Young Writers Society

James Patterson's Maximum Ride series.

Those books broke my heart. Thing is, the idea's pretty good and the characters have room for some seriously interesting flaws, if only he'd bother to develop them.
Instead, he chose to mass-produce books with a "good message," aimed the series toward tweens/younger teens, and digressed hugely from the original plot line. I still muck around in the fandom, but I just wish the concept for MR had been given to a better writer. The books are full of plot holes, don't make sense, don't follow any sort of timeline, and have no character development whatsoever.
Just because you're writing for teens doesn't mean you can write books that require the antithesis of thought, Mr. Patterson.

/rant

I forgot to mention this awhile ago but one of the worst books I have read is Cut by Particia Mccormick

http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Patricia-Mccormick/dp/0439324599

This book lacked real depth and emotion. The MC cutting issues are only a gimmick and her reason for cutting is just.... lame.

I think this book has been mentioned before but I still felt I should give my vote on it.

Tithe by Holly black.

I absolutely hated that one. It made very little sense, and all the main character ever does is swear and smoke. there's no depth to any of the characters.

I remember reading that back in fifth grade! I thought it was cool back then.

Probably because all the main character does is swear or smoke, but...

The Wings of Merlin, by T. A. Barron. I don't know what possessed me to read it through, but I did, and when I looked back, I realized how closely it resembled a badly written copy of LOTR and Narnia mixed up. Tolkien would be ashamed. xD

Also, if I may throw it in, The Giver by Lois Lowry. The only part I liked was the part where--oh, wait, I'd be giving it away. Glad I caught that. 'Hem, 'hem. Anyways, there was one bit I liked, and the rest, ugh. Hardly any character development at all, and that that there was never failed to be abominably cliche.

So there we go.

-SELA

"Turnabout" by Margaret Peterson Haddix.. I love her books, but this one was horrifyingly confusing and I had to keep rereading pages before I got the general jist of it.. I've tried to read it several times, but I've just given up on it! xD

I used to be obsessed with Twilight in a nearly psychopathic way, until I kind of got over the "OMG he's so sweet!" phase and reread. Then I noticed her writing was kind of.. blah?

Um, don't kill me for asking, but what's wrong with Harry Potter?

The Bronze Bow

I don't know who the author is but I did not like that book. I thought it was very boring and kinda dumb.

I also read a trilogy--fantasy genre--but for the life of my I do not remember the titles or even the authors name. But I thought they were the worst books ever. I didn't have a favourite character, they all irratated me. The only character I liked was in the second book and he ended up dying at the end.

I rather liked Turnabout. True, not her best work, but still not the worst book. I'm also a bit of a fan of The Giver.

But everyone's entitled to their own opinions. *Shrugs*

And yes, I like the HP books too.

ANCIENTS:

The Odyssey = minor death.

I'm doing that book for a school project - I love it. It is a bit hard to understand, but that's because it's really an epic poem, not a novel. As such, it has to be read as a poem. Otherwise, you just end up getting irritated by it.

But I love it. It does start out kind of slow, but once you get to the part where Oddyseuss(butchered spelling) recalls his story, it's great.

Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin.

I thought the concept was really interesting (once you die, you go to this sort of limbo-afterlife and steadily grow younger until you're reborn on Earth) and there were some good moments, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters. Zevin had a really detached style throughout the book, almost monotonous, to me. I'm going to try another of her books, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, and I hope not to be as disappointed.

And as for Maximum Ride, I completely agree. I thought the characters were actually very interesting a pretty well-developed too, and I loved Max's narrative voice, but the moment he threw in 'the moral of the story' he lost me. I don't read books to be preached to. I read them to be entertained, however haughty that might sound.

And the Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty being the first book) was a disappointment also. I managed to get through the first book fairly satisfied, but I always get bored in the middle of Rebel Angels and I can't bring myself to finish. I've re-started numerous times with the same result.

Don't go bashing HP.

Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin.

Oh, I read that book, Evi. My mom got it for me. I agree, I didn't really care about the characters and the end was a little weird. So, was the beginning, it started in a dog's point of view and I didn't figure that out until the end of the prologue--or first chapter--whatever that was.

I tried reading a book called Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes I thought it was going to be really good, because when I read the back of the book it sounded really interesting. But, I was confused when I was reading and it was boring. I couldn't tell if they were talking about something that happened before, or what was happening now. It was about this kid, who used to be fat and his best friend, this girl Sarah Byrnes (They don't call her Sarah, it has to be Sarah Byrnes) who has scars on her arms and face because when she was little she spilled a bowl of boiling water all over herself by accident and her dad wouldn't get her reconstructive surgery. Anyways, this Sarah Byrnes goes crazy and goes to the psych ward and she won't talk or anything. So, yeah. I don't know, it was just boring.

This might cause some controversy around here as I know there are several fangirls/fanboys but Twilight was easily the worst book I've ever read in my life. The author was smart, the book was so intelligently laid out and marketed for the teenage demographic. However, the plot was horrible; I'm pretty sure Disney made sequels have a much better story than Twilight. To think I lost a bet on purpose to teach my friend a lesson...but did the tables turn on me. This is the last time I'm going to wager my mind, body and soul...I would rather be a crackwhore....

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood has to be the worst book ever. I'm reading it for English at the moment and I can't read any more than 10 pages at a time because it's so boring. Did the author ever hear about plot?

Then when it looks like it may be getting slightly interesting, it goes off saying "I remember the time..."

By the time the flashback is over you've forgotten what was going on. You can't tell what's a flashback and what's happening now. What's wrong with chronological order?

Anyway, that's my rant over. I haven't read Twilight or Eragon so I can't comment there. Harry Potter was good, especially the last one.

thunder_dude7 wrote:

ANCIENTS:

The Odyssey = minor death.

I'm doing that book for a school project - I love it. It is a bit hard to understand, but that's because it's really an epic poem, not a novel. As such, it has to be read as a poem. Otherwise, you just end up getting irritated by it.

But I love it. It does start out kind of slow, but once you get to the part where Odysseus(butchered spelling) recalls his story, it's great.

Well, I'm glad somebody liked it, cause I didn't. First of all, all Odysseus does is lie. Seriously! What's wrong with telling the truth, especially when you're talking to your son or your father? Anyway, I just finished reading Dante's Inferno, and I busted out laughing when he said Odysseus was in the eighth circle for lying. But the Iliad is better. *trust me*

Anyway. Worst book: I agree that Cut was lame. And I'm sick of gross teenage books like that.

The Fellowship of the Ring. (Sorry, LoTR fans, but nothing puts me to sleep than rings of power and elvish ancestry.)

~Sunny

i cant believe some of u say eragon and harry potter are amongst the worst books, theyre some of D BEST BOOKS ever to be written. Anyway, I don't read books I don't like; if the beginning is boring, I put it down immediately. Please don't take offence about my eragon and harry potter comment, every1s got his opinion