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Ten Books I Wish Made More Sense

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme: top ten books you wish had more/less X in them - in my case, fewer nonsensical plot twists.

Bonus note: I did a Top Ten Tuesday last year that also fits this prompt - top ten books that I wish had less romance! Go check it out!

I love plot twists in books. If a book can keep me guessing, I'm that much more invested. I want to know what happens, and I can't wait to find out! 

But some books take plot twists to a whole other level. As in, so out of the blue that it's kind of ridiculous. And most of the time, nonsensical plot twists can really ruin a book for me. I like being on the edge of my seat, but when a plot twist takes me completely by surprise, I at least want to be able to look back at the book and figure out where it came from. This doesn't happen a lot, but it's happened enough that I've noticed the pattern, which means I can make a list out of it!

I know that some people don't like to know when books have twists and turns - if that's the case, then stop reading here! But I'm not going to say what any of the plot twists are, and for a lot of the books, I'm not just talking about the one-event-that-changes-everything kind of plot twist.
ULTRAVIOLET by R.J. Anderson (Ultraviolet #1): I have some strong feelings about this book. I was so sure that I was going to love it! It was going so well! And then, very suddenly, it wasn't, and I went from loving it for the first big part to hating the last part.

THE NECROMANCER by Michael Scott (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel): I have a love/hate relationship with this series. Most of the first four books were really great, and I thought that I was going to love the rest of the series. But then, things got weird, and by the end of the series, I was really disappointed by the direction things had gone.

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS by George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire #5): I always talk about how I thought the first half of this book was incredibly boring, but the other reason this is my least favorite book in the series is that too much happens in the last few chapters. This series definitely keeps you guessing, but usually in a good way - that's not so much the case here.

CONVERSION by Katherine Howe: I'm not really sure how I wanted this book to end up, but the way things were revealed left me feeling really let down. It just didn't really seem like the ending fit in with the rest of the book, and it left me feeling really unsatisfied.

THIEF OF TIME by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #26): Yes, I'm criticizing a Terry Pratchett book! (It's not really that rare - there's just so much more to gush about that my negative opinions seem few and far between.) I just couldn't wrap my head around this one. It was interesting, but no matter how much I thought about it, it just didn't make sense.

EMPIRE OF STORMS by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #5): I definitely have some issues with this book, one of which is that it fits onto this list. I know Sarah J. Maas can do plot twists really well - that's one of the reasons I loved A COURT OF MIST AND FURY so much - but this just wasn't up to par. I was confused and disappointed, and I'm really hoping that the sixth book is better.

THE LOST CITIES: A DRIFT HOUSE VOYAGE by Dale Peck (Drift House #2): I'll be honest - I read this book so long ago that I don't really remember much of it. But what I do remember is really liking the first book and then wondering why this one made absolutely no sense.

IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS by Cat Winters: I've been focusing a lot on the endings of books, because apparently that's where I tend to be the most disappointed. But a huge part of this whole book is something that's just...never explained. Ever. You're just supposed to accept it and move on, but the whole thing was so weird that I just couldn't.

THE TIME QUAKE by Linda Buckley-Archer (Gideon Trilogy #3): My problem with this book is very specific, and I'm not going to say what it is because I already said that this post would be relatively spoiler-free. I'll just say that the thing that bothered me in this book irritated me so much that it even made me like the first two books less in looking back at them.

TIMELINE by Michael Crichton: The thing about this book is that according to the laws of its universe, the plot literally can't happen. The book is fine unless you think too hard about it, but if you figure out the problem, and if you're anything like me, the whole thing just gets really annoying.

Have you ever been disappointed by a bad plot twist? Do we agree on any of these? What did you do for this Top Ten Tuesday? Tell me in the comments!
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Comments

  1. Danica February 7, 2017 at 7:42 AM

    LOL I love what you chose as your Top 10 topic. I sadly haven't read any of these so I can't really comment.

    Danica @ Shelves of Spines
    My Top 10

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ClaraFebruary 10, 2017 at 9:44 AM

      Thanks! I know I picked some more uncommon books this week - I guess that could be seen as a good thing, since these are books I had problems with.

      Delete
  2. CG @ Paper FuryFebruary 8, 2017 at 3:18 AM

    Eeep, the only one I've read of these is A Dance With Dragons! Oops. :P I actually loved the finale plot twists but I agree they all came in a rush while the rest of the book was mega slow?!? I think GRRM could do more editing and pacing fixing but then it'd be like 20 years between books I guess.😂😂

    But there are SO many books I wish made more sense! One of my pet peeves is when a book is super realistic and then the plot twist has total sci-fi elements that just make me go "whaaaaa" and it ruins the credibility of it for me completely. Like sure be a sci fi book. But be that way from the BEGINNING. Not just to explain away complications!😂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ClaraFebruary 10, 2017 at 9:46 AM

      Isn't it already 20 years between books? I'm still not sure how I felt about the finale plot twists - I LOVE plot twists, but I just feel like these came out of nowhere and weren't really explained well.

      And YES, that's one of the things that annoys me most! There's actually a book on this list that fits that EXACT description (but I won't say which one, just in case it spoils someone).

      Delete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2017 at 8:22 AM

    I enjoyed A Dance With Dragons, A Feast for Crows was the ultimately boring book for me. Most of it was pointless wandering of Brienne, I had a hard time not skipping those chapters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ClaraFebruary 10, 2017 at 9:46 AM

      I'm glad you liked it! I really liked A Feast for Crows - I agree that it was definitely a huge step down from A Storm of Swords, but I still found it really enjoyable.

      Delete

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