Scripted in Fantasy and Fiction discussion

Hi guys! I have recently tried to read a couple of fantasy books but couldn’t get into them because the writing was just so bad 😕 Are there any books with poor writing that you just couldn’t overlook?

Not a fantasy book but the trick shot Christmas novella was so terribly painful for me to read. From cringe innuendos to poor character development I simply couldn’t give more than a star, if any at all.

Oh my god the editing was just terrible but I needed to continue to found out how they were going to fix what happened but I wanted to take pencil to page to de-face a book:
A Wish Upon A Fae Prince by Ruth Wilson

Gothikana seriously needS an editor but I still LOVED the book.

City of Bones. I read it in German when I was younger, I absolutely loved it. But I just couldn't reread it in English, it felt too stereotypically fanfictional written to me.

Well. I am an author and as such i read a lot of works in progress, and more than a few from ppl who don’t have english as a first language. Needless to say, a lot of it needs improvement. Some of it is really bad.

One that comes to mind for me is sword of shannara, which to me felt like LOTR only sped up and poorly done

And ive read the eye of argon.

powerless and reckless!! i read them both and while i did enjoy the story none of it added up, at all. the fantasy was a subplot to the romance and the romance felt was "i hate him, oh never mind we're in love" and it just felt like one setting for the whole book, they were in maybe 3 places. there were grammar mistakes everywhere!! and the fact that the entire book was just tropes and stolen plots from other books.

"I must be in a reading slump so deep, I think I might need a snorkel. I loved Powerless but I had this whole mental image of how the sequel would be. Turns out, my brain is a terrible casting director. I'm willing to give a sequel a chance, but it's like trying to convince a cat to eat broccoli. Maybe I just need to lower my expectations to the level of a reality TV show."

I thought the writing and editing in Reckless was pretty bad. Don't hate -- I liked the story, but it was very clear that the hype for Powerless resulted in rushed publishing for Reckless.

Oh man, I have a few pretty bad reads from this year.
Frost ( Frost and Nectar )
A Court of Honey and Ash.
Lightlark
A Kingdom of Frost and Malice
Of Deathless Shadows

With all of these I don't understand the High reviews.
They were all terribly written.

Trial of the Sun Queen and Throne of the Fallen were awful imo almost unreadable. While I liked Speak of the Demon the editing was really rough, with words missing in sentences etc that stuffed up the flow.

The worst written book i've read in my life (as in grammar mistakes, typos, half deleted senteces etc.) is a specific edition of Howl's moving castle (Il castello errante di Howl. La trilogia).

Then, when it comes to worst writing as in the book wasn't enjoyable, with odd wording & senteces and in general, where the author could've done so much better i'd say To Kill a Kingdom

Jennifer L Armentrout uses such redundant language that someone needs to get this woman a thesaurus. In the beginning of FBAA series it was really good. Then it started getting repetitive and then there was a weird gap in time between the release of 'The War of Two Queens' and the next book that came out. Which was called 'A Soul Of Ash and Blood' and it made me cringe so hard. Like Casteel had always spoken very freely in the series, but this book changed a lot. She started using tiktok lingo and slang in her writing which just cheapens and ruins the fantasy. Some of these characters are hundreds of years old and they do NOT sound like it. It’s kind of like breaking the fourth wall but in a cringey and not funny way bc tell me why Casteel is hundreds of years old saying “unalive” and “goofy as hell” among other things. It should be illeagal to write such things in a romantacy book especially one that takes place in a world where tiktok doesn’t exist and is supposed to not have technology. It would be fine if it was Collen Hoover but honestly, Jennifer L Armentrout I thought you were better than that. Very disappointed and cringed out.

Caelestis⁵⁵ wrote: "City of Bones. I read it in German when I was younger, I absolutely loved it. But I just couldn't reread it in English, it felt too stereotypically fanfictional written to me."

You mean City of Bones by Martha Wells? In my opinion, this book is very good in English.
But maybe I'm just not as much of a book gourmet as you are.

Not a fantasy book but “if he had been with me” by Laura Nowlin. Guys I genuinely do not understand how this book is so hyped up, I HATED it and it took my so long to finish and DNF the second one. It was so corny and predictable to me and just sooooo boring.

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
Couldn’t do it! There was a lot of things I didn’t like about it, but I think mainly it was a mixture of the early 2000s modern fantasy vibe & the main character was very immature. The whole thing just felt very cringe.

Am I the only one who disliked Quicksilver? The writing was atrocious 🥲

Tea wrote: "Jennifer L Armentrout uses such redundant language that someone needs to get this woman a thesaurus. In the beginning of FBAA series it was really good. Then it started getting repetitive and then ..."

Yes, I had to DNF the series because I just couldn't stand how boring Poppy's inner monologue was. Just a constant repetition of questions without much insight. I also found it frustrating how she would often use sex to resolve conflict with characters even when it made no sense. Her plot was good but the characters were just really poorly written.

King of Battle and Blood... had to strictly DNF it halfway through. The writing was just so bad for me, I couldn't finish it.

The kingdom of lies series! I must be the only one... after reading 16 SJM books in a row, I couldn't get past page 70 of the first book

We Were Liars. Thank God it was a short read. I felt like I was reading a children’s book the entire time.

Hot take: zodiac academy

50 shades of grey

The entire Lightlark series :T I was in love with the first two books as an inexperienced reader but recently realized how straight up bad the writing is after exploring more authors over the past year. A Throne of Glass knockoff with a clueless protagonist in my opinion.

Lightlark - It was hyped up so much. I tried to read it and ended up DNFing it 20% in. I couldn't overlook the writing style and knew I wasn't going to vibe with any of the characters or the story.
I read Metal Slinger and liked the story, which hated the writing style , but I think it was written clunky on purpose, so I will probably read the 2nd book.
Lastly, I just could not get into Powerless. idk if it was the writing, the characters or what but it was a no for me.

*but hated the writing style

I've really enjoyed this topic! So here's mine (it's not fantasy) but Kaitlyn & the highlander by Diana Knightly was so bad I posted this review a cpl yrs ago:

First, there is absolutely no level of artistry or immitation of adult literature. Next, even if you are drawn to anything with time travel involved, and you loved Outlander, DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE GOOD REVIEWS!
Those great reviews say that it’s a fun book that is not a rip-off of Outlander, BUT-- it is not even that! A very silly fiction for teens who haven't a clue about good writing; yet the explicit trashtalk shouldn't be subjected to them. Supposedly told by a very modern day girl (not woman) who drinks A LOT, uses lots of (soon to be dated) slang, and used to be a YouTube influencer.

The book wasn’t fun. The fun of a time travel book is making the time travel kind-of possible, as well as the reaction of both the traveler AND the recieving person somewhat explained.
The Highlander mysteriously arrives in a Florida beach town-the only time travel-in front of a crowd of people, who- don't really question how or why a guy on a horse with weapons just appears? They just assume he's in costume- though he makes it obvious from his speech & lack of understanding his surroundings- yet nobody really questions him other than to drunkenly notice how mega hawt he is. We don't experience it from his perspective, and no one figures out he time traveled?? Any hints (which would be a good part of an actual story) are brushed off as "maybe things are really backwards in Scotland"!! All Kaitlyn would need to do is Google Scotland, (also my 1st thought as I read), or YouTube video Scotland, anything... to start to question the circumstances of a guy and his mother who come to your door in old clothes, with a sword and with no knowledge of any modern convenience.

Magnus, the Highlander, for his part adapts MUCH too easily to modern life. The adaption to a different time period is a big part of the attraction to time travel novels! He brings coins from the past, and instead of someone questioning how he comes to have them, or tries to steal them; Kaitlyn’s parents- who conveniently work in a bank and in real estate- quickly (in ONE DAY) convert them into a massive bank account that pays for an estate for Magnus and his mother, along with hiring a staff to do all the things he hasn't a clue about. No ID required. I wondered how his mother coped with the modern hospital she was put in right away. Another chance to explain adapting missed.
He becomes attracted to the very modern Kaitlyn, but has no lingering prior-century attitudes towards appropriate female behavior? Especially being in public with all her legs showing? And her trashy language?

I have a rule about finishing every book I start.. Regardless how many times I have to put it down & pick it back up. But I must admit I finally began skimming after I had suffered through WAY TOO NUMEROUS drunken parties and occasions when Kaitlyn should have questioned Magnus’ previous life. Finally, near the end of the book, I saw a bit of time travel, and I thought, Okay, Kaitlyn will get sucked back in time, and the culture clash will begin. Nope. I was just left with Kaitlyn mooning over a mysteriously disappeared Magnus. Ugh. At least during her mooning, she finally realizes that Magnus is a time traveler, which she oddly accepts easily for being so belated.

I skim to the very end thinking, the author will at least end with Kaitlyn going somewhere in time. Nope. I then realize I'd read a whole book about a boozy young girl who doesn’t think it’s odd she has to teach a guy from Scotland how to use a toilet and feed himself, (perhaps if she wasn't in a perpetual hangover she may have given this some thought?)
But with her crude modern jokes and self-described bossy attitude; as well as always being pouty about being a 23 year old loser with no real life skill who is living at home again, she manages to attract him and his money.

Upon finishing, my only thought was this: Someone must warn others away. I'm still confused where any high scores came from. It's kind of scary to realize this many people let this pass for readable literature.

Sorry I got that snarky... Well not really LOL

One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillis. Had to drag myself through book 1 and DNF book 2. Those books where just not for me.

** Rachel Gillig sorry. The Shepherd King Duology

Salomé wrote: "Am I the only one who disliked Quicksilver? The writing was atrocious 🥲"


I really struggled with the writing in this book too! It was so flowery and descriptive to the point where you get pulled out of the story because there is so much detail that had no use being added into the story.
The action scenes were written in such a confusing way I gave up trying to understand what was going on halfway through the book.

Is it too late to suggest my own book, The Minor Fall? If you want an ARC I could send one? Pop an email to hello@kaylammartell.com. I had the same thought about bad writing and set out to write a fantasy romance was beautiful writing, scenes, and authentic characters and chemistry for adults

So I wanted to tackle the Crescent City series because I got it for Christmas (from my fiance who just understand I love reading) I have read ACOTAR, Fourth Wing series, and a few others. I have seen a TON of reviews that CC is not good based on the writting. Is it worth reading???

The Goddess Test. You can find my review. That is all.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

That’s the review.

Any novella. I do not really get the point of them. Especially the ACOTAR, I mean it was cute but gave no depth.