The Unpopular Opinion Book Tag // Being Disappointed by Books is My Brand and I’m Here to Spill the Tea

It’s no lie that I get disappointed by a lot of books.

And that I’m slowly getting more and more critical each day. I mean, I can’t help that books disappoint me???? They just don’t live up to my expectations. AND THEY SHOULD.

I’ve actually been enjoying the books I’ve been reading recently (color me shocked), but I guess I’m just getting better at knowing which books I’ll love and which I’ll hate!! (It requires a lot of searching within myself and I’m not a fan.)

However: I still have many unpopular opinions and many things that I’m salty about, so of course, I decided to do the Unpopular Opinion Book Tag to talk about them all!!!

Also, I’m lazy and can’t be bothered to think of original content ideas right now, so why not just answer pre-made questions. I swear there was a time I was more creative than this but I honestly can’t think of when that was.

1. a popular book/series you didn’t like

    

SHATTER ME SHATTER ME SHATTER ME SHATTER ME SHATTER ME SHATTER ME SHATTER ME SHATTER ME SHATTER ME SHATTER ME.

Oh, sorry, I meant Shatter Me.

Okay so maybe this is like half-loved, half-hated but oh my goD I hated that book with a burning passion. The people I buddy read it with all liked/loved it. I just DON’T. UNDERSTAND. how people can actually like this series???? (But I still respect their opinion.)

But apparently it gets better so I guess I can’t judge it right now…

Other series I didn’t like that others loved include: The Mortal Instruments and The Conqueror’s Saga. To be fair, I’ve only read the first books of these series, but both bored me to DEATH and I’m very hesitant to continue the series. (I probably will with TCS but not TMI. Sorry to all the Cassie fans.)

2. a popular book/series that is hated, but you love

  

BEFORE YOU YELL AT ME, I read Divergent and The Selection when I was a Smol And Obliviously Dumb one, and I’m 100% certain if I read them right now, I would hate them. Like 1-star hate them.

Honestly, I don’t know what I saw in Divergent and the Selection? I LOWKEY get Divergent, because it was very dystopian and I was interested in those kinds of settings at that point in my life, but the Selection has the most annoying narrator ever and it’s literally just a romance. With drama. Including girls fighting over a Magical Prince Boy.

(I’m filled with so much despise for my past self.)

3. a hateable OTP

  

OOH.

So I actually don’t think I hate a lot of OTPs??? But one I can think of is Nik and Hanna from Gemina. They and their romance actually ruined Gemina for me?? I just don’t like them. Nik is so stereotypically a Bad Boy and Hanna is very obnoxious. They are both ripoffs of Kady and Ezra of Illuminae. I do not like them.

I also feel like Ninej (Nina x Inej from Six of Crows) is a kind-of shipped couple in the SoC fandom. And LISTEN. Nina and Inej are amazing, I love them both. And y’all know I LOVE my sapphic couples. But:

1. strong female friendship is so rare in fantasy, so DON’T TAKE THIS AWAY FROM THEM
2. Kanej is the God Tier couple and will always be. they are the power couple icons for the mentally ill community—Kaz has PTSD to deal with and Inej has touch-aversion from the result of forced sex work and it is SO SO powerful for them to exist as a couple after they’ve been through. don’t take this away from them and don’t take this away from the mentally ill community

Anyways, there’s your daily rant on my blog!!!!

4. a popular genre you hardly reach for

  

I’m not sure if it’s deemed a popular genre, but DEFINITELY historical fiction. Reading historical fiction literally puts me in a slump. It’s so slow. It’s too info-dumpy. And it’s BORING. (Unless it’s gay.)

For example: The City of Brass. I spent almost a WHOLE MONTH trying to read it, and failing. It’s even a historical fantasy, for god’s sake, you’d think it’d be more entertaining???? And I actually find that time period interesting.

And another is And I Darken!!! It was GAY and I still didn’t like it. It was entirely too slow, and it took place in the same-ish time period as The City of Brass and I was actually interested in that time period… but it was so boring and I didn’t care about anything.

Oh and I also tend not to really like high/epic fantasy! And the SOLE reason why is because it tends to have more historical vibes to it and we’ve already established that I just can NOT read historical fiction.

5. a beloved character you do not like

    

I guess I could use Nik from Gemina again, because I honest to god do not get the hype around him. He’s so mediocre. And annoying. (Except with Ella, and the only reason he isn’t annoying with Ella is because of Ella.)

I also hated the Darkling from the Grisha trilogy (I can see why people like him but WHY Y’ALL SHIPPING AN ABUSIVE, MANIPULATIVE CHARACTER WITH ALINA) and also Warner from the Shatter Me trilogy (apparently there’s more backstory in the later books but just because he’s abused doesn’t mean he can be abusive okay??).

6. a popular author you cannot get into

    

Uh… I’m honestly not that sure? Does this question imply an author that everyone seems to love but I just can’t???

I guess I can say that I’m not really interested in any of Renée Ahdieh or Sabaa Tahir’s work?? At the moment???? But I’ve never actually read their books so I’m not sure if that counts. (However I get that their books are really important, being authors of color!)

I DID NOT like The Fault in our Stars, and I’m guessing I wouldn’t like any more of John Green’s books. And he’s pretty popular. (What am I saying he is SUPER popular.)

7. a popular bookish trope you’re tired of seeing

Uhhhh let’s see…

• insta-love (which is actually a sign of bad writing if you can’t write a romance without proper development)
• the Hawt Bad Boy who is borderline abusive but had a tragic past that OBVIOUSLY cancels out all his own abusive behavior
• the “not like other girls” main character (though I do realize there are certain instances pertaining to marginalized characters that this narrative fits!)
• the “strong” female character who hates other girls and societally deemed feminine things
• GIRL HATE (WHY can’t girls exist in books without having to hate each other????)
• bad representation of marginalized groups by white allocishet authors who don’t do their research (yeah I went there)

8. a popular book/series you have no interest in reading

          

OH BOY.

I have no interest in getting into the ACOTAR or Throne of Glass series. Absolutely NONE. SJ Maas is more like SJ Mess, and her books don’t even seem that interesting?? (Oops.) She is qwhite a problematic author (though I know other problematic authors that I have read books from) and I’ve heard the worst of things about Feysand. NO. THANK. YOU.

And I’m pretty sure everyone who once loved Twilight hates it now, but I have never read it and don’t ever plan on it. Sounds like a Mess I do not want to get into.

I also will never be reading Thirteen Reasons Why, Eleanor & Park, or The Thousandth Floor. I’ve read reviews about each book explaining why and how they are problematic, and I don’t want anything to do with them??? At all???? (Thirteen Reasons Why: extremely bad messages about suicide, Eleanor & Park: racist, The Thousandth Floor: bury your gays trope.)

9. a movie/tv show that’s better than the book

I have rarely watch movies/TV shows, much less adaptations, and there is definitely none that I’ve watched that is better than the book

(But I will say that Love, Simon is PRETTY good, and by that I mean: excellent and my fav and tear-jerking and is ALMOST as good as the book. Almost.)

So, I don’t really have anyone to tag since 1) I don’t think I was ACTUALLY tagged to do this, and 2) I’m pretty sure almost everyone has done this tag??? But if you do want to do it, here are the questions that you can copy and paste for your convenience!

• a popular book/series you didn’t like
• a popular book/series that is hated, but you love
• a hateable OTP
• a popular genre you hardly reach for
• a beloved character you do not like
• a popular author you cannot get into
• a popular bookish trope you’re tired of seeing
• a popular book/series you have no interest in reading
• a movie/tv show that’s better than the book

(Also if you do end up doing this tag, make sure to link them down below so I can check them out and bond over hatred!!)

OH AND!!! Obviously, I won’t hate you if your favorites are books that I hate?? (I likely have favorites that you hate.) I know I can come off as a little strong in my opinions, but I promise that there’s nothing wrong for liking things I hate unless it’s problematic and you don’t recognize it for being problematic and vice versa.

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what are some of your unpopular bookish opinions? what books/series do you never plan on reading (and why)? what annoying bookish tropes do you hate? and IS LOVE, SIMON OUT YET FOR YOU (and have you watched it)???