Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't

From the Broke and Bookish

Top Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't

 

I decided to split this one in two - those book I didn't put down but wish I had and those books I'm glad I didn't.

Books I Almost Put Down and Wish I Had

Mentats of Dune

The most recent, I really struggled with this one. The storyline was bland, the characters two-dimensional and the info most certainly dumped. Why did I stick with it? I have been reading the Dune novels since I was fifteen years old and have enjoyed most of the additions to the cannon. It was that series loyalty more than anything that kept me reading, though I am not at all sure I will be picking up the next book in the series.

Catalyst of Sorrows

A Star Trek book, Catalyst of Sorrows seems to have everything I would enjoy. Uhura as a spymistress, Benjamin Sisko before the tragedy of the Borg, Romulans, Leonard McCoy at his curmundgeonly best... And yet the parts never added up to a great whole. I struggled through it, hoping it would get better, but the book never quite clicked for me.

The Caravaggio Conspiracy

I have a hard time even remembering this book, I have to say. Like Catalyst of Sorrows, it seemed to have a lot going for it, but by the end it just did not catch my attention. I forced my way through it, but have no memory of it whatsoever.

Peacemaker

My first Netgalley book, I so wanted to like it. A sci-fi urban fantasy mixer, written by an author I had wanted to read for at least a decade, it just did not click with me. I forced myself to finish, but will not be picking up the sequel.

The Descent

After reading and enjoying the first two books, I had high hopes for this. Unfortunately The Descent did not match them. A bit of a mess of a book, it never came together for me. Only the weight of the other two books and wanting to know how it was going to finish kept me from putting it aside.

Something More Than Night

I had a similar experience with Something More Than Night that I did with the first book in Ian Tregillis' Milkweed Triptych. I tried very much to like the main character and the interesting world that Tregillis created, but they never really clicked with me. I persisted because Tregillis did such a great job with the two follow-up books to the Milkweed series, but unfortunately this time it didn't work out. Still, I'm definitely looking forward to Clakkers, his end of year release.

Books I Almost Put Down and Am Glad I Didn't

The Way of Kings

This one was an almost put-downer mainly because of genre fatigue. I had read a lot of epic fantasy by this point and so The Way of Kings arrived at the worse possible time. The character of Kaladin does not help as he goes through a lot of very dark moments and can be quite depressing at times. Still, I am so glad that I did struggle through it because the ending is amazing and reignited my interest in epic fantasy. I recently reread the book in preparation for the release of the sequel and it was even better on the reread.

Ancillary Justice

A difficult book simply from the way it is written and the voice that the writer used, Ancillary Justice was one of those books that is a struggle to read but more than makes up for it at the end. Still, there were numerous times where I was tempted to lay it aside. I'm glad I didn't, though.

The Briar King

The beginning of The Briar King was not what I was hoping for. I had been looking forward to reading Keyes for a long time, but the disparate characters and uncertain plot did not impress me. This is another one I was delighted to have pursued though, because the book really came together at the end and the sequel was fantastic. I can't wait to continue with the third and fourth books next year.

The Spiritwalker Trilogy

I struggled through every single one of these. I found the writing hard, the characters at times annoying. And yet there was something about it that kept me turning one more page, starting one more chapter, every time I was tempted to put it down. I'm glad I did, because I now have a very good memory of reading all three books. They were definitely worth the effort.

What books did you almost put down but kept on reading? Did you end up enjoying or hating them?