The Unpopular Opinion Book Tag

I am pinching this tag from Rachel at Wanderings and Wonderings, because I like the idea of causing some controversy. Though I don’t think my answers are especially controversial. Maybe #6. Haha.

1. A Popular Book or series that you didn’t like.
The Martian. It struck me as a very good How to Survive on Mars manual but not a very engaging novel. I’m very impressed by the amount of research that Andy Weir did and I believe it when people say it is all very scientifically-sound, but most of it went over my head. It just wasn’t accessible to me. I found myself skipping pages. Also, for someone trapped on Mars for 18 months or however long it was, Mark Watney had zero character development. He was a smart-arse at the start. He was a smart-arse at the end. I kept waiting for him to have some kind of emotional crisis due to his circumstances, and it never happened. (When I say this, people argue that if he’d let one iota of negativity into his mind, it would have been the end for him, and while they’re right, I would have liked to see some indication of that struggle)

2. A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love.
It probably isn’t a case of “hate” and “love” but my favourite Harry Potter book is Chamber of Secrets (closely followed by PoA), which many fans seem less keen on. For me, this one strikes the right balance between light and dark, whereas I actually found the later books tipped a bit too much on the dark end.

3. A Love Triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with  OR an OTP that you don’t like.
Not that I especially liked either love interest in this book (it’s a series, but I only read the first because I’d already paid for it and then I rage-quit), but Alyssa swooning so much over Jeb in Splintered annoyed me to no end, because he was over-protective and controlling and toxic. Morpheus was at least willing to let her make her own choices, even if they contradicted what he thought she would do. (Related: I don’t recommend this book at all).

4. A popular book genre that you hardly reach for.
I really like urban fantasy, but paranormal romance doesn’t do it for me. Particularly if it involves werewolves. But vampires are also pretty meh for me.

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like.
Harry Potter. He’s fine in the earlier books, and I realise he goes through a lot of trauma, but I just found him so annoying and whiny in the later books, I wanted to give him a slap. I was only there for my favourite side characters by the end of the series.

6. A popular author that you can’t seem to get into.
Going to have to steal Rachel’s answer here and say Neil Gaiman. I just… don’t click with his writing style? Like, people describe the plot of a Neil Gaiman book to me and it sounds amazing, but then I actually try to read it and it just does nothing for me. I did read the Graveyard Book several years ago and remember liking it. I also read Neverwhere, which I was not terribly fussed on.

7. A popular book trope that you’re tired of seeing. (examples “lost princess”, corrupt ruler, love triangles, etc.)
Sub-category of the love triangle trope – I hate when the girl goes for the guy who is clearly unsuited to her, over her best friend, just because he’s ~sexy~. And probably ~mysterious~, too,  I’m not saying that the shy best friend “deserves” her because he’s been there for her through thick and thin (do not use the term “friend zone” around me, it will make me very cranky), but it’d be nice for the girl to actually only be interested in the guy she’s got things in common with and has been friends with first, rather than just throwing herself at the sexy stranger. (I realise this kind of contradicts what I said in Question 3, but in that book, Jeb wasn’t the shy best friend, but the character’s best friend’s brother, so it’s a bit different).

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading.
Divergent, etc. I saw the first movie, and I kept picking apart the world-building and the characterisation. I did think on more than one occasion certain issues I was having were probably better in the book, but I’m not interested enough to actually see.

9. The saying goes “The book is always better than the movie”, but what movie or T.V. show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?
Not that I’ve read the book in about 10 years, but even with the silly contemporary musical numbers, the movie version of Ella Enchanted is much better than the book. The book literally turns into Cinderella at the end, with a pumpkin coach and everything. The movie actually developed its own original plot. Honourable mention to The Martian, but I already talked about  that.

I’m not tagging anyone. If you feel inclined to steal, go ahead! 😀

 

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