Today, the guys in the Goodreads Top 5 Wednesday group have an interesting topic, one which is straight forward and to the point: “Books You Love to Discuss. Some books we disliked or they were just okay, but they still have a lot of discussion points to sink your teeth into.” 

I missed this topic back in January.  It is such an interesting question though that I decided I’d turn back the clock and feature it this week.  And I know exactly the five books I want to list!

5. A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall

Huge expectations came crashing down on me after reading this fantasy.  What made it even more difficult is that I really enjoyed Alex Marshall’s prose.  But I never get tired of talking to people about why the plot and characters were stunningly annoying and terribly developed.  If you’d like to read more about my thoughts, you can take a look at my review.

4. The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

I know many fantasy fans love this book.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t as enamored of it as most of my reading friends back when it was releases and even today.  Probably the main reason is I felt the author went too far with his use of standard fantasy tropes like orphan boy, grand quest, and traveling around exploring the land.  Sure, I’ve enjoyed those type of stories before, but I guess the authors did a better job adding something new and exciting into the familiar mix.

3. The Dark Tower by Stephen King

This series brings out strong feelings in readers.  Even more strong feelings are caused by this concluding volume, which is frankly divisive and places readers in either the I love the series or I hate the series.  Personally I call this particular book “the abyss of bad endings.”  There are so many problems I have with this one that I’d rather you read my review than me reliving the horror of it all.

2. The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley

This was another book which crumbled under my sky high expectations.  There were a host of reasons I did not love this novel, but it largely can be labeled my problems with the plot and characterization.  Added to this, the rape scenes and general pathetic nature of every male character also bothered me.  I actually go into a lot of detail in my review.

1.  Brokedown Palace by Steven Brust

Some books are written to be morality plays.  This novel by Steven Brust is exactly that, using the fantasy backdrop and all its many characters as an allegory for society.  The point of it all to show how wonderful Marxism is.  Naturally, I didn’t care for this story.  Political allegories just aren’t very interesting to me.  If you’d like to read all my thoughts about the book, see my full review.

Read any of these books?  Want to talk about their positive or negative elements?  Post it and lets discuss it!