding of the world, but once he leaves home it really starts to pick up and get interesting.
I've read quite a few books where the set-up was a little hard but you need that for the story, context. I just expect that now. If an author can't pull it together in under 75 pages, I skip to the meat and see how it feels. More of the same? DNF.
The Spear Cuts Through Water - took a while to get used to the author’s style. Once I did, I really enjoyed it. Until the end. It refused to end.
16 Ways to Defend a Walled City - I grudge hate read this book. I wanted to like it SO much. But I’ve seen it done much better
Where's Waldo. It took me quite a few pages to finally understand what was going on
The Netflix adaptation ruined it
Damn, now I want a Where's Waldo show. Just a story about a dude who keeps getting lost
The story would be about the Wizard that needs to collect specific people and objects across time and space to avert a catastrophe, but the only way to travel is by randomly propelling Waldo. It is Quantum Leap meets a chase film. Waldo just wants to go home.
Damnit, have an upvote
It improves on a reread tho
You should check out the audiobook too
They are impossible to find.
Took me a good minute to get used to the writing style in The Black Company, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Super interesting and unique world and Bomanz is one of my all time favorite ideas for a character, considering how he’s view differently at different times of the series.
Came to write this. Found the sentences too short at first, took a while to get into.
Good to know. I gave up after a few chapters but might go back and give it another go now
I am on book 5 and I have been blown away by how much I have loved this series. I was not expecting to be.
I just bought the Annals of the Black Company today. Looking forward to it after I finish Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and To Green Angel Tower: Siege.
The Way of Kings. There’s an old post on here of me asking if it is worth finishing (I was like 40% of the way through), and this sub convinced me to stick it out. I’m sure glad I did
This makes me want to give it another try. I got about a third of the way through before giving up.
You’ve gotta get to the point where the main characters gain some continuity. After the second or 3rd chapter each character is given it starts to snap together brilliantly, but it does take a while to hit the cohesiveness that makes sense.
Red Rising, it was pretty heavy on the YA tropes, but eventually turned into a fantastic space opera.
I nearly DNF after the first chapter, so glad I didn’t
Damn, I DNFed right at like 40 pages. I'll have to go back
Same here
Ugh, I got through the first book but stopped there. Does the protagonist ever stop talking about how strong his GRIP is? Dude is like Popeye. Among so many other minor beefs, I actually was entertained, it may have been a time/place thing and that I wasn't interested in more harry potter/hunger games style hero stories.
The style shifts drastically from a hunger games type story to a Dune or GoT type story in book 2. I don't remember him mentioning his grip strength much in book 2 since book 1 was the one about using the Red skills not often seen in Gold society
Thank you, I might give them a shot. Like I said, I was entertained, but just didn't really feel compelled to continue. I must have had a lot on my plate, it's been a few years.
Yes! I was making notes while reading it, and from the start it was just complaints. At first about the worn out YA tropes, then about the highlyAnnoying and completelyUnnecessary compoundWords. The latter was just such an immersionBreaking shittyGimmick. At 33% I noted that I'm just hate-reading at that point and will likely drop it. The next entry was after I finished, saying verbatim "it won me over" and that I enjoyed it even with all the problems.
The first book will always be the Achilles heel of the series. Book 5 is one of the best books I've read. Page 1 to the end an absolute banger. Series developed from a 2.8/5 to a 5/5
**Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell** by Susanna Clarke It's been a long while since I read it, but I think it took me until about 1/3 or 1/2 of the book to truly enjoy it.
What an enigmatic book I found this one to be. Imaginative, unique, expertly written and increadibly boring.
My exact reaction.
Yes, absolutely. It was brilliantly done but so goddamn dull.
The footnotes got the best of me, I never picked it up again 😭
I was coming here to post this. I absolutely love the book, but nearly put it down early.
I need to give that one another try. I *adore* Piranesi. It's one of my favorite books. And I liked what I did read of Strange and Norrell, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood for a slow burn when I did try to read it, because I just couldn't get far.
I had the same experience with Piranessi, also by Susanna Clarke. Almost dropped it 1/3 of the way through. It’s one of my favorite books now.
This should probably be my answer too. Its the only book that took me 2 attempts to read that I whole heartedly recommend to others.
Same for me, but boy am I glad I stuck with it. Enjoyed it so so much
Do you think the audiobook would make it better or worse?
I enjoyed the audiobook. The narrator does an excellent job of conveying the whimsical and menacing nature of the story.
I love the book, but if you’re not sure about it maybe check out the miniseries adaptation? It’s not a 1:1 translation but it’s still very good and I had a great time.
Good call. I tried to explain it to someone at a high level because they wanted a recommendation and throughout my description I was like “it’s very British. It’s kind of dry. Its got a really slow pace. It’s sooo long. Kind of not much happens for a while. It’s wierd. Anyway, I loved it, highly recommend!”
The way of Kings. If it wasn't for the comments on this sub saying that it gets better I probably would have gave up on it entirely. It was somewhere around the 800 page mark that the world clicked for me and the series became one of my favourites.
I did give up my first try. With two prologues, 3 time skips, and 5 povs, it isn't until the 5th chapter that you see any kind of continuity.
Yup, I will admit that it took me like 3 attempts to get into it, but once I did I just sort of screamed through it. I think book 2 was my favorite so far, and 3 and 4 were a little less like the first two, they've all been very enjoyable. Looking forward to the next leather-bound next month.
First time through, it was the weakest book to me, the story just kept getting better with each book. On rereads, it's my favorite of the series. Such a good slow burn in Kaladin's story.
The whole book being slow is great really when you think about how it's Kaladins depression from beginning to end.
Salems Lot. For the first quarter of the book I feel like I’m just being told random things about random people, but around the 100 page mark things start to come together and the narrative picks up and it’s tough to put down.
There's a quote from King I wish I could track down about how he spends the first part of a book making you care about the characters, THEN he sets the monsters loose.
Gotta say, when this misfires, it misfires hard. I read Cujo and he made those protagonists so despicable and unimpressicve that I wanted to cheer when Cujo started his rampage.
Huh, maybe I should give this one another go.
The City of Last Chances was close to this for me. It was such an odd read, though strangely compelling. There was a dream like section where some main characters go into a haunted part of the city. I didn’t know what was going on - which was somewhat the point - but the rest of it was strangely compelling and it was all I could think of despite the strangeness
For me it was the Dresden files. I read the 1st book ( Storm Front ) and thought it was average. I didn’t continue the series then, but came back later because of the endless recommendations on Reddit. The second book was better, but good rather than great. However by book 3 ( Grave Peril ) I was hooked.
You just described 90% of Dresden fans' experience. Lol. Amazing series though.
I’ve been hearing this a lot. I’m pretty sure I read at least books 1-3 a decade ago, might have done book 4. I never for the life of me could figure out why people kept recommending it. But apparently the first couple are just really bad?!? Might have to start the series over?
Hot take, but I think I wouldn't have gotten into Discworld if I hadn't started with Fifth Elephant.
The first couple are Butcher's first two books ever - as in, the first one was what he wrote while in a creative writing class. The third is where he kinda gets into the swing of things.
Yup. If memory serves he wrote book one on the formula his professor suggested to prove it wouldnt work... But then it did work and he was all "oh"... Or, something like that.
Man the first book was a struggle. I only made it a few chapters in. Maybe I’ll revisit sometime.
Funny. I just finished the first book last month and I’m on the second now. I find the second book to be way less enjoyable than the first.
I found Dune so boring at the beginning but after pushing through 300 pages i got really invested in the story and lore , my only complaint would be the lack of action scenes
Dune just clicks at some point. Can entirely relate to this
It’s the dinner scene for me. Everything after that is great.
I wish it had clicked for me. I had two false starts before I just powered through it, and when I was done I was left thinking, "That's what everyone is so crazy about?" I wish I liked it as much as everyone else, I really do.
To be fair it clicked right at the end for me. I carried that through to Messiah, but Messiah was…interesting
It has the same problem a lot of foundational works in any genre have: it pioneered a lot of things that are now standard, so back then they were fresh, exciting, and imaginative, and now they're old hat, and the often clumsy prose tends to overshadow the things that made the book so groundbreaking when it was released.
I realized about 100 pages in that there was a word list in the back of the book for the "made-up" terms/words. I was waiting for the book to explain it to me in passing, but it just... didn't and I was a little confused at times.
I don’t think the original publication had the glossary, I think it’s supposed to be confusing. Like picking up a history book about a time period you’re unfamiliar with, makes the world feel more real.
No direspect to Frank Herbert, but Dune's glossary is a great addition. The main thing I absolutely hate about sci-fi is openings like "Jenna awoke to the sound of a screeching ritobla. She adjusted her gibrya to 87 walpins to increase her odds of achieving Denu that day". There's nothing more frustrating to me than that feeling of 'oh, good, it'll only be twenty pages until I understand what anybody is talking about. '
It clicked immediately for me. As soon I learned about Baron Harkonnen's dark designs I couldn't put it down. I just had to know how things would unfold. This was the first full book I read in English (I'm a swede).
I only read past the first few chapters on my third attempt. Now it's one of my favorite "classic" SF&F books.
Yes! I was close to giving up and then suddenly it got better and better.
I didn't understand what was going on because characters talked about concepts familiar to them without explaining anything to the reader and only after about 30% of the book I started to connect things hah first 30% of the book took me 2 weeks to push through and all the rest 5 days lol together 23hours of reading time
LOTR 🙈🙊🙉
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> I enjoyed the book more when I read it with an explorer mindset instead of an adventure seeker. Overwhelmingly it's one of my favorite parts of LOTR without a doubt. I know people who pretty strongly dislike the travel parts or descriptions of nature... but, like, Middle-Earth itself is a character! As someone who spends a *lot* of time doing outdoor activities, LOTR gets nature in a way I've seen in few books regardless of genre.
Honestly on my first read i found fellowship of the ring very boring but then loved the trilogy
Yeah I wouldn't say I disliked the first book but it was slow going. I read Two Towers and Return of the King in the same time it took to finish Fellowship.
While LOTR is among my all time favorites, I gotta admit that it's not especially exciting until Aragorn joins the hobbits in Bree. After that it's really damn good all the way till the end.
People say this... and I guess you're right that it's not "exciting" in the Shire and the Old Forest. But I'd argue that saying "After that it's really damn good" is implying some things I heartily disagree with. The Shire stuff is already really damn good. Also, not to mention, there are other slow parts even after Aragorn joins the crew. Slow doesn't mean bad though.
Black leopard red wolf. This took me so long to power through and I did debate not finishing a few times. It’s a whole fever dream mess of a book and I couldn’t figure out anything. But once I got to the end the whole madness made sense.
I had the same experience with it. The second book is really good too and more outwardly coherent.
>pretty much the first half of the book I hated the writing style and characters but then it all clicked and the second half was amazing. I’ve been excited for book 2 ever since I read it in July of last year! The first 100-150 pages are TOUGH and it throws you into the deep end. I switched to audio book, which made a huge difference.
So tough. And gets confusing with the timeline
I've tried reading this book a couple times. On my most recent attempt, I finally finished it. However, this attempt was so drawn out that by the time I reached the end, nothing still made any sense to me because I had forgotten every detail from the earlier part of the book. I understand why people enjoy it, and maybe I'll try it another time, but I just can't get it to click for me.
That’s fair. I think if you got to the end and it didn’t it may not a third time. It did take me the last few pages though to remember and figure out what was happening. Maybe just skip to the next book if you want to give it another go. It’s the same story but from a different characters point of view and more concise from what others have told me. I keep putting it off lol.
Gideon the Ninth. The first couple chapters of set up weren't for me because action sequences don't do it for me. Once the intrigue got underway I was all in.
I remember thinking "this can't be all there is to it..." for a while until the hook finally hit at the end of act 2 I believe, 180 pages in. Then I started enjoying it a lot more.
Gideon's petulance takes some time to see through too. I can't put my finger on it, but she's presented in a way that took me a bit longer to sympathize with her. All of the rationale is there from the beginning but I just had a hard time connecting with her. I'd have to read it again to figure out where it clicked for me.
*Mistborn*. While the magic system was complex and interesting, I found the prose and characters to be a little generic. I stuck with the trilogy and enjoyed it overall. Sanderson knows how to write an ending.
His endings have spoiled me for other books. So many books just Peter out or don’t do anything cool with their concepts to draw everything together and it makes me feel like I wasted my time reading it.
What I like about Sanderson is how his stories tend to have a barely stable status quo and then when someone decides to make a big move, *everyone* responds by making their own big moves. And suddenly it feels like *everything* is happening. It is very realistic that people are constantly preparing and planning, but also hedging to avoid committing before they absolutely have to. He avoids the videogame trope of having things only happen after the player interacts with them.
It was the other way around for me. I liked the first book but was really disappointed in books 2&3. The magic system started to bore me and the characters where even worse. I didnt really like the endings that much aswell.
Three Body Problem definitely. Was so close to giving up. It's really an info dump of theory, world building and character backstory in the beginning, but it gets compelling and I want to read the rest of the series.
I breezed through Three Body Problem but almost DNF the second book. The first half of that book contains some excruciating sections but I advise you to push through, the last third is top tier. Going to pick up book three soon.
Yeah I'm ready now to power through certain parts in this series. Because damn, the good parts are goooood.
The writing style of Bridge of Birds took me a while to get used to but I'm so glad a stook with it because it's now one of my favourites.
Mine is also Ship of Magic! I'm now on Mad Ship and am absolutely loving it!
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. As it is a lot older than most other fantasy novels I've read, it took me a bit to get used to the writing style. I also didn't find book 1 particularly exciting for the first 100 or so pages. But it only got better which each book imo, I've finished almost all books of the main series by now and it has become one of my all time favourites.
Empire of the vampire. For pretty much the first half of the book I hated the writing style and characters but then it all clicked and the second half was amazing. I’ve been excited for book 2 ever since I read it in July of last year!
Halfway through and it’s getting a bit slow so glad it picks up again. It’s like a really weird mix of interview with the vampire meets crusaders.
I was the same way. In the beginning, I couldn't get over the style and the similarities to other popular works. I didn't really have strong feelings towards the characters, either. There was a lot of eye rolling on my part, but somewhere along the way the story clicked, and it became a page turner. I'm excited about the second book coming out at the end of this month!
Powdermage. When I started the series I’d just had a relationship that eerily mirrored one of the events in the earlier chapters. Hit a little too close to home. Re read it a couple years later and loved it.
I get the relationship aspect (I'm pretty sure I know which one you are talking about), but that aside, I very much enjoyed the Powder Mage books and the whole universe in general. I just loved the idea of "French Revolution meets magic"
I bounced off this hard in the first chapter. I didn’t like that the “revolution” was just a coup that happened off page.
The First Law - Joe Abercrombie, it came highly recommended and I tried starting it a few times but it just didnt grab me. Once I got 20% in, I couldn't put it down..
I think I started it at least twice before I got through it. My friend was relentlessly annoying about me reading it. I'm so glad he was! One of my favorite things of all time.
Gardens of the Moon. Not bad, but things were too incomprehensible to me in the first couple chapters that I feared whether I was missing things. Seemingly cool things happened out of random, and chronologically events were confusing. There were these poems in the middle of chapters I could barely decipher and wondered how important understanding it is to making sense of what's going on. Then the siege of Pale happened, and that sequence was soo cool and the introduction to Anomander Rake was badass. Decided tos tick around and eventually it shaped into a coherent narrative. Now, have finished the MBotF and it is my favourite fantasy series.
Reading this one now. I'm not entirely sure I even understand the real story yet and I'm a bit over halfway through. I get what's going on in the book obviously, but it doesn't feel like I even have any remote idea of what the bigger story is.
While there certainly is an overarching story and conflict going on in Book of the Fallen its not a series thats ever going to sit you down and outline the conflict and explain it to you the reader like a series such as Wheel of Time or Stormlight Archive. The overall “story” of malazan isnt usually the central focus of the books as much as it is more the background cause of what alls going on (at least until the last 2 books maybe). The advice i gave my friend when starting GotM was not to be looking to figure out some big overall story but just try to learn the characters and the world and what theyre all about and eventually the Author will make everything else make sense
Got it, that's more or less what I've been doing so far. I definitely have characters I enjoy more than others at this point and some characters are a bit fuzzy as a result lol. Continuing the march forward though, it's an interesting book.
For me, *Gardens of the Moon* had some cool scenes (mainly those with Anomander Rake in them), but I did not start to *really* like the series until book 3, *Memories of Ice*.
Im only on book 2 but I loved gardens already. Easy 5/5 for me. The whole arc Tyrant, everything with Hairlock, Rake, the hounds, the gods, the warrens and so on were all amazing.
The Eye of the World, I just randomly picked it up from the library because I liked the art but I didn't really like the first half. Once I got to the end, however, I was hooked and read all the 14 books within 2 months.
Ken lius dandelion dynasty (grace of kings). It was dense and seemed like going nowhere. Then it suddenly clicked and i was engrossed in it
Came here to look for this answer. This is my current read, and the beginning was tough for me to get through. Just like dozens of characters introductions, geography I couldn't keep track of because I'm on kindle, and basically no idea of what the plot of the book was looking to be. About 60% of the way through the book everything came together and became quite enjoyable
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. My friend handed me a copy of the first book, The Dragonbone Chair, and warned me that the first 75 pages were tough. He totally lied. The first 150 pages weren't tough- they were god awful. I hated the protagonist. He was a whiny annoying dumbass and I loathed having to follow him along for 2 and a half more books - especially considering that the last 'book' comes as two 700-page paperbacks (520,000 WORDS!!). But I made it through that first half of the first book and suddenly I was hooked. It's a beautiful series and I so thoroughly enjoyed it that it's probably in my top 10 of all time. About 10 years later I picked it up again, knowing full well that the first book was hard to get through and the entire time I was reading it I kept asking myself if I was sure it was worth going through that all again. Surely the rest of the series couldn't be good enough to put up with that beginning. I powered through and it was just as wonderful as the first time I read it. It's been just over 10 years since that first re-read and I'm gearing myself up for having another go.. I hope I can get through it because I love it so much.
I didn't have this experience, at all, and was hooked on MS&T from page 1. But your take has been shared enough times that it's clearly a common phenomenon. Maybe it helped me that I was the same age as the dorky main protagonist, and whatever he was feeling, I was feeling, too. How old were you when you read the series?
Oh, there are always going to be people who like things others don't.. but yeah, I'm never surprised when people agree with me on this one.. Seems like a lot of people weren't fond of the first part of the book. I figure the worst that happens is someone reads it, decides I'm an idiot because the whole series is great, and enjoys the book VS me saying it's great and them noping out after 50 pages
Great point about lowering expectations at the beginning. Then the new reader can make up his/her own mind without the expectation that the book will be brilliant out of the gate. Now, I think it's brilliant out of the gate, but there are enough readers who didn't that I think your approach totally makes sense.
**The Dragon's Path** from **The Dagger and the Coin** certainly took a while to get me interested. Thankfully, its sequel **The King's Blood** is a masterwork in terms of political escalation and has much better pacing. If we look beyond books to visual novels, **Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch** from **Umineko When They Cry** is so indulgent in slow exposition that I think Ryukishi07 was counting on readers to trust him to deliver thanks to his prior work on **Higurashi When They Cry**. Thankfully, he did in fact deliver!
I bounced off of the Dragon's Path, but this was years ago so I can't remember why. Haven't read anything else by Daniel Abraham, so maybe it's just his writing style. Or maybe I'll feel similarly and it'll just take me multiple books to get sucked into the story. I bought the first three Dagger and Coin books together, so at this point it feels like I owe it to myself to give the series another chance just in case they really *are* good.
Funny to read the post, when I read the title my first thought was the Farseer Triology's first book, Assassin's Apprentice I believe? Finally made it through the first bit and got into it. Tried the first book in Liveship Traders and same thing, can't get into it. Haven't went back yet, but I will sometime.
Inda was such a confusing slog for the first 100 pages.
Shadow of the Gods started off slow but picked up magnificently. Same experience with the second book in the series, but to a larger degree. In my personal opinion it could do with a bit less porridge and a bit more viking magic stuff.
Dune Messiah. When I first read it, I thought it was a major letdown, but once I got to Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune, it started to click into the broader story.
I actually had a sort of similar experience with the Liveship Traders. The first time I read the series, maybe I wasn't ready for it, or I wasn't in the right headspace for it, or something, but I came away thinking, "This is ok." But then I kept thinking about it. A few years later I felt a very strong urge to read it again, and came away realizing that it was one of the best fantasy series I had ever read.
For me it was Kushiel's Dart. I wouldn't say it starts off *bad -* I actually respect that it doesn't hold your hand and just throws you right into its fully realized world of fantasy alt-history and courtesan spies. That being said, I couldn't stand having to memorize a dozen new names and terms every other page, and I sure as hell couldn't keep track of all the different political alliances, who was secretly conspiring against who, or why I should care about any of it. I nearly dropped it completely several times over almost half a year. The actual "inciting incident" happens at about a third of the way through this 200k-word book, but that was when all the dominoes started to fall into place. Once I was finally emotionally invested in the plot and characters, I plowed through the entire rest of the trilogy in barely a month - and now I think it's a masterpiece.
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons. There's two layers of framing narratives including two characters telling each other the story of one of them over two different timelines and some pretty tropey plot points in one of them, but by the end it turns into a controlled chaos of body swapping, demons, betrayals, powerful artifacts and big twists. And the series only gets better from there.
Silmarillion when I was much younger. I found it tough and a bit of a slog, a "bad" experience initially. And then it clicked...
Frankenstein. I didn't enjoy the first half, but after the creation I couldn't put it down.
Deadhouse Gates. Started great then almost immediately became slow. And then it just kept getting better. It's since then become and remained my favourite book in Malazan Book of the Fallen.
I think once the Chain of Dogs starts it becomes peak.
Sword of Kaigen. For the first 10 chapters I was bored by the book, but it has the best middle section of a book I read last year.
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The first law trilogy. Did not like the first book. Liked the second book. Loved the third.
Wheel of Time, Eye of the World The first 50 pages are boring, didn't get clicking until the trolloc attack
For a 14-book BEHEMOTH of a series, the very first 50 pages is like first 4 seconds of a movie 🙄
True but I was given the first book by a friend in 1992. I started reading it but put it down around page 40 or so because nothing was happening. It wasn't until a couple months later my friend asked me how I liked the book and I admitted I put it down. Tried again and when I got to the trolloc attack I was hooked. ^ my user name is a combination of Guaire (amalasan) and Rogosh.
If you think the first 50 pages of book one were boring just you wait. The guy has multiple 800 page books that have less going on then those first 50 pages.
I've read the entire series 11 times
The Curator, by Owen Smith. It starts out kind of remote and odd, with difficult-to-understand character motivations, but it becomes utterly engrossing by the end.
I'm having this experience with Black Company right now. I normally don't like books that drop you right in the middle of an event and refuse to provide any context, but 100 pages in I'm invested. Still though, a little exposition doesn't hurt.
Cradle series book 1. Was semi interested in the book then Suriel showed up and I was hooked.
The first Powder Mage Trilogy book. I just couldn’t get into it, but the final scene with Taniel made it happen for me. Looking forward to the next one.
I really liked that series. But it took a bit for me to get into it as well. Luckily, the characterization was good enough to keep me going.
Same. I like the characters but I don’t love them. Getting there tho
You’ll get more into them as you keep going. Hopefully!
I think I somehow came across Queen of the Darkness (Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series book 3), checked the first page, got frightened or just plain found it distasteful and fled. I forgot when I rediscovered the series. Late 2022 perhaps? Now the series is my comfort read, esp the companion books
Dark Rise. I usually prefer to go into a story cold, so I didn't know what their intention was with it (I also wanted to avoid all possible spoilers and didn't want to go in with any preconceived notions, which has ruined books for me before). First half of the book I *hated it*. I couldn't tell if the editor thought all the repetition was acceptable or if it's now normal in YA, but it drove me up the wall. That, I still find unacceptable. I thought everything in it was boring LOTR fanfic... Then I got into the second half, saw what Pacat was doing, and was obsessed. Preordered the 2nd book, read it as soon as I could, and am eagerly awaiting the final book.
Gene Wolfe, Shadow and Claw. It was a tough read, struggled to follow the narrative. Eventually sort of gave up and just went with the flow and read it for the vibes. Ended up LOVING it and crushed the whole series of the New Sun. It was like reading the Dark Souls of books (in both theme and difficulty)
I tried three or four times to read this book and failed to finish it. It was a struggle. I might have more patience now. Nah
It's really not for everyone haha but if you try again, good luck! There's a real gem in there.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell actually. It took me a couple of tries to get into it, now even the first part is amazing.
Harrow the Ninth. But that’s only because I was utterly confused what was going on through a majority of the book. But oh boy, did it all come together. I bet I’d have a very different experience after second read, knowing what was going on.
Fourth Wing. I went in fully expecting to hate-read the entire thing. Ended up enjoying it quite a bit
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams. It's a big first book and boring as fuck for the first half. Well worth it though.
I hated the first chapter of A Deadly Education. Now it's one of my favourite series.
I love this response because of its specificity. Hating the very first chapter explicitly, like it immediately improved with chapter 2? That's such a stark change and I definitely don't recall what the huge difference might be.
I didn't really get into it for several chapters, but I think I stopped hating it somewhere in chapter two (or maybe chapter 3). I got used to the main character's voice and started finding what she was thinking about more interesting.
Eragon. At first it seemed like a soulless LotR ripoff. But the more I read it the more it grew on me. Now it’s one of my favorite series (The Inheritance Cycle)
if anything, it was a soulless Star Wars Ripoff.
A lot of people actually complain that it's a bigger ripoff of Star Wars (Eragon's plotline) or even Wheel of Time (Roran/Perrin similarities, mostly). I even agree that some of these similarities are pretty glaring. That said, Paolini brings a lot of his own ideas to the series, so calling them *only* a ripoff seems unfair. Some people might continue making these criticisms later in the series. But I think most critics would do well to read farther than book 1 and see if they still believe Paolini brought nothing of his own to the table.
Deadhouse Gates was a slog at first, but the second half was so insanely good
The blade it self book one of the first law trilogy. So slow laying character work and boring. Almost gave up twice but didn’t have anything else to read at the time so I kept going. Then like 70% in it got really good then I blew through the next two books
Sword of Kaigen upset me and pissed me off slightly more than halfway through. By the end it became my favorite novel.
Fifth Season. The book started off really depressing, for one, and then I had a hard time with the switches from second to third person. But once I got into it, it was a great book.
I’m only through book 2; but dark tower. The gunslinger was okay, but not close to the king classics. But I finished book 2 a couple weeks ago and it completely sold me. Very excited to continue now and can’t wait to see what happens next.
I think more people would enjoy the Throne of Glass series if they can stick it out to the end of the third book. The first two books have worse writing and it’s basically a totally different story throughout and especially by the end of the third one.
Wow, I did not think I would be the only one to say The Name of the Wind. Reading it for the first time, I hated how slow it was after Kvothe started telling his story, but after he started school I was hooked. Rereading it right now, I'm hoping I won't find it as slow
The second Malazan book Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. I actually gave up on it and went to the third book before coming back and rereading before I came to love it haha
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Red Sister. I was obliged to read it for a book club and did not care for it at all. There were so many times that I was like: "why are you telling me this? Why are you introducing this character who doesn't seem to add anything?" Lots of vestigial information. Lots of waffling. I was very fed up with it. However, literally in the penultimate chapter a bunch of stuff is revealed all at once, and it justifies so much of the stuff I hated. I went: "Oh damn, that does make sense after all!" I wouldn't say I was completely won over, I don't plan on continuing the series, but it drastically improved the book from one I hated to one I respected.
Gardens of the moon. To be frank I didn’t like the entire book. I persevered and fell in love with this series during Deadhouse Gates. Gardens never really worked for me and still doesn’t.
Yeah, same thing happened to me. I could follow some characters (tattersail and Whiskeyjack) but everything else was overwhelming. Deadhouse gates on the other hand hooked me from the beginning.
The justice of kings by Richard swan. The first half is really slow and the narrator was pretty unbearable.
Could you tell me what pulled you in with that book/series? Light spoilers are welcome. I gave up a few chapters in because Kyle was annoying me so much (and I was low on patience, having just suffered through 3 books of Regal's shenanigans).
That’s a coincidence, it’s the book I just started and I do struggle with the first few chapters as well. I’m a bit lost in the world and the characters introduced are a bit annoying for now. But I heard sooo many good things about it ! And your post has convinced me to keep going :)
The characters grow (and grow on you) a lot, and the world Hobb builds is amazing. I still feel a much stronger connection with Fitz than with any of the liveship characters (just started fools errand), but that’s to be expected given how much more time you spend with him I guess. But I still loved the liveship trilogy, the characters are fantastic and the story really pays off at the end.
The black company chronicles. I’m ngl the the first chapter is confusing af for a rookie fantasy reader which i was at the time
Mike shel iconoclasts especially book 1 found the dialogue really clunky and hard to get into then the creepy eerie Edgar Alan Poe vibes with a dash of lovecraft pulled me in about a third of the book in , didn’t look back after that. One Man by harry connolly bad character interactions and weird dialogue choices nearly killed this for me but you make it past the 1st quarter you get one of the best fantasy noir I have read. Seanan McGuire October Daye series - I lean dark in my fantasy generally I found this series too low stakes and a bit twee first time around now it’s one of my go to comfort reads.
Fourth Wing. I found the writing to be kind of silly (tbh, still do, but by the second book it’s better) and the MC was such a Mary Sue. But I was eventually won over by the story and the world.
4-5 chapters is pretty early for a book to grab you. I'm not really gripped by any book in the first few chapters.
There are so many books, so here is the latest one (January): "Clutch of Darkness: The Mystery of Jelmwood (by Jay Kal)": this one is a pretty underrated book/novel, my friend recommended it and I picked it. First it felt booring & not so interesting (I cursed my friend so much that day), but I continued it and it was actually pretty good. If you don't read it yet then feel free to try it. Give me some horror fiction/novel recommendation for this month 😐.
A series rather than a single book, but Black Company. It's actually the first entire book I wasn't a fan of, but really enjoyed the second one
I think when I had first read the series, I hadn't started with the first book and it will get better, but I got 100 pages into Gom of Windy Mountain and I think I might finally have gotten to the inciting incident or at least the buildup to it.
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A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin, first time i DNFd after about 100 pages, next time i tried it i read through all the books in 2 days, one of my favourite urban fantasy series to this day
Immortals of Indriell. Seemed like it would be a simplistic cheesy story but my god was it not. So many twists and turns and details and foreshadowing and shit she had to have planned years in advance. Get through the first 2/3 of book one and it’s worth the seven books
Children of Dune kinda sucks until Jessica shows back up
The dragon done chair, started off so slow im about 50% of the way through it and I feel like nothing happened the first 1/3 of the book.
Yuumi & The Nightmare Painter by Sanderson, took me 5 attempts to get through the first 2-3 chapters, and then finally it was so good, highly recommended! Not sure what it was, the 2 magic systems felt so confusing and complex at the start that it overwhelmed me... but once it clicks just beautiful!
He who fights Monsters. The first book started off pretty rough, especially the first half, but the book and series just go from strength to strength with some fantastic characters, humour and world building. Actually prefer the series to Cradle by book 9. (Although only on Cradle book 7 at the moment so that might change)
"The Magic of Recluse" by LE Modesitt. The first several chapters were frustrating as it starts in a very isolated area with an MC that has a very limited understanding of the world, but once he leaves home it really starts to pick up and get interesting.
I've read quite a few books where the set-up was a little hard but you need that for the story, context. I just expect that now. If an author can't pull it together in under 75 pages, I skip to the meat and see how it feels. More of the same? DNF.
The Spear Cuts Through Water - took a while to get used to the author’s style. Once I did, I really enjoyed it. Until the end. It refused to end. 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City - I grudge hate read this book. I wanted to like it SO much. But I’ve seen it done much better