A Rant About Why I Didn’t Finish (DNF) a Sci-Fi Book
I’ve been searching through my Kindle Unlimited account, and have discovered a handful of books I downloaded more than two years ago and have since forgotten about. Oops.
Am I the only one this happens to? (Gosh, I hope not.)
I found four or five offenders (meaning they’ve been sitting on my Kindle for more than 18 months) and I decided to put them on a list to read next so I could get them off my account.
The first one I started with was a Young Adult Ish military science fiction book.
The author has around ten books out. The others are also science fiction, but look to be more action and romance than military anything.
Normally I would wait until the 25% mark before I decide to not finish a book, but this one is making me a little crazy, so I’m throwing in the towel at the 20% mark.
I decided that I’d fill out my Movie Review template so I could explain the problems I saw.
Why did I read this book again?
I honestly don’t remember downloading this one. Since I’ve been trying to write a young adult, military science fiction book, I suspect I chose this one because it had a few things in common with the series I want to write.
4 of 5
Characters
The main character is different than everyone else. That’s brought to light in the prologue (which I’m not sure was necessary) and gets hammered at least five times in each subsequent chapter.
Being different than everyone else is fine, but it’s more effective if the author handles it less like a sledge hammer and more like a dissonant background melody.
Not only does this young woman (I think she’s 17) look and act different than everyone else, but she’s seen things no one else has.
These should be intriguing conflicts, but instead they were shoved down my throat about eight too many times.
The supporting characters are oh-so-flat.
The other cadets treat the main character like the plague. Okay, fine, they’re teens. Teens are stupid. I was willing to look past this, until basic decency and gratitude went out the window.
Her commanding officer is downright prejudice, which immediately turned me off. Adults in the military are allowed to have feelings, but if you have an asset, you should use it, not abuse it.
Other commanders are intriguing, but only serve to remind us how DIFFERENT our main character is.
Back to our protagonist. She seems smart, until her temper flares. But she’s going to keep it under control…until she isn’t.
She does do a brave and heroic thing, but her superiors only berate her and punish her for it. Then she’s stupid again and I just rolled my eyes.
Can you see my frustration?
3 of 5
Did I care what happened?
There are some decent outside conflicts in the universe of the book. I was interested in those, but it felt like we weren’t ever going to get to them.
The main character is presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it will require more brains than brawn, which I’m not convinced she has. And by 1/5 of the way through the book, I should believe enough in the character to be excited for her.
I wasn’t.
2 of 5
Plot Holes
Since I’m not identifying this book, I’ll keep this more generalized.
This is the military, why isn’t there any security on this ship?
Teens who have gone through what amounts to basic training should have more discipline than this. If not, they wouldn’t have made it. Any of them.
Young Adult books often require the adults to be idiots so that the kids can be the stars of the story. I’m not sure the adults in this one can recover.
Why is such an important witness being tossed out to the edge of the system? (This is a great question, and if the author had answered it in a believable way, I might have kept reading.)
If no one believes in the big conflict, then why is action being taken?
I’ll stop there. Mostly because I’m bored.
3 of 5
How many times did I yawn?
I didn’t yawn, but I did roll my eyes at least fifteen times.
Why?
Because I’m not a fan of the “conflict for the sake of conflict” craze that’s been going through the writing world since the Hunger Games and the Maze Runner became popular. I’m all for hitting characters when they’re down, but if they never get back up then it’s not conflict, it’s a bully fest.
Superiors are cruel just because everyone has to be mean.
The other cadets are awful because our main character can’t be given the slightest bit of breathing room.
The WHOLE SYSTEM is against her, and we get to be reminded of that on Every. Single. Page.
She’s so picked on that I didn’t care anymore, because it was over the top.
2 of 5
Cool Factor
The tech was pretty cool. I think the author did a decent job with that.
4 of 5
The End
I didn’t get there.
The end of the last chapter I read was enough to make me close the book.
0 of 5
Overall Enjoyment
I didn’t finish this thing.
I’ll probably never read anything else by this author.
Teens might enjoy the angst of it all, but I doubt many other people will.
The book has an average of four stars, but the lower stared reviews complain about the same issues I did.
1 of 5
Total: 17
That’s a Yellow Belt
White Belt: 1-10
Yellow Belt: 11-19
Purple Belt: 20-25
Green Belt: 26-30
Brown Belt: 31-35
Black Belt: 36-40
