Worst read/Biggest disappointment of 2013?

[Pyan]

For me, it's got to be Raising Steam, by Terry Pratchett. So sad to see the severe deterioration in a great author's work - IMHO he should have stopped at Making Money, as the last three Discworld books are definitely inferior to the glory days.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

The Shining Girls by Lauren Buerkes. I thought I'd love it, but I ended up hating it on almost every level.

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

I know it's not a book written in 2013, but this year by biggest reading disappointment has been Man Plus by Frederick Pohl. It's just about the dullest, least engaging, and most plodding novel I've ever read. As an English Major, that's saying a lot.

 

[Elvraie]

This year, when I went through quite a few books bought years ago, I didn't have the courage or the patience to carry on with:
-The Chrystal Singers by A. McCaffrey (The heroin and the style annoyed me no end. I left 100 pages before the end.)
-The Dreaming Void, by Peter F Hamilton. Long winded, going nowhere slowly. Left it after 200p.
-Wulfsyarn a Mosaic. The idea was original: A robot tell his own side of a story, but it spoiled by his verbiage. I didn't read the second part as I was 'warned' by the narrator, that it was getting worse and it dealt mainly with the sense of guilt of the main character as he is the sole survivor of the crash of a hospital space ship.
I was lucky enough to have more good surprises than bad ones, this year.

 

[Timba]

This year, when I went through quite a few books bought years ago, I didn't have the courage or the patience to carry on with:
-The Chrystal Singers by A. McCaffrey (The heroin and the style annoyed me no end. I left 100 pages before the end.)

I really enjoyed this book but must admit I have no memory of opiates in the story.

 

[Elvraie]

Sorry, I meant Heroine as in main character. English is not my first language and I was a bit tired yesterday night.

 

[monsterchic]

I was completely disappointed by Allegiant-Veronioca Roth.
I absolutely loved Divergent, Insurgent was okay, but to switch writing styles AND *spoiler alert*

Spoiler

kill off your main character at the end

?
Ugh. Was not a fan.

 

[Handra]

A lot of this year's super hyped YA -- Allegiant, The Bone Season and the absolute worst, Matched. Yikes. Divergent was awesome, but omg what happened with Allegiant? The Bone Season was promising but even that completely lost me. Matched was atrociously boring. The most boring main character I've ever had the misfortune to read in first person POV. First person only works with interesting characters!!!!

 

[Siberian]

I was completely disappointed by Allegiant-Veronioca Roth.
I absolutely loved Divergent, Insurgent was okay, but to switch writing styles AND *spoiler alert*

Spoiler

kill off your main character at the end

?
Ugh. Was not a fan.

LOL don't get me started. Worst. Finale. Ever. And folks were complaining about Mockingjay...

 

[Hypnos164]

The Forge of Darkness - Steven Erikson was most disappointing because I had such high hopes for it. Lots of back-story delivered but without the Marines or similar characters to add some humor it was often hard, slow going.

Worst - Fifth Business by Robertson Davies - I should know better than to tangle with "literature"

 

[Lord Soth]

The Forge of Darkness - Steven Erikson was most disappointing because I had such high hopes for it. Lots of back-story delivered but without the Marines or similar characters to add some humor it was often hard, slow going.

I'm with you on this one, really couldn't enjoy Forge, very disappointed

 

[Boneman]

Malice by John Gwynne. I'd picked it up 3 or 4 times in waterstones, read the opening section - didn't like the idea of a prologue followed by an excerpt from the 'Writings of Halvor' but was prepared to forgive that, because the opening chapter is pretty good. But the problem soon started because the main mc Corban has chapters 1,3,5,7,9,11, and so on, but a different character is introduced in 2, (Veradis) 4, (Evnis) 6, (Veradis) 8, (Kastell), 10 (Kastell) 12 (Veradis) 14 (Evnis) 16 (Camlin) and I grew tired of the constant swapping of storylines, to the point that I had to re-read a section to find out who did what to whom again...

For a Tor book it's surprisingly littered with errors - question marks missing, or inserted where they don't belong, errant missing speech marks - almost as if, when someone mutters, they're not needed. And if one more person went '"Huh," he grunted' I think I'll scream... I became disinterested around chapter 30, and gave up. Maybe I'll go back to it at a later date, but 'twas very disappointing.

 

[hitmouse]

Worst - Fifth Business by Robertson Davies - I should know better than to tangle with "literature"

Interesting how mileage varies. This book, and the Deptford Trilogy are some of my favourites, and have had multiple re-reads over the years.

Big fan of Robertson Davies. I always found his work very accessible.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Started to read "The Hunger Games", thought it poorly written and a big let down.
Give up at less then 100pages, felt the same about "The Curious Case Of The Dog In The Night".

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Not an SF disappointment, but Jeffrey Deaver's The October List was hopeless. I love his books, adore the Lincoln Rhyme series, but this was one of those "experimental" things gone awry. It's written backward -- starts from the end, and then each chapter backs up just a bit in time. I couldn't take it.

BigBadBob, you *might* find that The Hunger Games gets better -- I certainly did. I started it and said What??? upon discovering that it was first-person, present-tense, flipped through to see if it kept doing that, sighed, and gave it a bit longer. Pretty soon, I got into the story and eventually didn't notice the present-tense at all. I've read the series twice now. Of course, 100 pages is quite a ways to get and not like it yet, so it may be hopeless for you.

 

[barrett1987]

Raising Steam was the biggest let down last year. Partly because of how badly it was written compared to his previous works and partly because until then i'd been able to ignore or put aside the problems he was having. Sad reading it really.

 

[triviadave]

Started to read "The Hunger Games", thought it poorly written and a big let down.
Give up at less then 100pages, felt the same about "The Curious Case Of The Dog In The Night".

I've never read the Hunger Games (although I watched the film on a flight and found it surprisingly good), however, I felt that the Curious Incident was one of the most unputdownable books I have ever read. The description of Asperger's/Autism was fantastic, and the little bits and pieces throughout were really clever. I saw the play last year and thought it was even better.

I think my biggest disappointment of last year was Flood by Stephen Baxter (not written in 2013 I know). I read it after The Long Earth, which I very much enjoyed. I had no empathy with the characters in Flood, and found I didn't really care what happened. Brilliant concept and ideas, but disappointing execution.

 

[nomadman]

Interesting how mileage varies. This book, and the Deptford Trilogy are some of my favourites, and have had multiple re-reads over the years.

Big fan of Robertson Davies. I always found his work very accessible.

Indeed. No need to put the word "literature" in inverted brackets here. As a novelist and storyteller he's of the very highest quality.

 

[chrispenycate]

I've never read the Hunger Games (although I watched the film on a flight and found it surprisingly good), however, I felt that the Curious Incident was one of the most unputdownable books I have ever read. The description of Asperger's/Autism was fantastic, and the little bits and pieces throughout were really clever. I saw the play last year and thought it was even better.

I think my biggest disappointment of last year was Flood by Stephen Baxter (not written in 2013 I know). I read it after The Long Earth, which I very much enjoyed. I had no empathy with the characters in Flood, and found I didn't really care what happened. Brilliant concept and ideas, but disappointing execution.

I too was disappointed with Flood; I appreciate Baxter, and expect him to get his science right. Or at least do a decent fake. That book he didn't.

 

[ethelredtheunredey]

The Long Earth books. Two great writers combine like a mecha in anime! what could possibly go wrong?!

a lot. Smug, boring. Like an endless episode of Sliders, without the good bits. Having your AI as a buddhist called Lobsang is really egging it as well.