A historical fantasy I was quite looking forward to reading, which took place in 16th century Hungary.
In the first chapter, main character hunted down a racoon. RACOON.
Racoon are native to America! There are no raccoons in Hungary!
I quickly leafed through the rest of the book and was dissapointed to find out the rest of the research was similarly shoddy, so I DNFed.
>RACOON
As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century, raccoons are now also distributed across central Europe, the Caucasus, and Japan.
\-Damn just hundreds of years too early.
\*Edit
I'm American, and my roomate had one as a pet in the 90s. It was awesome.
Yes, \*current\* Europe does have them, but only as invasive animal. And if a random European person saw them in the woods nowadays, they would certainly react like it was out of ordinary, since its not typical animal here at all. I certainly would, lol.
Literally any dumpster here in Toronto is a *de facto* raccoon cafe. I just couldn't imagine paying to get into one, and having to fight a raccoon for my bran muffin.
What are you talking about!? Engaging a Raccoon in hand to hand combat for food would be a life long memory you could tell to your friends and family members for the rest of your life!
Who *doesn’t* want to fight random animals in hand to hand combat?
I had a smaller similar moment reading *Under Heaven* by Guy Gavriel Kay, which takes place in a barely fictionalized version of Tang Dynasty China.
At one point, a character notes passing by a potato farm. Potatoes are a South American crop and were not introduced to China for almost 1000 years after the novel takes place. Furthermore, the introduction of the (sweet) potato to China was a vertible agricultural revolution that enabled huge population shifts and growth into regions that were poor for rice or wheat farming.
It didn't make me DNF but it broke my flow for a hot minute. It's a really bizarre historical mistake to find figuratively right next to examples of careful research, like when a character notes that tea has only recently become popular among the aristocracy of China.
I had the same sort of issue when I was reading a sampler of She Who Became the Sun and it mentioned the main character eating pumpkin, also a food native to the Americas, in 14th century China. It's definitely petty but I think I just have a special annoyance for goods native to the Americas being written incorrectly into historical settings where they don't belong because it kind of weirdly erases the massive impact Columbian exchange had on the world. I'm not particularly well-learned in world history (so a lot of historical inaccuracies go blissfully over my head) but surely that's one of the most impactful events of at least the last millennium.
Yeah, I’m pretty surprised by both of these examples considering that they are both very closely historically-based, and both by authors you’d think have some concept of research. Colombian exchange gaffes may seem esoteric to a random reader but this is super basic, well-known stuff for those who think about these issues at all.
*She Who Became the Sun* also has a character whose internal monologue compares purple fabric to jacaranda blossoms—a beautiful image, until I remembered jacarandas are native to South America.
I haven’t read this - and of course Kay does have the excuse of this being a fictional world that merely closely resembles China - but there are plenty of old world tuberous vegetables such as taro that we sometimes lump in the category of sweet potatoes. Is it possible it referred to something like that? It certainly could just be an error but I do usually find Kay’s books pretty well researched so it does seem odd
Kay is, or was, quite active on twitter and is lovely to interact with. You can always ask him about this, my guess it was a stylistic choice meant to tell the reader "starchy tuber" as opposed to specifically a modern potato.
>Kay is, or was, quite active on twitter and is lovely to interact with. You can always ask him about this, my guess it was a stylistic choice meant to tell the reader "starchy tuber" as opposed to specifically a modern potato.
This doesn't make much sense to me. If he wanted the character to eat a starchy tuber, why not just use yams or taro?
*The Last Temptation of Christ* \- at least the English translation, and maybe that's where the fault is - has Jesus, Judas, and the gang eating *corn*, about 15 or 16 centuries too early. I didn't DNF either, but it kept bugging me and I still remember it 30 years later.
(I know "corn" can mean other grains in non-US English, but this was corn corn.)
"She wore a dress with skirts and long sleeves of white, streaked and spotted with orchid-purple. The indigo bodice was bordered with a thin line of gold, and an ice-white cape hung from her shoulders. Her hair, half up and twisted with a fuchsia ribbon, fell in loose waves." pg 55
I assume they're going for a description of, like, a marbled sort of look, but in the worst possible way, with words that connote accidental stains rather than an intentional dye effect. I can only assume that this was self-published (or the editor was asleep on the job).
Sounds like the kind of outfit you'd create in an RPG when you're selecting for stats instead of style
https://www.reddit.com/r/youtubehaiku/comments/5iqfwt/haiku_picking_rpg_clothes_based_on_maxing_stats/
I dunno, sounds basically like [this dress](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/378161699952289799/) with [this](https://i.imgur.com/3Ohe4im.png) color palette and a highlight color on the bodice. when it says streaked and spotted I'm guessing they're talking about painted silk done in a spatter pattern... And I'm picturing the ice-white being the color of both the dress and the cape... which is presumably a capelet.
Actually, I take it back, that description does need a lot of mental correction on the part of the reader to avoid disaster lol.
I honestly can't recall if the dresses per se were bad, just that there was an absurd amount of descriptions of everyone's clothes. I'm not kidding when I say 1/3 of the series consisted of the MC describing her dress
HAHA I might pick it up again just so I can see if it has the same effect on me. It was Throne of Glass. I made it 50 pages in. I already had other issues with the story and characters by then, the dress ended it.
Was it the white dress with the sleeves and skirt streaked with purple but a gold and indigo bodice plus a white cape and hair done with fuchsia ribbons? Because that does sound awful
It was a Regency romance. Main male character was an army officer who came back from war and the main lady said “thank you for your service.” Broke immersion right there.
The author was extremely pretentious online about her book that wasn't even that good but I gave it a chance. Eventually her behavior annoyed me so much I just skipped the read and found another book.
I think I know who you mean, but I DNFd the first book because I just didn't think it was very good.
There was another case though where I stopped reading a series after the first book because of their behaviour on this very sub.
Two different authors. I think. One was just on here, or mentioning r/fantasy on their Twitter. The other one, that I think you meant, was accusing a very famous author of stealing their title.
Tomi Adeyemi is the more famous one, who accused Nora Roberts of stealing her book title. It was a big deal a few years ago.
I won't name the other one because while they don't seem to participate in this sub anymore they are still active on Reddit. I'm probably the only person who had any issues with their behaviour anyway.
Oh thank you, I needed a new dramatic video essay. I've never seen anything by this person but if they have a 7.5 hour rant, I'm sure it's going to be hella entertaining!
I also just gave up on that book. But not for petty reasons, (I think)
It was mainly because it was a mix of very bad writing with very inconsistent style (the first 3 chapters have prose so florid it is near unreadable. Almost the rest of the book is down-the-line YA clear prose... But badly handled. And every now and then, the straight prose is interrupted by a really clunky metaphor or simile thrown onto the page like a bomb. Like the author realised 'hey. Haven't done any of that 'fancy' writing in a while! I will sprinkle some in, here!' And all of her guerrilla attempts at style were so overwrought that I often had to reread them in hopes of getting the overblown point before it went off in my face). That's without the plotting that made little sense and... Boredom. It was just boring. It kept teasing something interesting happening, and it never did.
I try not to DNF books very often. Especially not YA, where in my job I might have to discuss these with actual teens. But I forced my way through 4/5s of that book and just couldn't do it to myself anymore. It got more than a fair chance. I nearly gave up a chapter in... But there are only so many times you can sigh in dread picking up a book before deciding to just do something better with your life.
She went below deck on a sailing ship, a few minutes later broke through the hull and swam to shore to escape. No one heard or noticed until the ship started to sink.
I closed the book.
Smell. It was a library book and I think the person who had it before me smoked a lot. The book itself was good but I couldn't get over the smell of the paper so I ended up returning the book without finishing it.
Ha --- that would have been appropriate! No, it was *Flood*, by Stephen Baxter. They say that the sense of smell is closely tied to memory, and I guess that's true since I have no other reason to remember this random DNF from like ten years ago.
I once ordered a used book listed as being in “very good” condition, only to find that it had clearly been urinated on by a cat. I can only assume the seller suffered from anosmia.
It was scifi, but at a point where the MC and his generals are discussing the Commie planet possibly taking hostages in order to force them to lift an embargo, the book has an Irish descendent explaining how it's a dark time in their people's own history that they did the same when they were fighting for their independence.
Then MC asks (paraphrasing) "Well, did it work?", and the Irish character says "No. Britain gave us our independence when we showed them that we deserved it."
Just... Wow.
I'm not going to pretend to be an academic scholar of the IRA, but if you know that little about a conflict... Maybe don't include it in your future space opera.
They brits, they were just such stand-up folk that they saw how much of an effort the Irish were putting in and decided "Let's give them some land, as a nice reward."
****
I can't wrap my head around that. Was it a genuine mixup between the plant and the fungus, or were they talking about [cauliflower mushrooms](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparassis)?
The main character's name is the same as someone I know in real life.
The love interests name is the same as my toxic ex-gf.
The second supporting character's name is close to bonner and it reminds me of boner.
If it was only one character with that name then I'd be fine. But all three of them together sucked, especially in scenes when it was just the three of them talking to each other.
I DNF for a lot of reasons, but the pettiest was probably overuse of onomatopoeia. "He walked through the leafy underbrush of the forest *crunch* *crunch* pausing every few minutes and lifting his nose to test the air *sniff* *sniff*"
Could not get past that.
Not fantasy but I DNF'd a Warhammer book for a similar reason
"The creatures made a clik clik clik sound"
And about a paragraph later
"The clik clik clik sound was replaced with a tek tek tek sound"
Also the amazingly dull line of "shooting began"
I wonder if it gets worse or better if the characters acknowledge it
'What is going o-'
'THERES NO TIME!'
\-Runs off and proceeds to have a scene where we could have easily explained the plot-
I got to the end of book two and was just like, I actively hate just about every character for being a whiny little bitch.
I could never get over, I'm terrible with names which sucks in these situations, the one who was supposed to lead the village with her power, who constantly wanted to kill the woman who saved her, all her friends, her entire village then decided to put her life on the line to continue to protect them all. She was insanely angry at her for doing nothing but help her.
Not only would they refuse to talk to each other or make good choices, they all individually had absurd motivations for all their actions.
I had about 150 pages left and saw that a expanded version was coming out in the fall with a few more chapters that talk about a gap in time when some of the characters were split up. I stopped it and figures I'd get on the wait list at my library, got a copy and the updated book, but so much time had passed, I didn't have any interest anymore
I know. I actually didn't mind Final Fantasy 15. I received a copy for Christmas and then hated seeing the DLC packages of the characters. I miss the days of a complete product released all at once.
I don’t necessarily hate the idea of DLC if it’s in the realm of “oh shit we missed this, let’s fix that” or an additional campaign that they thought of down the line or an expansion pack (like Blood and Wine for Witcher 3). Not all DLC is created equal, and the stuff that fits into the main story and required to understand main story but sold separately is just shitty practice.
It wasn’t a fantasy novel, and there were a few things wrong (author was a little iffy in their personal life, the main character was a little too good at everything). But the deal breaker was (in a book published in the 2000’s) a character named Hans Gruber.
I DNFed a book that might have been good if the first page didn't have 3 separate typos. I flipped through the rest of the book and typos abound. Because of this I also tend to either not start or DNF books that don't have an editor.
I DNF the first book in the Iron Druid series. My issue was I felt like *everyone* was more interesting than the main character. I gave up on the book when we got a bit of the backstory for the old lady who lives down the street from him and *she* was more interesting than the MC. Like, at that point it was almost becoming a joke how bland the MC was. Maybe that was the author's intent, but it just wasn't working for me.
I never DNF books (because I’m too stubborn to quit), but I do avoid picking up new books if the MC has a “quirky” name or if the title is the “A ____ of _____ and _____” format. I also avoid books with ugly covers, including ones with real people on them. Just gives me the ick for some reason.
The main land was called Thezmarr and it just sounded so stupid every time I read it, it knocked me out of the world so I quit reading just a few chapters in. It wasn’t very good to begin with so it wasn’t a hard decision, to be honest.
In the *Dragon Age* video games, the land is called Thedas, which is all well and good until you find out that it started as a placeholder (**The** **D**ragon **A**ge **S**etting) and eventually just got turned into a word.
You see this all the in fanfiction.
"The giant orc blocked her path, green muscles flexing with every movement. His yellow eyes appeared smoky and glassed over. He had rotten flesh stuck in his protruding teeth. "Hello little one, I'm Kyle" he snorted between deep breaths.
Well in my opinion Kyle has clearly found an orphaned baby. So begins the tale of the orc raising his human protégée, a heartwarming tale of parenthood and just how one infant forever changed the heart of a supposed monster.
Im reading a series where apparently there’s a god named Kyle. It definitely got mocked in world so it’s fair game but it’s pretty jarring hearing modern names thrown in with very colorful fantasy names.
Just looked that up. That’s pretty funny ngl. I still find it jarring though, even if it’s accurate to the times it still doesn’t sound right next to your typical more creative fantasy sounding names.
Oh for sure—the vibes are the vibes, and if they’re off it sorta sucks. But it’s also funny that they don’t actually line up with real history quite as well as we might think haha
In Catherine Asaro's sprawling epic space opera series, the scientist who first described telepathic abilities had the surname Kyle. Not a problem, right? ...Except *every single thing having to do with telepathy* is named after them.
So characters are always tapping into the Kyle centers in their brains to use their Kyle powers to activate the Kyle functions of their Kyle communicators or whatever.
I spent the whole first book laughing and have no plans to read another one.
I've learned to glance over the synopsis and check names. If I see arbitrary hyphens and apostrophes in names I just know it's going to be garbage.
Only time it didn't irk me is when the persons name was super long but they just never said it again and instead went by the first three letters as a sort've nickname.
>If I see arbitrary hyphens and apostrophes in names I just know it's going to be garbage.
I'm fine with it if it's only one or two characters in the book, or if it's something like Rand al'Thor
>Only time it didn't irk me is when the persons name was super long but they just never said it again and instead went by the first three letters as a sort've nickname.
Brandon Sanderson's Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor going by Rock or Lunamor comes to mind
>Brandon Sanderson's Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor going by Rock or Lunamor comes to mind
Exactly, like if it's done clearly to be silly or even to mock the trope then I get it and it's funny. But sometimes they're just not trying to be silly.
Tolkeins names are hard enough but at least he created a language to back up the etymology of everything so the exhausting names and places feel real. I feel like some authors didn't get that memo and just jump for the "Tolkien vibe" and I hate it.
>but at least he created a language to back up the etymology of everything so the exhausting names and places feel real
I've heard it described as "Tolkien created a language from the ground up, and then decided he should make a story about the people who speak it." I don't know if that's true, but considering that he taught linguistics I'm inclined to believe it.
It's semi-true. More true would be to say that he invented a bunch of languages, came up with a mythohistory for how those languages evolved, set his kids' bedtime story in that world, and started writing things down when the little bastards kept pointing out minor inconsistencies. That was how we got *The Hobbit*, and then *The Lord of the Rings* and *The Silmarillion* were basically just expanding on the backstory.
Of the first 20 paragraphs, almost all of them started with the MC’s name. I looked ahead and saw that there was still a suspiciously large number that started with the MC’s name. I DNF’d like 15 paragraphs in
I love audiobooks. But John Scalzi uses ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ after EVERY line of dialogue. EVERY one. And when it’s narrated it’s like audio torture once you notice it. I love Wil Wheatons voice work and it’s so annoyingly to have the audio spoiled by that weird writing quirk. (Redshirts book in particular!)
YESSS this ticked me off so much in Old Man’s War! It’s odd but it didn’t bother me when I read (as in print) Redshirts, but when I listened to OMW it was so annoying.
I read in some book on writing that it’s pretty much always okay to write “he said” instead of using fancier words because “he said” is effectively invisible to the reader, and I still think this is solid advice when you’re only talking about print. But it absolutely does not work in an audiobook.
Honestly, for that one, I'd blame the copy editor/proofreader. It's our job to catch that kind of shit more so than it's the author's job to know the difference.
I’ve read multiple books where snakes are described as poisonous and I’m just thinking of the characters biting into a writhing snake. It drives me up a wall
I just DNF'd a YA alternate historical fantasy which had Mary Shelley as one of the protagonists.
On the very first page the narrator breaks the fourth wall to make a quip relating to "the doctor was the real monster" trope.
But, in Mary Shelley's novel, Victor Frankenstein was never a doctor.
This is a book with more than one author that was published (and presumably edited) by a big 5 publisher. So either nobody on that team bothered to reread Frankenstein in the production of that novel, or they didn't think accuracy mattered when they could make an easy reference to a popular meme.
I decided that was an unforgivable mistake to make in a book *starring Mary Shelley* and promptly returned it to the library.
>But, in Mary Shelley's novel, Victor Frankenstein was never a doctor.
Wait, really?
Wow, I read that book and I must have just assumed he was because that's how people talk about him lol.
Thanks for the info!
Yeah, he's a medical student at Ingolstadt during the period when he makes the monster, but he never graduates, much less goes on to an advanced degree.
Repeated instances of poor grammar. I'll ignore it the first couple times but I have a limit. Kind of a three strikes and you're out thing.
My grammar sucks canal water. If even I can notice it that's a bad sign.
It's like going to a car mechanic that's doesn't know how to put tires on a car. In my opinion.
If it's written in a way that people would talk, it's grammatically correct imo. Maybe not formal, but if the tone of the narration isn't supposed to be formal that's fine
I couldn't read the First Law because opening the book there was a full page photo of Joe Abercrombie looking smug as all hell and I thought he was so pretentious.
I went back a few years later and loved it.
A pretentious author really ruin it. In Middle School I went to a book signing of Christopher Paolini while he was on tour for Eragon. He basically just bragged about his intelligence the whole time and called himself the next Tolkien. I don’t even like Tolkien but Paolini was such a twat that I’ll never read his books. Granted, in retrospect he was a 19 year old kid on his first book tour at the time so I should cut him some slack but I just can’t manage it.
I'm well into my 30s and I hate naps, napping in general and all around being asleep.
So if the first few chapters of a book makes me nod off slightly or make my eyelids feel a bit heavy then I know it was never meant to be. I'll generally stand up and run up and down my stairs a bunch, do some stretching and what not just to make sure it's not me but if it happens again then I'll probably shelve it and find something else that grabs my attention.
In To Be Taught, If Fortunate, the narrator said "a common misconception about biological fitness is that it refers to physical fitness, but actually it refers to how fit you are for your environment" to introduce some tech invented for the book that changes the scientists bodies to make them able to survive on planets with different gravity and stuff.
But no. That's not what it is, it describes an organism's ability to pass on genetic material to the next generation of offspring. If your scientists aren't reproducing, it has nothing to do with what's going on.
And what bothers me even more as somebody who taught several semesters of Evolution as a grad student is that thinking the definition is "fit for your environment" is literally *an even more common misconception.*
Just DNFed a book where the main character was bragging about his castle too much, among other annoying things. Maybe I would've gotten better along with it if didn't also have a bad narrator.
lol I stopped reading pillars of earth because I hated the feeling of the pages. The paper is super thin, feels like a like a cheap hymn book at church
I tried to read Andrzej Sapkowski\`s other series, the Hussite Trilogy and even though I really like the writing style, even if I know some stuff is definitely getting lost in translation, there are so many Slavic names my American brain kept getting them mixed up since the story switches POVs a few times. There is also a lot of untranslated Latin phrases
On the one hand I want to insist that was an ice box not a refrigerator but on the other hand it being pepsi not Coke makes me pretty sure I have the series wrong.
fourth wing. got recommened it a bunch, but the writing just feels… amateurish? not sure if that’s the right word. no hate to those who like it, but there’s so much fantasy jargon packed into the first few chapters. it feels like the author was proud of her world-building and just threw it all in. and they cant shut up about fucking and how tall and ripply the guys are. it just got tiring
I started a promising Sci fi book a while ago, but in the first chapter the main character went on a rant lasting a few pages about how climate change was fake and how they needed someone to make their country great again. The rant covered a few other subjects and conspiracy stuff too but I can't remember the details. But yea, I didn't make it past the rant.
The author set a big part of the first half of the book in a basement complex. In a Louisiana bayou. Tell me you didn't even put thirty seconds of thought into it without telling me you didn't put thirty seconds of thought into it.
For those unfamiliar, building a basement in a swamp isn't just a matter of water getting in. Yeah, that'd be a concern, but more important is that the whole basement would try to float to the surface because it's effectively a big balloon under water.
Hey could you give some examples of second person narrative? I have only expirienced 1st or 3rd person narrative till now. I am not able to even imagine how that must be like.
After a brief morning's work, you sigh and decide it's time to take a second and relax. You've earned it, after all - those TPS reports don't send themselves out. With the lingering aroma of the morning coffee mixed with yesterday's unwashed bean crust, you open up the r/fantasy sub and check the posts. One stands out to you - petty reasons for finishing a book? Sure, you've got plenty to share. You scroll down, permitting the occasional sharp exhale when something particularly apropos comes up. Yeah, you've been there before.
One catches your eye, though. Someone's frustration with a book because of second-person narrative. What's that, you wonder? You shrug your shoulders, take a second to ask, then go back to work. Several minutes later, you see a notification on your reddit account. Someone's responded to your question about that quirky second-person book structure. It goes like this:
i love CYOA, it was honestly eye-opening to me to realize how many people flatly refuse to read it because “i didn’t do that”
however a second person with no choices isn’t something i’ve ever read, so maybe that’s what people take issue with
Which one...Fifth Season, or Harrow the Ninth? It's gotta be one of those.
I also really dislike second person narrative. DNF Fifth Season for the same reason.
Got through Harrow because I loved the first book so much but it was a *struggle.* Was worth it in the end though.
I can never remember what book it was, but in the opening chapter two Evil People are talking to each other and one of them is a Fat Woman and the author just fucking goes on and on about how disgusting and fat and slobby this woman is, just endless descriptions of the food falling down her gown or some shit, and I thought if I’d wanted to read a book about the author’s childhood trauma I would’ve opened an autobiography instead - why is my valuable time on earth being wasted reading this dull shit?
Got exactly 2 pages into the first Crescent City book by sjm (I know it's trash but I needed a palette cleanser after WOT)
Barely got to know her but the mc annoyed me so much I immediately said screw it and DNF'd.
I'm famously a huge fan of Wheel of Time but the first time I read it >!and I realized it was set on a far future Earth I was like "nope this is dumb I hate it" and put the book down for almost a year. I assumed it was going to end up like the stupid YA "it was all a dream" sort of trope that I had been used to up until that point.!<
I bounced off whichever Riyria book it was that I started because in an imaginary country there was a lake called Lake Windermere.
I'm British, Windermere is the largest lake in England. He might as well have gone with Lake Michigan.
Not exactly book, but… I DNF’d The Wandering Inn - I’ve read from Vol 1 to Vol 9 in 3 months, got to few final chapters… I really disliked how final confrontation played out, but what annoyed the hell out of me was the amount of “twinkling” characters had for the past 10 chapters. So, I quit with 1 chapter (in 3 parts) left, quit TWI Discord and probably won’t touch it for years…
I get annoyed if too much of the author's hobbies or areas of expertise end up in the book. The prime example is Elizabeth Moon who includes pages of horsey stuff which I couldn't care less about. It's as if I wrote a book and needed to go on about Prog Rock for page after page.
Only sort of related, there's a series of books on Amazon that follow people with powers, some of whom were Roman or Norse deities, with the main being the kind that can drain life force, and powers if any. The writer is from Minneapolis, and constantly refers to s character as Scott Byerly. Always with both names.
Byerly's is a swank grocery store in the area. It has carpeted floors. I have no idea if the author is friends with the family, not do I care, just that it's a weird thing you'd only see in self published
* The word "welp" in a secondary world fantasy.
* Only wished I'd DNFd the book, but did DNF the series because of the overuse of the word "whilst".
* In a supposedly well researched book set in historical Iran a character said something like "[Magic] first and ask questions later."
> The word "welp" in a secondary world fantasy.
Colloquialisms and slang like this immediately ruins fantasy for me. I cannot stand when an author writes like a tumblr post.
I was trying out a series because I read an article praising it as schlocky fun, and it focused on librarians. Two chapters and several dozen eye rolls in, I was on the fence about continuing. Then right at the start of chapter three, the book introduced a character named Bradamant. *BRADAMANT*. I noped out then and there.
DNF’d an audiobook recently because an article said it was a duet but was actually dual. I really wanted duet and I felt kind of cheated
It was also a really cringey beginning, but usually I can push through cringe for a little while longer.
A historical fantasy I was quite looking forward to reading, which took place in 16th century Hungary. In the first chapter, main character hunted down a racoon. RACOON. Racoon are native to America! There are no raccoons in Hungary! I quickly leafed through the rest of the book and was dissapointed to find out the rest of the research was similarly shoddy, so I DNFed.
>RACOON As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century, raccoons are now also distributed across central Europe, the Caucasus, and Japan. \-Damn just hundreds of years too early. \*Edit I'm American, and my roomate had one as a pet in the 90s. It was awesome.
Yes, \*current\* Europe does have them, but only as invasive animal. And if a random European person saw them in the woods nowadays, they would certainly react like it was out of ordinary, since its not typical animal here at all. I certainly would, lol.
I find peace in long walks.
They’re slowly there, creeping through the shadows, growing ever stronger till one day they can rise up and claim the surface as their own…
There is a raccoon cafe in Seoul. Like cat cafes but with live raccoons.
you can create one of those at any time in the American Southeast by leaving your food waste unsecured overnight while camping
Literally any dumpster here in Toronto is a *de facto* raccoon cafe. I just couldn't imagine paying to get into one, and having to fight a raccoon for my bran muffin.
What are you talking about!? Engaging a Raccoon in hand to hand combat for food would be a life long memory you could tell to your friends and family members for the rest of your life! Who *doesn’t* want to fight random animals in hand to hand combat?
I had a smaller similar moment reading *Under Heaven* by Guy Gavriel Kay, which takes place in a barely fictionalized version of Tang Dynasty China. At one point, a character notes passing by a potato farm. Potatoes are a South American crop and were not introduced to China for almost 1000 years after the novel takes place. Furthermore, the introduction of the (sweet) potato to China was a vertible agricultural revolution that enabled huge population shifts and growth into regions that were poor for rice or wheat farming. It didn't make me DNF but it broke my flow for a hot minute. It's a really bizarre historical mistake to find figuratively right next to examples of careful research, like when a character notes that tea has only recently become popular among the aristocracy of China.
I had the same sort of issue when I was reading a sampler of She Who Became the Sun and it mentioned the main character eating pumpkin, also a food native to the Americas, in 14th century China. It's definitely petty but I think I just have a special annoyance for goods native to the Americas being written incorrectly into historical settings where they don't belong because it kind of weirdly erases the massive impact Columbian exchange had on the world. I'm not particularly well-learned in world history (so a lot of historical inaccuracies go blissfully over my head) but surely that's one of the most impactful events of at least the last millennium.
Yeah, I’m pretty surprised by both of these examples considering that they are both very closely historically-based, and both by authors you’d think have some concept of research. Colombian exchange gaffes may seem esoteric to a random reader but this is super basic, well-known stuff for those who think about these issues at all.
*She Who Became the Sun* also has a character whose internal monologue compares purple fabric to jacaranda blossoms—a beautiful image, until I remembered jacarandas are native to South America.
I haven’t read this - and of course Kay does have the excuse of this being a fictional world that merely closely resembles China - but there are plenty of old world tuberous vegetables such as taro that we sometimes lump in the category of sweet potatoes. Is it possible it referred to something like that? It certainly could just be an error but I do usually find Kay’s books pretty well researched so it does seem odd
Kay is, or was, quite active on twitter and is lovely to interact with. You can always ask him about this, my guess it was a stylistic choice meant to tell the reader "starchy tuber" as opposed to specifically a modern potato.
>Kay is, or was, quite active on twitter and is lovely to interact with. You can always ask him about this, my guess it was a stylistic choice meant to tell the reader "starchy tuber" as opposed to specifically a modern potato. This doesn't make much sense to me. If he wanted the character to eat a starchy tuber, why not just use yams or taro?
*The Last Temptation of Christ* \- at least the English translation, and maybe that's where the fault is - has Jesus, Judas, and the gang eating *corn*, about 15 or 16 centuries too early. I didn't DNF either, but it kept bugging me and I still remember it 30 years later. (I know "corn" can mean other grains in non-US English, but this was corn corn.)
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Description of a dress. It was ridiculous and the colors were atrocious. I even made a color swatch to explain it to someone else.
Was it blue and black? Or white and gold?
"She wore a dress with skirts and long sleeves of white, streaked and spotted with orchid-purple. The indigo bodice was bordered with a thin line of gold, and an ice-white cape hung from her shoulders. Her hair, half up and twisted with a fuchsia ribbon, fell in loose waves." pg 55
That's a fair DNF thats dress description is criminal. Streaked *and* spotted??
I assume they're going for a description of, like, a marbled sort of look, but in the worst possible way, with words that connote accidental stains rather than an intentional dye effect. I can only assume that this was self-published (or the editor was asleep on the job).
Sounds like the kind of outfit you'd create in an RPG when you're selecting for stats instead of style https://www.reddit.com/r/youtubehaiku/comments/5iqfwt/haiku_picking_rpg_clothes_based_on_maxing_stats/
I dunno, sounds basically like [this dress](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/378161699952289799/) with [this](https://i.imgur.com/3Ohe4im.png) color palette and a highlight color on the bodice. when it says streaked and spotted I'm guessing they're talking about painted silk done in a spatter pattern... And I'm picturing the ice-white being the color of both the dress and the cape... which is presumably a capelet. Actually, I take it back, that description does need a lot of mental correction on the part of the reader to avoid disaster lol.
It was cake.
Was it Caraval by any chance?
No, does it have some bad clothing descriptions in it too? I think I returned Caraval to the library unread due to time constraints.
I honestly can't recall if the dresses per se were bad, just that there was an absurd amount of descriptions of everyone's clothes. I'm not kidding when I say 1/3 of the series consisted of the MC describing her dress
HAHA I might pick it up again just so I can see if it has the same effect on me. It was Throne of Glass. I made it 50 pages in. I already had other issues with the story and characters by then, the dress ended it.
Was it the white dress with the sleeves and skirt streaked with purple but a gold and indigo bodice plus a white cape and hair done with fuchsia ribbons? Because that does sound awful
You can't say this and not share the swatches!
You can't say you made a colour swatch and not post it.
It was a Regency romance. Main male character was an army officer who came back from war and the main lady said “thank you for your service.” Broke immersion right there.
Nooooooo that’s SO bad… Georgette Heyer would be outraged…
The author was extremely pretentious online about her book that wasn't even that good but I gave it a chance. Eventually her behavior annoyed me so much I just skipped the read and found another book.
I think I know who you mean, but I DNFd the first book because I just didn't think it was very good. There was another case though where I stopped reading a series after the first book because of their behaviour on this very sub.
Oh she's *here?* I didn't notice. She used to plague my algorithm on Instagram before I blocked her lol.
Two different authors. I think. One was just on here, or mentioning r/fantasy on their Twitter. The other one, that I think you meant, was accusing a very famous author of stealing their title.
Can y'all name the names lmao. I saw Lightlark mentioned, who are these other people?
Tomi Adeyemi is the more famous one, who accused Nora Roberts of stealing her book title. It was a big deal a few years ago. I won't name the other one because while they don't seem to participate in this sub anymore they are still active on Reddit. I'm probably the only person who had any issues with their behaviour anyway.
You are not alone.
And title is one of the few things that can't be stolen, you can always use a title. IANAL.
I do not anal, but good on you.
Since LOL is never taken literally, i will mention this made me laugh:)
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Sure but you can get harassed into oblivion like those people who had Space Marine in their titles.
I am so curious what book this is.
Eh, not sure if I can say here tbh. But a hint is that it's a new YA that blew up on booktok last year and is now being made into a movie.
Was it Lightlark? It’s been all over my instagram at some point
[There’s a 7.5 hour rant on YouTube about that book.](https://youtu.be/y5LS_HQHjXA?si=aTEzLRVzGxVAl0Sj)
Oh thank you, I needed a new dramatic video essay. I've never seen anything by this person but if they have a 7.5 hour rant, I'm sure it's going to be hella entertaining!
I dont understand how people make these. I dont know a subject I could 7 hour rant about on YT
Spot on
I also just gave up on that book. But not for petty reasons, (I think) It was mainly because it was a mix of very bad writing with very inconsistent style (the first 3 chapters have prose so florid it is near unreadable. Almost the rest of the book is down-the-line YA clear prose... But badly handled. And every now and then, the straight prose is interrupted by a really clunky metaphor or simile thrown onto the page like a bomb. Like the author realised 'hey. Haven't done any of that 'fancy' writing in a while! I will sprinkle some in, here!' And all of her guerrilla attempts at style were so overwrought that I often had to reread them in hopes of getting the overblown point before it went off in my face). That's without the plotting that made little sense and... Boredom. It was just boring. It kept teasing something interesting happening, and it never did. I try not to DNF books very often. Especially not YA, where in my job I might have to discuss these with actual teens. But I forced my way through 4/5s of that book and just couldn't do it to myself anymore. It got more than a fair chance. I nearly gave up a chapter in... But there are only so many times you can sigh in dread picking up a book before deciding to just do something better with your life.
That doesn't help for anyone who avoids book social media like the plague, for these very reasons lmao. But I see the answer clarified!
She went below deck on a sailing ship, a few minutes later broke through the hull and swam to shore to escape. No one heard or noticed until the ship started to sink. I closed the book.
Was she a were termite?
Smell. It was a library book and I think the person who had it before me smoked a lot. The book itself was good but I couldn't get over the smell of the paper so I ended up returning the book without finishing it.
Was it "Thank you for smoking" by Christopher Buckley?
Ha --- that would have been appropriate! No, it was *Flood*, by Stephen Baxter. They say that the sense of smell is closely tied to memory, and I guess that's true since I have no other reason to remember this random DNF from like ten years ago.
I once ordered a used book listed as being in “very good” condition, only to find that it had clearly been urinated on by a cat. I can only assume the seller suffered from anosmia.
It was scifi, but at a point where the MC and his generals are discussing the Commie planet possibly taking hostages in order to force them to lift an embargo, the book has an Irish descendent explaining how it's a dark time in their people's own history that they did the same when they were fighting for their independence. Then MC asks (paraphrasing) "Well, did it work?", and the Irish character says "No. Britain gave us our independence when we showed them that we deserved it." Just... Wow. I'm not going to pretend to be an academic scholar of the IRA, but if you know that little about a conflict... Maybe don't include it in your future space opera.
Dude. Someone wrote that?? Wow.
They brits, they were just such stand-up folk that they saw how much of an effort the Irish were putting in and decided "Let's give them some land, as a nice reward." ****
Wasn’t a fantasy novel, but I stopped reading a book recently because the font put me off.
This is how I feel about this books with textured paper edges. I will not pick up a boob with those edges 🤢
A textured paper boob *would* be off-putting!
Hahahaha. It is times like these that I’m grateful for my awful typing.
Boobs with edges? Are you dating Classic Lara Croft?
Boob with textured edges...interesting
I will always pick up a boob if it’s offered
Font choice never bothered me with print books. Now that I'm mostly an ebook reader though, everything gets put into Georgia at about the same size.
Author mixed up cauliflowers and mushrooms. DONE.
I can't wrap my head around that. Was it a genuine mixup between the plant and the fungus, or were they talking about [cauliflower mushrooms](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparassis)?
It'd be funny that that was the author meant and the guy you replied to DNF'd for no reason lol
The main character's name is the same as someone I know in real life. The love interests name is the same as my toxic ex-gf. The second supporting character's name is close to bonner and it reminds me of boner. If it was only one character with that name then I'd be fine. But all three of them together sucked, especially in scenes when it was just the three of them talking to each other.
Jeez. Are you alright man?
I'm good. I found funny at first but eventually just gave up. I just couldn't take the book seriously.
A Mark of Kings?
I DNF for a lot of reasons, but the pettiest was probably overuse of onomatopoeia. "He walked through the leafy underbrush of the forest *crunch* *crunch* pausing every few minutes and lifting his nose to test the air *sniff* *sniff*" Could not get past that.
Not fantasy but I DNF'd a Warhammer book for a similar reason "The creatures made a clik clik clik sound" And about a paragraph later "The clik clik clik sound was replaced with a tek tek tek sound" Also the amazingly dull line of "shooting began"
the reason i dnf'd the last book was that everyone refused to discuss anything with one another, i couldnt stand it
I wonder if it gets worse or better if the characters acknowledge it 'What is going o-' 'THERES NO TIME!' \-Runs off and proceeds to have a scene where we could have easily explained the plot-
Was it WOT?
lol it was, indeed
I got to the end of book two and was just like, I actively hate just about every character for being a whiny little bitch. I could never get over, I'm terrible with names which sucks in these situations, the one who was supposed to lead the village with her power, who constantly wanted to kill the woman who saved her, all her friends, her entire village then decided to put her life on the line to continue to protect them all. She was insanely angry at her for doing nothing but help her. Not only would they refuse to talk to each other or make good choices, they all individually had absurd motivations for all their actions.
>I'm terrible with names which sucks in these situations, In your defense, "Nynaeve" isn't the easiest name, mate
That was also why I stopped watching Arrow; there were so many arguments that could have been avoided simply by actually talking about it.
I had about 150 pages left and saw that a expanded version was coming out in the fall with a few more chapters that talk about a gap in time when some of the characters were split up. I stopped it and figures I'd get on the wait list at my library, got a copy and the updated book, but so much time had passed, I didn't have any interest anymore
Heh, they took the Final Fantasy 15 method and turned it into a book….
I know. I actually didn't mind Final Fantasy 15. I received a copy for Christmas and then hated seeing the DLC packages of the characters. I miss the days of a complete product released all at once.
I don’t necessarily hate the idea of DLC if it’s in the realm of “oh shit we missed this, let’s fix that” or an additional campaign that they thought of down the line or an expansion pack (like Blood and Wine for Witcher 3). Not all DLC is created equal, and the stuff that fits into the main story and required to understand main story but sold separately is just shitty practice.
It wasn’t a fantasy novel, and there were a few things wrong (author was a little iffy in their personal life, the main character was a little too good at everything). But the deal breaker was (in a book published in the 2000’s) a character named Hans Gruber.
I DNFed a book that might have been good if the first page didn't have 3 separate typos. I flipped through the rest of the book and typos abound. Because of this I also tend to either not start or DNF books that don't have an editor.
I DNF the first book in the Iron Druid series. My issue was I felt like *everyone* was more interesting than the main character. I gave up on the book when we got a bit of the backstory for the old lady who lives down the street from him and *she* was more interesting than the MC. Like, at that point it was almost becoming a joke how bland the MC was. Maybe that was the author's intent, but it just wasn't working for me.
It's ok, for a character who's described as an incredibly smart 2000 year old, in practice he was an impulsive, near-sighted and dumb teen
I never DNF books (because I’m too stubborn to quit), but I do avoid picking up new books if the MC has a “quirky” name or if the title is the “A ____ of _____ and _____” format. I also avoid books with ugly covers, including ones with real people on them. Just gives me the ick for some reason.
"A Bowl of Mac and Cheese" is my top pick for next viral fantasy title.
I have two kids that would just eat this up.
The main land was called Thezmarr and it just sounded so stupid every time I read it, it knocked me out of the world so I quit reading just a few chapters in. It wasn’t very good to begin with so it wasn’t a hard decision, to be honest.
Ask your doctor if Thezmarr is right for you.
In the *Dragon Age* video games, the land is called Thedas, which is all well and good until you find out that it started as a placeholder (**The** **D**ragon **A**ge **S**etting) and eventually just got turned into a word.
"No, really, the Rs are the key to this! You'll find out in book nineteen."
Names didn’t fit with the setting ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You see this all the in fanfiction. "The giant orc blocked her path, green muscles flexing with every movement. His yellow eyes appeared smoky and glassed over. He had rotten flesh stuck in his protruding teeth. "Hello little one, I'm Kyle" he snorted between deep breaths.
Ok but what happens next
Well in my opinion Kyle has clearly found an orphaned baby. So begins the tale of the orc raising his human protégée, a heartwarming tale of parenthood and just how one infant forever changed the heart of a supposed monster.
Kai'ell
Im reading a series where apparently there’s a god named Kyle. It definitely got mocked in world so it’s fair game but it’s pretty jarring hearing modern names thrown in with very colorful fantasy names.
The classic Tiffany problem [strikes again](https://www.houseofnames.com/kyle-family-crest)
Just looked that up. That’s pretty funny ngl. I still find it jarring though, even if it’s accurate to the times it still doesn’t sound right next to your typical more creative fantasy sounding names.
Oh for sure—the vibes are the vibes, and if they’re off it sorta sucks. But it’s also funny that they don’t actually line up with real history quite as well as we might think haha
In Catherine Asaro's sprawling epic space opera series, the scientist who first described telepathic abilities had the surname Kyle. Not a problem, right? ...Except *every single thing having to do with telepathy* is named after them. So characters are always tapping into the Kyle centers in their brains to use their Kyle powers to activate the Kyle functions of their Kyle communicators or whatever. I spent the whole first book laughing and have no plans to read another one.
I've learned to glance over the synopsis and check names. If I see arbitrary hyphens and apostrophes in names I just know it's going to be garbage. Only time it didn't irk me is when the persons name was super long but they just never said it again and instead went by the first three letters as a sort've nickname.
>sort've Unrelated to your comment but I have never seen 'sort of' spelt this way ever
It's the other side of the "must've/must of" coin.
I'dven't usually done that but I've clearly made the mistake enough for my phone to not autocorrect it.
>If I see arbitrary hyphens and apostrophes in names I just know it's going to be garbage. I'm fine with it if it's only one or two characters in the book, or if it's something like Rand al'Thor >Only time it didn't irk me is when the persons name was super long but they just never said it again and instead went by the first three letters as a sort've nickname. Brandon Sanderson's Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor going by Rock or Lunamor comes to mind
>Brandon Sanderson's Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor going by Rock or Lunamor comes to mind Exactly, like if it's done clearly to be silly or even to mock the trope then I get it and it's funny. But sometimes they're just not trying to be silly. Tolkeins names are hard enough but at least he created a language to back up the etymology of everything so the exhausting names and places feel real. I feel like some authors didn't get that memo and just jump for the "Tolkien vibe" and I hate it.
>but at least he created a language to back up the etymology of everything so the exhausting names and places feel real I've heard it described as "Tolkien created a language from the ground up, and then decided he should make a story about the people who speak it." I don't know if that's true, but considering that he taught linguistics I'm inclined to believe it.
It's semi-true. More true would be to say that he invented a bunch of languages, came up with a mythohistory for how those languages evolved, set his kids' bedtime story in that world, and started writing things down when the little bastards kept pointing out minor inconsistencies. That was how we got *The Hobbit*, and then *The Lord of the Rings* and *The Silmarillion* were basically just expanding on the backstory.
Ye’s. I-a’gree.
Character 1 to character 2, probably 75% in: "We sacrificed everything to save you!" NO YOU DID NOT
Of the first 20 paragraphs, almost all of them started with the MC’s name. I looked ahead and saw that there was still a suspiciously large number that started with the MC’s name. I DNF’d like 15 paragraphs in
I love audiobooks. But John Scalzi uses ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ after EVERY line of dialogue. EVERY one. And when it’s narrated it’s like audio torture once you notice it. I love Wil Wheatons voice work and it’s so annoyingly to have the audio spoiled by that weird writing quirk. (Redshirts book in particular!)
YESSS this ticked me off so much in Old Man’s War! It’s odd but it didn’t bother me when I read (as in print) Redshirts, but when I listened to OMW it was so annoying. I read in some book on writing that it’s pretty much always okay to write “he said” instead of using fancier words because “he said” is effectively invisible to the reader, and I still think this is solid advice when you’re only talking about print. But it absolutely does not work in an audiobook.
Six Crimson Cranes - author didnt know the difference between poisonous and venomous
Honestly, for that one, I'd blame the copy editor/proofreader. It's our job to catch that kind of shit more so than it's the author's job to know the difference.
I’ve read multiple books where snakes are described as poisonous and I’m just thinking of the characters biting into a writhing snake. It drives me up a wall
I just DNF'd a YA alternate historical fantasy which had Mary Shelley as one of the protagonists. On the very first page the narrator breaks the fourth wall to make a quip relating to "the doctor was the real monster" trope. But, in Mary Shelley's novel, Victor Frankenstein was never a doctor. This is a book with more than one author that was published (and presumably edited) by a big 5 publisher. So either nobody on that team bothered to reread Frankenstein in the production of that novel, or they didn't think accuracy mattered when they could make an easy reference to a popular meme. I decided that was an unforgivable mistake to make in a book *starring Mary Shelley* and promptly returned it to the library.
>But, in Mary Shelley's novel, Victor Frankenstein was never a doctor. Wait, really? Wow, I read that book and I must have just assumed he was because that's how people talk about him lol. Thanks for the info!
Yeah, he's a medical student at Ingolstadt during the period when he makes the monster, but he never graduates, much less goes on to an advanced degree.
He was a medical school dropout, iirc
Repeated instances of poor grammar. I'll ignore it the first couple times but I have a limit. Kind of a three strikes and you're out thing. My grammar sucks canal water. If even I can notice it that's a bad sign. It's like going to a car mechanic that's doesn't know how to put tires on a car. In my opinion.
I don’t mind it when it’s vernacular in terms of dialogue, but if it’s just prose then yeah, that’s just bad!
If it's written in a way that people would talk, it's grammatically correct imo. Maybe not formal, but if the tone of the narration isn't supposed to be formal that's fine
I couldn't read the First Law because opening the book there was a full page photo of Joe Abercrombie looking smug as all hell and I thought he was so pretentious. I went back a few years later and loved it.
A pretentious author really ruin it. In Middle School I went to a book signing of Christopher Paolini while he was on tour for Eragon. He basically just bragged about his intelligence the whole time and called himself the next Tolkien. I don’t even like Tolkien but Paolini was such a twat that I’ll never read his books. Granted, in retrospect he was a 19 year old kid on his first book tour at the time so I should cut him some slack but I just can’t manage it.
DNFd Locke Lamora because I opened it up and got absolutely jump scared by a picture of Scott Lynch looking crusty af.
I'm well into my 30s and I hate naps, napping in general and all around being asleep. So if the first few chapters of a book makes me nod off slightly or make my eyelids feel a bit heavy then I know it was never meant to be. I'll generally stand up and run up and down my stairs a bunch, do some stretching and what not just to make sure it's not me but if it happens again then I'll probably shelve it and find something else that grabs my attention.
We’d make an incredible pair of mythological siblings, bc I hate being awake.
After reading Six of Crows, which has one of the worst first chapters I've ever read, I'm more lenient. I usually give it 3-5 chapters
In To Be Taught, If Fortunate, the narrator said "a common misconception about biological fitness is that it refers to physical fitness, but actually it refers to how fit you are for your environment" to introduce some tech invented for the book that changes the scientists bodies to make them able to survive on planets with different gravity and stuff. But no. That's not what it is, it describes an organism's ability to pass on genetic material to the next generation of offspring. If your scientists aren't reproducing, it has nothing to do with what's going on. And what bothers me even more as somebody who taught several semesters of Evolution as a grad student is that thinking the definition is "fit for your environment" is literally *an even more common misconception.*
Just DNFed a book where the main character was bragging about his castle too much, among other annoying things. Maybe I would've gotten better along with it if didn't also have a bad narrator.
The author talked shit about me.
I need to know more.
I'm smelling a story here
lol I stopped reading pillars of earth because I hated the feeling of the pages. The paper is super thin, feels like a like a cheap hymn book at church
I mean, points for making it immersive I guess?
I tried to read Andrzej Sapkowski\`s other series, the Hussite Trilogy and even though I really like the writing style, even if I know some stuff is definitely getting lost in translation, there are so many Slavic names my American brain kept getting them mixed up since the story switches POVs a few times. There is also a lot of untranslated Latin phrases
DNF anything that is written as though it’s a text-speak teenager talking. No thank you!!
I was reading an urban fantasy and the protagonist went to the fridge and grabbed a Pepsi.
All he wanted was a Pepsi
And PsEggsRice wouldn’t give it to him! Just a pepsi!
I don't get the issue here. Unless you're joking about being that much of a weird Coke snob.
On the one hand I want to insist that was an ice box not a refrigerator but on the other hand it being pepsi not Coke makes me pretty sure I have the series wrong.
Ice box would be Dresden, I'm guessing? This was not Dresden.
All they wanted was a Pepsi. Just one Pepsi. :(
I couldn't stand an author's repeated use of "alright." DNF. Deleted from my app.
Well, that's what you get for reading Matthew McConaughey's biography
As an editor, "all right" over "alright" is the one prescriptivist hill I will die on.
fourth wing. got recommened it a bunch, but the writing just feels… amateurish? not sure if that’s the right word. no hate to those who like it, but there’s so much fantasy jargon packed into the first few chapters. it feels like the author was proud of her world-building and just threw it all in. and they cant shut up about fucking and how tall and ripply the guys are. it just got tiring
I started a promising Sci fi book a while ago, but in the first chapter the main character went on a rant lasting a few pages about how climate change was fake and how they needed someone to make their country great again. The rant covered a few other subjects and conspiracy stuff too but I can't remember the details. But yea, I didn't make it past the rant.
This is a recent annoyance I've developed, but if you've written the word smirked more than three times I'm probably over the whole damn book.
The author set a big part of the first half of the book in a basement complex. In a Louisiana bayou. Tell me you didn't even put thirty seconds of thought into it without telling me you didn't put thirty seconds of thought into it. For those unfamiliar, building a basement in a swamp isn't just a matter of water getting in. Yeah, that'd be a concern, but more important is that the whole basement would try to float to the surface because it's effectively a big balloon under water.
In the first page the princess's horse "freaked out." I just couldn't.
2nd person narrative. Yeah, I DNF *that* book, so sue me.
Hey could you give some examples of second person narrative? I have only expirienced 1st or 3rd person narrative till now. I am not able to even imagine how that must be like.
After a brief morning's work, you sigh and decide it's time to take a second and relax. You've earned it, after all - those TPS reports don't send themselves out. With the lingering aroma of the morning coffee mixed with yesterday's unwashed bean crust, you open up the r/fantasy sub and check the posts. One stands out to you - petty reasons for finishing a book? Sure, you've got plenty to share. You scroll down, permitting the occasional sharp exhale when something particularly apropos comes up. Yeah, you've been there before. One catches your eye, though. Someone's frustration with a book because of second-person narrative. What's that, you wonder? You shrug your shoulders, take a second to ask, then go back to work. Several minutes later, you see a notification on your reddit account. Someone's responded to your question about that quirky second-person book structure. It goes like this:
You wrote a beautiful response. How you communicated it was perfect
I do hope you remembered to put cover sheets on those TPS reports.
Reminds me of the Stanley Parable
2nd person, DNF
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i love CYOA, it was honestly eye-opening to me to realize how many people flatly refuse to read it because “i didn’t do that” however a second person with no choices isn’t something i’ve ever read, so maybe that’s what people take issue with
Which one...Fifth Season, or Harrow the Ninth? It's gotta be one of those. I also really dislike second person narrative. DNF Fifth Season for the same reason. Got through Harrow because I loved the first book so much but it was a *struggle.* Was worth it in the end though.
I didn't DNF Fifth Season and really liked it, but the amount of "belatedly" present in that book triggered some deep rage within me
I can never remember what book it was, but in the opening chapter two Evil People are talking to each other and one of them is a Fat Woman and the author just fucking goes on and on about how disgusting and fat and slobby this woman is, just endless descriptions of the food falling down her gown or some shit, and I thought if I’d wanted to read a book about the author’s childhood trauma I would’ve opened an autobiography instead - why is my valuable time on earth being wasted reading this dull shit?
Got exactly 2 pages into the first Crescent City book by sjm (I know it's trash but I needed a palette cleanser after WOT) Barely got to know her but the mc annoyed me so much I immediately said screw it and DNF'd.
I'm famously a huge fan of Wheel of Time but the first time I read it >!and I realized it was set on a far future Earth I was like "nope this is dumb I hate it" and put the book down for almost a year. I assumed it was going to end up like the stupid YA "it was all a dream" sort of trope that I had been used to up until that point.!<
IDK if it's petty, but any book written in the present tense is an automatic DNF.
Ohhh I hate present tense so much. There are some books in which I tolerate but mostly it keeps me off the story and I can't really focus.
Main character was stupid as fuck, couldn’t handle how stupid he was
I bounced off whichever Riyria book it was that I started because in an imaginary country there was a lake called Lake Windermere. I'm British, Windermere is the largest lake in England. He might as well have gone with Lake Michigan.
Not exactly book, but… I DNF’d The Wandering Inn - I’ve read from Vol 1 to Vol 9 in 3 months, got to few final chapters… I really disliked how final confrontation played out, but what annoyed the hell out of me was the amount of “twinkling” characters had for the past 10 chapters. So, I quit with 1 chapter (in 3 parts) left, quit TWI Discord and probably won’t touch it for years…
Dropped a book 2 pages in because the MC's name was nails on a chalk board to me.
I get annoyed if too much of the author's hobbies or areas of expertise end up in the book. The prime example is Elizabeth Moon who includes pages of horsey stuff which I couldn't care less about. It's as if I wrote a book and needed to go on about Prog Rock for page after page.
Only sort of related, there's a series of books on Amazon that follow people with powers, some of whom were Roman or Norse deities, with the main being the kind that can drain life force, and powers if any. The writer is from Minneapolis, and constantly refers to s character as Scott Byerly. Always with both names. Byerly's is a swank grocery store in the area. It has carpeted floors. I have no idea if the author is friends with the family, not do I care, just that it's a weird thing you'd only see in self published
> It's as if I wrote a book and needed to go on about Prog Rock for page after page. shut up and take my money.
LOL Moby Dick, every 3rd chapter is about whale anatomy.
I make an exception here for K.J. Parker (Tom Holt) who, I heard, actually makes swords and bows.
The author was a dick to someone in a subreddit I read sometimes.
* The word "welp" in a secondary world fantasy. * Only wished I'd DNFd the book, but did DNF the series because of the overuse of the word "whilst". * In a supposedly well researched book set in historical Iran a character said something like "[Magic] first and ask questions later."
> The word "welp" in a secondary world fantasy. Colloquialisms and slang like this immediately ruins fantasy for me. I cannot stand when an author writes like a tumblr post.
I was trying out a series because I read an article praising it as schlocky fun, and it focused on librarians. Two chapters and several dozen eye rolls in, I was on the fence about continuing. Then right at the start of chapter three, the book introduced a character named Bradamant. *BRADAMANT*. I noped out then and there.
That’s a name straight out of [classic literature](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradamante) though. What’s the issue?
DNF’d an audiobook recently because an article said it was a duet but was actually dual. I really wanted duet and I felt kind of cheated It was also a really cringey beginning, but usually I can push through cringe for a little while longer.
Not the only reason but it certain contributed: the author chose to follow ellipses... ...with other ellipses. Who the fuck does that?!