13. Which books disappointed you?
Two main ones come to mind.
The first was Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova. It wasn't bad, but the person that rec'd it overhyped it I think (some random person on the internet, so that's on me). Also it'd been sitting on my shelf for a few years, and my taste definitely finally tipped more into adult instead of YA over those years. I probably would've liked it more if I'd read it sooner
I'm still probably going to read the sequel since it's just a duology, but it just didn't have that oomph I wanted. I remember the pacing being off and the story really relying on events from the characters backstories, and I just didn't find them convincing enough to explain peoples' actions.
The other was the Sacred Throne trilogy by Myke Cole. I have a few posts from when I was reading it.
My primary gripe with the series that had me tearing my hair out was the lack of worldbuilding--or at least how poorly it was explained to the reader.
The entire trilogy is this 16 year old girl thrust into faux sainthood to lead a rebellion against this tyrannical religion/empire, and they spend practically the entire series physically fighting this threat. But it's structure is not explained at all. I cannot emphasize enough how much we don't know shit about The Order. The different sections are introduced as soon as they're relevant--and we know the characters know about them based on their reactions. So it reads like threats are appearing out of thin air and we were just supposed to understand it from the beginning
I think the series also fumbles in its conclusion. (Spoilers) At the end, when they've revealed this emperor to be the sham he is, all the atrocities perpetuated in the name of nothing, all the struggle not to become her enemy and to not sink to their level...and the series ends with her becoming the new emperor?? SERIOUSLY??
Not to mention all the gratuitous violence. And the way the MC fights through lethal injuries. She just casually describes her eye popping in her socket and continues on. She gets stabbed and is back at it again the next day. like girl sit DOWN
I'd rate the series like a 2-2.5, but I'd expected better of it based of descriptions.
