Welcome to another 2020 book wrap-up. I'm still trying to make up for the very minimal blogging I've done this year, and have been inspired today to write this post. As the title suggests, this post is about the books I started and didn't finish this year and ten lucky books get that distinction. There should be more, but I don't like not finishing books. Sadly some books just broke me this year. So let's get started.
I got about a quarter of the way though and just felt the narrative was too confused, the cast of characters too large. I didn't feel engaged with wanting to continue on, so I decided to cut my losses with the hope of maybe returning to it another time and maybe enjoying it then.
I am willing to try some of Erin Morgenstern's other books but I'm now sceptical that maybe her writing style just isn't for me. 2021 will be the year we find out, I guess.
Maryanne's dad is particular is a dickhead, and the whole set up of why she has to go doesn't make that much sense in the book itself. Just a lot of guilt and blackmailing goes into it.
Once we get to 12th century Nottingham the story sadly doesn't pick up in enjoyment. The insta-love connection Maryanne and 'Robb' feel is annoying, and there are missed opportunities for some drama and good-old fashioned chaos that you'd expect/want from a time travel book. I gave up about halfway through when I realised I was halfway through and nothing had happened yet.
I could see the set up for more political intrigue and while I do enjoy that, I couldn't push myself to get past the ridiculous love triangle that hadn't worked in book 1 and was still being pushed in book 2. I've spent most of 2020 realising I am growing out of nonsense love triangles in books and I decided to call it quits.
However, like with the Night Circus, I do think I will give this book another go sometime in the future, maybe. Or maybe I'll just read Pearson's other series Dance of Thieves set in the same world as there is real potential there.
Her POV was came across as smug and irritating, and I couldn't bring myself to enjoy the writing style. I was sad about it but sometimes there are just styles you don't gel with.
I do think asexualialty deserves more books written about it, and it would have been a big help to me when I was growing up, but just cause you approve of the subject matter doesn't automatically mean it's a good book.
Instead I got an array of shitty characters who each though they were better than everyone else around them. Eve in particular defined herself better than her flatmates for being less-slutty and better-educated.
I decided to give up before things really got going, because I wasn't rooting for any of these characters to be happy. None of them deserved my time.
The story of Denna and Mare could have been compelling - two countries brought together by a marriage alliance, only for the bride and the groom's sister to fall in love - could have been good. Sadly all I could think whilst reading it was I was just too old for it.
There are chapters upon chapters about horses, and liking horses, and descriptions about how each of them are 'different than other girls' and it felt like it was written for a 12 year old girl who enjoyed horseriding.
It has taught me perhaps I should stop reading so much YA, as a lot of what I have read this year and finished, I still didn't enjoy that much. So next year I will be trying some new genres.
We follow Alex, the First Son, and Prince Henry of England as they try to starve off a PR disaster by faking a friendship. Again, a premise I was all here for. Enemies-to-lovers is a fanfiction trope I am always here for. But the chemistry between the characters just didn't feel right, everything that happened just felt too forced and awkward.
Plus the world of this book was just stupid. If you're going to write a book about a real country, do some research about it. Why have the setting of two prominent figures in the media eye if the worlds they come from and the expectations of who they are meant to be don't actually matter. Any kind of LGBT representation just feels meaningless that way.
Magonia follows Aza Ray, a girl who is dying from some syndrome no one has ever been able to cure. One day she sees a ship floating in the sky, discovering the world of Magonia in the process. What I couldn't get behind was the required transition to get to the world and politics of Magonia. Basically it begins to transpire Magonia is Aza's home world and she fell to Earth one day and the reason she was dying was because it was never her world.
Aza herself is very unlikable, her best friend/love interest is unhinged and the whole story is just a farce. Her illness makes no sense, and as a medical professional poor explanation of medical things really piss me off. This book has it in spades. Then, after trying to establish what it's like to have a chronic illness, it's just magically healed.
The idea of Magonia as a world could have been intersting, as there seemed to be a high dose of creativity in trying to bring that world to life on the pages, but it took more than a third of the book to even get to Aza being introduced to that world. Things just too far too long to get going and the book couldn't be saved.
by Agatha Christie. 2020 was the year I was trying to get in to murder mysteries and crime novels, and who better to start with than Agatha Christie, right? I typically love a Poiret when it's on TV, but I really couldn't get into Christie's writing style or the plots of these books. Both I had chosen because they sounded like the kind of story I'd enjoy but they were just so bland. I lost interest both times, eventually just shelving them as I wasn't going to ever bother finishing them.
And that's my list for 2020. I'm hoping to have less on this list next year, but I also want to try more new books next year so that will probably mean this list will actually be longer. Can't wait to find out.
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