Horrible, horrible books!

[madmanx]

DO NOT READ (Unless you are inspired by bad writing to do far better):

*"I Am Number Four"
I can not explain in words what a commercial exploitation of ignorant teens this 'Novel' is. Pitticus Lore? Seriously? How stupid does he think we are? And don't even get me started on the actual writing...
This book inspired me to go on a 3-month long anti-YA RAMPAGE, the end of which came when I read:

*"Eragon"
Read the back cover, and it immediately becomes obvious how ridiculously bland this book is (Unless you've never read fantasy before in your life). And when you try to read the book itself, It only gets worse. I could go on all day, but you can go to GoodReads for a full review. The other books in the series are progressively worse.
Anyway, it sent me on another, longer, YA-hating binge.


And now I'm writing a YA novel. Funny, eh?

[LMGilbert]

Not surprising that you're writing a YA novel. The libraries are full of them, & you've only selected two horrible ones! Out of so many horrible possibilites! But yeah, "I am Four" sucked as a movie as well. And "Eragon" I remember my husband trying to read it to my kid and it had us all in a stupor of brain-scraping boredom. So maybe you happened to read the worst of the worst, but trust me, there are other horrible ones out there.

[madmanx]

In that case, feel free to list some. I love reading a good rant when I'm in the mood.

[Anya Kylash]

I am number four was terrible! It was just... awful.
Eragon is okay, if you can forge through it, but yeah, he does blather on about it for a long while.

More terrible ones? How about A Game of Thrones? I couldn't even read far into it because it got disgusting and vulgar. EW.

[Laycrew]

I am number four was terrible! It was just... awful.
Eragon is okay, if you can forge through it, but yeah, he does blather on about it for a long while.

More terrible ones? How about A Game of Thrones? I couldn't even read far into it because it got disgusting and vulgar. EW.

I had a hard time with Game of Thrones for the same reason. But I really wanted to read it because the themes are right up my alley and interests me because of my own WIP.

[Anya Kylash]

He was a fair writer, but then it turned to sex and cussing. Just disgusting. I wanted to throw it out the window, but it was a library book.

[louiseh87]

He was a fair writer, but then it turned to sex and cussing. Just disgusting. I wanted to throw it out the window, but it was a library book.

I'm only guessing, based on how you write comments, and I'm sorry if that's just jumping to assumptions, but perhaps Game of Thrones isn't really in your age range? I don't know, but its content is very mature. Maybe wait a while and give it another go, because the plotting is extremely done. I say this as someone who eventually gave up on it, because I'm not that keen on the overly gratuitous scenes, but I can see why they're there.

Again, sorry if I'm totally off the mark - you might be 80 for all I know.

[Anya Kylash]

No, maybe you're right. Profile picture is me. But swearing like that and all the useless sex talk... It's just disturbing. To me, it isn't fit for any age range.

[pls]

Yeah, "I am number 4" was the worst book I'd read in years. All deus ex machina at the end, sort of ordinary folks-turned-superheros without even a spider bite. How do these things get published, anyway?

[gesler0811]

No, maybe you're right. Profile picture is me. But swearing like that and all the useless sex talk... It's just disturbing. To me, it isn't fit for any age range.

I see your point and agree to a large extent. But the books, in my opinion, are very well written and George R.R. Martin has a tremendous gift with words. But I will agree, a lot of the profanity and graphic scenes seem to just be there for the sake of being there. A lot of that could easily be rewritten out without damaging the story.

My biggest beef with the series is the way the heroic/noble characters get rewarded with grisly and tragic ends, while the villainous and disgusting ones are constantly rewarded for such. I need to be able to root for somebody, he/she doesn't have to be perfect, but they should be redeemable, and it's hard to find that in a series where all the characters worth rooting for keep dying and the slimeballs keep winning.

I stopped reading about midway through the third book. I just could not take it any more. I couldn't get past Theon Greyjoy's stupidity, Catelyn's unrealistic decision making, Robb's decision to marry his one-night stand at the risk of alienating his allies, etc. Everybody in that series is either evil, dumb, or dead.