Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new Top Ten list will be posted. Everyone is welcome to join. Link back to The Broke and the Bookish so everyone can check out other bloggers' lists. It's a fun way to get to know fellow bloggers.
This week is Top Ten Things that make me not want to read a book. Last week we looked at things we did like so this week we get to be haters. Yay!
The Chosen One - no no no. No more of this please. Okay maybe not ever but for the most part I'm over the chosen one trope unless it's just really compelling for some other reason.
Fairy Tale Retellings- sorry guys I know a lot of people love 'em but I'm just not into 'em.
When Trusted Bloggers Tell Me It Sucks. Take The 100 for example- lots of people say the show is way better, and unlike most adaptations I have not read the books even though I love the show. Although Shannon might have me talked into it- just to see, you know.
Love Triangles- or quadrangles or any variation thereof. Generally not a fan.
Where Are The Parents? - looking at you YA everything. Okay not everything- I think it's getting better? but generally we all laugh about it because it's so completely widespread.
Alt history- this one is iffy because there is some alt history I like (say The School for Unusual Girls series) but generally if we're refighting the Napoleonic War with dragons I'm usually not interested. I know a lot of people like these but they've never worked for me.
Insta-love - not usually a fan.
The big bad evil that must be vanquished through questing - yawn. If I want this I'll go back and read the Lord of the Rings. Okay there may be one or two other times it's done well, but if I'm reading a synopsis and I hear about the great evil stirring in the north etc I'm probably putting it back.
Hard SF - you know the kind that has to make sense, or takes what we think is possible and extrapolates it a bit. So we're in space worrying about gravitational effects and overshooting Mars or it takes 2 years to get to Venus or something. No. I'll take my space opera with wormholes and stargates and a zillion worlds thank you very much. Realism need not apply.
Totally agree on instaluv, love triangles and fairy tale retellings. The Chosen One story can be quite dull unless the author does sonething really good with it. I also get your points on alt history and the missing parents. I see both a lot and alt history can be bad if it goes too weird and distant from the point. Great list Greg!
ReplyDeleteI like my sci-fi with stargates as well. :D And very true about the parents. Often they are conveniently dead. -.-
ReplyDeleteDon't like chosen ones either. I also don't like prophecies, and I lump those two together since chosen ones are usually part of some prophecy lol.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of hard SF either because I don't want science class while I'm reading lol. But if the author can keep it realistic without overdoing the explanations, then that's ok.
I hate insta love with a passion and I've stopped reading The Chosen One books. I wish there was a way to know if parents are MIA in a book without having to read 1/3 of it.
ReplyDeleteRight there with you on love triangles and insta-love!
ReplyDeleteThe parents are never present in YA! Wtf! And also they rarely have siblings!
ReplyDeleteI'm eh on FT retellings. When they are very loosely based I am better with them. Where are the parents?? one makes me rage!! Great list!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more on the missing parents and the chosen one. Lorelai, that was a good point about there often not being siblings either. I'd love to see more YA books where the main character has at least one sibling, and there would be many bonus points if they had a good relationship with each other.
ReplyDeleteI love hard science fiction, though! Haha.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday!
"Where Are The Parents?" HA! Yes!!! Drives me crazy!
ReplyDeleteI almost put the chosen one trope on my list too. It's so so soooo overdone! Absent parents annoys me too. I do think it's getting better. I've read a lot of contemporary with involved parents lately. Great list!
ReplyDeleteI've started staying away from The Chosen One themed books as well- I don't know why I didn't put it on my list though....
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Poems and Poets!
OMG - where are the parents, I so agree! It's part of the reason I haven't been reading as much YA lately. YA has become about teens doing adult things, with no family structure whatsoever. I find it so unrealistic and even off-putting.
ReplyDeleteOH - where are the parents - you are so right. I didn't even think of that one but there are so few parents in YA books. My parents were ALL OVER ME when I was a teen. I mentioned love triangles as well and animal abuse (but of course that one had to be on my list!) Nice feature Greg!
ReplyDeleteYes to being turned off by love triangles and insta-love as well. And while I don't mind fairy tale retellings, I prefer more original stories.
ReplyDeleteGood point about "MIA parents" in YA fiction, too. I've read a few exceptions, but many times I wonder where the parents are and why they don't play a bigger role in the story.
Where are the parents? I love that one. And yes I really can't stand love triangles :( but I don't yet run away.
ReplyDeleteLove triangles and insta love are hit or miss kinda things. I'm ok with them (and could even love them) If the writing is great or if they're written by my favorite authors.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you about books that are not not recommended by my trusted fellow bloggers.
Awesome list, Greg. :)
Great list! Though I kind of maybe might have decided to try to find all the Beauty and the Beast retellings and read some of those after seeing the movie in the theater last weekend.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, Greg! I am not a huge fan of insta-love either. And alt history is hard for me to get into. I try now and then though. And yes to needing parents in YA! Where are they?! Thank you for sharing! I hope you are enjoying your week.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about the chosen one trope! I am so tired of it, I'd be OK if we gave it a rest for a few years and then came back at it with fresh ideas.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT.
Great list! So many of these are over used. I do trust the judgment of others so I will usually steer clear of a book getting a lot of negative reviews. I am so over insta love and wish it would just go away.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree on the love triangle thing as well. I've also learned I'm not a fan of the chosen one trope either. It gets on my nerves, although I loved Harry Potter, but there are too many knock offs after that. And gore is not something I'm a fan of either.
ReplyDeleteI like alt history if it's done well...Underground Airlines is on my TBR list and I LOVE The Man in the High Castle. But I'm totally with you on instalove and fairytale retellings. I'm reading The Sun Is Also a Star right now and it's a great book but the instalove just makes it all seem less plausible. I mean, why can't book relationships just develop normally?!
ReplyDeleteLove this list! I agree with so many of those points -- but especially Where Are the Parents? I couldn't sneeze without my parents being all over me. How do these kids do half the stuff they do in these books? All your points are spot-on. Well done :)
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the insta-love, love triangles, and the chosen one stories. They all drive me crazy. I have to admit I'm still crazy about the fairytale retellings tho. hahaha! I had to laugh at the "where are the parents" one because my husband and I just had that conversation recently. Great list!
ReplyDeleteLove triangles drive me nuts, as does insta love. Where are the parents, totally forgot that one from my list, but it should have been there. Apparently all YA parents are on an extended vacation!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/top-ten-tuesday-104/
I've always disliked love triangles. I don't even know how they got popular in the first place. Maybe an author woke up one day and thought "Hey I have a great idea ! Let's make the nice guy suffer by making him believe he has a shot with the girl !" I don't know but ugh.
ReplyDeleteNooo not the fairy tale retellings, I LOVE them ! But it's hard to find the really good ones.
I do like re-tellings :D
ReplyDeleteBut ugh insta! Triangles! No parents. SIgh, yes all of those
The parents issue! I really should have added that to my list! :)
ReplyDeleteThe chosen one. I see that in a blurb and cringe. Hard scifi gets me too. Brings one the snooze thing. And insta love. Don't get me started. LOL
ReplyDeleteI hate when parents are complete absent. It drives me up the walls, especially in contemporary books. What a missed opportunity to explore these relationships.
ReplyDeleteNot into Fairytale Retellings! I almost fainted.
ReplyDeleteAbsent parents in YA drives me nuts too, I figured it is cause I'm old. LOL
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with this list! Especially the part about where you read The 100 just to see ;) (Seriously, curiosity has to win out, right?) But yep to all the others, too! The Parent-in-YA Syndrome is so... ENOUGH. So is the Chosen One. I roll my eyes when I see them now. I can kiiiiind of do a love triangle but only if it is done right- and let's be real, that is rare. I also don't love retellings (I think I was over them after like Cinder, so can we please move on?) and I don't like alternate histories with weird stuff either. I am okay if they are like, actual alternate histories that could have ACTUALLY happened, but like you said, no dragons versus Napoleon please and thank you.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is my favorite line of ever: "Realism need not apply." YESS. I don't really CARE about the science. If I did, I could just read, oh you know, a SCIENCE BOOK. No no no. I mean, I want it to make logical sense, but not rocket scientist-level sense. LOVE this list!!
I agree with Nise. Absent parents (mature adults) drive me crazy in YA novels. Thanks so much for visiting my blog.
ReplyDeleteNot an insta-love fan either. I can handle insta-lust or insta-connection but that I just met you and now I'd gladly take a bullet for you and want to be with you forever thing is just a little too hard to believe. I also have a low tolerance for love triangles - except in the Julie Mulhern books but I think that one is a little different. Oh the Where are the parents thing drives me crazy in YA and middle grade. I mean I get that full parental involvement wouldn't work but their existence would be great or at least some basic boundaries. Most parents aren't going to let their 9 year old travel across town on their own or their 13 year old stay out all night. Great list!
ReplyDelete"Where Are The Parents?" - thank you thank you thank you for including this. It drives me bonkers when I read YA and the parents are conveniently out of the picture, or are so blithely unaware of what their kids are up to. Worse is when a YA novel paints all adults as incompetent nincompoops. It's just so unrealistic and such a turn off!
ReplyDelete~Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
Love triangles or insta-love are definitely so annoying! And I totally agree about the lack of parents in YA. The Chosen One is definitely over-used, but I'll still check it out if the story sounds good.
ReplyDeleteNo love triangles or cliffhangers would be my big ones but I agree with all of yours.
ReplyDeleteI need to see what the future TTT topics are. The past few were fun.
For What It's Worth
Hahaha, agree with pretty much everything except fairy tale retellings. I generally can't get enough of those, at least the good ones. XD
ReplyDeleteThe Chosen One story is over saturated (:P) and I think the hardest SF I've ever read was The Martian, and let's face it, I was there for Watney's wonderful sense of humor. Where Are the Parents is DEFINITELY a factor. That drives me nuts, even if the excuse is something like 'the parents work all the time' it's annoying that there aren't enough good fictional parents out there!
I agree about the love triangles. They are almost never done well.
ReplyDeleteHere’s my TTT!
Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog
I avoid alt history too and time travel back to the past.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT
I'm not one for fairy tale retellings, either... and if a trusted blogger pans a book, that makes it a definite no-go for me, too!
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only person who didn't like alternate history scenarios. Thanks for letting me know I man not alone. :)
ReplyDelete