The Tattooed Book Geek: Three Worst Books of 2016!!!

I recently did a Top Ten Books of the Year post where I listed the ten top books that I had read in 2016, you can find the link to the post below:

• Top Ten Books of the Year!!!

And it seems only fitting that I reverse that and now do a  list that shows you my worst books of 2016. I was quite lucky in that out of the 56 books I read only three were “bad” books last year. Sorry, I know it seems unfair to label a book as “bad” after all the hard work and dedication that the author has put into it but these were three god awful terrible reads!!!

Forsaken Skies by D. Nolan Clark:

The unknown enemy that is heading towards Niraya after much debating amongst the main characters until they finally find out for themselves in the book turns out to be aliens. Yes, it’s space opera so you the reader probably guessed after reading about the first attack in the book who the enemy was but are oh so clever characters take absolutely ages to figure this out!

While the overall story itself is good and the alien threat and their intentions are interesting the actual book lacks much emotion and any real humour. Also, dare I say it, the book could have done with being editing down in length. For me the author could have easily shaved off a hundred pages or more making the story faster paced and far more enjoyable as in it’s current length the book feels bloated and drags taking ages for anything significant to happen.

I’m sorry to say that after reading Forsaken Skies, while I enjoyed parts of it, unless you are an avid sci-fi fan looking to add another book to your collection that I unfortunately cannot recommend it. There are some good points and redeeming qualities to the book but overall the flaws far out weigh them. I’m not sure myself if I will read the sequel, yes, I’m quite interested to see where the story goes but with the writing style and lack of engaging characters I really don’t know what my decision will be about continuing with the trilogy. I would suggest that unless you are a fan of the genre that you stay away from this book.

You can find my full review below:

• Forsaken Skies Book Review.
  

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Preceded by Chaos Vol. 0 by M.Wheeler and B. Bicknell:

I read this short in roughly 30 minutes and that’s no time really for me to complain about losing ! Being called Vol 0 the short acts as a prologue building for future volumes to be released. However, I felt like I was thrown mid way into a story and that I was reading a chapter in a longer book – thankfully I wasn’t!

Unfortunately Preceded by Chaos didn’t engage me at all, plain writing, unlikeable characters who get upto predominantly nothing but depraved acts throughout the entire book apart from Mitchell’s moment of clarity and self realisation at the end (that’s why it’s getting one star and not zero).

I think that there is a worthwhile story in here waiting to be told and that it may become more clear and apparent in any future volumes that expand on Mitchell’s character but for this volume I can’t recommend it.

The only recommendation I can give is to the publisher, firstly, offer this for free to anyone who is interested as there will be people out there who will like it, it’s definitely an acquired taste and while it wasn’t for me it could lure some people in. 

Secondly, an omnibus edition could be an idea including this with the next volume to give people an overall better idea of what is going on.

And, lastly, please sort out the issues with the lacklustre and shoddy quality of the artwork in the book, the blurred writing and pixelated images are a detriment to the actual artists work and it makes the book look like it was printed it from a  home printer!

You can find my full review below:

• Preceded by Chaos Review.

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Into The Guns by William C.Dietz:

The press release bills this book as “a brand new post-apocalyptic series that will thrill fans of Mad Max”. Now, I’m a Mad Max fan and accepted a review copy of the book based on that description. Unfortunately and much to my chagrin I couldn’t find any remote Mad Max feel, vibe or reference to this book at all! The closest you get is the mention of Warlords taking over and running certain towns but as we never get to see these Warlords and it’s stretching the Mad Max link anyway as it’s a very tenuous connection. Sadly the nearest that this bunch of bland, dullard and vanilla characters get to Mad Max is if any of them were watching one of the films during the book!

I always attempt to be genuine and honest, giving you my personal perspective in the assessment of a book when reviewing it. Even when I don’t like a book I try to look at it objectively and alongside my issues, I also attempt to offer any redeeming qualities and features to that book as I know we’re all different and while I don’t like a particular book it doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t actually like the book given a chance. However, it maybe harsh but where Into The Guns is concerned, I can’t find anything to make me recommend it you and I find it to be lacking in any redeeming qualities. I did finish the book in the hope that it would improve but it didn’t and I even found myself skimming pages which isn’t normally something I do when reading.

To conclude, Dietz likes to use military acronyms throughout the book and while it’s not technically a military acronym and is more a slang term derived from WW2. I have one that sadly is very apt in describing my feelings perfectly towards this book: FUBAR.

You can find my full review below:

• Into The Guns Book Review.
  

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Well, there you have it, the three worst books I read of 2016! 🙂

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