# What makes you give up on a book?



## Ghost

I used to be a very forgiving reader. Even if a book wasn't good, I'd keep reading for my own sense of closure.

Not so anymore.

Perhaps I've lost patience as I got older or there are too many alternatives to waste my time, but I will drop a book if isn't entertaining me. Books with annoying, stupid, or boring characters get returned to the library or given to Goodwill. Forget closure. I'm not as forgiving anymore.

This makes me wonder why other people give up. Why do you quit reading a book?


----------



## Steerpike

I am also a lot quicker to give up on a book than I used to be. Unfortunately, it is hard to quantify exactly what makes me stop reading. What is boils down to, ultimately, is that I lose interest. I will read a book all the way through regardless of genre and style (wordy, lean, POV, etc) if the author holds my interest. If the author does not, I'll put it down, regardless of any of these factors. Typically, I find that the characters and events fail to hold my interest.

I find that I put many books down in the middle. That probably accounts for 90% of the books I start and fail to finish. They start off good, maybe I like the premise, the characters are interesting, and there is good conflict. For all I know the conclusion may be great as well, but I never get that far. Instead, the narrative seems to wander in the middle. Events aren't interesting, or the author starts pursuing side plots that don't hold my interest, straying too far from the primary story.

Middles are a big problem.


----------



## Caged Maiden

I quit reading a book one time in chapter 1.  HAHAHA talk about unforgiving.  It was the premise of the character's story I hated, and couldn't make it past a few pages.  That being said, I do try to give a book the benefit of the doubt, and sometimes if I can't get right into a novel, I put it back on the shelf and try it again in the future.  Sometimes I want a light book (a couple hundred pages) to just read in a day, and sometimes I want something thicker to keep me busy for a week.  Sometimes I want a fun tale with a cast of humorous characters to just make me laugh, and sometimes I want to watch someone suffer and overcome great adversity.  

I think each book serves a purpose, and I'm usually pretty forgiving, but there's some books I have lost all taste for (and I usually read ANYTHING).  That being said, I usually buy books second-hand and it stings less when you hate them.  If I was paying a premium price and in line to be a first reader... well I'd feel insulted and ripped off if a book failed to do it for me.

The things that make me throw up in my mouth a little:

1.  When the main character is a gorgeous virgin who's been locked away from the world by her father because she's just so damn pretty men will lose their minds upon seeing her.  Yeah I hate that.  Rarely does she have anything to offer to the tale.

2.  When an author has self-indulged too much: written their story in elvish, written a stream of constant profanity, a cover-to-cover smutfest, or something similar that makes the story insignificant.

3.  This is the worst, but unfortunately you don't see it coming.  The epic awesomeness of the story is cheapened into seething reeling hatred by an ending so un-epic I feel like ripping the book apart in a vain attempt to give it a better end.  Nothing is worse than falling in love with characters and their quests and personal growth, only to have the end spoiled by something like:  "And then a dragon swoops down and burns up all the bad guys and everyone lives happily ever after.  Sorry folks, Harry Potter did this to me to some degree, and I still feel burned.  I think sometimes the ending just needs to be the mention of rebuilding a fallen world/kingdom, not that everyone marries their sweetheart and has a great life.  Oh and that made me think of another:

4.  When the development of a story is SO good, and you're way into the characters and love the setting and struggles.  And then halfway through it's like the author lost their vision, had to make a deadline, threw some directionless boring crap in (and probably something shocking, because that ALWAYS makes a wounded story heal up right-quick) and the second half might as well be the doggy bag after a four star meal.  

Yeah this thread really does strike a nerve doesn't it?  There's not much as bad as feeling deeply disappointed with a book you had high hopes for.


----------



## Sinitar

I seldom stop reading books, simply because I'm too stubborn to give up on something which has already devoured a portion of my free time. 

For the sake of this topic, I'll comply. One of my pet peeves is dull introductory chapters. The ones filled with description are even more irritating, as they insist on feeding me information I do not want to digest yet. Excuse me, but I'd like a reason to immerse into the story before getting acquainted with every character and their mother. It's unfortunate that a good number of books have a slow start, even though their positive reception states otherwise. 

So, redundancy is a no no for me, and it is quickly followed by a lack of cohesiveness. The main problem with the latter is that the author dumps several characters into the fray with the promise of linking their story lines later. I cannot emphasize just how infuriating this technique is. There is no bigger cheat than forcing your reader to wade through that pile of boring crap just for the sake of knowledge. And this knowledge may or may not prove useful.

Cristopher's Paolini's Inheritance serves as a good example for my last paragraph. Roran's arc filled 100 pages or so for the sake of word count. That's right, that guy had NO contribution plot-wise.


----------



## Kit

I don't like books that turn out to be nothing but a lame framework for kinky porn. Not that I necessarily object to a few sex scenes in a book- but if it's a fantasy story, call it a fantasy story, and if it's porn, call it porn. If it turns out to be porn masquerading as an actual story, with an actual plot and actual character development, I feel like I've been duped.

Also, a female "fighter" wearing a chain mail bikini on the cover is an automatic pass. Which is unfortunate in a way, since I know that authors don't often have control over what's on the cover, and the cover often does not reflect the book very well. But chain mail bikinis are just so irritating that I don't even want to bother. It annoys the crap out of me to see female fighters wearing things that are completely impractical for fighting in. DOUBLE thumbs down if she's wearing a chainmail bikini in a snowy mountain setting. For cripe's sake.


----------



## Steerpike

Kit said:


> It annoys the crap out of me to see female fighters wearing things that are completely impractical for fighting in. DOUBLE thumbs down if she's wearing a chainmail bikini in a snowy mountain setting. For cripe's sake.



What if it is magical and not only provides superior protection against foes but keeps her warm?


----------



## Caged Maiden

Steerpike said:


> What if it is magical and not only provides superior protection against foes but keeps her warm?



Then it ought to glow on the cover, I think.  HAHA!


----------



## Shockley

I've dropped a lot of books, mostly because I get distracted by some other story or school/work/my own writing gets in the way. But here are two big instances I can think of:

 1. I stopped reading Ed Greenwood's 'Elminster, the Making of a Mage' on page 27. I know the exact page and sentence because I checked it write before I started doing this post. We have an epic story about a dragon, a young man and the possibility of a decent plot. Next thing we know we're a few years on, the character is living in the woods and he's arguing with some characters who don't matter to the main plot of his books (I know this, as it's a prequel) and have walking targets on their back. 

 It's a story about a mage learning his craft. That's what I want to read. I don't want to hear about his time with bandits or the long, slow build up to actually meeting the wizard who trains him. Start me at the dragon attack, move on to the wizard and fill in the rest with dialogue.

 2. Atlas Shrugged. After reading Anthem I thought, hey, I might like Rand's stuff. Four hundred odd pages later, I just have to put it down in disgust. I've never read anything more self-gratifying in my life (and I read a lot of political stuff), and the content was just blech.


----------



## Shockley

Oh, and two others I just have to mention.

 3. I started Wheel of Time with the prequel (I know, bad idea) and just had to give it up. I was a huge fan of Jordan's run on the Conan stories, but I didn't get that same kind of feel from Wheel of Time. Also, it's about a Wheel of Time. I get it. I really do. I didn't make it through the first ten pages.

 4. Piers Anthony's Xanth series. I hear this is fantastic, but I'll never know. As soon as I learned the main character was named Bink I lost any and all drive to read it.


----------



## Caged Maiden

Shockley said:


> 4. Piers Anthony's Xanth series. I hear this is fantastic, but I'll never know. As soon as I learned the main character was named Bink I lost any and all drive to read it.



Tell me about it.  I read the series many years ago, and I loved the stories for the most part, but the names were  in two categories for me: bad and worse.  Too bad, because I really enjoyed the writing and the cleverness of some of the adventures..... also, the horribly punning that got over the top in a few of those... I hate all puns now because of that series (which is still one of my favorites).


----------



## Steerpike

Shockley said:


> 1. I stopped reading Ed Greenwood's 'Elminster, the Making of a Mage' on page 27. I know the exact page and sentence because I checked it write before I started doing this post. We have an epic story about a dragon, a young man and the possibility of a decent plot. Next thing we know we're a few years on, the character is living in the woods and he's arguing with some characters who don't matter to the main plot of his books (I know this, as it's a prequel) and have walking targets on their back.



Plus, Greenwood is a crappy writer.

I did like Atlas Shrugged, however


----------



## Caged Maiden

Elminster, that sounds familiar.  I think I read some of that series.  Is it older?  The fact that I haven't re-read it is enough for me to presume I wasn't enthralled the first time.   I have a bookshelf in my den with all me very favorite books to re-read on it.  I might start a new thread about that.  I wonder what's on people's re-read lists.


----------



## myrddin173

I don't usually give up on books, but I think I will give up the one I'm currently reading (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).  I started it almost two weeks ago, and I don't think I'm past chapter one.  I just haven't been interested in reading.  I do want to finish it because I hear its a good series and I want to see the movie... Maybe I will just postpone it until the summer.

The Xanth books were pretty good though I haven't read some of the more recent ones.  Also just so you know Bink is only the main character for Books one and two and slowly fades away in later books...


----------



## Caged Maiden

As far as Xanth, I personally love Nightmare and Ogre ogre the best.  Both were really well done and made me cry (a definite plus if I'm moved by words on a page, I think).  Some of the later ones got silly, especially with the puns.

Oh man Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is SO good.  I haven't watched the English movies yet, are they out?  Well whatever, I watched the Swedish one and it was Freaking AWESOME.


----------



## myrddin173

The first one is out on DVD I think, it has Daniel Craig in it.  What I've read of the book, all 10 pages, is good.  I just haven't been compelled to continue reading.


----------



## Penpilot

I used to be pretty forgiving too. But I've become more aware of what kind of book I'm reading. I think simple page turners that you read and forget have their place. Sometimes I'll finish a bad book just to study why it's bad and think of ways to fix the book. But there's only one sure fire way to get me to put down a book and that's stupidity and all it's forms: a supposedly smart character making stupid choices without just cause, stupid reasoning to justify actions that the plot needs, and stupidity/laziness of the author who speaks authoratively on a subject they obviously know nothing about. Those things get the eye roll and the mumble of Bullsh!% right before I toss the book across the room. I can forgive plot holes. I can forgive average prose and average characters. But when the author tries to slip something stupid by the reader, it tells me they think the reader is stupid, and the author can't be trusted not to cheat in their story to achieve the ending. Boo-erns to that.


----------



## Devor

I used to read out of stubbornness.  Then in college I had a friend who taught me how to walk out of movies, and if I can manage that a few times, I can put a book down.

But I don't, really, because I like to read classics and books that are widely well-received.  I usually know what I'm getting into before I pick the book up.  And if I don't, I'm pretty picky about that opening page and the random words-in-the-middle.

So most of the time, if I've already invested in the thing, I find myself putting books down because they crawl into that dark, hopeless place I don't care to venture in to.  Killing can be happy, and everyone has conflicts to overcome.  But when there is sheer hopelessness, or things like rape, heavy-addictions, and abusive relationships, I just don't want to read it.  I know that those things can be "real" (though I hate when people act like anything else _isn't_ real), but if I'm going to put myself through the experience of reading such things, I think I'd rather read a memoir or a true story and feel that bad for real people.


----------



## Shockley

anihow said:


> Elminster, that sounds familiar.  I think I read some of that series.  Is it older?  The fact that I haven't re-read it is enough for me to presume I wasn't enthralled the first time.   I have a bookshelf in my den with all me very favorite books to re-read on it.  I might start a new thread about that.  I wonder what's on people's re-read lists.



 It's a fairly large series - It's the series of books that Dungeons & Dragons based the Forgotten Realms on, so the character of Elminster makes cameos in a lot of their works. He's referenced in a few of R. A. Salvatore's books, and he pops in and out of the Baldur's Gate games.


----------



## Phin Scardaw

dullness of style, lack of originality, stereotypes - these things are turn-offs

it's called FANTASY isn't it? the only limits are one's imagination. why then are the same themes rehashed with the same races? surely we can dream up something more than elves, dwarves and men battling goblins and dragons.

in my opinion one of the most masterful fantasy writers is John Crowley. His novels "The Deep" and "Engine Summer" prove that fantasy stories don't need to take place on planets which are round like ours, nor on worlds other than our own. his style is also remarkably well-honed and his ideas are truly fantastic.

i find that since reading works like his and LeGuin, Gaiman, and Gibson my standards have gotten high enough that i have very little patience for generic fantasy novels written with no creativity in style or literary depth that tell predictable tales. i really enjoyed certain series in my youth such as the DragonLance Chronicles, but i sincerely doubt i would derive the same pleasure from them now as i did when i was sixteen.


----------



## Ankari

I have given up on only two series: one by Terry Goodkind and the other by RA Salvatore.  With Terry Goodkind I felt he was a propagandist for democracy.  He kept on shoving real world political views down my throat in such a clumsy manner I couldn't stand it.  Also everything was predictable.  Blah blah captured blah blah escape blah blah love.  It took me five books to figure that out.    

RA Salvatore I used to like when I a teenager.  When I picked him back up in my late twenties I seriously questioned my mental capacity at the age of seventeen.  Again he was predictable and every character was cookie cutter.


----------



## Saigonnus

I have alot of fantasy novels and I have read hundreds if not thousands and I have yet to actually put one down and just stop reading it. Terry Goodkind WAS a little too political, but I tend to ignore things like that in a novel, focusing more on how interesting the story is, the characters and how unique the world is. I have read lots of classic fantasy like Tolkien, Piers Anthony, and C.S. Lewis and newer stuff like Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan and the like and each was appealing to me in their own way. 

I do have to admit that much of the TSR or WOTC (Wizards of the Coast) stuff from the 90s was pretty standard, cookie cutter fantasy, but I finished everything I read without much trouble. I guess I just never looked that deeply into most novels.


----------



## charleshudgen

I love reading books but for some instances it makes me distracted when there is a new book to release which is I wanted to read it too. I stopped for sometime just to read the introduction of my new book and I took 10 pages and forgot that I am reading this book. On the other hand, it end up to stop my new book and go back to book which I used to read.


______________________________________
Buy Science Fiction Book Online


----------



## Telcontar

I also give up on very few books. I don't think there's any particular rule for me, as it's a combination of all the things that make you _continue_ reading a book _not_ happening.

For one, there's simple boredom. That's what ended up killing the Wheel of Time for me. Too many page with nothing really happening. No new info, no plot advancement... nothing. Book closed.

Another is pedestrian or sub-par writing combined with a shock of some kind - I don't shock as in emotionally, but a shock to my enjoyment. This happened recently as I was trying to struggle through A Gathering Darkness (new book by Micheal Stackpole). Bad writing to begin with, but I like to finish what I start so I kept reading. The eventual 'shock' was when the book took a turn into urban fantasy territory when it had been straight up dystopian sci-fi for about half of it's length. Nope. Not going down that road with you, author. 

Hm... those might actually be the only reasons. Like I said, I pretty stubbornly finish books even when I don't like them, because that'll give me more reason to dislike them. No-one can say to me "Well it go really good at the end!" Besides the fact that any book that gets good 'at the end' is most emphatically NOT a good book, finishing it means I can deny that any such improvement ever took place.


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne

myrddin173 said:


> I don't usually give up on books, but I think I will give up the one I'm currently reading (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).  I started it almost two weeks ago, and I don't think I'm past chapter one.  I just haven't been interested in reading.  I do want to finish it because I hear its a good series and I want to see the movie... Maybe I will just postpone it until the summer.



The first chunk of the book is a bit dry; it spends a lot of time with Blomkvist and his legal problems. The movie compresses all this very nicely so that you get the gist of it and then fairly quickly move on to the main plot.

Nonetheless, after I saw the movie, I went and read all three books in about two weeks. Maybe seeing the movie will make the book easier to read?


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne

To answer the original question: I've only ever given up on a couple of books in my life.

One was _The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_, when I was a kid. I'd read and enjoyed the first two Narnia books, and then for some reason I just couldn't get more than two or three chapters into _Dawn Treader_. I didn't finish reading it (or the rest of the Narnia books) until I read all seven of them to my son last year. (Having read all seven, I can't say I'm particularly glad that I did. )

Recently, I gave up on the fourth Eragon book, _Inheritance_. I had enjoyed the first three (despite the obvious problems, like the overly descriptive prose and complete lack of subtlety in character development), but for some reason, the fourth one just got on my nerves. I made it about 3% of the way through, according to my Kindle. 

One of my mom's favorite SF authors is C. J. Cherryh, and my wife really enjoys Cherryh's books too, but I just can't stand her writing style. I got about ten pages into one of her novels and gave up.

I did enjoy the procedural-like nature of the _Lost Fleet_ series by Jack Campbell, but after six books of Geary solving every problem in five minutes, it really got repetitive. I think it was a case of me waiting for it to get really good, but it not being quite irritating enough to put down.


----------



## Leif GS Notae

Anything with Gail Martin's name on it...

Er, I have to get at least 50-100 pages into it. If I am not sold on it or my brain is working overtime wondering why the author did what they did, it is time to let it go. 

Maybe I might read the first chapter and if I have no hope, I'll read the last and see if the ending matches the beginning. If it doesn't, I get a nice little fire to warm me.


----------



## Kit

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> One of my mom's favorite SF authors is C. J. Cherryh, and my wife really enjoys Cherryh's books too, but I just can't stand her writing style. I got about ten pages into one of her novels and gave up.
> .



I really liked her contributions to the Thieves' World series, so I tried one of her novels and had the same experience- tried hard but I don't think I even made to the end of chapter one.


----------



## Philip Overby

I actually give up fairly easy.  But, I'm what you call a "give it another chance" reader.  Meaning sometimes a book will suck me in and I'm totally engrossed in it, then there's a chapter that just sinks me.  I stop reading.  It could be because the characters aren't really doing anything or what they are doing isn't very interesting.  This happened to me a number of times reading A Dance of Dragons because if people are sitting around eating olives I suddenly just go blank.  But I finished the book later.  

For me, no book ever goes unfinished, I just will have to read it later if it's not working for me.  I'm very careful with my book selections now though, so this happens less and less as years go by.


----------



## Alex Croyle

The one thing I absolutely hate is weak  main characters (not just physically). If I'm reading a book and the main character is constantly backing down and complaining about things rather than doing something I want to rip my hair out. A good example is Robert Jordans books. Amazing start but the main characters chapter starts becoming a cry fest around book four or five.


----------



## Janga

Something that will turn me off a book is if the characters make stupid decisions that do not make any sense. I've read a few books like that but i can't think of any specifics right now.

Also, stories that don't appear to be going anywhere coupled with uninteresting characters will lead me to put down a book. I have a long to-read list, so I have no problems quitting a book if I lose interest.


----------



## Ailith

Interesting question! I rarely quit in the middle of a book, but sometimes I won't complete a series because it is clear that the author is not going to resolve certain storylines. Or that they are going to drag them out indefinitely. The same goes with TV shows. There comes a time when the story is really over, and you can't drag it out anymore!


----------



## Steerpike

Ailith said:


> Interesting question! I rarely quit in the middle of a book, but sometimes I won't complete a series because it is clear that the author is not going to resolve certain storylines. Or that they are going to drag them out indefinitely. The same goes with TV shows. There comes a time when the story is really over, and you can't drag it out anymore!



Yeah, I hear you. I write some YA, and I like to keep up on what appears to be selling in the field. I recently read P.C. and Kristin Cast's _House of Night_ books, and while the series has been fun I'm starting to get that feeling about it. With the last one I started thinking "OK guys, are you going to wrap this one up or what?"


----------



## Aravelle

I can't take a majority of urban fantasy seriously. Especially if the main character has a "secret" of any sort, or is in a love triangle with a mortal/non mortal or two non mortals. It's just... no.

I also am slowly getting annoyed with the stories of "average joe falls into tragedy and becomes a hero". I still haven't finished the first Wheel of Time book because of it. Patrick Rothfuss did it best, truly.

 I also loathe stories where the elves are straight out of Tolken's mind -Eragon being my only weakness-, and the dwarves being the mighty hammer wielding boozeheads. 

Oh, and creatures that are too powerful and just built up to be badass. It's like people take nature or any realism into consideration. I get that's it's fantasy but... be somewhat realistic. It doesn't give you the license to do whatever you want.


----------



## Fnord

I'll jump onboard the RA Salvatore/Terry Goodkind bash because they were going to be the two authors I was going to mention when I saw the title.

I liked the Icewind Dale Trilogy.  I liked the Dark Elf Trilogy.  I liked a few of the books that came after. . . and then it seemed like there were so many sharks being jumped that I was watching an Evel Knievel stunt.  There was no room left for the characters to develop so it seemed like an endless cycle of fantasy tropes.  You can only stretch a concept so far.

A friend of mine used to gush about Terry Goodkind and he went so far as to buy me "Wizard's First Rule".  I hate when people _buy_ me books because then I feel obligated; if I buy a book and it doesn't grab me then I just dump it because it's a sunk cost anyway but there is no reason to spend more cost (in this case, time) continuing.  But when a friend buys me a book I feel like I need to give it a go.  After the first chapter I just knew I wasn't going to like it.  It seemed kind of bland and obvious ("oh, the protagonist rescues a beautiful girl right away?  There can't _possibly_ be a romantic tension developing later. . . .") and the setting and story just didn't seem very interesting.  I powered through to about halfway into the book before I just gave up outright.  I didn't even _notice_ any political commentary--I was just too busy feeling uninspired.  

I have noticed (at least as far as fantasy books go) that are some superficial indicators about whether or not I'll like the book: if the cover is bland, I don't have much hope for the contents (the Goodkind book is a perfect example).  The other one, which will sound kind of silly, is I will thumb to the "world map" in the book.  If the map looks like the type of place I'd like to explore, I seem more inclined to enjoy the book.  If it seems dull, empty, or too simple my experience has been that the setting tends to be too.  I'm huge on well-made settings though, which is not always the focus other readers have.  I need to be transported *into* the book and the map is the bridge to that for me.


----------



## Kit

Fnord said:


> The other one, which will sound kind of silly, is I will thumb to the "world map" in the book.  If the map looks like the type of place I'd like to explore, I seem more inclined to enjoy the book.  If it seems dull, empty, or too simple my experience has been that the setting tends to be too.  I'm huge on well-made settings though, which is not always the focus other readers have.  I need to be transported *into* the book and the map is the bridge to that for me.



That's interesting- and helpful. I didn't have plans to even include a map in my WIP, but you make me rethink.


----------



## Steerpike

If there is a map, I like to see that it has been well thought out and is well done. If there isn't a map at all, however, that doesn't bother me.


----------



## Steerpike

Fnord said:


> I liked the Icewind Dale Trilogy.  I liked the Dark Elf Trilogy.  I liked a few of the books that came after. . . and then it seemed like there were so many sharks being jumped that I was watching an Evel Knievel stunt.  There was no room left for the characters to develop so it seemed like an endless cycle of fantasy tropes.  You can only stretch a concept so far.



Yeah, Goodkind is abyssmal, and I'll just leave it at that (having commented on him elsewhere).

Salvatore...I have much the same view you do. I like those earlier books, as well as some of the ones that came later. Some of the other, later books were terrible and anything dealing with the spellplague and after seems to be infested with the "fail" that is 4e (stretching even into the fiction).

But you're right, the series jumped several sharks long before that. I have to wonder if, as an author, you become completely uninspired at some point, but are compelled to continue the series regardless. In this case, I'm sure WotC doesn't want an end to Drizz't. If Salvatore didn't continue to write the books, they may pass the character on to someone else. If I were Salvatore, I wouldn't like that so much, so I might feel compelled to churn out more Drizz't stories to avoid it. I tried to read the first of the post-spellplague Drizz't books and got about 30 pages in before I shredded it and fed the bits to the cat.


----------



## Fnord

Steerpike said:


> Yeah, Goodkind is abyssmal, and I'll just leave it at that (having commented on him elsewhere).
> 
> Salvatore...I have much the same view you do. I like those earlier books, as well as some of the ones that came later. Some of the other, later books were terrible and anything dealing with the spellplague and after seems to be infested with the "fail" that is 4e (stretching even into the fiction).
> 
> But you're right, the series jumped several sharks long before that. I have to wonder if, as an author, you become completely uninspired at some point, but are compelled to continue the series regardless. In this case, I'm sure WotC doesn't want an end to Drizz't. If Salvatore didn't continue to write the books, they may pass the character on to someone else. If I were Salvatore, I wouldn't like that so much, so I might feel compelled to churn out more Drizz't stories to avoid it. I tried to read the first of the post-spellplague Drizz't books and got about 30 pages in before I shredded it and fed the bits to the cat.



I haven't bothered with the Spellplague business.  I'm actually a huge fan of the 4th Edition D&D (mostly because it made my life so much easier as a DM) but I did a cursory thumbing through of the Forgotten Realms campaign book and found little interesting.  Of course, I've never been a fan of published settings for games anyway (with the exception of Planescape back in the 2nd Edition days mostly because there was tons of room for the DM's own world-building desires), so I just assumed it was an extension of that.

And the Drizzt books were the only FR books I read, so I don't know too terribly much else about it.  I got about as far "A Thousand Orcs" before I just put the book down mid-read and never went back to it.  I ran into the same issue with the Dragonlance books too.  After the Legends Trilogy it just didn't hold my interest.


----------



## Feo Takahari

> In this case, I'm sure WotC doesn't want an end to Drizz't. If Salvatore didn't continue to write the books, they may pass the character on to someone else. If I were Salvatore, I wouldn't like that so much, so I might feel compelled to churn out more Drizz't stories to avoid it.



As a side note, back in 1997, they actually _did_ pass the character to Mark Anthony when Salvatore refused to write him anymore. Salvatore eventually caved, and they cancelled Anthony's book.

Anyways, I'm most likely to give up on books if I dislike the protagonists. This doesn't just mean finding them boring--they need to be actively offensive in some way (e.g. a hero who'll let innocent people die rather than attack foes from behind, but has no compunctions about using his magical powers to kill thousands of enemy soldiers at once.) That said, I've also given up on books because I obviously wasn't the target audience (e.g. a romance/action series in which the unusual love interest I found myself charmed by was killed off in the first book so the heroine could be paired off with a generic love interest I'd hated since his first appearance.)


----------



## Fnord

Steerpike said:


> Yeah, Goodkind is abyssmal, and I'll just leave it at that (having commented on him elsewhere).



I went back and found the thread about it.  It's too bad, really, because I'd probably be fairly sympathetic to his political viewpoints.  But that sort of agreement just doesn't save boring writing.  Of course, I couldn't get into "Atlas Shrugged" either even though everyone who knows me and my general ideological standpoint thinks I'm nuts for not finding it interesting.  I think it's conceptually interesting (if, like the author, a bit too shrill), but prose killed it for me.


----------



## Elder the Dwarf

Fnord said:


> I haven't bothered with the Spellplague business.  I'm actually a huge fan of the 4th Edition D&D (mostly because it made my life so much easier as a DM) but I did a cursory thumbing through of the Forgotten Realms campaign book and found little interesting.  Of course, I've never been a fan of published settings for games anyway (with the exception of Planescape back in the 2nd Edition days mostly because there was tons of room for the DM's own world-building desires), so I just assumed it was an extension of that.
> 
> And the Drizzt books were the only FR books I read, so I don't know too terribly much else about it.  I got about as far "A Thousand Orcs" before I just put the book down mid-read and never went back to it.  I ran into the same issue with the Dragonlance books too.  After the Legends Trilogy it just didn't hold my interest.



I actually enjoyed The Hunter's Blades trilogy a lot.  After the spellplague, though, things got pretty bad.  Really all of Transitions was kind of rough.  I pretty much agree with you about the Dragonlance novels though, they lost my interest after a while.  Still, the original Chronicles were great and I'll read almost anything about the original characters from that trilogy.


----------



## Steerpike

Fnord said:


> I haven't bothered with the Spellplague business.  I'm actually a huge fan of the 4th Edition D&D (mostly because it made my life so much easier as a DM) but I did a cursory thumbing through of the Forgotten Realms campaign book and found little interesting.  Of course, I've never been a fan of published settings for games anyway (with the exception of Planescape back in the 2nd Edition days mostly because there was tons of room for the DM's own world-building desires), so I just assumed it was an extension of that.



I appreciate what they did with 4e from a design perspective, but ultimately it just wasn't for me. I've been running Castles & Crusades, which i love for its light rules and my ability to pretty easily drop in anything from 1e, 2e, or d20/3.X. I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with for D&DNext.


----------



## Fnord

Speaking of books I'm ready to give up on: _The Infernal City_.  I probably should have known better than to buy a book based purely on the fact that it is written in a setting that was designed around a video game franchise (The Elder Scrolls, in this instance), but I was pretty hopeful given that the little stories _inside the game_ were interesting and well-written.  And I thought the interesting lore and character/racial interplay from the games would certainly be plenty of fodder for a well-written story.

But alas, I'm halfway through it and it just seems hollow.  For one thing, most of the action takes place on a flying city that has no reference in the games or lore whatsoever and the characters just seem cardboard.  The Elder Scrolls world is rich with interesting settings, history, and various conflicts--why did the author feel the need to shoehorn a concept (some sort of weird, living floating city of doom) that has no basis in this rich setting into this book?  Ugh.


----------



## Steerpike

Fnord said:


> Speaking of books I'm ready to give up on: _The Infernal City_.  I probably should have known better than to buy a book based purely on the fact that it is written in a setting that was designed around a video game franchise (The Elder Scrolls, in this instance), but I was pretty hopeful given that the little stories _inside the game_ were interesting and well-written.  And I thought the interesting lore and character/racial interplay from the games would certainly be plenty of fodder for a well-written story.
> 
> But alas, I'm halfway through it and it just seems hollow.  For one thing, most of the action takes place on a flying city that has no reference in the games or lore whatsoever and the characters just seem cardboard.  The Elder Scrolls world is rich with interesting settings, history, and various conflicts--why did the author feel the need to shoehorn a concept (some sort of weird, living floating city of doom) that has no basis in this rich setting into this book?  Ugh.



Sorry to hear it. Greg Keyes isn't a bad writer, at least as I recall from some of his earlier, original stuff. I don't know how he's been since he moved over to writing Star Wars and gaming tie-ins.

A lot of times in these cases, the author is "assigned" the general concept, because the team behind the IP has some plans and wants the world pushed in a certain direction. I don't know that this is the case here, though. It does sound odd. I'd read a novel set in Skyrim if it was well-done, though.


----------



## Alva

Phin Scardaw said:


> dullness of style, lack of originality, stereotypes - these things are turn-offs [- -] why then are the same themes rehashed with the same races? surely we can dream up something more than elves, dwarves and men battling goblins and dragons.



To me, tone of voice, imagery and use of language in general matter a great deal. Nearly poetical language and imagery joined with great details will keep me hooked. Full characters, fluent flow of the story/plot and the nice feeling of internal logic supported by fascinating details… I’ll definitely finish the story.

Action without true emotions, conflicts without grey but only black and white, evil creatures, lack of sensory perceptions (other than mere visual and auditory ones)… no, I’ll quite likely drop the book. Most of the time I also lack the interest for any fiction (except for short stories) that dwell too closely around a single central motivation, moral lesson, magical system or any other idea. And in my case, an epic war between two or three nations doesn’t necessarily convey the feeling of depth or intrigue. I enjoy following up with political schemes but I’m more interested in the internal logic of a few characters practicing (hmm) more sublime forms of power.



Phin Scardaw said:


> i find that since reading works like his and LeGuin, Gaiman, and Gibson my stand-ards have gotten high enough that i have very little patience for generic fantasy novels



I enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, as well. And Locke Lamoras by Scott Lynch, even though the language shocked me at first.

Lately I've come to know people who keep urging me to finish a few books I've already in past labeled as a no-no (for me), though. And at times I try out reading generic ("light") fantasy if my mood suits it. (My mood has everything to do with my reading.)

I don’t feel bad consciousness over leaving a book behind every once in a while. My reading lists will keep growing anyway. And I usually leaf through the first 1-10 pages of every book I consider truly reading, so if I later in life feel like giving it a second try, I have some idea on the language, style etc.


----------



## Arreth

It's just me, I know, but I need a character I can root for and I need the writing to be at least average and preferably better than average. I tried but I couldn't finish Jordan's Wheel of Time series, not when there are writers like Ursula LeGuin, Mary Stewart and J.R.R. Tolkien in the world.


----------



## ALB2012

I have the concentration span of a tomato I also have a lousy memory. If something bores me or is immediately too over complicated then I tend to give up. I can put up with typos and iffy editing but if the author just waffles on about nothing or the characters don't grab me I probably wont continue. The plus side with having an awful memory is I can read a book multiple times


----------



## ALB2012

I have read a few novels based on games I have played. I loved the two older Dragon Age books and have just  bought Asunder although I don't like DA2. If a book is good its good.  I think you have to allow some license with books set in a game world.

I liked Skyrim but personally I found some of the plots were a little odd. THe funniest one I found- some priestess wants you to lure some elderly and harmless priest to her lair so her and her friends can eat him. She gets REALLY narky if you pickpocket her however. So you are a murdering cannible but a little light theivery upsets your moral code.


----------



## Wynnara

I'm definitely a "no patience" fantasy reader. If you don't have me in the first chapter, I'm gone. I actually started reading fantasy books I considered to be necessary research through audiobooks just as a way to ensure I was less likely to put them down. Even here though, I couldn't get through more than a book or two of _The Wheel of Time_ series and maybe half of _Game of Thrones_. For both of them I felt like the level of complexity in the narrative exceeded my desire to care about the characters. I would rather have a simpler narrative and characters that I am really, really keyed into.

For other books, I'm out within a chapter or two... 
- one whose title I can't remember now left me feeling the writing was just way too clichÃ© and amateurish... and I didn't care about the main character
- for a couple others it was just way too much sex and violence within just the first pages... and again, I didn't care about the main characters

I think really I will suffer through just about anything if I like your characters and I'm gone if I don't.


----------



## ALB2012

It depends- I read a historical romance recently which was sorely in need of an editor but I really liked the characters so I continued. If I get bored within the first couple of chapters I may not continue. Often it depends what mood I am in.


----------



## Shockley

Fnord said:


> Speaking of books I'm ready to give up on: _The Infernal City_.  I probably should have known better than to buy a book based purely on the fact that it is written in a setting that was designed around a video game franchise (The Elder Scrolls, in this instance), but I was pretty hopeful given that the little stories _inside the game_ were interesting and well-written.  And I thought the interesting lore and character/racial interplay from the games would certainly be plenty of fodder for a well-written story.
> 
> But alas, I'm halfway through it and it just seems hollow.  For one thing, most of the action takes place on a flying city that has no reference in the games or lore whatsoever and the characters just seem cardboard.  The Elder Scrolls world is rich with interesting settings, history, and various conflicts--why did the author feel the need to shoehorn a concept (some sort of weird, living floating city of doom) that has no basis in this rich setting into this book?  Ugh.



 You got further than me on this one. I picked it up at work, read about five pages then happily discarded it.


----------



## J.P. Reedman

Repetitiveness is a big killer for me. I'm reading a book right now in which the author has been repeating the same thing for three pages. It could have been a moody, creepy, dark scene but was wrecked by the authotr telling us over and over again what was happening. If you are writing a huge book, sure, refer back to past events when necessary, but try to detail them in different ways, otherwise it comes off as if you think your readers are dumb  and have to be hit over the head with your statements.
Other annoyances-- poor editing. Use of the same word multiple times in a few paragraphs. The book I am struggling to read right now have the world 'pathetic' used three times within a few paragraphs, and the word 'celts' about 6 times in 2 pages! 
Weak word choice.'The man had big muscles.' This was a line in a Goodkind book. Sounds like it was written by a three year old.
Strange word order-- 'the elf's eyebrows winged  up to the top of his forehead.' Yes, this was in a book and made me laugh at the image  it inadvertently created.
Cardboard stock characters with 'stock footage' actions--you'll know these, the burly innkeeper, grumpy cook etc. Also fairly regular characters who have some kind of a quirk that the author repeatedly mentions-- 'she tugged her braid.' 9R Jordan please stand up.)


----------



## JadedSidhe

Oh, what does it for me? It depends, really. 

An overly predictable plot, or pages and pages where the author's beating the proverbial dead horse.  

Ok, I get it, the character is worried about <insert cause of angst> I got it 3 pages ago. Enough already.

It could be stupid, simpering, sugary sweet and overly helpless whiny characters. 

I slogged through a 1/3 of a book and scene after scene of the protagonist doing something incredibly stupid, the last being stunned that the curses she was learning and finally got around to using was indeed, a curse, not a charm. (Its a curse, no no, its a charm, its a curse, no no, its a charm. Oh... it *is* a curse) 

Another thing that will make me put a book down is idiotic or overly melodramatic writing. 

'His eyes met Sizuka's, drawn into the depths as he peered through the windows of her soul.' Um... yeah

Or even worse

Page 23

'...and emerald eyes that glimmered like precious gems. Right now she hid her orbs behind a pair of wire-rimmed glasses...' 

Windows of her soul? Glittered like precious gems? Orbs? ... Aim... pitch... trashcan.


----------



## J.P. Reedman

Orbs? Orbs! A true sign of the second rate! Anyone ever read Ursula Le Guin's LANGUAGE OF THE NIGHT ? Ultimate guide for fantasy writers which specifically tells you what NOT to do. Orbs wasn't one of her pet hates (though she'd probably add it) but she mentioned the equally fatal 'ichor', 'smaragds, 'eldritch' etc.


----------



## Ireth

J.P. Reedman said:


> Orbs? Orbs! A true sign of the second rate! Anyone ever read Ursula Le Guin's LANGUAGE OF THE NIGHT ? Ultimate guide for fantasy writers which specifically tells you what NOT to do. Orbs wasn't one of her pet hates (though she'd probably add it) but she mentioned the equally fatal 'ichor', 'smaragds, 'eldritch' etc.



I happen to like 'eldritch', though I use it only VERY sparingly. I haven't used ichor, though. And what in the world are 'smaragds'?


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne

I used "orbs" and "eldritch" exactly once each in THE QUEEN OF MAGES. I think it's okay.


----------



## Steerpike

Any of those words are fair game, Ursula K. Le Guin notwithstanding. You just have to use them well. If the writing in your story is top-notch, it won't suffer from having one of those words in it. If you over-use the words and/or use them poorly, the reader is right to throw your book at the wall.*

*In the age of Kindles, I don't recommend this.


----------



## JadedSidhe

I agree that orbs can be used if the writing is good. I still get a case of 'teeth clench syndrome', but I don't chuck the book if the writing is good. Clive Cussler is a good example. He doesn't over do it and he doesn't wax overly poetic about it either. I read a book that he used 'orbs'. I think it was only in that one place.


----------



## Neurosis

I used to be extremely permissive and I would read (and probably grow to enjoy) every book I bought. However as I grow older I find I am getting more and more picky. I probably only finish 1/5 books I attempt to read, just because I can't stand reading a book that I feel: is recycling themes or characters from something I've already read; has sub-par prose; is too flowery; isn't flowery enough; is too boring; is too exciting; is written by Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind.


----------



## Alice

Oh dear... Where I do begin?

1. Characters. I swear this is one of the, if not the first, things that will have me looking into a story first. Regardless of gender (although I do admit to be a little more critical on female characters), if they're not interesting to me... I can't invest myself into the story. Lord help me if they end up being big Mary Sues in their roles, canon, personalities, looks, etc. I'll start dissecting them in criticism like whoa.

2. The story itself. I'm not too picky in plot and I actually find most cliches okay, but if I'm able to see how the story's going to progress and end (aka if it becomes too predictable), then you lost me. And like characters, I will criticize.

3. The writing. Glaringly obvious grammatical errors, redundancy, too flowery/purple prose, not flowery enough, dry/boring, unnecessary dribble, etc. Although I admit my writing is not perfect, I know mistakes when I see them. I'll be extremely mad *IF* the mistakes are ones that are easy to make and should be less avoidable (stuff like two/too/to, they're/their/there, you're/your, etc.). I tend to avoid books in first person most of the time too for fear that the character will be pretentious/obnoxious/whiny/etc. in their narrations.


----------



## Anders Ã„mting

I stop reading a book if it starts to bore me. I see no point in reading stories that fail to entertain. The book has to interest me from beginning to end.

I also tend to stop reading when I get the feeling I'm smarter than the author, or when I feel I disagree with the author's opinions, or if I think I could do something better than the author. 

...In fact, if the book is making me draw _any kind _of conclusions about its author, that's probably a bad sign right there. When I'm reading a book, I really shouldn't be thinking about the author.

Finally, I must admit: I can't handle embarassment, literally can't stand it, so if something embarassing happens to one of the characters, I tend to put the book down. It won't necessarily make me drop it entirely, but it takes some willpower for me to power through that embarassing part.


----------



## CupofJoe

Apart from the nebulous [such as I don't like the authors style] what I don't like and will make me stop reading are superhuman characters [supra-human is okay]. If someone is the ultimate warrior and an amazing lover - make them a lousy cook, unbearably arrogant or give them BO, anything to let have them a flaw.


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne

In retrospect, I think the main thing that puts me off books is when nothing bad ever really happens, and all challenges are overcome with minimal effort. I know I've enjoyed a book when I feel like the protagonist is actually in danger. When I notice that I'm not concerned, or that I don't care what happens to the protagonist, it's not doing its job.


----------



## grimreaper

I tend to put a book down either when nothing interesting or worthwhile seems to happen for sometime , when the protagonists seem to be winning too easily or , conversely, when the protagonists start suffering too much without any kind of redemption and the villains keep winning(that's what made me put down martin's asoiaf series after book 3).
Oh, and  I also find paper thin, 1 or 2-D characters to be very irritating , though I might not always put a book down because of that.


----------



## pmmg

When I was younger, I hated reading. I never read anything I was assigned in school, and did my book reports based on only half a chapter I would read. As I got older, I also did not like reading. When I did read, it was usually something thick and dense, like a book to certify in MCSE, or SQL databases. Occasionally I would read something, but it was not ever anything I sought out to enjoy.

As I got older, I decided to read all those books I skipped when I was younger, and enjoyed all of them but one. Now I read about 50% fantasy (and usually people here, or I find on the internet), and 50% classics. I dont really like the fantasy as much, but its kind of like homework for me.

I am an avid movie goer, and see just about everything, but movies have become so thick with 'the message' I think I may stop. Its rare I see a movie now I dont find myself bored in (my word for it is CGI boring), or feeling like I should just leave, and I have started to leave if its just not delivering for me. It dont take much anymore to get me to leave a movie, and it never took much to get me to quit a book. I dont really read to enjoy, but more to learn. I have enjoyed, and like it when I do, but its still not my thing. I am not really a reader. I would rather create.

Anyway, I will drop a book for many reasons. If I dont become engaged, if its too much thick dense blocky paragraphs, if it making me go Bullsh*t, if it seems to forget its purpose and wanders off, if I am not entertained or feel like I am learning anything...A hundred reasons. The only thing I try hard to stick with is one I am reviewing. Cause I know its a service to those who are craving the feedback.


----------

