Unpopular Opinions Book Tag
Hi guys and welcome to today’s Unpopular Opinions book tag! I knew I wanted to put together a bit of a fun post today, so I shopped around for some inspiration. I found this tag written by Erin at Book Loving Nut and thought it would be fun. Please go and check her answers to the below questions as well, and if you like the sound of taking part then please tag me so I can see your answers!
Shall we dive in?
A popular book you didn’t like
I couldn’t get on with Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
There were recognisable glimmers of Terry’s classic humour and shenanigans in the tale, but I’m sorry to say I just got bored. I have struggled with another book by Neil Gaiman in the past (American Gods) and I think it’s his writing style that I don’t get on with. I did actually finish American Gods, but I was disappointed by it.
I couldn’t finish Good Omens. The book eventually got DNF’d at 40%, so I had a decent stab at it before throwing in the towel.
A book series that everyone hates but you love
I couldn’t think of an obvious answer to this question so I resorted to trawling through my read books list, sorted by average rating, to find this answer. Can I say I’m shocked by this one!
The Relic Guild is a fantastic series and I am amazed that the first book’s average rating is only 3.5 stars. The second and third book fare better with an average rating of 4 stars each. I personally rated them all five stars and I really think they are under-rated.
A love triangle where the MC ends up with the person you didn’t want them to end up with
I rarely read books with love triangles in them. Even where I have (Hunger Games I’m looking at you), I don’t really care for this aspect of the novel. I don’t enjoy romance novels so it stands to reason that I don’t engage with this part of a book.
Probably sounds callous, but when this is going on I’m just wishing it to get resolved so we can get back to the main plot.
A popular genre you rarely reach for
Again, I probably have to say Romance here. It’s cringy and makes me feel really awkward reading it. I just don’t enjoy it, so I don’t bother.
A popular character you didn’t like
I wasn’t as much a fan of Circe as I was hoping to be, purely because I didn’t really like Circe herself. She may be the daughter of a God, but she’s mean, vindictive and overall pretty uninspiring. Since Circe spends a lot of her time banished, the narrative is very dependent on her. If her character was better I’d probably have liked the book more. But she wasn’t, and I didn’t, so that’s that I guess.
A popular author you can’t seem to get into
On the recommendation of a friend, I tried to read The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. Keyword there is tried. I think I got most of the way through the book, but in the end, I had enough and DNF’d it.
I got very Tolkien-esque vibes from the narrative. It’s very descriptive, almost to the point of frilliness. If you have read The Lord of the Rings you might understand what I’m saying. It’s not the easiest of reading. I can manage about 400 pages of it, but The Eye of the World is a behemoth and is over twice that length. In the end, I got bored of the overly descriptive book as it put a dampener on what was actually going on.
I’m not even sure I remember what happened…
A popular trope you’re tired of seeing
Since I read a lot of fantasy, it will probably surprise you to read that I’m a little tired of the coming-of-age trope. It’s everywhere within the genre, so to an extent, it’s unavoidable. But particularly the versions where there are prophecies and an unlikely hero… these are the types I’m thinking here.
A popular series you have no interest in reading
Twilight. That’s an easy one, and particularly topical since another book has just been released. The series didn’t appeal to me as a teenager and it still doesn’t now. You can keep your sparkling vampires thanks.
The saying goes “the book is always better than the movie” but what movie do you prefer to the book?
The Hunger Games books are good, but I think I preferred the movies slightly. Watching the action play out at a faster pace is more exciting, in my opinion. The characters are also portrayed really well in the movies, which I think gives them the edge over the books.
So that’s the Unpopular Opinions Book Tag. If you are inspired to take part, please share your answers below or tag me in your own posts! I’d love to know what you think.