16 Underrated Books That Deserve Your Attention

I keep thinking about this subject and was thinking about classics that people seem to not read much or think are not as good as the more well-known ones...like Martin Chuzzlewit and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, and Twenty Years After by Alexander Dumas. Why is it that you can usually find George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin easily but not The Princess and Curdie? And there are a lot of plays that Shakespeare wrote that no one seems all that interested in reading, teaching, or performing. ROFL I am definitely not saying that The Merry Wives of Windsor is underrated, just musing.

AgCl wrote: "i wonder IF they'd ever make a list on the most overrated books?"

they definitely should.

Knjigoholičarka wrote: ""The Master and Margarita" underrated? Seriously?"

I agree with you. It's an amazing CLASSIC.

Glad to see The Shepherd's Life made it on this list! It's really beautifully written and gives a fascinating insight into an often misunderstood region and culture in England.

Karl wrote: "Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve - wonderful series, does not yet have the traction it should with the general public. Eventually they'll get around to making a film of i..."

Ohhh I have this series on my TBR. Glad to know that it's good. =)

Why is the cover picture to this link from the movie tangled?

I have not only not read any of these books but I have also not heard of them before now. A few sound promising though...

I'm just going to assume these books are all by white people and this DO NOT need to be read when there are SERIOUSLY more books that are grossly underrated. Especially since most look like they were written by white dudes.

Maverynthia wrote: "I'm just going to assume these books are all by white people and this DO NOT need to be read when there are SERIOUSLY more books that are grossly underrated. Especially since most look like they we..."

At least one of them isn't actually a white dude though.

Jason wrote: "I think underrated means not rated as high as they should be. So if you think Master and Margarita is the best Russian novel it is underrated. It rarely gets the love of a novel by Dostoyevsky, Che..."

How can you set limits for "not as high as they should be"? That's what the rating system on GR is all about. The more people read it and rate it, the more the rating reflects an "average" reader opinion. Which is why asking on FB counts for nothing. The result is not about numbers in GR ratings - it's about the subjective opinioin of people, some of which have never set their mouse into GR, let alone rated anything.

OTOH, Bulgakov does not compare to Dostoyevsky. Also, the latter is a regular book in every educational branch of school you can think of (Europe), while Bulgakov is definitely not.

Maverynthia wrote: "I'm just going to assume these books are all by white people and this DO NOT need to be read when there are SERIOUSLY more books that are grossly underrated. Especially since most look like they we..."

Haha. Books written by white dudes are less worthy to be read? Since when skin color determines how good an author it? I don't remember having to use my skin to write anything in my life. That's racism. How do you know that they DO NOT need to be read since you obviously haven't read them? Seriously, you should ask yourself some questions. ;)

Iris wrote: "I have not only not read any of these books but I have also not heard of them before now. A few sound promising though..."

Probably that's why the author of this thread said that they were underrated. Nobody has really heard of them, but some of them are really good. Haven't read them all so I cannot say all of them. ;)

My favorite underrated book is, sadly, not on this list. It is actually a series, which I discovered (*gasp*) through the endlessly irritating ads on my kindle when it is in sleep mode. It is Sarah Woodbury's Gareth and Gwen Mysteries, and I love them so! But I hardly ever hear about them, and I wish that they were more popular.

Add A Rage in Harlem and Jam on the Vine to this list.

Ashley *Hufflepuff Kitten* wrote: "Moloka'i was a phenomenal book!"

It sounds like a similar book I read, The Pearl Diver by Jeff Talarigo.

The Pillars of Reality series by Jack Campbell, Super Powereds by Drew Hayes, and Toby Streams the Universe by Maya Lassiter, are all excellent and underrated.

In all honesty, the only book on this list I would WANT to read is "Master and Margarita" and I read that one over 20 years ago.

"Child 44" " The Secret Speech" and " Agent6" all by Tom Robb Smith. Frightening and based on true occurrences!

Susiem wrote: "AgCl wrote: "i wonder IF they'd ever make a list on the most overrated books?"

yup overrated...Go Set a Watchman and The Casual Vacancy. Had they been written by another author never should be men..."

as far as "Go set a Watchman", I agree to overrated

Bloodorange wrote: "Knjigoholičarka wrote: ""The Master and Margarita" underrated? Seriously?"

My sentiments precisely. Maybe the list should be titled "books without Hollywood movie adaptations"? Whoever wrote it is..."

It does state: Last week we asked on Facebook and Twitter: What's an underrated book you think everyone should read? Check out the top answers below!
So, it's more of a poll than anything else.

The King of Attolia is really good

Vasoula wrote: "GEORGETTE HEYER! Her books have many flaws but are exquisitely funny! How rare is this!"

She is a genius.

Michael J. Sullivan is awesome. He is my newest favorite author. Too bad graduate school does not afford me that time to have devour his books.

Not sure what definition of "underrated" this list embodies, but some of my favourite books that nobody I mention them to seems to know about are Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde and Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle, starting with The Raven Boys.

Never interesting on these books... I should try at least one

I haven't read most of these, but YES, the Riyria Revelations series (Theft of Swords) by Michael J. Sullivan was amazing. Fantasy fans, take note!

Sierra wrote: "An underrated series to me is the Twilight saga.Its a series that you can't stop reading and watching.Its like romance,history,and action all at the same time.It is incrediblely addictive,so watch ..."

If you ask me they are OVERRATED.

The Heaven Tree Trilogy by Edith Pargeter is one (or three?) of my all-time favorites, combining love, hate, revenge, and architecture against the background of medieval Wales.

Linda wrote: "The Heaven Tree Trilogy by Edith Pargeter is one (or three?) of my all-time favorites, combining love, hate, revenge, and architecture against the background of medieval Wales."
I loved those books too! I think they've been overshadowed by Pillars of the Earth or something.

The Ashes Trilogy by Ilsa J. Bick is super underrated. It is one of my most favorite series and I am getting my friends into it as well! I go onto Pinterest a lot and everytime I see a pin about books I may like because I love certain series, it never mentions Ashes!

However! With our favorite books being underrated, we can keep their beautiful worlds to ourselves, no one can pull their words apart into weird controversies and completely turn it into an overrated young adult fandom.

I haven't heard of any of those books!

I would recommend The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jiménez and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon.

Naiera lotfi wrote: "I am pilgrim, discredited the whole list for me."

THANK YOU... I agree completely. I saw that on the list and was like forget this!

I have 3 recs: A Stillness of Chimes - Meg Moseley
Breakwater Bay - Shelley Noble
and Save My Place - Olivia Byrd

Under-rated but beautiful. =)

I Am Pilgrim is underrated because it's just an OK book.

Tabi wrote: "Hard to understand why anything by V.E. Schwab is underrated . . ."
I know right

The sea of tranquility is amazing!

Vicious is the only one on my to read list.

Tabi wrote: "Hard to understand why anything by V.E. Schwab is underrated . . ."

Exactly.

I would say Watership DownWatership Down is an underrated book.

James wrote: "I would say Watership DownWatership Down is an underrated book."

Very true. It's utterly terrifying though.

So a book with a rating 4,24 is underrated. I must got the definition wrong then... oh well.

Jose wrote: "Amber wrote: "The Caves of Steel by Asimov."

Underrated? That book it's awesome!"

its incredibly OK

Nicole wrote: "Does no one else see the irony in selecting the books with the MOST votes for a list of books that get the least votes? I guess "asking on facebook and twitter" is what people do now instead of even cursory research.

You can find the world of ACTUALLY underrated books on sites like this one:
http://neglectedbooks.com/

or even on other parts of this very site, where lists are maintained for books with low numbers of ratings and a group is dedicated to unearthing buried treasure."

I do.

In the Company of Killers series by J.A. Redmerski. More people should read these books, they are amazing

How is Viscious underrated? Almost 50% of its nearly 17k ratings are 5 stars! IMO it's way overrated, because it barely scraped 3 stars for me.

Brianna wrote: "AgCl wrote: "i wonder IF they'd ever make a list on the most overrated books?"

they definitely should."

Why "they"?
Who is they, why not you (or me, I could add two read books and all DNF'ed books to that list) ?
This is Goodreads it lives from our contributions.

So, just to start with two obvious books:
Gone Girl
Two stars, my review
and
The Martian
Although I gave three stars, one star is for a good idea (for a debut?). Language is dumbed down for non-technical people and filled with swear words, which do not function for me in this story and bore me - my review.

Just for a starter to build a list.

AgCl wrote: "i wonder IF they'd ever make a list on the most overrated books?"

I would be interested to see which ones make it.... i would vote for 50 shades

Started for y'all, feel free to add as you like:
Overhyped books published 2010 and after.

Actually after starting it, I have a hard time adding more books, as I think you should only add books you have at least started and most I did not like, I bought not because they where hyped (like Abandon which I bought because I like her 1-800-series and one other series and this sounded ok) .

Ingo wrote: "Brianna wrote: "AgCl wrote: "i wonder IF they'd ever make a list on the most overrated books?"

they definitely should."

Why "they"?
Who is they, why not you (or me, I could add two read books an..."


because it would never be posted and advertised like this, i don't "they" would ever though, but yes we could always post on the discussions though.

I don't understand how they came up with this list. Honestly!!! I read Revolution and loved it!!! And I have several others on my tbr list...they are just buried, and I haven't gotten ti them yet!!