Today, the guys in the Goodreads Top 5 Wednesday group have an interesting topic: BOOKS I FELT BETRAYED BY! Beware the Ides of March! The books you feel betrayed by, for whatever reason…big or small.
Interested topic. One which makes me a little bit nervous though. Mainly, because I don’t like overly criticizing books. I mean, “betrayed by” sounds terrible like a secret society is running around in the shadows trying to ruin my reading experience.
Can’t say any book has ever left me feeling that jaded. Sure, I’ve been bored, annoyed, or even angry. But betrayed? Not so much. There have been a few which l came fairly close though. And those are the ones I will be focusing on.
5. TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn was a trilogy I really, really struggled to like (and finish) back in the day. Not suggesting there is anything wrong with Tad Williams’ epic fantasy trilogy, but it just wasn’t for me. Even after struggling to get through the first two books though, I convinced myself that things would turn around in the last novel. When events transpired as I had guessed, I felt horribly letdown.
4. THRONE OF THE CRESCENT MOON
After reading all the praise heaped on this novel, I had to read it. When it seemed to offer a zombie apocalypse set in an Arabian-like setting, I was totally psyched. Then I read the novel. What I recall is the main character really liking tea, being in love with a lady but not being able to be with her because of his “zombie” hunting, and every other scene being an intervention. All that exciting zombie apocalypse stuff? Didn’t happen. Yeah, I felt terribly mislead.
3. THE PHOENIX GUARD
Swashbuckling adventure! Three Musketeer-like characters! Magic! This one seemed like an absolute perfect story for someone with my tastes. Only one problem? The story was long, tedious, filled with nonsensical conversations, and with an ending that centered on the absurd. Not only did I feel completely disgusted with myself for being seduced into reading this, but it left a lasting impression of disillusionment with the author, who had been a personal favorite of mine until this novel.
2. THE MIRROR EMPIRE
I do not know what exactly I was expecting when I picked up this book. Perhaps I saw that damn cool cover and thought action adventure. Maybe, I bought in to the Hurley hype and believed I’d be experiencing a modern, gender neutral narrative. Whatever it was I was hoping for I did not find it within this novel however. Rather I felt completely jilted by a series I wanted to fall in love with but instead immensely disliked.
1. THE DARK TOWER
This book is the only one where “betrayed” is close to the truth. I’ve never, ever been as angry as when I finished this novel. Let’s take a look at a few excerpt from my review.
“Why did I read this series again?”
The awful truth about The Dark Tower Book VII is that it is a dud.
A clever buildup to a nothing happens.
A Dallas “Get out of the shower it’s all been a dream.”
Another Matrix sequel were our number today boys and girls is 101, and you are the sixth Chosen One, which means your dramatic victories are not anything new.
Not a “flawed masterpiece” at all but a cleverly disguised fake.
A huge belly flop into the abyss of bad endings.
A book that just stinks.
In fact, this “supposed” finale of the Dark Tower series makes such a mess of the story that Roland’s whole quest is rendered meaningless. A useless exercise in futility that is very similar to a hamster running as fast as he can on his exercise wheel.
Probably now you can see why this book has to be number one of this list.
bookwraiths.com 
Interesting. Never heard anyone complain about the Dark Tower finale. Although, I read the first one and wasn’t as wowed as I expected. Entirely a problem of friends hyping it. Same thing happened with ‘Game of Thrones’. The dark side of excited fandoms.
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There actually are a lot of Goodreads people who also dislike the ending, so I’m not totally alone. Plus, King basically tells you in the narrative not to read any further, warning you that what comes next will not make anyone happy. Never seen another author do such a thing before the ending to an epic series. After reading the conclusion, I totally understood why he put the disclaimer first.
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Weird that he went that route. Lemony Snicket did that, but it was part of the story and done for humor. I assume. Have to respect him for going through with the ending in his head even though people wouldn’t like it. At least I’d like to think that’s what happened. Don’t see a lot of artistic integrity these days.
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Yes, complaints about the ending of Dark Tower are common (even from a guy two doors away from me at work).
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More proof I am not alone in this complaint! Thank you for making me feel less of a reprobate. 🙂
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I here you on the Throne of the Crescent Moon. Less social tea/coffee drinking and a little more actual action, thank you…
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That must have been some damn good tea.
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😀
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and I did mean “hear”, not “here”. I canz spelle, fir reel!
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I sort of liked Memory Sorrow and Thorn series. It just wasn’t worth all the words I had to read to get the story.
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That was a major problem with it.
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Wow, have to disagree with you on your take of The Dark Tower, I loved that book, but I DO agree with you on The Mirror Empire. I thought it was confusing and just too much.
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To clarify, I liked The Dark Tower until the ending. If I had just taken King’s advice and not read it I would have loved it. Bad choice on my part. 😦
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I loved the Mirror Empire! But with you on Throne of Crescent Moon. I don’t remember the tea stuff i guess, just that I finished it and felt disappointed.
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Nathan, you don’t remember the tea? How could you have missed it, brother? The ghul hunter was drinking tea or thinking about drinking tea all the time. He had a major tea addiction. 🙂
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To be honest, I don’t remember enough about To Green Angel Tower (I read it way back in high school), but I can understand your frustration with The Mirror Empire. It wasn’t at all what I expected, but I ended up liking it.
The Dark Tower, however, I have to disagree on. I see where you’re coming from, but I thought it was a fitting end to the wheel of ka. Honestly, I can’t imagine it ending any other way.
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It was just the ending in The Dark Tower which ruined it for me. I wish I had just stopped before then. Guess the wheel of ka think just doesn’t do it for me. 😦
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Haha I totally sympathise about The Dark Tower!
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Thank you! It has been a slow road back from the deep betrayal I felt at the conclusion of that book, but I am now able to talk about it without cursing anyone. 😛
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I heard so many praises about the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy that I decided to try the first book some years ago and I encountered your same difficulties from book 1: it felt slow, sluggish and uninspiring, and I abandoned it quite soon… *sigh*
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Sorry you encountered the same problems. 😦
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I will be an outcast for this one because I am out voted millions to a few. Game of Thrones – ridiculously overhyped plotless heroless mess of a non-story that a phenominally large number of people adore.
I switched to the audiobook version but it still never held my attention. The writing quality is great as are some of the micro stories, but on a macro level I couldn’t get into it.
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Don’t get me started on WoT 😉
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I’m with you there. I can’t make myself pick up WoT again and finish it.
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WoT is the ultimate betrayal for me. I read the first 4.5 books as they were published. Couldn’t finish 5.
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I understand. We all have books that just don’t work for us.
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100% with you on your choice for #1. I hurled the last Dark Tower book all the way across my living room. Betrayed wasn’t the half of how I felt! I slogged through a kajillion pages, book after book, to find myself in that Dallas shower scene? At least when Bob Newhart did the send-up of it, it was funny. This one just plain stunk, and I haven’t been in the mood to read King since.
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Glad (yet sorry) you to felt the pain of The Dark Tower. At least now I’m not totally alone over here. 🙂
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Nope. Not alone. I’m still not done being mad about it, and I read it clear back when it came out. No, I don’t usually hold grudges that long, but it was a very big disappointment. I expected everything to come together and make sense. Some kind of epic revelation. Instead, it read to me like King had just decided it had gone on long enough, and looked around for an ending. Upon not finding one, he threw up his hands and decided he’d make it all a dream, and start over from the beginning. Huh? Where’s the payoff? Well. Lesson learned.
Of course, reading is totally subjective, so I don’t mind that others feel differently, but as you say, nice to know there are some who were equally dismayed.
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Of the above I’ve only read The Mirror Empire and Throne of the Crescent Moon, and I am in complete agreement with your comments on both!
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Have to ask, ” Do you recall all the frantic tea drinking in Crescent?”
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I tried out Tad Williams but I was so painfully bored by his writing that I gave up on the first book! I’ve got that Kameron Hurley book somewhere around here…. haven’t felt the urge to pick it up since buying it for the snazzy cover art.
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