Books that oddly don't catch you

I have never for the life of me understood the fascination everyone has with George Martin and his books. I mean everyone and I literally mean everyone who reads fantasy praises him to high heaven. This is not something I've seen with any other author. If it did it wouldn't weird me out so much.
 
I couldn't really get into China Miéville's The Scar.

Everyone says it's a terrific book. The Armada was quite a creative invention, and it's a well imagined and even well written novel. But, for some reason, I just didn't like it much. The second half was a lot better than the first, but overall I was still fairly disappointed.

I also have (but not yet read) Perdido Street Station; if I don't like this novel, either, then I'm officially done with Miéville.
 
For me it's Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Neil Gaiman's American Gods & Sandman and Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. Lemony Snicket's last few books of A Series of Unfortunate Events also did not live up to the expectation.
 
I really want to love Peter F. Hamilton's Night Daw trilogy, but i've failed to finish reality dysfunction... 4 times. I dont understand why because Dan Simmon's Hyperion/Endymion cantos is my favorite piece of fiction ever, and Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Morgan's Black Man and Robinson's Red Mars are in my top 10. So maybe I just dont like hard scifi? I dont know what it is, but I feel I should really love Hamilton's books. Its such a weird feeling because I've heard so many great things and been compelled to by all his novels, but have never made it through Reality Dysfunction.

Stephen Erikson's Malazan also feel the same. I heard so many incredible things about Memories of ice, and I forced myself, literally forced my self to read the first 3, and as impressed as I was, I didnt love it. I liked it, respected it, but I wasn't head over heels in love with it. I remember when I finished Rise of Endymion, I started begging ppl to read simmons, and I was able to get a couple of my friends and professors to read a scifi novel due to my passion. and these guys only read non fiction.
 
I never got the whole Harry Potter thing - always seemed like a cross between Malory Towers and the magig faraway tree to me. My partner loves them, so it isn't like they aren't on the shelves to pick up and read. I've tried but they're boring.

Also the Robert Jorden wheel of time saga. Neither myself nor my partner got into that at all - couldn't see what was gripping everyone. Then again, I've said it before and I'll say it again: if every book appealed to everyone they would all be equal #1 best sellers and every published author would be stinking rich (I'm still waiting for the cheque in the post...)
 
kauldron26 said:
I really want to love Peter F. Hamilton's Night Daw trilogy, but i've failed to finish reality dysfunction... 4 times. I dont understand why because Dan Simmon's Hyperion/Endymion cantos is my favorite piece of fiction ever, and Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Morgan's Black Man and Robinson's Red Mars are in my top 10. So maybe I just dont like hard scifi? I dont know what it is, but I feel I should really love Hamilton's books. Its such a weird feeling because I've heard so many great things and been compelled to by all his novels, but have never made it through Reality Dysfunction.

Stephen Erikson's Malazan also feel the same. I heard so many incredible things about Memories of ice, and I forced myself, literally forced my self to read the first 3, and as impressed as I was, I didnt love it. I liked it, respected it, but I wasn't head over heels in love with it. I remember when I finished Rise of Endymion, I started begging ppl to read simmons, and I was able to get a couple of my friends and professors to read a scifi novel due to my passion. and these guys only read non fiction.
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I loved Dan Simmons Hyperion series and I too struggled a bit with Hamilton's Night's Dawn series, though I did persist and it did get better. However prior to reading them I read some other Hamilton which I found much easier going and so I would recommend you try his comonwealth books. There are two series with the Void set 100 years or so after the Padora ones:

Commonwealth Saga
1. Pandora's Star (2004)
2. Judas Unchained (2005)

Void Trilogy
1. The Dreaming Void (2007)
2. The Temporal Void (2008)
3. The Evolutionary Void (2010)
 
I felt like that about The Ringworld Engineers. I enjoyed Ringworld and Niven is my favourite SF author but I got about halfway through this one and just lost interest.
 
A while back I read Brasyl by Ian McDonald, which just didn't work for me. Currently I'm reading Blue Mars. I'm half way through it, which is about the number of pages that most novels are finished in, and I'm still waiting for this one to do something interesting. I've given up on waiting for a plot to start.
 
ktabic said:
Currently I'm reading Blue Mars. I'm half way through it, which is about the number of pages that most novels are finished in, and I'm still waiting for this one to do something interesting. I've given up on waiting for a plot to start.
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Assuming you read them first, did you get the same impressions of Red Mars and Green Mars? Personally, I agree - I felt the whole trilogy was pushed about 400 pages too far...
 
I have read the Red and Green Mars. I think Red Mars is great, but that might just be the tech geek and space exploration fan I am. I think I might have like the science parts more than the story. Although the Coyote does stretch credulity a bit. KSR does do good descriptions of Mars.

Green Mars, not as good IMHO. It does at least have a reasonably decent aim and some action. But it does depend on a massive lucky moment/coincidence for the Martians to win.

Then Blue Mars with something like 80 pages of talk about constitutions (it felt like 800) and the first interstellar ambassadors arrive at Earth to be met by... {spoiler}no one? Seriously? No one seems to care they have arrived? No media? No politicians? No protection detail for the people who just declared and won a war against Earth?{/spoiler}

Seriously, I'm not sure I can finish it.
 
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, possibly one of the most boring things i have ever tried to read,

The Nights Dawn trilogy by Peter Hamilton, had potential but totally lost me with the stupid Al Capone crap couldn't get past the start of the start book.
 
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.
I read it right through but I can't honestly say I wanted to keep reading it. I found it rather boring! However, I shall read it again one day, in the hopes that I find it more exciting the second time around.
 
I could never get into His Dark Materials or The Dark Tower even though I know so many people who love them both.
 
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