DNF List
DNF List
Shadow of the Gods
3%
Try to Finish: Yes
Frankly this just didn't grab me, its as simple as that. I DNFed early enough, like only within 3% or so, that I'll probably try again later. A large part of it was the audiobook itself. The guy talked so quiet, nearly whispering 3/4 of the time. My headphones are already limited in sound range. Maybe if I can listen with unrestricted volume or if I read physically I'll return to it. But as it stands it wasn't grabbing my attention. I'm not that into Norse settings so I just wasn't hooked.
Fourth Wing
5%
Try to Finish: NO!
Why oh why is this book so popular? Well, scratch that. I know why. It's because of TikTok and the new age of young people used to wattpad writing. The only people I see who actually love this is either people who blindly love anything that has 'spice'/romance or people who either prefer lower level book preference or just are starting to read books (the main crowd who like first person POV books to begin with tbh). No joke, 2 of the 3 people I know who like this aren't readers and this is the first book they've read in years. (Obviously I'm not saying all. This can be a guilty pleasure for any level reader. We all like bad books now and then. I'm simply talking the general audience) This just isn't a good book, I'm not sorry. I tried to get to 15% to DNF but I could only get to 5%.
A few specifics on why it's so bad is, for instance. The usage of curse words. I'm the last person who cares about 'bad' words. I regularly curse without even realizing it. But this book uses the f-bomb like a kid who just learned the word. You don't need every 3rd sentence out of every character to be a curse word. I don't care if one of the characters are a 'gristled warrior', its justcringe worthy. Secondly, the writing itself was very much the same kind you get from a young YA book. If you took the sex and curses out of it and told me it was a YA book I would 100% believe you going off the writing quality alone. The sentences are simplistic at best. And it's just bad. No published book should have the main character thinking with their whole chest with the words put black and white on paper "He's hot. He's so hot" like what is that? That isn't even acceptable writing in fanfic unless it's your first or second fic ever. It's just so bad. The mindsets are bad and childish. The writing is bad. The characterization is just sad. Lastly, though I obviously never got their myself, from what I've heard it is also just plain bad sex scenes. I've read, no, written far better sex scenes in fanfic and RP. Tropes are fine if done well but it wasn't.
One Dark Window
45%
Try to Finish: Yes
Honestly this book wasn't bad, clearly you can see how far I made it in. I just at the time was not feeling like the straight romance that it was starting to show more and more of. It also doesn't help that by this point in the story I still had virtually no idea what was actually going on and why I should care about anyone involved. I did, however, love the Nightmare Card. I thought he was really cool. And the magic system is really interesting. I will be picking this up to finish it, just for now it's unfinished.
Assassin's Apprentice
?%
Try to Finish: Yes
I don't remember when I dropped this and I wish I didn't have to but man.... is this a drag. This falls back to a sort of Tolkien-esque form of story telling which is pretty bland to me. I couldn't make it through LotR or the Hobbit without a the version that has music and sound effects to give it more life and I feel like the same will be for this. In the hour or two that I listened I just was not getting gripped at all. It felt dry. Between the writing and the narration it just was hard to focus on it at all. I hope to give it another chance, I do like the proper fantasy setting, but it won't be for a while I imagine.
The Sunlit Man
5%ish
Try to Finish: Yes
Honestly I DNFed this for no reason of the book itself. It's because of the narrator. The narrator isn't the same as most Cosmere books which wasn't going to bother me at first. His voice for one preestablished character was all wrong but I was gonna give that a pass. But then the dude tried to voice Hoid. It was so unbelievably bad I literally returned the book within a single sentence. It was THAT bad. He sounds almost like Sadeas, not Hoid. I thought at first it might just be my dislike of new narrators trying to voice preestablished characters but it isn't that. The graphic audio of Tress and the Emerald Sea was amazing, and the person who voiced Hoid in that book had full understanding of his character. This dude though? I honestly dont know why Sanderson didn't put the breaks on that immediately or redirect him. He had NO understanding of the character. I'll read this physically or hope for a graphic audio of it. I'm not listening to this joke of a narrator though.