The WORST BOOKS I Read in 2019

hello and welcome back over to my channel my name is Starla and today's video is going to be pretty negative [Music] [Applause] now in the year 2019 I read some amazing books I read some mediocre books and I read some bad bad books now I'll warn you now there are going to be some popular books on this list I'm hyped books some controversial opinions of mine please keep in mind that my opinion on these books is just that an opinion my opinions in no way take away from your enjoyment of these books they are in no way a comment on your character I think you're pretty dope so I did list these books so the list is going to go up from okay maybe these aren't so terrible - oh my gosh what is this trash I just read let's jump right into it first and foremost is a once in future by Amy Rose Cappetta and Cory McCarthy I did end up giving this a 2 stars and after making this video I am gonna unhaul it I really should have been holed it sooner but I don't know I wanted to love it this was a gender swapped super queer retelling of King Arthur and like all of those things I would love but in this book I didn't this unfortunately just really wasn't anywhere near as good as I wanted it to be or I hoped I honestly felt like this story felt like a draft like it didn't feel like a finished product the plot was super confusing and jumped all over the place the pacing was really odd I really didn't like how the story really dealt with all of its characters on a very surface superficial level unfortunately almost every single character felt defined by their diversity like oh that's the asexual character that's the funny gay character and like that's just super annoying and none of the characters actually felt developed it really made it really difficult to care about any of them which in turn made it really difficult for me to care about the story the relationship between Ari and Gwen are two main characters so much of the relationships between these characters not just Ari Gwen but all of the characters took place prior to the start of the story and as the story started their relationships just wasn't really well explained it felt like we were just expected to go along with the status of their relationships without knowing anything about these care actors or how their relationship got to that point to begin with I don't know if it's just like because the story is based on a retelling it's just kind of expected to know these characters like they're based on other characters that are developed so that's who they are and but that's not where they are it's a retelling these are new characters and I know they're inspired by these people but I they're not these people I want to know who these people are I just didn't care like I I was like what what's going on who are you why should I care even ignoring the fact that Aria Gwen's relationship was really rushed and forced or I guess part of the reason why it was the very first scene that these two characters are in literally first time they're both on page together they are forced into a political marriage and consummated off page just like shocked me not like the fact that people have political marriages and consummate off-page like I wasn't asking to see it all but there was just absolutely no development in their characters or in their relationship and even though they entered into this political marriage it like instantly 180 switched over to being romantic and oh they're all in love and I was like I don't understand I'm not going to just go along with a romance for the sake of romance like I want to know who these people are why did they like each other what have they gone through what like I I want to feel for these people and I didn't I am a hundred percent all for supporting queer stories I want queer stories I need them but for me just because the story is queer doesn't automatically make it good I'm gonna hold queer stories up to the same standard as other stories they deserve to be and they should be just as good I also remember absolutely hating that the siblings like minor spoiler here even though I don't recommend this book but like I'll put something on the screen this I'm a minor spoiler here two siblings ended up like having feelings for the same person and I just like it was I was so bad like it was so awfully done not only like I really should he just trope to have in a story and I really don't like seeing that like siblings fighting over the same person romantically it was also just awfully done it was super petty and it was it was crap I didn't give him his two stars and the only reason it didn't get a one star is that because the Merlin character in this was super gay and super funny and like that was the only thing I liked about this whole book so that was seven I don't think I said how many books there are but there's seven so that's in the number seven spot in the number six spot is ash by Melinda lo this was a queer Asian Cinderella retelling supposedly this story had such a potential premise but unfortunately it just like fell down at every step hache the main character is painfully dull and all of the other characters are just lacking emotion or just like anything interesting in this retelling a she was an orphan is forced to be a serving maid for her stepmother and her stepsisters but instead of sneaking into the royal ball and meeting a prince Ashe comes across the FEI world and meets of a prince she also meets a huntress who she hangs out with sometimes if any of that sounds kind of confusing to you it's because it was this story made no sense and not even in like a fun nonsensical type of way like just not fun what the is going on kind of way is this a Cinderella retelling with the stepmother and stepsisters is it a snow white retelling what the Huntress is this a fairy story like who knows and I'm not even saying that like it can't be more than one but that's not how this book is advertised I don't know what was going on with the story which is I mean that's actually amazing because honestly no thing was going on nothing no plot no conflict no queer stuff the main character never once contemplated her sexuality or or stated anything about it which again isn't a necessity but in a world where women are oppressed and heteronormative rules I feel like there should have been something oh somehow in this world where women are oppressed there is still dislike special battalion of female huntresses the world absolutely made no sense there was no chemistry between any of the characters actually been made again like some light spoilery stuff but I really don't recommend this one ash made some stupid deal with the fairy prints that she encountered which also like that wasn't ever really explored that just like kind of happened and that was it but she makes a stupid deal with this fairy Prince but then at the end when she has or not has to but wants to like back out of the deal everything just so happens to work out in her favor like they made a magical bonding deal but at the end the fairy Prince was just like you know what forget about it what I I was shocked and just like on top of everything the story as a whole just had no feeling no emotion no passion of love no race against time there wasn't even really like a strong hatred or any type of negative any type of negativity between like her and the stepmother and that living situation no humor no cleverness no like heartwarming feelings nothing it was just overall very dull and very boring in my opinion I just I I thought it was pretty bad and I mean all of this is the nicest kind of way because I do actually adore Melinda low but to the next one the one that I'm guessing it's probably going to have me lose a few subscribers to reiterate just my opinions adore you in the number 5 spot is going to be at children of blood and bone by Thome at eme you know my big reasons for not liking this are subjective as opinions are this book is it necessarily like a bad book but it just really left me feeling annoyed and disappointed and like kind of at this point now that it's been several months since I read it I just feel like a different towards it in its whole series like I couldn't care less which is super disappointing because like I wanted to this story in my opinion is very cliche it's very predictable it's very cliche why a fantasy which I haven't really been enjoying as of late and I don't think that's necessarily because I'm getting older I truly just think that some why fantasy has kind of fallen into the habit of regurgitating this like same template and I felt like children of blood and bone did that as well I totally understand why this book is so popular the two things that I think are part of the reason why it's so popular are the two things that left me feeling really annoyed with it for one it has all of the basic y8 ropes and cliches all of them every single one that you can think of it's in this book it's a bunch of insta-love not only with like the main character and her love interest but with all of the characters there's that beauty blind trope where the main character doesn't think she's pretty or attractive but like in reality she is or like once the man says she is she thinks she is there's a mr. tall dark and perfect character a brooding bad boy a misunderstood bad boy kind of character undiscovered abilities dead parents the chosen one shitty childhood the overly talented and overly powerful protagonist like it's insane and I'm not saying that having cliches or tropes in your book automatically makes it bad I've definitely read some books that were very trophy and very cliche but I still ended up enjoying the top of my head I think of the monster severity duology by Victoria Schwab and the legend trilogy by Marie Lu both of those are very trophy very cliche very typical whyyy but when it's coupled with like amazing writing or it's done in a way that's like a little bit innovative then in a way that's just like yeah I got the chosen one trope but like I did it this way and that's interesting and different and cool like I I can still enjoy something that has tropes and cliches but I think when it's also just not really reimagined in any type of way when it's just kind of basic it's not very enjoyable the second thing about this book that I didn't really like was the black trauma porn a large part of black history is the unjust torture and trauma that black people have been subjected to and while it's important for all of us to be aware of this and to educate ourselves on this many forms of media have become obsessed with using black suffering as a plot device as a kind of shock value for its viewers or readers and I feel like it can really desensitize people to the how truly horrific this stuff is I also feel like it's just kind of creating this narrative that these are the only types of stories that black kids have these are the only types of stories that black people can tell the only thing we have to give is the stories of our pain and suffering and I don't agree with that black people they're so much more than our history of pain and suffering so I really didn't enjoy that aspect of the story either this entire story was just traumatic scene after cliche trope after traumatic scene after cliche trove another big thing that annoyed me throughout this story was its inconsistency and some of its inconsistency it was just like confusion disguised as inconsistency like it wasn't necessarily inconsistent but it was poorly written in a way that was well understood by the reader so it felt like inconsistent but also there was a lot of it that was just plain inconsistent throughout the story mainly like the biggest thing that was was the characterization it is super annoying when a character acts one way on one page and then a completely different way on the next one just for the sake of moving the plot along so so so many things in the story happened conveniently and that was very annoying the story wasn't terrible honestly which is why it is it high on my list but honestly it was basic and really underwhelming I really liked Omiya AME I'm excited to support other things by her in the future but this wasn't for me taking the number four spot is a black tie billionaire by nineth Simone I almost didn't put this on the list because honestly who expected me to like this you not me this is a Harlequin romance and it wasn't good but like is it meant to be if you would like a good laugh I did record my experience reading this I'll link that video if you've ever read like a smutty Harlequin story then I think you know what this is about if you haven't I'm sure you can imagine it just wasn't really good and I don't really have anything more to say than that because I don't feel like it's a story that was necessarily meant to be critically analysed and reviewed it just was a good period on to my top three oh man my top three could also be described as some of my most disappointing reads of 2019 I know worst and most disappointing are completely different they're not interchangeable but in this case I was really looking forward to these three books so in the number three spot is black ass by AI got e Barrett oh my god this one was so disappointing and like it's just making me mad again thinking about it the story follows a man named food or water poco a Nigerian a man from Lagos one day he just wakes up to discover that his skin is white his eyes are green his hair is red he is now a white man but his ass is still black turned into a white man photo hits the streets of Lagos to discover all of these new opportunities and things that he didn't have as a black man this premise is absolutely incredible it is super intriguing I think it sets up to really have some important discussions but unfortunately I found this story aggravating and just overall super underwhelming one of my biggest critiques is the stagnant plot throughout the story I was constantly thinking where's this going why is this important what are we working towards what is this leading up to and I never got any answers the entire plot of the story is just basically photo discovering all of these new privileges that he has as a white man like okay yes he's white okay yeah I get it he now has all these privileges now what what does photo learn what does he do with these privileges how and why was he even transformed what is the message of the story that white people have privileged because of their skin color I didn't need to read a 300 page book to know that I also did not like our main character at all photo along with like not really being very memorable in general what he was memorable for was being very shallow being very forward and pushy and like honestly just being a dick like he adjusted to his privilege real quick and wielded it and I can totally see how that's like kind of the point of the story but that was never addressed nothing that he did was ever like he never had any consequences there was never any justice for his actions which again could be the point but I don't know that the message of this book really just felt like well if you're white and you got privilege use it be selfish other people and there was like never anything ever to adjust that even if our main character was like that there was never any other character or any part of the narration or even like a for like an afterword in the book that that addressed it at all our main character photo was very forward in his sexual relationships for example there was a scene where he really pushed and pressured a woman into having unprotected sex with him that was never addressed on another occasion he pushed a different woman into kissing him even after she said no multiple times never addressed never any consequences there was also this like subplot in the story about a similar transformation happening to another character that he meets but we got so little of that I honestly don't even know why it was put in the story what was its significance what did it add the only thing that I enjoyed about this book was my ability to kind of be able to experience a little bit more of like Nigerian Lagos culture the story really read as if like I mean it was everything was taking place like on the streets of Lagos and I liked that I thought that was cool but overall super disappointing I was really interested in this I really thought that this book had a good platform to discuss some really important topics in a humorous way but it didn't it was bad in the number two spot is a queen of the conquered by casing calendars oh man okay yeah um very sad really really really wanted to love and enjoy this book I totally adore kissing calendar like I still plan on reading some more of their back listed stuff I'm excited for some more books that they have coming out they have like to command 2020 but this was bad I am going to have my November wrap up linked because in that I do go in-depth very in-depth in this book talking about it giving specific examples throughout the story so if you're interested on like a full analysis of it including examples inside the book and everything check out that video I'm also going to have Jesse from bowties and books most recent black girl magic vlog linked in their most recent vlog they did read this and discuss it and in it they did talk about a couple things that I didn't talk about in my wrap-up specifically about how our main character Sigourney is a rapist and a sexual predator one of the biggest things about this book that I didn't like was its writing reading the story felt like somebody else telling me about the story and that person is very easily distracted and frequently goes off on other tangents and rants in extreme detail too much detail we learn about every single character in this book whether or not they're important whether or not they appear multiple times in the story or just that one's whether or not what we are being told as any significance to the story and its plot we get everything and honestly 90% of it adds nothing to the plot or the story or any type of character development the writing style in this book was also very very very telling and not showing which I know doesn't bother anyone but for me it does I never felt truly invested in any of the characters because I was never really given the opportunity to see them I was just told about them I was told what they were thinking told what they felt told what they did and almost all of it was after the fact so like I never even got to see something comfy coming or see something happening it was always after the fact and I was always told I never got to like see for myself another huge thing that I really didn't like in this book was its main character Sigourney she was so stupid her entire reasoning her entire Drive her motive for like what she does in this book is revenge but nothing she does is like furthers that pursuit and she's honestly powerful like almost that type of overly powerful protagonist but it's not that trope because she's dumb and she doesn't use it it is so frustrating to routinely read about a character who time and time again is just making stupid decisions like come on get your together I'm trying to root for you I will say I applaud Sigourney or I applaud case and calendar for writing Sigourney as a truly morally gray character like I wanted to root for her but she did some things that made it very difficult for me to want to root for her in the end I hate her I don't like her I didn't really care or like the world-building in this again because it was a lot of telling and not showing the magic system and this was very not explained I didn't really care for the plot of the story because it's heavily pitched like it says right on the top they will know her vengeance like it's pitched as a story of a woman getting her vengeance but like it doesn't happen I will say that even though I really didn't like the story I might read the sequel it's a duology the only reason I'm even considering reading the sequel is because I know the sequel follows the one and only character that I kind of liked in this book and that might be better maybe overall when it comes to the story in this I really didn't like it I will say though I did really enjoy a lot of the themes in this I thought the themes of this book were very well conveyed themes of colonization of white people enslaving dark-skinned people themes of power and wealth and loss and abuse showing how people are treated drastically different based on their race their gender their sexuality their religion their socio-economic level all of that all the commentary on that was done really well I enjoyed that but everything else about this I really didn't like every book on this list I have or will and haul this one and once in future the only ones that I still own once and future is getting on hold this one I will keep until I give the zoology a chance and if that sucks as well they're gonna go honestly now that I'm thinking about it I might have hated black ass more than this I think I initially put this as number two because I read this book recently in November and I read black guys like back in February it's been almost a year so I feel like my feelings for this were just stronger because it's more recent but now that I've actually sat here and talk through them both I actually think I might hate black cast more than this and the last book on this list my worst read of 2019 is citrus by Sabaa roto I honestly think it's funny that like the worst book that I read in 2019 I actually feel like I had the least amount to say because literally everything well not everything the art was pretty but like literally everything else was terrible it was straight-up trash the story is about these two girls the one you sue her mother remarries and chance of transferring to this new school and she doesn't really like fit in and at the school she meets the student council the student body Council the student council body president the other girl her name is Mae and she's like presumably like the perfect student and on their first meeting they like butt heads but then when you do goes home after school she ends up finding out that Mae is her new stepsister this story was just like blatantly ridiculous he's just mother seriously got married but then like never told her daughter who her new stepdad was going to be who that she was getting a stepsister also this supposin husband is never to be seen also her mother like didn't know or didn't tell her daughter which is equally ridiculous like what family they are marrying into like this family is prestigious like it's a big deal this book was trashed plain and simple the entire plot was trash it truly has like the storytelling equivalent of an adult movie if you know what I mean there's like relationships with teachers there's oh there's questionable consent throughout the entire book the story perpetuates this attitude of like oh girls like girls because they're at an all-girls school I don't think I said that but the girls like girls because that's all that's around and like once they're out of school and they need a guy finally they'll be straight which is disgusting there was no character development everyone was just horny and sexy and and wanting to do each other all the time I don't care if you're family I don't care if you're 30 years older than me it was it was gross it was gross it was trash it was it was the worst book that I read and initially going into it I had high I didn't have high expectations but I was looking forward to it because citrus is a pretty acclaimed URI manga like it's pretty acclaimed for being a female female manga and I was like cool let me read it when I went to get it they were having a bye to get the third free sale so I bought the first three volumes of citrus and I read the first one and I couldn't believe I couldn't I couldn't believe how crap it was I unhulled all three of them I didn't even try to continue in the series it's bad alright that is going to do it for my worst reads of 2019 down in the comments I would love to hear about some of the shitty books you read in 2019 which one should I steer clear of but uh yeah that's gonna be all for today's video thank you so much for watching if you enjoyed it please give it a thumbs up subscribe if you or not and I will see you soon in the next one with my best of 2019 reads which I'm very excited to do thank you again for watching okay bye [Applause]

Channel: StarlahReads

Views: 3,983

Rating: 4.8615918 out of 5

Keywords: booktube, worst books of 2019, worst books, book reviews, book rants, once and future, amy rose capetta, cori mccarthy, ash, malinda lo, children of blood and bone, tomi adeyemi, black tie billionaire, naima simone, blackass, a igoni barrett, queen of the conquered, kacen callender, cirtus, saburouta

Id: Vp2zzKm8kjE

Length: 26min 32sec (1592 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 06 2020