Deal Breakers...What makes you put a book down without finishing?

[jD]

I think it says quite a bit about us when we put a book down unfinished. There are some deal breakers writers do that make me give up and shelve the book or head for the woodpile. What about you all?

Warning Signs I Am Not Going To Make It:
Plot takes too long to be revealed
Interplantary travel
Too much time describing scenery
Too many characters
Rainy setting where it just doesn't stop
Stupid characters that are confused by everything
Magical Beings with no magic

[Donna]

I just put 2 down this week without finishing, and my reasons vary.
I don't connect with the character
The writing style (too wordy and poetic does not appeal to me)
slow moving plot

the two that I recently put down though were both for different reasons than my usual.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal I thought was hilarious but then it just kind of dragged on, still funny but it was just the same kind of thing over and over. I may still read a couple chapters here and there between books

The Gargoyle was just a little too graphic in the descriptions of horrific burns sustained in a car crash and the treatment of those burns in the hospital. It was all a bit too much for me.

[Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~*]

ALL of the above you mentioned jD! but if it dosent grab me right off..I know its "not gonna happen"
Then again..sometimes it can be the mood Im in & III come back to it...& we get along just fine.
And I agree with you Donna on the Gargoyle..but I stuck it out...and the ending didnt please me either.

[Sonya]

Good ones! If the author fails to draw me into the story - in other words, I'm not interested in finding out what happens next.

[Crystal]

I have to agree. If the author does not pull me in by the first few chapters its time to give back the book. It all get down to the writing style and characters for me. I love strong written characters and a great story line.
Twilight was just one of those for me. I read the few chapters and put it down, the story telling and the writing style was just not there for me to really get into. I feel kinda bad about it too because thats all my friends talk about because they read them for the movies.

[jD]

I am going through it now with Geist. It is well written and has potential but I recently had dental surgery and am in pain so it's not taking my mind away from my troubles so I have put it down.

[Carmel]

i would say i cant stand books where the plot revolves around romance or the other extreme it has absolutly no romance haha they have to get it just right :)

[Rachel]

Basically, if I get bored. It doesn't happen often now that I can 'screen' the free samples on my Kindle before buying the book :)

[Steve]

I have an irrational hatred of intentionally misspelled words. If you spell "magic" any other way, I will probably stop reading immediately. I also have no tolerance for failed attempts at Elizebethan English.

[Crystal]

Steve, I am very sorry to tell you there are two ways of spelling "magic" the right way. "Magic" and "magick", one is just a religious way. I see it sometimes when fantasy authors referring to the Wicca/Pagan religions, that actually did some research before referencing it in their book. I'm not trying to pick or anything, just a friendly FYI if you did not know.

[Steve]

Which reminds me. Real world religions in fantasy novels is another turn-off for me.

[Rachel]

It's true that a lot of writers use the spelling of 'magick' without meaning what modern pagans mean by it, though... that's arguably even more frustrating than just random misspellings :)

[Wendy]

1> bored with subject matter
2 not into charaacters
3 too much sex and or gross violence. sorry laurel hamilton.
bad or stupid plots, which is hard to do with Fantasy.

[S.B.]

I will usually give any book about 100 pages to draw me in. If it can't do it by then, it most likely never will.

The only exception I can think of to this for me was Gardens of the Moon. That one was slow, slow going in the beginning and confusing, but I'd read many reviews that stipulated to that fact and assured that it was worth sticking with. They were right. It was fantastic (as are the rest in that long series). But that was an isolated case.

[jD]

I am on an audio book right now by John Saul who is very good w. the creepy stuff. This one is slow going and the focus is the torture and murder of children. It's distrubing. I am on the last 2 CDs or this one would be done. A few of the CDs I have to skip over because it was too much.

[S.J.]

I agree with jD: anything too disturbing (and torturing children is right up there on the list!)will make me put a book down and run from it. Other things that will make me run: extremely depressing circumstances where nothing good ever happens to anyone in the story, and a beginning that doesn't grab me (I don't want to wait 50 pages for anything interesting to happen!).

[Emrah]

I was about to drop a book twice, once it was Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles, the edition I was reading was 10 books in hard cover, too heavy to carry around, even at home. And in the middle of the series it became unbearable to go though a summarized beginning at the beginning of each book again, story would slow down to a halt and get boring.. Didn't drop it though, still keep reading it every now and then.. Hoping to gain some speed..

And the other time was when I was reading C.S. Lewis's Space trilogy, the Christian view was so heavy for a sci-fi book, especially for a non-christian as myself. I managed to read through them though...

[Natasha]

I have a bad case of ADHD, so a big deal breaker with me is when there's just too much going on. Too many characters, too many plot twists, too many side stories, etc.

Another deal breaker for me is when it takes too long for the plot to show up.

Sometimes I'll read a little longer to give the book a chance if I've heard really good reviews about it.

[Meg]

If things are excessively repetitive (gotta repeat an above poster's anti-shout out to Laurell K Hamilton here), if a book insults my intelligence, if the writing is poor, if the characters are too stupid to stomach, or if it's just plain boring.

I usually look for depth of character, strong plot, good world-building, and a believable/consistent mythology. Don't change the rules just because a rule you made on page 5 suddenly doesn't suit you on page 500.

[Liz]

Deal breakers for me:
when a sex scene takes longer to read than the actual act probably took

when I find myself having to reread several pages because I realize suddenly I have no clue what's going on

when I find the main characters flat and unworthy of sticking around for

when a book uses so many made up words you feel like you are learning a second language

[Linda]

I put the book down when I have found the book too confusing or just plain boring. As in when the descriptions go on and on and on.

I like it when the story is right to the point and not dragged out.

[Jada]

Unoriginality. And ten drama. Hate that. Also hate books about reality. When I read I want to to another place and/or time. :-)

[Kashii]

Oddly enough i very rarely put a book down without finishing... DRIVE ME CRAZY but there ARE some instances where I have put a book down and not cared to finish.
Best example is The Solace of Open Spaces the author could write, if we mean write as if, yeah she could put a bunch of words together. But it was uninteresting, did nothing to grab me and couldnt even seem to hold me in place.
another thing is when an author is lazy and when writing either a sequel or companion book uses the exact same plot from the exact same time period (I MEAN EXACT and i've see it a few times) and does a horrible job switching points of views.
outside of that... i don't really apply my real world mores and beliefs to my reading.... as long as it gives me a sense of sorta kinda caring what happens next i'll read. I hate to use subjective words like boring... but yeah if it's boring

[Melissa]

1. I feel like I'm reading, instead of experiencing what I'm reading.
2. Shallow or whiny characters
3. A bunch of sex

[M]

I don't put many books down, but I must agree that if the plot/characters/story doesn't grab me in by page 100 or so, I am out.

[Anna]

As for me if the plot does not interest me and the character's dialogues are boring I will not read more than 100-150 pages.