Young Adult Book Reading Challenges discussion
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Worst YA books
Helen,Try more Women of the Otherworld. Please?Bittenwas her very first book. You read it in the right order chronologically, but you gave up when she was just learning how to write. The next book in the series is also about Elena & Clay. She gets better, really! What you read first by her is some of her most recent stuff.
If you're looking for other authors who write adult urban fantasy that's very different try Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, andTerry Windling.
I would have to say Twilight was pretty horrible. I mean I probably would have actually thought it was okay if there wasn't so much hype about it. I mean that period when everyone was so ridiculously in love with Twilight was nightmarish. It bothered me that Twilight was getting SO much attention when there are so many better books out there. In short: Twilight is WAY overrated.
Seeker wrote: "I would have to say Twilight was pretty horrible. I mean I probably would have actually thought it was okay if there wasn't so much hype about it. I mean that period when everyone was so ridiculous..."
i agree! :)
i agree! :)
Look for me by Moonlght
took it a little too far into the whole fantasy genre. I mentioned before Once Was Lost
I have to say, this was the worst book I have ever, ever read. It was so short, yet the plot was so bad that I just wanted to tear out all the pages and toss them out the window like confetti. Um, what else was bad? Oh yes, Hush, Hush
. It really did seem like a rip off of Twilight - Girl meets boy, girl is atracted to boy though she knows he is dangerous, girl fnds out boys secret, she isn't allowed to know, people are trying to kill her. Please! But anyways, I will read Crescendo just because I stll have a little sliver of hope left for the series, and I don't want to give up on it just yet. Plus, I really think I will regret it if I don't finish the series.Another book I wanted to toss in the trash was Fairest
. It was seriously lackng in the excitment devsion. I didn't even finish it, it was so bad.Okay, well, thats all my ranting for now!
Chloe :)
PS I just thought of another one - Extras
. I loved the first three, but this one didn't relate to the series at all!
Chloe wrote: "Look for me by Moonlght took it a little too far into the whole fantasy genre. I mentioned before Once Was Lost I have ..."I personally loved Extras! I saw the connection to Uglies, Prettiest and Specials as showing us the way Tally's choices affected the world overall and just how much things had changed. Although that's just how I saw it and I do admit it just isn't the same as the other books in the trilogy.
The most recent really bad YA books that I've read and can think of right now are:
Hush, Hush it was just a sham, a complete copycat of Twilight. Also Chosen the House of night's book 3 and onwards were just BAD, it became a complete an utter mess of what could have been such a good series. Lastly, Blue Moon and Shadowland sucked, the lead character suddenly turned into a complete dumbass.
Hush, Hush it was just a sham, a complete copycat of Twilight. Also Chosen the House of night's book 3 and onwards were just BAD, it became a complete an utter mess of what could have been such a good series. Lastly, Blue Moon and Shadowland sucked, the lead character suddenly turned into a complete dumbass.
I also don't like The Luxe and Sarah Dressen books. The Luxe is pretty boring and the writer keeps telling us everything they do. It feel like the characters are like cardboard cut-outs with no feelings at all. But I'm on a mission to finish the book! also I just don't like SD books their not my type books.
The worst YA Books? Well I would say that i really don't think YA books that i have read were bad, But one that i really did Like was BEAUTFUL CREATURES. I really did like the book because the guy telling the story(Cant remember his name.) said the story more like a girl than a boy, we really didnt get inside a boy so that would be the only thing that i reallly didnt like about the book. And at times the book draged. Another book that i didnt like was A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY it really didnt have much to say and i just didnt like it. i forced my self to read it and at times it was good. overall all the books that i have read were not bad i just didnt like them much
I really didn’t care for the Twilight books at all. I barely made it through book two, but for some insane reason I insisted that I finish the series just to see how things ended. Overall the entire series was a disappointment to me. I also had issues with “Thirteen Reasons Why.” I just didn’t think that the things that happened to Hannah were a drastic enough reason to commit suicide. I’m not saying that there’s ever an acceptable reason to commit suicide, but the actions of the other teens in the book towards Hannah didn’t seem to be much different than what many teenagers experience while in high school. I really couldn’t imagine someone committing suicide for the reasons she did. Just my humble opinion.
Amy wrote: Twilight was the one that started the entire paranormal craze in the first place. That cannot be true, and yet I can't think of any books off the top of my head. I think the paranormal and vampire books have been targeted at this age since the beginning. We have Earthsea and Lord of the Rings in the Teen room at my library. Then, there are the series that came from television like BVS and Charmed. Granted, I haven't read those, but I just cannot believe that the bound trash that is Twilight started the ball rolling for really wonderful YA Lit. Somebody back me up, please?
Harry Potter came before Twilight. Before that there was Anne Rice's vampire and witch serieses. And Stephen King. V.C. Andrews. Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, Terri Windling and Mercedes Lackey started the whole urban fantasy genre in the early - mid '80s.
I don't think I could nail any specific book's head to wall. In all honesty I can always find something wrong with a book I'm reading, or so to speak something I just don't care for.Ha ha, as for this battle of the Twilight lovers and haters, I don't think it's a bad book. You have to understand it's for teenage girls and it just so happened to spread to the hearts of soccer moms and grannys. (For older women who might've just read that, DON'T get your panties in a wad and take that personally. It's just my opinion). Teenagers don't really read all that much now-a-days, this excluding the lovely people on here, so the fact that all these teens like Twilight is probably because it is such an easy read. But of course, to people like us who read often, we know how complex a good book is or how well written books can lure you in.
As for this: Amy wrote: Twilight was the one that started the entire paranormal craze in the first place.
I think it's safe to say Anne Rice was one of the many great authors who made vampires a sexy and captivating character to read about way before Ms. Meyer! WHOOP WHOOP! <3 ;)
I don't think it was Twilight that started the paranormal craze. Twilight was probably the book that started a lot of people reading again. While geared to teens, the reason it was a hit with the soccer moms was that it offered an escape that you don't get when you are carting kids around from place to place. For me, (and I only can speak for myself) it got me back to my love of reading. And then the worlds of other authors opened up to me. Ilona Andrews, Kim Harrison, Karen Moning, Kelley Armstrong, Jeaniene Frost, JR Ward, Chloe Neill, Gail Carriger- I discovered these authors and more -- So, thank you Twilight for getting me reading again.
Good point AH. Twilight did for some readers what Harry Potter did a few years back. It's a shame Twilight wasn't nearly the quality of HP. ITA that reading is important no matter what it is. I advocate it to the moms who come in and insist their reluctant readers read "real" books. The children would be happy to read Hannah Montana or Hot Rod books. I say, "Let them read." I invoke Field of Dreams, if they are interested in a certain topic, let them read it! They will begin to enjoy the world of books. That is all we can ask.
Books, like everything else in mainstream culture, has trends that fade and then come back later in a circle pattern. Over time, you can trace the trends of fantasy/supernatural through the years just like every other genre.
Many times, it is how we (the readers) are preceiving our culture around us at the time that determines the trend we seem to favor. When things get really bad (ie...economy stinks, fears of war, uncertain future, ect.) we tend to want to read and see movies that are more escapism than our own reality. That is partly why you see the trend with vampires and supernatural forces right now being so hot. We want to escape from our own problems and enter a world that is so far-reached from our own but yet still recognizable with the assurance that it could never truly happen to us. Yes, word of mouth and good writing also are important but the overlying aspect of our culture is WHY we seem to relate to the book (or series) to begin with.
I predict that soon this trend of supernatural will too start to fade and another one will slowly start to take it's place....maybe this year, maybe in the next. (In my opinion, I feel that we will start to see more books written with a spy or average human crime solver along the lines of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. You know the type....girl works for good but has a dark side....) But for all you fans of supernatural and fantasy, don't worry.....it will soon be all the rage once again in the future.
Many times, it is how we (the readers) are preceiving our culture around us at the time that determines the trend we seem to favor. When things get really bad (ie...economy stinks, fears of war, uncertain future, ect.) we tend to want to read and see movies that are more escapism than our own reality. That is partly why you see the trend with vampires and supernatural forces right now being so hot. We want to escape from our own problems and enter a world that is so far-reached from our own but yet still recognizable with the assurance that it could never truly happen to us. Yes, word of mouth and good writing also are important but the overlying aspect of our culture is WHY we seem to relate to the book (or series) to begin with.
I predict that soon this trend of supernatural will too start to fade and another one will slowly start to take it's place....maybe this year, maybe in the next. (In my opinion, I feel that we will start to see more books written with a spy or average human crime solver along the lines of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. You know the type....girl works for good but has a dark side....) But for all you fans of supernatural and fantasy, don't worry.....it will soon be all the rage once again in the future.
AH wrote: "...Twilight was probably the book that started a lot of people reading again..."In my opinion, Twilight could make a lot of people stop reading. The problem is not that it's a book about vampires and werewolves but that it's so poorly written.
I know enough to realize that there are thousands of well-written books worth reading. On the other hand, if I didn't read regularly and I thought Twilight was the best that was available because of all the hype around it, I doubt I would bother with many other books after reading it.
The worst YA series for me would be...House of Night. It was just, well, the language. And not only that - everything else just keeps getting weirder. And also, Zoey is nothing interesting. Choose a guy already. And why are they fighting over her?The worst stand alone. Huh. I'll have to think about that one.
Katie wrote: "Evermore the first book from the immortal series was just so horrible, load of words just thrown together. It was the possibly the worst book I'd ever read."
I very very very much agree!!! My major problem with "Evermore" was all the product placement. I think she "paid" her way into having this book published. Im ok with some product placement when they make sense to the story. But all the products mentioned in this book had no real relevance to the story. It was aweful. And then second one I will admit was better but not much. So I stopped there.
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr. This is the worst book I have ever read! I actually really enjoyed The Forest of Hands and Teeth!
I have to say one series I have stopped reading was The Uglies Trilogy. I think I was expecting something phenomenal like I experienced with the Hunger Games, but it wasn't there. It took too long for me to get into.As far as the Twilight series there were pieces I enjoyed, but my favorite thing about this series is how many of my reluctant readers picked it up and read it. It opened their eyes to a world outside of theirs, and I saw many of them start to look for other series they can enjoy. :)
Wow. I love this discussion thread. I hate giving a negative review, and I always feel bad. I mean the author tried. But it's a nice reminder that there are others out there with strong opinions too and not necessarily in agreement with mine (which is awesome). But opinions can all be right nonetheless.
Infinite Playlist wrote: "@Jillian: I see, thanks for explaining, I just thought you kind of hated it as you mentioned it in the "Worst YA books" topic. I accept your opinion but I totally can't understand it because I love..."I just finished this book last week, and I have to say that I loved it. I smiled the entire time i was reading!
I hated the Vampire Diaries. I really could not get in the them, even though I really wanted to.
The worst YA books I've EVER read were The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard and Disenchanted Princess by Julie Linker :P both had absolutely NO moral backbone or any sense of accountability. And WAY too much cursing.
Hated it. "I am number 4" was such a disappointment.
I thought The Maze Runner had so much unrealized potential. I'd love to see that author grow because the plot and concept were awesome, but the writing had so much "telling" that I was frequently ripped out of the story.
So I was wondering if anyone else has read the first Maximum Ride book? I started it and I only read a few pages but the writing syle is killing me! I was wondering if the book is worth the read?
BlackDagger Brotherhood....... ugh. could.not.get.into.it! That simple.
Amanda,The Maximum Ride books weren't for me, either.
Here's two I hated I am Scout and Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee both are by Charles J. Shields. Harper Lee hasn't given an interview since 1964. So what does this slimeball masquerading as a biographer do? Write to every school mate, at every level, many of whom are not and never were friends and repeat their gossip. Repeat the worst and most hateful things her "friends" ever said about her.
Oh! He also publishes her address!
Jerk!
(Yeah, I feel a little strongly on the subject...)
I would have to say the worst YA book for me is. Vampire diaries. The plots are stupid and predictable, and the meeting of the human and vampire is cheese. Well everything about the book is cheese.
A book that was disapointing for me was The Secret Life of Prince Charming. It is the only book I've gotten more than one chapter into, but didn't finish. I was about a quarter of the way through and had planned on going back and finishing but I have no desire to see how the story pans out. I have no interest in the characters and there was nothing set up in the story that needed to be resolved.
I've read several not-so-good books, ahem. But even when they were poorly written I enjoyed. But for some reason The Vampire Diaries, especially the last two releases, I simply suffered through them. Also, I'm not a big fan of The Mortal Instruments. But I don't have it in me to hate a book.
Worst one must be Twilight. I'm not even going to discuss the ridiculous love-at-first-sight romance. What I throughly disliked about the book was how butchered all the myths were. Seriously. It's so common place to say that, but SPARKLIG vampires? Please. And I'm not saying I disliked everything. I nearly got up and clapped when I saw that Leah's character actually evolved and matured, but I guess it was completely unintended from Meyer's part.Also, I don't even know if it qualifies as YA, but I HATED H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education. When I first picked it up, I thought "hey, a sort of Hogwarts for villains, that might be cool." Except that I found the first book abstolutely random. The ending was cringe-worty IMO, but I decided to read the second installment. Huge mistake. The story only gets weirder, with things happening out of the blue. So I decided to Google the other books and the whole "he is a computer" thing ruined it for me. Probably the worst book I've ever read.
This is going to sound odd but I need a recommendation for some bad YA. Some small-minded old man in Missouri is pushing to ban Speak because he thinks it is lurid pornography. Ms. Anderson (among other forms of protest) is asking for peoples responses to the book and while it didn't change my life, I do remember Speak as being one of the few examples of good "heavy stuff for teens". "Heavy stuff for teens" is what I call those YA books set in modern times whose soul purpose is to explore something horrible that could and does happen to young folk like suicide, or illness, or drug abuse, or sexual and physical assault. I read a ton of that stuff in high school and while I remember the good my mind fails me on the bad.So here's my question: what's a book that focuses on a serious subject for teens but really drops the ball?
Polkweed- I would suggest Forever by Judy Blume. The whole book involves sex and while the main character does get on birth control, I don't feel that the issue is properly tackled. Sticky Fingers is another one I would suggest. The story takes forever to get to the serious subject (date rape drugs) and then the whole issue is kind of glossed over in the last few chapters.
Forever is a good suggestion of an "issue" book gone wrong. There is nothing in that book but sex. Even though it is portrayed realistically, that's the only good thing I can say about it. The emotional implications of sex are never explored thoughtfully or responsibly IMO.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. This book is about suicide, I don't like it but I know a lot of people do so I don't know if it's what your looking for.And you could also use Cut by Patricia McCormick
Jumping right into the conversation here xD :- House of Night
For reasons that shouldn't need explaining. Zoey, I do not like your ways. Authors: putting LOL, BFF, and all those replacement swearwords and writing vampires 'vampyres' does not make you look cool. Nor does it help you with people who appreciate the English language.
- Blue Bloods
Ugh. Way to much description on the clothing and who was who and what was in and out. It would have been much better if the author had focused on the vampire parts of the novel rather than the fashion.
- Evermore
I read the first book and liked it very much. But after the horrible reviews that I've read I can't even bring myself to pick up the sequel, Blue Moon.
- Fallen
I could only read up to chapter nine (page 140 something) I think. I simply got bored and found all the characters really boring.
- Beautiful Creatures
I properly read the first hundred pages of this book. After that I simply skimmed the descriptions and read only the speech.
For now, that's all I can think of.
Amanda (Cirque Du Freak Freak) wrote: "So I was wondering if anyone else has read the first Maximum Ride book? I started it and I only read a few pages but the writing syle is killing me! I was wondering if the book is worth the read?"I've read the first two and they were very Mehh for me. And according to an article a few years back (?) it was revealed that James Patterson doesn't even write his own books. Yet he earned 70 million (highest paied author last finanical year) for his books.
Ellen ♥ wrote: "Amanda (Cirque Du Freak Freak) wrote: "So I was wondering if anyone else has read the first Maximum Ride book? I started it and I only read a few pages but the writing syle is killing me! I was won..."That's not even cool! An author is suppose to write his/her own books not profit from someone elses writings!
Amanda (Cirque Du Freak Freak) wrote: "That's not even cool! An author is suppose to write his/her own books not profit from someone elses writings!"You'd be surprised by how many authors have ghost writers, whether writing under a penname after they've passed away (in the case of V.C. Andrews) or others who choose to carry a specific franchise. But I see your point entirely.
I've read the same article that Ellen mentioned, and it explained to me why I thought a lot of his books seemed so inconsistent. Some were really good, and then others were really, really bad. (My sister finished reading "Sunday's at Tiffany's" a while back and didn't like it very much. Usually if she doesn't like it, it's a sign that I might hate it, but I'm still going to see how it is for myself.)
I haven't read the Maximum Ride series yet, but I thought I'd give it a try at some point. There's been a huge divide as to people who liked it or hated it. I figure I'd try it for myself and see where it went.
All of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy books were written by a team of writers working for a book company so this practice of having ghost writers is a very long one.
Amanda (Cirque Du Freak Freak) wrote: "Ellen ♥ wrote: "Amanda (Cirque Du Freak Freak) wrote: "So I was wondering if anyone else has read the first Maximum Ride book? I started it and I only read a few pages but the writing syle is killi..."Agreed. Not cool, Patterson, not cool.
Rose wrote: "Amanda (Cirque Du Freak Freak) wrote: "That's not even cool! An author is suppose to write his/her own books not profit from someone elses writings!"You'd be surprised by how many authors have gh..."
Yea I know. I just find it sad that books have come to that. I want to read the books that are written by real authors not by "Ghost Writers."
I'm not qualified to name the worst YA book ever, but some that I disliked:-Looking for Alaska by John Green. This disappointed me since I loved An Abundance of Katherines. I just couldn't relate to any of the characters, and I wanted to punch the main girl character.
-Forever. Judy Blume really dropped the ball on this one.
-Nineteen Minutes. This is a book about school shooting, but the author tries to incorporate every possible teen drama into it so it seemed unfocused.
-LoveSick. Creepy and a bad message. Basically, it's OK to let someone to have an eating disorder as long as you love them.
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist Random and annoying.
There are several more that I can think of, like The Tribes of Palos Verdes: A Novel, Slam,Aftershock,It's Kind of a Funny Story, Before I Die, Prep, and Dramarama.
I read the first Luxe book but just got bored and couldn't bring myself to begin reading the second.
Going back to the discussions on Forever, and Th1rteen R3asons Why, I thought I'd just give my bit since I've read both...I though Forever was actually handeled quite well. Although it was very "informative", Judy Blume seems to take the subject and make it much easier to read. Although I would never put it in a SCHOOl library, I do believe it has its place in a public library.
As for Th1rteen R3asons Why, well I honestly LOVED this book. He was not encouraging suicied in any way, but he protrayed a clear picture of the world around us and just how much we really don't know about people.
Everyone is entitled to there own opinions, but I just thought I'd say my part.
Oh, and I also just wanted to say that Night Runner is also one of my least favourite books :P
Rose wrote: "Amanda (Cirque Du Freak Freak) wrote: "That's not even cool! An author is suppose to write his/her own books not profit from someone elses writings!"You'd be surprised by how many authors have gh..."
V.C Andrews is/has a ghost writer?! Okay. Let me go Wiki that right away!!
Young Adult Book Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
Incarceron (other topics)Sapphique (other topics)
Reached (other topics)
Matched (other topics)
Crossed (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Emma Bull (other topics)Terri Windling (other topics)
Charles de Lint (other topics)
Beth Fantaskey (other topics)
I don't remember it (although it is listed in imdb) - I just remember loving the book and his writing. I wouldn't hesitate to read any of his books.