#hater book reviews

[thedeathwitchescats]

Okay, review time!! If you are one of the oddballs who thinks you cant be critical of something you love I suggest you stop reading now before I ruffle your feathers. Iron flame, second in the empyrean series. I am gonna start with what I was not a fan of and then go into the shit I adored.

1) what in the actual fuck was the pacing of this book?? I can tell you what, it was non existent. There was none. Where I thought there was a lot of filler in the last book there was none in this one. We got snap shots of conversations and then *boom* more plot flew at you. The timeline of this book greatly suffered for it i think bc we end only a couple weeks, if that, after threshing, which happens sometimes in October. This book was actually so wild with times.

2) while it was a spectacular cliff hanger, xaden becoming venin pisses me off. Especially if Rebecca yarros isnt going to have him tell violet. Like if that small tid bit of a conversation we got wasnt him telling vi that he was venin then the entire romantic conflict of this book was rendered pointless and their going to be having the same fucking fight for the rest of the series and at rhat point I give up.

3) I understand that the revolution is trying to take down basgaith and make the world better or whatever the fuck but can someone actually formulate a real plan for me?? Because I feel like their mission is just, giving violet and xaden something to be pissed at each other about.

4) the entirety of cats character. I get that she was set up as a spin on the typical jealous ex. Like having her be bitter about xaden picking violet over her but OH WAIT it wasnt actually about the man it was about the crown, oohh not like other girls. Im a writer too I see the point. I dont care. I think it was trashy. If you wanted her to be a bitter spiteful ex then have her be a bitter spiteful ex, the whole crown thing was shallow.

OKAY haters your time is up now onto the shit that made my heart hurt with joy and sadness

1) xadens arc in this book. I really liked that he went from "transparency is never gonna happen" to losing his fucking mind over violet and giving her everything. I love feral men and he qualifies. I think his arc was really well done and i liked it.

2) I appericiate that violet stuck to her guns for this book. She wouldnt let xaden off without a fight and I loved that. She made him bow and scrape and I was eating it up. It was spectacular.

3) the throne room scene. Violet on the throne. "Im making a temporary point not a lasting vow of maschocism" xaden being feral.

4) that gets its own point actually, just xaden being completely feral this entire book healed a part of my soul.

5) andarna's little speech at the end where she was like "I waited for you violet" made me ugly cry. That was just so hopelessly good I loved it. Andarna in general heals my heart but that part was just *chefs kiss*

6) tarin being completely and utterly ready to eat people this entire book. Just, at every turn "I want lunch their pissing me off " was spectacular

7) every scene their squad was in. Rihannon, violet, sawyer and ridoc are my roman empire. Their bond is so amazing. The fact that they launched a rescue mission for violet. Rihannon being ready to kill xaden at every turn. Ridoc being so platonically and adorably in love with violet. Just- augh happy cries happy cries. I love it all. Their so special tbh.

8) I love xaden actually, just, the whole book every scene hes in lives in my brain.

9) I liked that we saw a small bit of violet being feral this book too. I hope that we get more of that in future books. I want more of violet losing her fucking mind. Hot, badass women covered in blood

10) Liam. Fucking Liam. When violet was kidnapped and Liam was there. Now, do I logically understand that he was a hallucination, yes, do i care?? No. He was a gift from Maleck I will be hearing no critiques on that. It was so fucking sweet and amazing. I love violet and Liam and Liam being dead so horribly breaks my heart. I loved Liam. Liams death lives rent free in my skull.

[liesmyth]

I know you didn't like babel or rf kuang but did you read yellowface?

no and I don't really plan to. life's too short to read stuff I know I won't like

[wishesfromwithin]

my moa opinions (that no one asked for i just did👍)

i’m also only abt halfway through so this might not be accurate!

1. did anyone else be reading pipers pov in MOA and TLH(mostly moa tho) and think girlll when are you gonna speak about something other than jason and have a little personality??like i loveee piper so much but i was getting so bored of continual jason talk you could have such an interesting pov but it was wasted on obsession over ur detached bf(i’m not a jason hater or a jiper hater btw but this specific part of the book just got me)?!

2.alsooo in MOA did anyone find jason and piper(when she wasn’t speaking abt jason 😤)constantly talking abt how they were really close friends with leo during their povs but never actually showing us any decent friendship interactions?im only about half way through moa but like can u show us the friendship without js telling us or not likee where’s the chemistry the three of them had in tlh?

3.the comment above also goes for percy and frank like percy was always sayin how he and frank were good friends but only showing us about one interaction where they acted like somewhat bsfs i was so confused after reading son i thought they were such better friends than that but i reckon they were both preoccupied w their gfs(rightly so)!!

4.i NEEDED more hazel getting angry like she was when they were deciding whether to save nico and she nearly hit jason with a metal plate i was eating it upppp😋 girlboss or what? on that note i was wishing that percy would’ve spoken up for hazel during that convo but he just stayed quiet like no?

5.and finally i was BEGGING for piper and annabeth moments! i hope more come bcs their friendship means everything to me the sharing breakfast thing was sooo cute i loved it and need ALOT more 🫶

and yeah that’s it for now i’ll probably do overall ops when i finish but i hope you guys can relate and this is also my first post😛

[boycritter]

was reading a bad goodreads review of a book i really enjoyed (many such cases) and was getting mad bc they were doing a Bad Job at being a hater and i went to their profile and they had rated the entire selection series 5 stars

[oysterie]

okayy actual final end of the year stats mwah

[mercymornsimpathizer]

3+4 for read in review asks?

3. DNF with prejudice: Leech by Hiron Ennes. the description of this book (horror mystery about alien brain worms) was so far up my alley it should be illegal, but uuuggggghhhhhh. I can't even put my finger on what about it disagreed so strongly with but disagree with me it did.

4. DNF with regrets: it's more of a "I'll come back to it later"—Exordia by Seth Dickinson. I've read through and thoroughly enjoyed the first section (it's more to my taste than their masquerade books, though I enjoyed those as well) and then for no apparent reason lost all motivation to continue. I'm holding on to my copy, though, because I know sooner or later its time will come.

[hylialeia]

being a hater isn't even fun anymore because all the other haters are either 1) completely wrong about the core of your haterism or 2) get weirdly personal and cross the line in pursuit of their hater-y (revelry but with hate). I'm like the lieutenant of haterville walking up to the general saying Sir these honorless miscreants cannot be my comrades in arms. they are on youtube. general. general.

[thechaoticreader]

Popular Books I Read and HATED

*Disclaimer: If you like any of these books, slay! I'm happy for you! These are just my own consumer choices, and imo negative book reviews are just as helpful as positive ones!*

This list is not long because I don't actively dislike many books that I read, and I have a very good sense of what I will and will not like, but there are some I had to read/were misled into reading so here we go:

1. Tender Is The Flesh

by Agustina Bazterrica

My rant review is above if you want more details but recently I've seen a few videos that articulate my feelings in a way that I couldn't before so im going to add a few reasons here that were not included in the original post:

It gave very Qanon and general antisemitic vibes: i.e blatant conspiracy made up by the "wealthy liberal elites" to encourage cannibalism for their own enjoyment (I know she's Argentinian however that doesn't mean im not allowed to get the ick from it)

Purposefully inaccurate depictions of meat industry and disrespect for farmers (context: im a vegetarian from farm country with a roommate who works in the cattle industry - Angus beef if you're curious - so im very familiar with the process and cannot say in good conscious that it is all bad -> just support local farmers <3)

world building makes little sense

COWS DO NOT EQUATE TO HUMANS NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO !!!!!!!!

the "disease" doesn't make sense (even if its made up who would believe it)

No themes were treated with the depth nor nuance they require (capitalism, feminism, veganism etc.)

I think thats all I haven't covered but this is the only book I have ever read where my hatred of it continues to grow with each day. I went out of my way and deleted it from my reader and get annoyed every time I see it. And for the record (because yes i'm salty) I didn't hate it because it was too disturbing, in fact I've read and loved worse and ive been an avid horror reader since I was (admittedly too) young. I hate it because there wasn't a well done story underneath the gore. I'll say it loudly for the people in the back GORY HORROR BOOKS STILL DESERVE A GOOD/INTERESTING STORY, especially if you want to try to put complex themes in it. If you cannot write a deep story but you're good at and enjoy gore, write yourself a lil 100 page splatter punk and we can all have a good time <3

Unlike with Tender Is The Flesh I don't have a ton of thought out critical reasons for the rest of these soooooo I'm going to give my highly subjective reasons -> I totally understand why some like them <3

2. The Handmaids Tale

by Margaret Atwood

hated the writing style

It didn't keep my attention

disliked the ending so much I actually threw it across the room <3

3. The Hobbit

by J.R.R Tolkien

hated the writing style

male centered fantasy is not my vibe

my ADHD cannot handle long incredibly descriptive sections in books -> I physically fell asleep multiple times while reading this book

honestly even with the movie I fall asleep every time

0/10 book I want to read

10/10 bedtime story

4. Lord of The Flies

by William Golding

hated the writing style

hated most of the characters (and not in a slay anti-hero way)

was forced to read it in high school and it single handedly sent me into a 4 year reading slump... I missed so many good books because of this and will forever hold a grudge

5. Romeo & Juliet

By William Shakespeare

I'm too jaded and gay to enjoy this -> every single character is so painfully stupid

tbh im just bitter that his (imo) better plays get less love than this one, its way over hyped

but I will give it points for boring me so much that I wrote my first fanfic (Romeo x Mercutio if you're curious ... no its not posted anywhere and it never will be <3)

sidenote -> Shakespeare plays I love incl:

Hamlet (duh im a depressed emo gay on Tumblr)

Macbeth (also duh, witches and female manipulator... need I say more)

Othello (a slow burn for the true crime girlies)

Measure for Measure (absolutely underrated, please please please look into this play -> I saw a production of it and it was incredible)

[lesbienneanarchiste]

I feel like every time I read a dud book that's been recommended to hell and back and is super hyped, I'm inevitably like

[glossyhobi]

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Two childhood friends create a video game together & the novel follows their 30+ year relationship into adulthood.

I was so excited to read this, I looove decades-long, character development stories. Video games are also a topic I’m not too familiar with so was interested to see how it’s portrayed in this novel. Unfortunately the novel was so drawn out and longer than necessary, I felt that I was gaining and/or learning nothing from half the novel. Things happen. People miscommunicate. That’s it. It felt disjoined and tiring to read but also I couldn’t put it down until the end, so I guess there was something about the writing or plot that kept me going. I also picked this up before finding out about the Zi*nism & plagiarism controversy otherwise I would have skipped this. A disappointing book that was highly anticipated on my 2024 tbr.

[cogitoergodoleo]

today i tried to strike up a conversation with my greek teacher by mentioning that i read the secret history and didn't like it. i mean, i thought he would agree with me -- that book is such an insult to the classics field and its message just lands so poorly too. but he then turned to me with such an offended look as if i'm in the wrong for hating overly-indulgent dark academia??

i'm just?? so puzzled?? rn??

someone tell me what about this book that saves it from "horrified looks from everyone in the room" (aksjdljs the TWINCEST?!!) to "decent".

[kithj]

havent posted but i finished the first Murderbot book and loved it. i love Murderbot........... i picked up the next 2 in the series and plan to read the rest once i've finished the other 2 books i'm currently reading. i wasn't sure how i'd feel about it because generally comedy in books tends to be a miss for me (sorry i just don't find most book humor to be funny lol) but i did think Murderbot was very charming and funny, there was a humorous voice throughout but it didn't overdo it. reminded me of Alex Easton from What Moves the Dead.

also just finished These Letters End in Tears by Musih Tedji Xaviere. i have kinda mixed feelings about this book? i don't really know if i liked it? but i didn't hate it, either. i just didn't really connect with the main character, and not in a "relatable" way but i just felt like she was very flat. i think it was more of an issue with the writing style than the story itself... considering it was meant to be very emotional, i just didn't feel it. and it lost the letter format very quickly, but i don't really hold that against it, most books written in letter format are like that. i wonder if that actually hindered it & the writing style.... all that being said, i still felt that the book was a privilege to read, when you consider the reality of the characters and the many lgbt people in similar situations that never get to tell their stories. this was a debut, and i definitely would be interested to read something else from this author in the future. huge trigger warning for violent homophobia/lesbophobia, the title of the book is definitely a warning.

i'm now reading Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh, which was a coincidence (i was supposed to read and finish this book last month lol) but also an interesting read to follow These Letters End in Tears with. that one was about two lesbians in Cameroon, while this one is about a gay man in Nigeria, both places where "same-sex relationships" are criminalized. Blessings alternates between Obiefuna's and his mother's POV, who is very protective of him, and isn't told the real reason why his father sent him away to boarding school. i just started this one today so i'm not too far into it but i've liked what i've read so far.

i'm also still reading The Spear Cuts Through Water. honestly not gonna say much about this because i know i;m going to make a massive gushing post once i finish it because it is probably going to be my favorite read of the year 🙊

[portokali]

one thing that made me mad lately was reading reviews for the 3 body problem and seeing ppl complain about how there was no character development or that the language was wooden and rigid.. when it's clearly a work in translation from a different literary tradition and umm both author and translator talked about their artistic choices in da index.. idk it feels to me yall are not trying to meet a work you read halfway and yall only want it to be about what you like what you think it should be and what you're used to reading. well fuck off w that alkdsjfalskdjh i needed to rant so i could take it out of my system but its such NOISE!

[impishtubist]

I have a question regarding hating A Certain Popular Fic (or a fic that must not be named?) and that is if my hate is justifiable if I haven't read it? I just learnt a lot about it by osmosis (and against my own will) (this is a different anon btw if that wasnt obvious) xx

LMAO it's absolutely justified. I haven't read it either 😂 There's so much that I hate even though I haven't read it or watched it or whatever. Sometimes learning things by osmosis is enough to know that you won't like it.

[malewifespike]

Sorry like sorry I just finished reading a series and. Now I have to let it consume me for a while. Sorry

[cantsayidont]

While I can't imagine most Tumblr users have even heard of this 52-year-old Otto Preminger movie:

SUCH GOOD FRIENDS (1972): Annoyingly disjointed comedy-drama, based on a 1970 Lois Gould novel, about a 30something Jewish woman (a miscast Dyan Cannon) who reaches her wit's end when her boorish husband Richard (Laurence Luckinbill), who'd been threatening to divorce her, ends up in a coma following a routine surgery, leaving her to grapple with his array of condescending, useless doctors and her discovery of a "little black book" showing that Richard has been persistently unfaithful.

Elaine May's script for the film adaptation (written under the pseudonym "Esther Dale") has some funny smaller moments, but doesn't hold together at all as a story, largely defanging the protagonist's ornery frustration (which is the whole point of the novel) and only timidly approximating the book's caustic humor and sexual bluntness. Director Otto Preminger's apparent discomfort with the material also allows the tone to waver queasily between absurdist comedy and dreary wronged-wife melodrama, particularly toward the end. It has its moments, but the point has been missed — skip it and just read the book instead.

Absurdly, Roger Ebert's 1972 review credits Preminger and May for the film's "vulgarity" and for making "a sort of black-comedy version of Lois Gould's serious novel," an assertion credulous online sources like IMDb continue to wrongly present as fact. One can only assume Ebert hadn't actually read more than the jacket blurb of the bestselling book — which is much more vulgar and far more laceratingly cynical than anything in the film — and that whoever added that IMDb trivia hasn't read it at all.