Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. In this post I will be giving a list of the books I DNF’d in 2022. This is the first post of my End of The Year Series and it has the first 10 books I did not finish this year, and 2 fantasy series that I will no longer continue. Disclaimer: Given that I no longer own most of these books, some of the pictures that I post here are not mine. Hence, I will give credit where credit is due. Also, these books are in no particular order. Let’s get started.
1. The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
This book was first published in 2019 and it became really popular throughout 2020. It is the first book of a new (new in 2019, I mean, although as of 2022 the third and fourth books have not been published yet) military fantasy series/quartet written by a black author that seemed to be getting nothing but 5-star raving reviews by several BookTubers I follow, so naturally I was intrigued and curious. But, for some reason, I couldn’t get into it. The first chapter is nothing but a sheer act of colonization, and it lasted forever. At least that’s what it seemed to me. But even after I was done reading that first chapter, I just couldn’t get immersed in the story or connect with any of the characters. In fact, I didn’t much care for the main character and as I’ve said before, if you don’t like the main character of a book, chances are you’re not going to like the book either. To this point, this has always proven true for me.
2. The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen
I DNF’d this book pretty early on. I remember not really being in the mood to read YA when I picked this one up so I do admit that I might have decided to put it down too soon. However, I do remember too that I was having a lot of trouble suspending my disbelief on this one. I was intrigued by the plot, but I just couldn’t push myself to read the rest of it, so I stopped. Maybe I’ll try reading it again later when my mood’s improved.
3. Bringing Down The Duke by Evie Dunmore
This book is the first book of the A League of Extraordinary Women trilogy. The name of the trilogy, I admit, is what first caught my attention and I was interested in seeing how Dunmore was going to portray these extraordinary women. And yes, Annabelle Archer, as a supporter of the women’s suffrage movement in Regency England, is not your typical romantic heroine. But, sad to say, I didn’t connect with Annabelle as much as I thought I would, and I didn’t think the direction the author went on in telling Annabelle’s story was all that interesting to be honest. Maybe I am being a lot harsher than I need to be, but I feel like there wasn’t much story going on to keep me interested. And things didn’t improve much after the Duke of Montgomery was introduced. Truth be told, I didn’t like his personality all that much and after I realized this I wasn’t too eager on continuing a book which I wasn’t overly invested in.
4. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
I read this book (or tried to read this book) as part of my book club, and I couldn’t. Maybe it was the writing style, maybe it was the humor, I don’t know. I was warned though that its humor was very British, and I didn’t really mind that. Although I do think that a lot of things passed me by. However that was not why I didn’t like it. I just couldn’t get into it. In fact, the whole time I was reading it I was wanting to put it down and read something else. If that doesn’t say you don’t want to read a book, I don’t know what does. And to this day I have yet to pick up another Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman book. Don’t think I ever will.
5. Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte
I picked this book up because I’d never read a book about a world where there were four reigning queens at the same time, and that intrigued me. Also, by the title, I knew that all four died, so I was interested enough in finding out who had done it. But once I started to read the book, I found that I wanted the story to focus primarily on the queens themselves and the Machiavelli schemes going on in court and not on the two characters it is actually focused on. Harsh, I know. And I’m sorry that I felt this way, but Keralie’s and Varin’s story was not as appealing to me at the time as the untold story of the four dead queens. So I put it down. But I may try reading it again if I feel like it later on. Who knows? I might not DNF it this second time around.
6. Pachinko by Min-jin Lee
I picked this book up because I am no stranger to multi-generational stories of families and had loved the books of this kind that I had read thus far. Particularly, Edward Rutherford’s The Dublin Saga. Also, I am interested in reading about the conflicts that have occurred between Korea, China and Japan, and this book particularly touches upon the Japanese Korean War in the early 1900s. However, I thought that this book was too slow, and I found myself utterly bored with it halfway through it. I have been thinking about giving it another chance though now that I’ve read other books on the topic and find myself going back to this one. But I have yet to do so.
7. The Ruby Knight by David Eddings
This book is the second installment of The Elenium series by this author, which my husband recommended to me, and I enjoyed Book 1 well enough, but I think I waited too long to pick this second book up. And by the time I was reading it, I was not enjoying it at all. The main character, Sparhawk, a paladin, is immensely loyal to his queen. And both his squire Kurik and his best friend Kalten are really funny. But I think I made the mistake of not picking up Book 2 right after finishing Book 1. I have, however, not given up on this series completely and will probably pick it up again as well.
8. Upon A Burning Throne by Ashok Banker
This book is the first installment of a new fantasy series inspired in the Middle East, and I was intrigued by the plot. I mean, a literal burning (with fire) throne that kills anyone unworthy who attempts to sit on it? And for that worthy one to be a girl? What’s not to like? I was looking forward to reading a series about a strong female character set against all odds to occupy a throne denied to her on account of her biological sex. But when I was reading it, I realized that the war of succession was more between demigods and demons trying to put their chosen candidate on the burning throne and that the girl had little to do with it. Also, I was not a fan of how the book is written. Every chapter is the point of view of a different character/demigod/demon and, up to the point where I stopped reading, I found that there was little to no cohesion to the story. And I was immensely bored with it.
I wanted to like this book because I’d been wanting to love a series inspired in the Middle East for so long, but alas this one was not it. I had to DNF it almost at the 50% mark. Which is sad too because the cover is gorgeous.
9. Matrix by Lauren Groff
This book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and I was very sad at how much I was disappointed by it. I read The Lais of Marie de France in college and absolutely loved them, so when I heard that this author was working on a book loosely inspired by this late 12th century poet, I was stoked. Who doesn’t want to read about the life of a woman poet who lived in the Middle Ages and about whose life little or next to nothing is known? Unfortunately, it was not what I was expecting, and I found myself utterly bored and falling asleep halfway through it. I think the book focused too much on Marie’s unrequited love for Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and while I have nothing against the representation of lesbian love and relationships in the books I read, I think that the author didn’t know how to shift the focus of the story to what the plot promised, and we just kept coming back to Marie’s unreciprocated love for the Queen.
Again, I don’t mind a well written love story (even if it is one-sided) between two people of the same biological sex. But I think that there was so much more to Marie (and her accepting her fate at the convent and eventually becoming the matrix of them all is an interesting plot) than her pining over the queen. But the book didn’t deliver, or the author didn’t know how to deliver. And I had to put it down. I won’t be reading any more books by this author.
10. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
I added this book to my TBR after I watched the movie and realized that it was actually based on a book. I liked it so much. Unfortunately this is one of those rare cases, as is the case with Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, where the movie is so much better than the book. For starters, I did not like the author’s writing style, and I found myself utterly detached from all six protagonists of the book. It is so different from the movie! And maybe that is why I became so bored with it as I continued. I was not enjoying it, so I put it down.
11. Chronicles of the Unhewn Empire by Brian Staveley
The first series that I will not continue is Chronicles of the Unhewn Empire by Brian Staveley. I only read the first book of this series, and my main complaint about it is the way women are portrayed. Most specifically, Adare. I did not appreciate that we only see her in 3-4 chapters throughout the entire book (which has 496 pages) and in those chapters she is always fooled or manipulated by the men around her. And I was willing to let this pass, given that The Emperor’s Blades is the first book, if this started to change in books 2 and 3 but I was told that it does not, and I did not feel like reading this. So I did not pick the second book up and don’t think I ever will. I will also not be picking up any of this author’s other books. Again, the pictures shown here are not mine. They have all been borrowed from Goodreads.
12. The Gentlemen Bastards by Scott Lynch
This is probably one of the most popular fantasy series out there. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for me. And it wasn’t because there is anything particularly wrong with it, it’s just that I am not a big fan of books in which the protagonist(s) is a thief. It’s just not my preference. I read The Lies of Locke Lamora and it took me forever to get into the story. It is a very well written book, but I just didn’t care enough to continue. These pictures have also been borrowed from Goodreads.
That is everything for this post. Thank you for reading. Next week, I will be posting Part II of the books I DNF’d this year.
