More DNFs. Almost 20% of this year's DNF books have been in the past month...
V: The Secrets of Valhalla
W: Mage Wars
X: None! The only letter I didn't have a book title on my Kindle for.
Y: TJ Young and the Orishas
Z: Zoo
DNF #79: The Secrets of Valhalla by Jasmine Richards. "It's not a bug, it's a feature!" The main characters (13 years old) talked like adults. That was the high point of the book for me. The story (two teens have to collect magical relics and wake the gods to save the world from Loki) just never hooked me. DNF about a third of the way in.
DNF #80: The Black Gryphon (Mage Wars Book 1) by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. I made it through about a third of the first book, even though I was only enjoying the parts about the gryphons. They were so believable as intelligent animals! I loved them!
Unfortunately 75% of the book was about the human characters, and the writing in those parts just did not work for me. Amberdrake, the main human character, was an adult but he came off as an angsty teenager so often. Plus the authors did the most annoying thing, over and over. Amberdrake would do something "funny" (not funny) and everyone would fall over laughing so hard. He'd do something "insightful" (not insightful at all) and everyone would look at him like a god. He'd do something "helpful" and all the other characters around him praised him like he was an angel on earth. It felt dishonest or inaccurate, like the author was faking the other characters' reactions to make Amberdrake look better.
DNF #81: TJ Young and the Orishas by Antoine Bandele. I stuck with this story so much longer than I should have. The main character is part of a magical family/culture, but seems to have no magic himself. The story just never hooked me and the writing/wording was so odd. Things like on one of the first pages:
Lamar, one of his opponents, howled like a damned hyena -- and considering his sharp jaw was contoured like a snout, it was a fair comparison.
I sat there wondering if these were half-animal people, otherwise how could a jaw be shaped like a snout?
Grandma kissed her teeth again.
I THINK the author was trying to describe her sucking air in through her teeth...
TJ's pounding heart knew no end among the chaos.
I'd... I'd hope so, otherwise he'd be dead.
And after he stared at something for a while:
All it did was give him an eyesore.
That's... not... ugh.
DNF #82: Zoo by Phil Price. I DNFed this book in 2019, but somehow it got onto my Kindle again. I must have gotten a new copy of it, since in 2019 I dropped it since it had multiple typos/editing issues in each paragraph. The author must have gotten an editor and published a new version, since those were gone. Unfortunately the story was too uninteresting for me to stick with. But kudos on (eventually) getting an editor, author!