The Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

This tag is EVERYWHERE on Booktube. And I love it. There’s something so great about hearing people’s opinions about things that are sometimes controversial or unpopular. I also kind of love it when people admit that they don’t like popular books. Is that weird? Who cares. Give me all the unpopular opinions.

STANDARD UNPOPULAR OPINION DISCLAIMER. These are just my opinions. They don’t make your opinions right/wrong. Because my opinions aren’t right/wrong. Everyone is allowed to like/dislike different books. That’s what makes us all not the same and life not incredibly boring. Let me like/dislike all the books I want. Go forth and like/dislike all the books you want. You go Glen Coco.

Original tag created by TheBookArcher on Youtube.

A popular book or series that you didn’t like.

YESSSS, LET ME VENT.

Paper Towns by John Green… didn’t finish it. Didn’t care.

The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. I didn’t really like Will, Jem or Tessa (or any of the others whose names I have forgotten) and the story just wasn’t that interesting to me. Sorry.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas. I didn’t hate the actual story, but Feyre was one of the worst POV I’ve ever read from. BUT ACOMAF is my baby and I love it. So the trilogy has redeemed itself for me…

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad. This is a less well-known book than the others but I only ever seem to hear amazing reviews of it so clearly I read a different version of the book because I found it so eye-roll-inducing and predictable and just nope. The characters kept making stupid decisions and I just wanted to slap them right off the damn moon.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. (Please don’t throw things at me). I should have loved this. Really. But I just didn’t. I completely can see why so many other people love this but for some reason I didn’t connect with any of the characters and I had some problems with the plot (which I won’t say for spoilery reasons). I did still think that this was cute but that was it. Thinking a book is cute isn’t enough to save it for me.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. Cringey. Boring. Don’t remember much else about it except the main character’s name was Cassiopeia and even THAT annoyed me.

I Was Here by Gayle Forman. I don’t even really remember why I didn’t like this. That’s how little I liked it. Sums it up pretty well, I think.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This one I'm still undecided on because I've never actually finished it. But the fact that I have had it on the go for months now, and have finished numerous other books in that time kind of proves I'm just not that into it. Major case of it's not you, it's me.

A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love.

The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling. I had tried to read this once and never got very far because it was just sooooo far from what I was expecting from my Queen (yes, J. K Rowling is my Queen. Obviously). I picked it up a year or so later and got SO attached to the characters and the ending had me all teary (I’m not really a proper reading crier) and I finished it and just stared at the wall trying to contemplate life and the universe and what it all means. Which happens occasionally when I finish books because I get so absorbed in it I forget about my actual life. I think another reason why people don’t really enjoy this one is because the characters are extremely unlikeable. But I love unlikeable characters. Give me books full of morally ambiguous, messed-up, not nice characters FOREVERRRRRR.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness. This one isn’t hated but it has some pretty mixed reviews, but I personally really, REALLY enjoyed it. The characters were great, there was just enough plot to keep things going. Solid book.

The Captive Prince Trilogy by C. S. Pacat. This one has EXTREMELY mixed reviews and everyone either loves it or hates it. I was there for it, especially towards the end of it. With this series I can completely understand why people have such strong feelings either way, but personally I really enjoyed the whole trilogy.

A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you didn’t want them to, OR an OTP that you don’t like.

I hate love triangles. There’s never been a time where I’ve been reading and thought ‘oh good, the author has included a love triangle… let me read about how your angsty, unrealistic problems where you can’t decide between two insanely attractive people fighting for your attention and you choose to ignore all of their problematic issues and negative personality traits. DO GO ON’.

Ahem.

I’m also not the kind of person who really ships characters. *shrugs*

The only example I can think of (which doesn’t really count but we’re going to pretend it does) is that I wanted movie Harry to end up with Book Ginny instead of movie Ginny because WHO EVEN IS MOVIE GINNY WHY DID THEY MAKE HER SO ANNOYING AND THAT SCENE WITH THE SHOELACES WTF WAS THAT BOOK GINNY WAS A BADASS.

Apparently this tag is going to bring out some strong feelings. Is it too late to warn you?

A popular book genre that you hardly reach for.

Contemporary and historical hiction. If there isn’t a chance of dragons or wizards or other mythical creatures I (usually) don’t care.

A popular or beloved character that you don’t like.

Snape. Snape. Severus Snape. (If you’re singing that in your head, 10 points to Gryffindor).

An important distinction needs to be made here. I appreciate ‘bad’ characters… as in characters who don’t do ‘good’ things. I generally even find them the most interesting. I’ve said earlier in this post that give me a book with morally ambiguous characters any day of the week and I will be there reading all about their questionable antics and living for it. Snape is one of these characters. HOWEVER, he’s also an asshole. The way he treats Harry (and I dunno… a million other students) is inexcusable. So I don’t like him. And I don’t like the way he is hero-worshipped soooooo much.

A popular author that you can’t seem to get into.

There are plenty of authors I’ve read one book from and not really liked, but I don’t think that’s a fair judgement. So two major authors I’ve tried multiple times but just can’t get into are John Green and Jane Austen. I honestly can’t see myself picking up another of their books. Or subsequent TV/movie adaptations.

A popular book trope that you’re tired of seeing.

In case I didn’t make it clear enough earlier, LOVE TRIANGLES. Seriously.

Also:

• Bad boys who are actually good but they’re just misunderstood

• People who are instantly good at their magic/powers/abilities without any training. Like, no. You don’t just suddenly wake up and be good at stuff that you’ve never done. Learn that stuff.

• Insta-love. Nobody makes eye contact with someone across a crowded room and instantly falls in love with them.

• Weird descriptions of a romantic interest’s features eg. How their ‘fluttery/long/beautiful/delicate eyelashes frame their eyes’. NO.

• The ‘I’m just an average girl with average hair and average looks and I’m too skinny and awkward and nobody will ever pay attention to me’ female main character.

• The non-existent parents. You know… those stories where the parents just mysteriously aren’t mentioned even though their teenage child is off saving the world/getting into trouble. Unless there’s a specified reason the parents aren’t noticing why their child is doing whatever it is their doing, then that’s just lazy writing. Sorry.

A popular book or series that you have no interest in reading.

The rest of the Illuminae Files series by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

I read Illuminae and was pretty meh about it so not going to continue.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

1. I’ve heard a lot of problematic things about it.

2. I just don’t care.

Any other book James Paterson brings out

The dude ‘writes’ like 10 books a year. I’ve done my time. I’m done.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Another one where I’ve heard some things about how the book is written and I’m not interested in reading a book where the story is about horrible things, purely to make the reader feel bad for a character. Not my thing. Also, I intentionally spoiled myself for what happens. I’m a monster.

The saying goes ‘the book is always better than the movie’, but what movie or TV show adaptation to you prefer more than the book?

Ok so this is a BIG claim to make. But maybe Game of Thrones *covers face in shame*. I have read half of the ASOIAF series and I am completely caught up on the TV show and I honestly think I prefer the show. Don’t get me wrong I love the books, I just love the show a little bit more? Maybe? I think if I’d read the books first I would feel differently though.

This one is a bit more of a stretch but the movie Clueless is loosely based off Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ (obviously in a much more modern setting). I love Clueless. I do not love Jane Austen. I particularly did not like Emma – the character OR the book.

Wow this post is long. Such feelings. Much rant. Also, I feel so much calmer… like I needed to get all of that off my chest. I feel like the purpose of the internet is basically just to rant to strangers so SUCCESS.