*Disclaimer: These are all MY personal opinions. Do not be offended if one of your favorite books are on this list. It does not mean that I am trying to offend you for liking that book. These are my opinions and my opinions only, so do not feel like you are personally attacked if one of your favorite books landed on this list.
In contrary to a previous post we had, today I will be counting down the most overrated fantasy/sci-fi/dystopian books I’ve ever read. If I were to list every single one, this list would end up being way too long, so I decided to narrow it down to 7 books. Again, don’t be offended if one of your favorite books are on here; these are my personal opinions.
- Matched trilogy by Ally Condie
This is one of the few cases in which I somehow managed to get through the whole series even though almost every book was bad. I read this book a few years ago when I was really into the genre of dystopian, and I had heard decent things about this book from school teachers and friends. This first book actually wasn’t too bad and I did find the content to be quite interesting, however, as the series progressed, things started to go downhill. Everything was so tropey and cliche, and practically nothing happened in the entirety of the second book and the first quarter of the third book. This basically shattered my positive thoughts about this series, and I would definitely not recommend this as a good book.
- The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey
This is, by far, one of the absolute worst books I’ve ever read. The only reason why it isn’t higher up on this list is that I had already seen poor reviews of the book. I had attempted to go into this book with a neutral mindset, but as I kept reading the book, everything just got worse and worse. The characters were boring, there was nothing that happened in the 100 pages I had somehow managed to get through, and the writing was awful as well. I would highly recommend that many stay away from this book since it’s just a waste of your time, and select a different science fiction book that would probably be far better than this.
- Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
In comparison to the other books on this list, this book isn’t entirely terrible. It was quite captivating and exciting, and the first time that I read this book, I actually really enjoyed it. However, as I reread this book, I realized that it was full of more flaws than I thought. Almost every element of the book, including the plot and characters, was a trope. Nothing was exactly original in this story, which is essentially why I found this book to be extremely flawed. Instead of building a unique world and storyline, Aveyard simply takes YA ideas that have already been used and reused numerous times to create a story. I found this to make the book quite dull and redundant, and it also drastically changed my perception of the series.
- Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Daughter of smoke and bone. I just don’t know what to say. It wasn’t exactly a terrible book, but all the hype surrounding it killed my perception of the book. It was so slow and there was basically no world building, so I was pretty clueless on what was going on. There were no transitions into the flashbacks, and I just felt like nothing really connected together.
- The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
It was honestly pretty hard to decide whether Throne of Glass or this book was more disappointing. I eventually decided that Throne of Glass was worse, but that doesn’t mean there are many redeeming qualities that lie in this book either. The hype that surrounded this book way before it even was released was enormous, as people were giving phenomenal reviews on the ARCs that were released. I decided to give this book a try, but I felt like this novel lacked in many aspects. I have a full review posted on my Goodreads, and in there I talk about the qualities of this book that really let me down. I personally feel like the hype made me hate this book even more. I definitely won’t be picking up the sequel, and I do recommend that everyone stay away from this book, as there are many more fantasy novels that are far better than this one.
- Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
And finally, one of my least favorite, and the most disappointing book I’ve ever read; Throne of Glass. I feel like almost everyone who has read this book enjoyed it, and I have to be quite honest that the premise and synopsis given really intrigued me. However, when I read this book, my hopeful and optimistic thoughts crumbled, and I was incredibly disappointed.
I hope that many of you don’t encounter too many books that you’ve disliked or felt that it was an overall let down. I know that as readers, we often don’t filter our reading lists and end up reading some books that we just don’t like. Though this doesn’t happen very often, there is always “that book” for everyone. Well, enough ranting and happy reading!