What kills a book for you?

[RainingLemur]

- WAY too long/descriptive sex scenes. Less is more.
- Infodumps.
- "Perfect" characters.
- When a particular area is talked up to be this mystical/super-awesome/storied/*Insert Descriptor Here* place, where gods are forged, the ultimate spells are learned, the iconic weapons are found, etc... and they only spend a couple of pages to describe the events to get there. It's like someone popped in and said "Oh, we're here. It's only a model," and it's quickly forgotten.

[anamardoll]

1. Long, drawn out sex scenes. I'm not prudish, I swear, they just bore me.

2. Unrealistic female characters. (I would say "unrealistic characters" full-stop, but the female issue seems to have cropped up a LOT more in my reading lately.) Also, "strong" female characters who have no goals in life and just follow the hero around doing his bidding.

3. Technicolor Eyes/Hair, particularly stone-descriptions (coal, marble, ruby, etc.). I read a book blurb the other day where a character was describing the protagonist has having hair that was "half sunlight-kissed caramel and half bronzed autumn leaves" or something similar to that and I gagged out loud. Say it's red and move on.

4. Not telling me major details to artificially heighten suspense. Also, introducing the Whodunit character 10 pages before the reveal.

5. Neglecting the world-building implications of your daring dystopia / scifi setup. If the entire world EXCEPT North America is gone, there better be some more far-reaching affects than just all the maps having to be changed.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

4. Not telling me major details to artificially heighten suspense. Also, introducing the Whodunit character 10 pages before the reveal.

This reminded me of another one - Foreshadowing every 5 minutes. Are they afraid that I might not have enough expectation of something happening? Cuz when reading a book, I generally expect things to happen. Lots of things. I don't need a big "SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!" flashing on every page. Really.

I should point out that the things I contributed to this thread don't often make me stop reading a book. It may kill much of the enjoyment that I hope to get from the book, but I usually finish it anyway. I might find myself skimming a bit more than usual, but I do try to get to the end.

[benham]

No plot or plots that don't become known until well into the book. Tangents. Good guys with no flaws. Gratuitous profanity or B novel language. Crimes against children.

[anamardoll]

@CWatkinsNash,

The best example of that was a Haegar book "The Secret Bride". It's a historical fiction about Mary Tudor -- who married against her brother Henry VIII's wishes -- and the first chapter was her as a little girl loftily proclaiming that HE CAN'T CONTROL HER HEART.

Excessive foreshadowing. Gah.

[bobavey]

A hammer works nicely

[issybird]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

How would that look to the reader, as the author breaking their rules, or realistic life where even smart people are sometimes wrong?

The second, of course, entirely fair on the author's part and an indicator of complex situations and characters. I'm talking about cases where at least some of the characters in question would have had to know the newest wrinkle in the past, and it would have altered the story as told. I'll give a vague-ish example from Rowling: early books have all the wizards and witches shouting out the name of the spell as they cast it. This frequently gives the opponent a chance to get the defense out in time. But, we learn in later books, it's entirely impossible to cast spells silently, and the witches and wizards in training learn this skill. So why in heck were their skilled elders shouting themselves silly in early encounters?

[odiakkoh]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Realizing that the fantastic description of the book, written either by the author or a publicist, is the only well-written "part" of the book -- the characters are lifeless, the plot trivial, the spelling errors atrocious, the formatting errors distracting.
Hmmm, I guess it all boils down to discovering that the author and the book are wannabes but neither has successfully made the first baby step.

ugh i hate it when that happens. makes me wish a better author could take the book and make it as great as its potential.

[odiakkoh]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I should point out that the things I contributed to this thread don't often make me stop reading a book. It may kill much of the enjoyment that I hope to get from the book, but I usually finish it anyway. I might find myself skimming a bit more than usual, but I do try to get to the end.

same. i find it hard to easily put a book down and leave it unfinished.

cant multiquote on mobile so i apologize.

[Angst]

What I really hate is when the author tries to spell out speech impediments and/or accents. It really slows down my reading because I have to try to decipher what the author is talking about. It might be intentional, but I still hate it.

Whurt tha ragut syeth aagernth?

[wyndslash]

oh, and i forgot to add. i think in a mystery book, when an author limits themselves to too few characters, you get to figure out who the baddie is WAAAAY before it ends. and because of the excessively few characters, if the author tries to twist it some other way, it would seem to be too obvious. i've read some books that were like this, and it was a shame because the murderer was rather creative.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Angst

What I really hate is when the author tries to spell out speech impediments and/or accents. It really slows down my reading because I have to try to decipher what the author is talking about. It might be intentional, but I still hate it.

Whurt tha ragut syeth aagernth?

ARGH! This!

I cannot -- CANNOT -- read "heavy accents" in books. (It took me forever just to learn lol-speak.) Half the time they are impenetrable to me, and I think the author and I must live on different planes of existence.

[outlander78]

Yes, phonetically-spelled words are a deal-breaker for me. I first saw that in Trainspotting, and didn't make it past the first page. Terrible.

[odiakkoh]

Originally Posted by outlander78

Yes, phonetically-spelled words are a deal-breaker for me. I first saw that in Trainspotting, and didn't make it past the first page. Terrible.

Uh oh you got me a bit scared. Really liked the movie, hoping to enjoy the book.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by outlander78

Yes, phonetically-spelled words are a deal-breaker for me. I first saw that in Trainspotting, and didn't make it past the first page. Terrible.

what are phonetically-spelled words? like... "I am riting to complane about yoor book"?