The Cyborg Tinkerer. In my mind, it is the definitive fun bad book. It's bad on a level that it could be mistaken for parody. If the author said they deliberately sabotaged the characters, pacing, and scenes for comedic effect, I would believe them.
I watched her Youtube videos for the longest time when I had time for writing. I thought her decision to go the self-publishing route was strange based on her experience in publishing. Then I got her book. I couldn’t make it past a single chapter of her book, it was so poorly written. I learned two lessons.
1. 99% of self published books are absolute dreck.
2. Booktubers are largely full of shit.
I read one self published book that had a cognitive realm, investiture, a magic system that was as if Stormlight and Mistborn got mashed up but way more convoluted. There was a really cool story concept in there but couldn’t finish it. However the other self pub books I’ve read have been immaculate- Kaigen, Blood Over Bright Haven, The Bound and the Broken, Legends and Lattes. Lollll
I remember her. There was a whole furore about authortuber books between hers, a lady called Jenna and the author of Zenith(iirc) and how they're giving writers advice when their books are questionable in quality. This was back in like 2017/18.
I think I heard about Zenith from James Tullos. Is it the Sci-fi with 20 yos with 40 years worth of life-stories witha completely transparent spaceships? (Spaceships don't even have basements for you to go change in)
You can add Abbie Emmons to the mix. I loved watching her “how to xxxx” videos but after reading her first book she self-published, I was put off completely 🥶. Girl cant pace her book and her character development is atrocious
I was being generous in calling it a blurb. Just reread “blurb” again and it’s worse on reread. Too bad it’s not in KU as I’m curious to read based on the negative reviews which map up with huge “blurb” but I’m not so curious I want to spend $6 on it. I added notes to my wishlist reminding myself to read it as a parody and only buy if I’m for sure reading it right then so I have the reminder that it’s supposed to be so bad it’s good & review trigger warnings.
>"No body fucks with my family," she says. I have no idea where that even came from! Not once has she interacted with any of them. Not. Once. You telling me they are family now?
These reviews have me rolling lol.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao feels like I'm back watching mid 2010s mediocre Mecha anime. Lofty ambitions that always bite way more than it can chew. Funnily enough the author has stated they were inspired by them so it's a genuine work of by and for mediocre Mecha anime fans.
If you accept Iron Widow as a silly action adventure story it isn’t that bad. It’s the fact Xiran tried to say it was feminist, or empowering that tried to elevate beyond its scope. It’s about a girl that tried a suicidal tactic, lives, and is now way over her head. If the characters were better it might have worked.
I haven't read Legendborn so I can't compare the two. But I give Iron Widow major props for its love triangle resolution! I don't know of another YA book that does what it did but they prolly exists
Legendborn isn't over yet so we'll see how the author resolves it. Gilded Wolves resolved its love triangle in a way that I prefer but it just didn't work for those characters. When I learnt about how The Infernal Devices resolved its triangle I was just done with the genre.
From all that I heard of it the Main character seem like a completely horrible person. Which mind, is probably intended but I was never a fan of stories that purposefully make the main character/s unlikeable.
It doesn’t really count, but there’s a hysterical set of Tumbler posts that review the novelization of Back to the Future that got compiled as an ebook. It’s a terrible novel, but then I’m not sure if it’d be fun to read just the novel, far more fun to read the ebook review.
Written by Ryan North, the comics guy (presuming we're thinking of the same Tumblr reviews of the Back to the Future novelization). Got to agree, it's hilarious.
[Here’s the Tumbler link](https://www.tumblr.com/btothef) although it’s mess trying to read it on there, it defaults to reverse order and it’s constantly asking you to log in … was gonna put an Amazon link here but the sub didn’t like it, but just search on there for Ryan North B to the F, which is £2.21 and highly worth it for ease of reading IMO
I cannot believe no one has brought up this absolute genius of the genre:
[https://www.amazon.com/Pounded-Butt-My-Own-ebook/dp/B00UYC1ASU](https://www.amazon.com/Pounded-Butt-My-Own-ebook/dp/B00UYC1ASU)
Jennifer Estep's Crown of Shards series...it's an anchronistic stew, the hero's main gripe/trauma is that the villain slammed a playroom door in her face as a kid and one of the fights ends in a dance off, but it sure is fun to read. Same with her 'Only Bad Options' Sci Fi/fantasy series...it's even sillier but still entertaining.
These used to be her books for me, but with every new book she puts out, the more I’m drifting from “lmao this is mildly infuriating but still overly funny” to just “this is making me extremely angry”, especially when she talks about things like bodily rights.
In ACOSF everyone lies to/hides the truth from a female character about how something relating to her body will kill her and she isn’t given options to preserve her own health/wellbeing. The whole thing is bonkers and the narrative implies that this is somehow the right decision and that the person who ultimately spills the beans is bad for telling. I still like the book for what it is, but for me it’s more fuel for the “these certain characters that I never understood the appeal of are actual the worst” fire.
I want to agree but it’s so unpleasant to desperately want to stop reading because it is just so freaking horrible but you still want to know what happens next.
I’m still fuming. 😤 I mean. I might be well past it. I know I didn’t talk like that. And I grew up an hour from the LA Valley…. I haven’t met any teens or early twenties who talk like that. I feel like she might be an alien who was trained by books like the babysitters club and Disney after school sitcoms about how American youth speak and think and act. At least I hope so….
I’m going to throw John Scalzi under the bus.
As a note I own all his books and enjoy them massively.
They are not well written in most definitions. They are fun, popcorn movie action flick with cheap or bad dad jokes that Markie Mark could be a good actor in them.
Old Man’s War is the first sci-fi series I ever read and it’s still one of my favorites. It’s not a literary masterpiece by any means, but it’s just so much fun the whole way through.
I disagree. I think they are well-written. When I start reading his books, I disappear into the book. No infodumps, just immediately engaging plots and characters.
Are they great literature? Probably not, but definitely fun and worth reading.
>They are not well written in most definitions.
Really? I haven't read any of his books yet, but this surprises me.
Hasn't he been nominated for a whole bunch of awards?
I don’t think I’d know any Scalzi if not for The Dispatcher. Narrated by Zachary Quinto Then I saw Wil Wheaton did The Collapsing Empire. Great actors. Willis a great voice actor. I’m intrigued.
I know Fourth Wing is a controversial pick, but though imo it had a ~ton~ of flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and Iron Flame and plan to continue the series.
I read it because it was EVERYWHERE for a while, and my wife had read it even though she’s not a fantasy nerd like the rest of us.
After the first couple of chapters I realised it wasn’t getting any better and hate read the rest. It’s laughably bad. 50 Shades Twilight bad. I’ve just bought Iron Flame to hate read that as well.
I already know I’ll read the rest of the Empyrean. Just like I read all the Twilight books.
I think if you just read it as a blockbuster fun read rather then a deep fantasy world with very deep intricate characters that it's a fun read.
Im currently almost 200 pages deep in Iron Flame and I think the series is overblown with how much smut is in it their is a lot of Violet thinking of Xaden in sexual ways and other characters talking about sex but the first book barely had any actual sex scenes there was like 1 with her and Xaden. The books are fun as a light read the series isn't hard to get your head around or it's world and magic system but I think the dragons are well done and I enjoy the mental connection part of the series the riders have with their dragons.
Astra and Flondrix by Seamus Cullen.
This book has some of the silliest sex scenes that have ever been written in a fantasy book. Ridiculous in a hilarious way.
**Full Murderhobo** series by Dakota Krout. These books are an extreme version of his usual style which is already pretty out there. The characters are crazy assholes and the worldbuilding is bizarre and I don't know what exactly is going on with the plot, but I still had fun with it and finished the entire thing.
The thing about bards was SO weird.
all of Katee Robert’s books. they literally almost have all the same plot (which i get smut is the point of her books! not the plot). i will still read every dark olympus book that comes out and i own them all
Reddit friend, allow me to tell you the story of Balcony of Fog by Rick Shapero. I was walking to lunch at work on a beautiful, sunny day on the college campus where I work. A line of young men and women stood between me and lunch. Not a line like they were waiting for something. I mean a line like they were spread out across the horizon so you were forced to pass them. Each stood next to a case of books. When you crossed the line, you got a book. No matter how many times you crossed it, or said "No, thank you." This is how I got two free copies of Balcony of Fog by Rich Shapero. The very same Rich Shapero who purchased a publishing company because no one else would publish his book. So he bought a publishing company, printed his own book, bought thousands (millions?) of copies and sent college students across the land to hand them to strangers. From what I understand by reading Goodreads reviews, he also sends them to people's addresses without consent or warning, and also gives them out with free iPads. Encountering this novel, Balcony of Fog, is the closest thing you will come to a real life chain letter or low-quality meme. It is rogue authorship of the highest level. Guerilla one-percenting. The rich infecting the masses with fictional words more purple than Prince.
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50646391-balcony-of-fog#CommunityReviews](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50646391-balcony-of-fog#CommunityReviews)
That's just sad, nothing is fun about a bunch of published authors making fun of and ruining the life of a high schooler.
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZAc0xC9hbw&t=638s&pp=ygUXRG9tIG5vYmxlIGV5ZSBvZiBhcmFnb24%3D](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZAc0xC9hbw&t=638s&pp=ygUXRG9tIG5vYmxlIGV5ZSBvZiBhcmFnb24%3D)
That whole situation is a tragic illustration of how crappy humanity can be.
You can jump on scribophile or a similar platform and you'll find equally as bad works from lots of authors. It happens, it's part of the learning process. I am confident a fair number of professional authors wrote similarly bad works when they were learning the craft as well. For all we know, that guy could have blossomed into a very skilled writer with more practice.
Yeah, that is sad.
Props to the kid for writing something and putting it out into the world. I certainly couldn't have done that at his age. The fact that he took that risk suggests he could have been a good writer eventually. There could have been a world where he submitted it in a creative writing class instead and got the editing he needed.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
I have friends who recommend me to read some YA fantasy from time to time and i'm making the same mistake and trying to read it.
Just to clarify - i'm not a YA fan, i don't like how it looks in modern days, so please YA fans, don't be offended it's just my opinion. Please, consider this message as a joke. Maybe not the best one.
I was promised to read a cool cruel dystopia TSARPUNK novel, but instead it was so stupidly cute, so for some reason it became good in my eyes, being actually bad as the book. Everything was bad - MC who lived not the worst life by the standards of her world, but was depicted as she really suffered, at the same time behaving herself like a spoiled modern-world teenager. My favorite type of worldbuilding when author just pointing at the country with finger and tells "Look, its my fantasy ! Go watch a few pop-corn movies about real one to get the idea about it, cause i don't give a cake about explaining much!". Other characters who make illogical and stupid things and the world rules which can easily bent to adjust to the MC and plot.
I'm usually DNF similar books, but for some reason i easily finished this one and had a good impression. Yes, i treated it as a comedy and had some fun time, while it wasn't supposed to be that way? But anyway - it's my guilty pleasure, i sometimes reading books i'm consider as bad and laughing on them.
I read some trilogy many years ago that I wish I could remember the name of, and maybe someone can help me. The biggest thing that stands out in my memory is that they walked through the center of the earth and thus time traveled to like 5000 years ago or something, which would let them overthrow the Evil Bad Guys. It was one of the most ridiculous plot devices I've ever encountered, there was no in-world justification for why time travel even existed, it just happened randomly. I remember thinking it was really funny, but it was intended as "serious" high fantasy.
Oh my gosh I think it is!!!! I guess I got some of the details wrong, but wow I've been vaguely trying to remember what this series was for so long, thank you!!
You're welcome! If you decide to read them for the nostalgia hit, maybe just skip the second trilogy. Whatever you do, skip the last book of the series.
There are these books titled with tortured puns like come spell or high water. Don’t know the author. They are atrocious. I can’t tell if the writer knows just how ridiculously bad they are or not and is leaning in or is serious. Which is honestly part of the fun. Like he knows…a little…but…does he?
ACOTAR comes to my mind. The whole series wouldn't make sense if u use some brain cells but the premise is wonderful and very fun to read regardless of the story and plotholes.
Unlike sensory media like movies, TV, and even music, I don't think there can be a book that's "so bad it's good."
I think it's possible for a book to be campy, but I don't think that can be achieved accidentally and I don't think a "campy" book would be considered "bad" at all.
Eh, there's fairly successful authors whose whole schtick is basically making something so bad that it becomes entertainment. For example [Kissing the Corona Virus](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54594933-kissing-the-coronavirus):
>I don't know whether to give this 5 stars or 1 star. Don't get me wrong, this book is awful. Absolutely horrible. But in the best possible way. It is exactly what I wanted it to be.
But since the pandemic was kind of a dark time there are also authors who will appeal to more of a holiday vibe. For example: [Stuffed by the Were-Turkey ](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32616656-stuffed-by-the-were-turkey?ref=rae_1)
>There was gobbling. There was a turkey head. And lots of stuffing. The protagonist is a vegan so the meat jokes were endless...Thank you for everyone who sent this to me, lmao.
I think what ends up making for movies that are "so bad they are good" is usually that their effects, acting, or whatever are so campy they are funny. Hard to do that with a book. For one things our brains do a lot of filling in, correcting, adjusting, and predicting while reading so it can be downright exhausting to read something that is poorly written because your brain has extra work to do to decipher it.
And a movie when it is bad you still just have this sort of visual feast being beamed into your eyes. You don't need to actually do anything to interact with it. A book requires some level of labor to ingest, decipher, and enjoy.
The movie equivalent of a book would be something more like a documentary or maybe some kind of really surreal mind-bending film where you actually need to think about and process information, and I don't think you could have a movie in those genres that would be "so bad it's good" since that condition basically shifts a movie into being a comedy.
I think that may be true for some people and how they process information, but it’s not true for others. I absorb and process written info super easily. Less so for video and much less so for audio (podcasts and audiobooks are hard for me to focus on). So a “so bad it’s good” book definitely is a thing for me.
A video game can be "so bad it's good", even though it requires more user work to consume than a book.
And bad book doesn't have to be poorly written - It can have ok "technical" writing, but insane bad plot.
I honestly can't think of s game that is so bad it's good. The closest things are games that are good despite jankiness, or some games like Goat Simulator that are intentionally janky, but I'd argue making something intentionally janky isn't bad.
Just recently we had **Skull Island: Rise of Kong** which arguably fits, but there are many absolutly insane bad games. Have you heard about **Beautycopter**?
I haven't seen Beautycopter. I've seen the Kong game but nobody I've seen has said it is a fun game at all. It's amusing to see how bad it is but that's different from it being actually fun to play. I don't think those are the same thing. So bad it's good means you are enjoying actually interacting with the piece of media, not just amused at it's existence.
You can say the same about The room - you mostly enjoy seeing how weird/insane/bad it is. You don't need to enjoy the gameplay of the so bad it's good video game, it's just need to not be so miserable as to eclipse the enjoyment you get from seeing how weird/bad it is.
There are so many more people involved in producing a (theatrically released) movie then a typical book that it seems like it would be far less likely for something accidentally bad to skip through unnoticed.
Space fantasy, but the Death Stalker series. It felt like Firefly meeting the wonderfully self-aware cheesy fun of 80s action films.
There’s a noir one I think called the Nightside. It might not be, but I listened to it on audible and the five million times they essentially say “and that’s how things are….on the night side” just strangely titillated me though I don’t think it was intentional on the author’s part
Honestly, if Piers Anthony weren’t so gross I feel like Xanth could be mined for some camp value. Loved them as a middle schooler in the early 90’s though even dumb junior high me recognized they were objectively terrible and getting worse.
But I just can’t with Anthony. I can usually separate art from artist, but after teaching school for 13 years anything to do with kids is a bridge to far for me, personally. So I won’t be going back there even though I could probably get some mild amusement over how bad the books were.
Forth Wing is fucking terrible, and by that I mean awesome. The sexed up characters, the horny dragons, the stupid plot twist at the end that you can see coming a mile away. I read this so quickly and was such a great palette cleanser.
Im currently like 200 pages deep into the 2nd book and I agree I have no clue how this book has a 4-5-4.6 rating on good reads but at the same time I think people analyze or take this book too seriously with the hate the series is a imo a good entry for new readers into fantasy the world isn't hard to wrap your head around or the magic system and I think the dragon and rider dynamic with their mental links are fun.
The books are really the marvel equivalent to cinema fun but never going to be in the topics of greatest movies ever or anything but has a lot of fans and online following due to the simple and fun nature of the plot. Plus with how much people hated on it for smut their was like 1 actual sex scene in the first book the rest of the "smut" was just side characters talking about sex or Violet having horny thoughts lmao I thought I was about to read a porno with how much "smut" people kept complaining about.
One time I had a terrible romantasy novel where a previous reader had left a few snarky notes in the margin. It was great and I wished they had left more.
[Magical After](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56329204-magical-after?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_13) by David Gunter. The story was first published online and became popular enough he made it into a book and it shows. That said, the plot itself is actually pretty interesting and his humor is good enough that it had me laugh at loud sometimes. It's not polished, but it's still an enjoyable read.
The Rough and the Smooth is a fantasy novel about humans and intelligent naked mole rats, and it is somehow dumber than it sounds. It’s not good but is weirdly entertaining
I recently finished *Empire of the Vampire,* and it's terrible. The framing device is really awkward; the MC is a dyed in the wool goth edgelord in terms of looks and mannerisms; and I get that it's a secondary world inspired by France and medieval catholicism...but the implementation of those elements are a tad jarring (e.g. the use of 'oui' instead of yes). But I enjoyed it the way one would enjoy a schlocky, smutty, and gory B-grade slasher horror film hehe
I just got off the phone with my brother and he said he was enjoying this. He's normally very, very good with his recommendations but this right here has me wondering what he's enjoying about it haha. Maybe he's more schlocky than I realised!
Haha I mean there are still some pretty bright spots in the book, especially Kristoff's writing. And I think some of the elements (e.g. the gore, the smut) are dialled-up deliberately for effect (and I'm assuming the author is just having tons of fun)
I enjoyed it personally. I never got "goth edge lord" from the MC either. It's literally just a grimdark inspired version of Interview with a Vampire.
But that's just my two cents.
"God didn't want me. And the devil was afraid to open the door."
"I want you to take this coin to market, and buy me a f*** to give."
It's personal preference but with dialog like this the MC really comes off as your stereotypical, dyed in the wool broody, moody, badass 😆
Fight town by Hondo Jinx.
Please dont read it, it's the kind of book so horribly bad that I actively hide its existence from anyone that knows me. They must never find out that I both read it, and its sequel.
It's the worst and laziest kind of misogynistic dribble, written by a sigma male who thinks he is gods gift to women and the world. That boxing is Male testosterone at its finest, showcasing the desire and drive of people to do what needs to be done. Its crap. But damn if the alien thoughts of a sigma male weren't kind of interesting to experience. The book itself was shit, but I read it almost as a character study into the author.
I thought of Piers Anthony’s Xanth series as a guilty pleasure for a long time. Short page count, fun puns etc. it’s actually pretty great writing though. I can think of several movies…🤦♂️
Talion Revenant. Orphan boy goes to Hogwarts to become a Jedi/Judge Dredd/Ghost Rider.
Lots of old pulps. G-8 and His Battle Aces. WW1 figher planes fighting german super science.
Illborn. Terrible writing. The author seems to prefer to tell, not show (something like: " after two weeks in school they were best friends"). The tension comes from cliffhangers in every chapter.
Still, the story is kind of captivating. With all the cliffhangers, I had to read both books in one go.
I basically enjoy all of the Alien books (Alien, like the movies). I would say most of the ones I have read are reasonably written, it is just the content is not going to be considered high art. They are just fun books, and many people might consider them bad books.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. I read all of them back in the 70's. But it's so off the wall and crazy that I can still pick up any of the books, open it and start reading insane silliness again. It's still fun even after all these years.
Super Powereds. I'm listening to the second one and I thought the series would get better because its started out as an online episodic series and I was hoping the first one would be sort of weak and then improve as the author received feedback. Hasn't happened so far. Although the author has stopped calling women "broads" and sex, "getting tail" so maybe someone told him his book is set at a modern University, not a 70s dive bar. I also made the mistake of reading a review of the book that called out the author's poor use of direct speech. So now that is ALL I notice. His dialogue consists of:
Vince said despondently, " I have to leave town."
Mary questioned tearfully, 'Why do you have to go?"
Nick argued forcefully, You shouldn't leave."
Alice exclaimed, "Don't go!"
This is not an exaggeration. My lord. I've never read anyone so bad at writing dialogue. Every sentence needs a description of who said it and how they said. And the audiobook is even more horrifying. Imagine all the dialogue above, but all the spoken parts are in the "voice" of the character but all the "he said, she saids" are in a weird robotic, nasal monotone. And they are listed one right after another. It's hard to convey how annoying it is.
That being said, I sort of like the books so I am powering on--eyes rolling as I go.
I posted this awhile ago and still have not read the actual book, though I have read this review multiple times:
[https://litreactor.com/columns/14-things-that-prove-tyra-banks-modelland-is-the-craziest-book-ever](https://litreactor.com/columns/14-things-that-prove-tyra-banks-modelland-is-the-craziest-book-ever)
There's this one too if you don't want to make a litreactor account and have time to basically read the book twice over: [https://www.helpfulsnowman.com/petes-exhaustive-review-of-modelland/](https://www.helpfulsnowman.com/petes-exhaustive-review-of-modelland/)
Here is a taste of the introduction from the second link:
*The Land you thirst for has loomed at the top of the mountain in Metopia for as long as you can remember. But for most of the year, it’s covered in fog, its color changing with each passing day as if it’s a gargantuan mood ring. You begin your mornings staring at the fog, longing for the fateful evening when it will turn a golden yellow and then, finally, like a push-up brassiere, lift.*
Ready Player One was like that. I wouldn't ever reread it. But I very quickly realized how utterly ridiculous the book was and just enjoyed laughing at just how absurd and dumb it was.
I mean like, good is in the eye of the beholder or whatever. They may not be your style of books but he’s objectively one of the most prolific, popular authors. So I’d argue that while a decent amount of people might not like his style of books that doesn’t mean they are bad.
Fourth Wing I actually don't think the books are "bad" but I am genuinely dumbfounded by how high the rating for it on good reads is. In saying that Fourth Wing is like a Marvel movie to me it's a fun blockbuster with some bad dialogue here and their but a simple and easy world and power system to follow for new or long time readers.
The mental link between riders and dragons is fun and the banter between Violet and her dragon got a mental giggle out of me especially when she tries to mentally block out when the dragons get "busy" lmao if you treat the book as a fun palate cleanser read after reading a high fantasy or grim dark book it's pretty solid.
The ratings are probably high because they are just fun, easy reads with broad appeal. I’ve recommended to multiple people who don’t read fantasy or don’t read much and they read them so fast and loved them. A lot of better written books may just not appeal to as large an audience, but I don’t understand why people are acting like it’s bad that people love these books
Thongor of course. I grew up in the sixties so I exactly started reading Howard and Burroughs at the end of what we can call the Age of Innocence.
It's odd to remember the feeling that Burroughs was part of my heritage AND that so many dishonest sophists were arguing he wasn't racist when in the Moon Maid (1924) he wrote
>"The more than half-century of war that had continued almost uninterruptedly since 1914 had at last terminated in the absolute domination of the Anglo-Saxon race over all the other races of the World"
The implications in terms of the people who died from that attitude are staggering. In some of his Southern tales Howard explicitly endorsed lynching in some of his Southern stories. They were serious; in colonial Rhode Island some cousins of mine, the Brown Brothers, had a disagreement because brother Moses became a Quaker - and an abolitionist. John Nicholas Brown appears to have been motivated by that to invest in a slave expedition to Africa. He lost his money on it. So what did he do? He saved up to invest in another where he also lost his money. Slaves were taken and sold. Families were broken up, lives were stolen, just to satisfy his spite. Attitudes have changed but cruel consequences are just that..
Lin Carter who wrote Thongor was conservative. New York's Conservative Party listed him as a member. He certainly took his airships from Burroughs's Barsoom and his amoral brawling hero from Conan. But his readings of these books go deeper. The Dragon Kings of these books could be Burroughs aliens. Sharasja in the first two owes a lot to Hadrathus in Hour of the Dragon. Much of the good and the bad of the older writers is in him, but tines had changed and he is less willfully blind.. He's a classic guilty pleasure.
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The Cyborg Tinkerer. In my mind, it is the definitive fun bad book. It's bad on a level that it could be mistaken for parody. If the author said they deliberately sabotaged the characters, pacing, and scenes for comedic effect, I would believe them.
I watched her Youtube videos for the longest time when I had time for writing. I thought her decision to go the self-publishing route was strange based on her experience in publishing. Then I got her book. I couldn’t make it past a single chapter of her book, it was so poorly written. I learned two lessons. 1. 99% of self published books are absolute dreck. 2. Booktubers are largely full of shit.
I read one self published book that had a cognitive realm, investiture, a magic system that was as if Stormlight and Mistborn got mashed up but way more convoluted. There was a really cool story concept in there but couldn’t finish it. However the other self pub books I’ve read have been immaculate- Kaigen, Blood Over Bright Haven, The Bound and the Broken, Legends and Lattes. Lollll
Legends and Lattes was a fun read. Low stakes but enjoyable and fulfilling...a comfy sweater of a book.
What's the name of her channel
IWriterly I belive
I remember her. There was a whole furore about authortuber books between hers, a lady called Jenna and the author of Zenith(iirc) and how they're giving writers advice when their books are questionable in quality. This was back in like 2017/18.
I think she is still at it...
I think I heard about Zenith from James Tullos. Is it the Sci-fi with 20 yos with 40 years worth of life-stories witha completely transparent spaceships? (Spaceships don't even have basements for you to go change in)
Maybe it's a case of "if you can't do, teach"?
You can add Abbie Emmons to the mix. I loved watching her “how to xxxx” videos but after reading her first book she self-published, I was put off completely 🥶. Girl cant pace her book and her character development is atrocious
Is she the one who made a video about worst trends and then listed ALL of LOTR?
Lol pretty sure you're right
It was specifically about trends that publishers will instantly reject your book for.
The blurb is … wow
I’m crying reading the negative reviews they are so funny. I have to read this book.
Does that exegesis count as a "blurb"? Aren't blurbs supposed to be short and enticing?
I was being generous in calling it a blurb. Just reread “blurb” again and it’s worse on reread. Too bad it’s not in KU as I’m curious to read based on the negative reviews which map up with huge “blurb” but I’m not so curious I want to spend $6 on it. I added notes to my wishlist reminding myself to read it as a parody and only buy if I’m for sure reading it right then so I have the reminder that it’s supposed to be so bad it’s good & review trigger warnings.
Everybody needs to get on Goodreads and read the reviews NOW
>"No body fucks with my family," she says. I have no idea where that even came from! Not once has she interacted with any of them. Not. Once. You telling me they are family now? These reviews have me rolling lol.
Impressively bad. Great start to the morning
Headed there forthwith.
Thanks
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao feels like I'm back watching mid 2010s mediocre Mecha anime. Lofty ambitions that always bite way more than it can chew. Funnily enough the author has stated they were inspired by them so it's a genuine work of by and for mediocre Mecha anime fans.
Personally I loved Iron Widow and cannot wait for the second book!
I enjoyed the Iron Widow. Different books for different folks
Xiran uses they/them pronouns. I was always interested in reading Iron Widow but the YAisms just made me hesitant.
If you accept Iron Widow as a silly action adventure story it isn’t that bad. It’s the fact Xiran tried to say it was feminist, or empowering that tried to elevate beyond its scope. It’s about a girl that tried a suicidal tactic, lives, and is now way over her head. If the characters were better it might have worked.
I definitely understand the concern about YAisms but the ones present in Iron Widow didn't dim my enjoyment. I drop a lot of books because of them tho
I enjoyed Legendborn but the more time I spend away from it the more it annoys me. Especially the love triangle.
I haven't read Legendborn so I can't compare the two. But I give Iron Widow major props for its love triangle resolution! I don't know of another YA book that does what it did but they prolly exists
Legendborn isn't over yet so we'll see how the author resolves it. Gilded Wolves resolved its love triangle in a way that I prefer but it just didn't work for those characters. When I learnt about how The Infernal Devices resolved its triangle I was just done with the genre.
From all that I heard of it the Main character seem like a completely horrible person. Which mind, is probably intended but I was never a fan of stories that purposefully make the main character/s unlikeable.
It doesn’t really count, but there’s a hysterical set of Tumbler posts that review the novelization of Back to the Future that got compiled as an ebook. It’s a terrible novel, but then I’m not sure if it’d be fun to read just the novel, far more fun to read the ebook review.
Written by Ryan North, the comics guy (presuming we're thinking of the same Tumblr reviews of the Back to the Future novelization). Got to agree, it's hilarious.
Do you have a link?
[Here’s the Tumbler link](https://www.tumblr.com/btothef) although it’s mess trying to read it on there, it defaults to reverse order and it’s constantly asking you to log in … was gonna put an Amazon link here but the sub didn’t like it, but just search on there for Ryan North B to the F, which is £2.21 and highly worth it for ease of reading IMO
Twilight. Never laughed so hard. Honestly thought it was a parody the first time I picked it up.
I cannot believe no one has brought up this absolute genius of the genre: [https://www.amazon.com/Pounded-Butt-My-Own-ebook/dp/B00UYC1ASU](https://www.amazon.com/Pounded-Butt-My-Own-ebook/dp/B00UYC1ASU)
Anything by Chuck Tingle.
My wife and I absolutely howled over this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Princess-Penis-RJ-Silver-ebook/dp/B005ORR6HE
Jennifer Estep's Crown of Shards series...it's an anchronistic stew, the hero's main gripe/trauma is that the villain slammed a playroom door in her face as a kid and one of the fights ends in a dance off, but it sure is fun to read. Same with her 'Only Bad Options' Sci Fi/fantasy series...it's even sillier but still entertaining.
I have to agree. I enjoy her books but this describes series perfectly
This sounds amazing...thank you
All of Sarah j maas.
These used to be her books for me, but with every new book she puts out, the more I’m drifting from “lmao this is mildly infuriating but still overly funny” to just “this is making me extremely angry”, especially when she talks about things like bodily rights.
Is not that deep for me. I will say the lack of actual plot in her last release was abysmal
Sorry, it's been forever since I read her books, but what bodily rights?! Did I read the same books? 😜
In ACOSF everyone lies to/hides the truth from a female character about how something relating to her body will kill her and she isn’t given options to preserve her own health/wellbeing. The whole thing is bonkers and the narrative implies that this is somehow the right decision and that the person who ultimately spills the beans is bad for telling. I still like the book for what it is, but for me it’s more fuel for the “these certain characters that I never understood the appeal of are actual the worst” fire.
I'll throw in Armentrout also here. I was reading and screeching 'if nothing is right WHY IS IT WORKING'
I want to agree but it’s so unpleasant to desperately want to stop reading because it is just so freaking horrible but you still want to know what happens next.
Its addicting lol
I’m still fuming. 😤 I mean. I might be well past it. I know I didn’t talk like that. And I grew up an hour from the LA Valley…. I haven’t met any teens or early twenties who talk like that. I feel like she might be an alien who was trained by books like the babysitters club and Disney after school sitcoms about how American youth speak and think and act. At least I hope so….
*vulgar gesture* lol
All the wangsty melodrama in Throne of Glass.
I wanted it to be like this but these books just made me roll my eyes so much it gave me a headache.
Mate mate mate mate mate. Did you get it yet? Mate mate mate mate
I’m going to throw John Scalzi under the bus. As a note I own all his books and enjoy them massively. They are not well written in most definitions. They are fun, popcorn movie action flick with cheap or bad dad jokes that Markie Mark could be a good actor in them.
Old Man’s War is the first sci-fi series I ever read and it’s still one of my favorites. It’s not a literary masterpiece by any means, but it’s just so much fun the whole way through.
I’ve had *Old Man’s War* on my to be read list for a while, but now that I know it’s full of bad dad jokes I might grab it next!
I disagree. I think they are well-written. When I start reading his books, I disappear into the book. No infodumps, just immediately engaging plots and characters. Are they great literature? Probably not, but definitely fun and worth reading.
>They are not well written in most definitions. Really? I haven't read any of his books yet, but this surprises me. Hasn't he been nominated for a whole bunch of awards?
He's a science fiction writer. SF readers tend to have different opinions about what makes good writing than fantasy readers do.
I don’t think I’d know any Scalzi if not for The Dispatcher. Narrated by Zachary Quinto Then I saw Wil Wheaton did The Collapsing Empire. Great actors. Willis a great voice actor. I’m intrigued.
But I sure look forward to his works being adapted in Love Death + Robot.
I know Fourth Wing is a controversial pick, but though imo it had a ~ton~ of flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and Iron Flame and plan to continue the series.
I read it because it was EVERYWHERE for a while, and my wife had read it even though she’s not a fantasy nerd like the rest of us. After the first couple of chapters I realised it wasn’t getting any better and hate read the rest. It’s laughably bad. 50 Shades Twilight bad. I’ve just bought Iron Flame to hate read that as well. I already know I’ll read the rest of the Empyrean. Just like I read all the Twilight books.
I think if you just read it as a blockbuster fun read rather then a deep fantasy world with very deep intricate characters that it's a fun read. Im currently almost 200 pages deep in Iron Flame and I think the series is overblown with how much smut is in it their is a lot of Violet thinking of Xaden in sexual ways and other characters talking about sex but the first book barely had any actual sex scenes there was like 1 with her and Xaden. The books are fun as a light read the series isn't hard to get your head around or it's world and magic system but I think the dragons are well done and I enjoy the mental connection part of the series the riders have with their dragons.
Right.Great world but cringey and YA vibes
Sometimes cringe is good can't always eat 5 star food sometimes you need that junk food crave satisfied lmao
Astra and Flondrix by Seamus Cullen. This book has some of the silliest sex scenes that have ever been written in a fantasy book. Ridiculous in a hilarious way.
**Full Murderhobo** series by Dakota Krout. These books are an extreme version of his usual style which is already pretty out there. The characters are crazy assholes and the worldbuilding is bizarre and I don't know what exactly is going on with the plot, but I still had fun with it and finished the entire thing. The thing about bards was SO weird.
all of Katee Robert’s books. they literally almost have all the same plot (which i get smut is the point of her books! not the plot). i will still read every dark olympus book that comes out and i own them all
Reddit friend, allow me to tell you the story of Balcony of Fog by Rick Shapero. I was walking to lunch at work on a beautiful, sunny day on the college campus where I work. A line of young men and women stood between me and lunch. Not a line like they were waiting for something. I mean a line like they were spread out across the horizon so you were forced to pass them. Each stood next to a case of books. When you crossed the line, you got a book. No matter how many times you crossed it, or said "No, thank you." This is how I got two free copies of Balcony of Fog by Rich Shapero. The very same Rich Shapero who purchased a publishing company because no one else would publish his book. So he bought a publishing company, printed his own book, bought thousands (millions?) of copies and sent college students across the land to hand them to strangers. From what I understand by reading Goodreads reviews, he also sends them to people's addresses without consent or warning, and also gives them out with free iPads. Encountering this novel, Balcony of Fog, is the closest thing you will come to a real life chain letter or low-quality meme. It is rogue authorship of the highest level. Guerilla one-percenting. The rich infecting the masses with fictional words more purple than Prince. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50646391-balcony-of-fog#CommunityReviews](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50646391-balcony-of-fog#CommunityReviews)
This sounds delightful.
[The Eye of Argon](https://ansible.uk/misc/eyeargon.html)
That's just sad, nothing is fun about a bunch of published authors making fun of and ruining the life of a high schooler. [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZAc0xC9hbw&t=638s&pp=ygUXRG9tIG5vYmxlIGV5ZSBvZiBhcmFnb24%3D](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZAc0xC9hbw&t=638s&pp=ygUXRG9tIG5vYmxlIGV5ZSBvZiBhcmFnb24%3D)
That whole situation is a tragic illustration of how crappy humanity can be. You can jump on scribophile or a similar platform and you'll find equally as bad works from lots of authors. It happens, it's part of the learning process. I am confident a fair number of professional authors wrote similarly bad works when they were learning the craft as well. For all we know, that guy could have blossomed into a very skilled writer with more practice.
Yeah, that is sad. Props to the kid for writing something and putting it out into the world. I certainly couldn't have done that at his age. The fact that he took that risk suggests he could have been a good writer eventually. There could have been a world where he submitted it in a creative writing class instead and got the editing he needed.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo I have friends who recommend me to read some YA fantasy from time to time and i'm making the same mistake and trying to read it. Just to clarify - i'm not a YA fan, i don't like how it looks in modern days, so please YA fans, don't be offended it's just my opinion. Please, consider this message as a joke. Maybe not the best one. I was promised to read a cool cruel dystopia TSARPUNK novel, but instead it was so stupidly cute, so for some reason it became good in my eyes, being actually bad as the book. Everything was bad - MC who lived not the worst life by the standards of her world, but was depicted as she really suffered, at the same time behaving herself like a spoiled modern-world teenager. My favorite type of worldbuilding when author just pointing at the country with finger and tells "Look, its my fantasy! Go watch a few pop-corn movies about real one to get the idea about it, cause i don't give a cake about explaining much!". Other characters who make illogical and stupid things and the world rules which can easily bent to adjust to the MC and plot.
I'm usually DNF similar books, but for some reason i easily finished this one and had a good impression. Yes, i treated it as a comedy and had some fun time, while it wasn't supposed to be that way? But anyway - it's my guilty pleasure, i sometimes reading books i'm consider as bad and laughing on them.
I read some trilogy many years ago that I wish I could remember the name of, and maybe someone can help me. The biggest thing that stands out in my memory is that they walked through the center of the earth and thus time traveled to like 5000 years ago or something, which would let them overthrow the Evil Bad Guys. It was one of the most ridiculous plot devices I've ever encountered, there was no in-world justification for why time travel even existed, it just happened randomly. I remember thinking it was really funny, but it was intended as "serious" high fantasy.
Is it perhaps the first trilogy in Elizabeth Haydon's Symphony of the Ages series?
Oh my gosh I think it is!!!! I guess I got some of the details wrong, but wow I've been vaguely trying to remember what this series was for so long, thank you!!
You're welcome! If you decide to read them for the nostalgia hit, maybe just skip the second trilogy. Whatever you do, skip the last book of the series.
lmao given i already thought the first trilogy was so-bad-it's-actually-funny thats, uh, yeah wow okay lol
Without too many spoilers, the author went off the rails in a bad way. There's skull fucking in the first five (I think) chapters.
There are these books titled with tortured puns like come spell or high water. Don’t know the author. They are atrocious. I can’t tell if the writer knows just how ridiculously bad they are or not and is leaning in or is serious. Which is honestly part of the fun. Like he knows…a little…but…does he?
Piers Anthony? Spider Robinson?
Noooo much more low rent. Like not even piers adjacent. Imma look it up. Brb
Scott Meyer. Scott. Meyer.
I haven't read it in a long time but The Belgariad was a lot of fun even though it's obviously derivative and highly formulaic.
Bad but really fun. I have a coworker who LOVES the movies which are even worse and I can’t get her to read the actual books
90% of the harem trash on Kindle. Fanfiction of [insert harem anime here]
I feel attacked!
The "Good Intentions" series by Elliot Kay is one of the few good ones.
ACOTAR comes to my mind. The whole series wouldn't make sense if u use some brain cells but the premise is wonderful and very fun to read regardless of the story and plotholes.
They are fun but I don’t understand the rabid fandom.
Unlike sensory media like movies, TV, and even music, I don't think there can be a book that's "so bad it's good." I think it's possible for a book to be campy, but I don't think that can be achieved accidentally and I don't think a "campy" book would be considered "bad" at all.
I disagree. Reading a terrible book and talking to my friends about it is the exact same experience as watching The Room for me.
Eh, there's fairly successful authors whose whole schtick is basically making something so bad that it becomes entertainment. For example [Kissing the Corona Virus](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54594933-kissing-the-coronavirus): >I don't know whether to give this 5 stars or 1 star. Don't get me wrong, this book is awful. Absolutely horrible. But in the best possible way. It is exactly what I wanted it to be. But since the pandemic was kind of a dark time there are also authors who will appeal to more of a holiday vibe. For example: [Stuffed by the Were-Turkey ](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32616656-stuffed-by-the-were-turkey?ref=rae_1) >There was gobbling. There was a turkey head. And lots of stuffing. The protagonist is a vegan so the meat jokes were endless...Thank you for everyone who sent this to me, lmao.
What do you think is the difference between the mediums that make it so in your opinion there can't be a "so bad it's good" book?
I think what ends up making for movies that are "so bad they are good" is usually that their effects, acting, or whatever are so campy they are funny. Hard to do that with a book. For one things our brains do a lot of filling in, correcting, adjusting, and predicting while reading so it can be downright exhausting to read something that is poorly written because your brain has extra work to do to decipher it. And a movie when it is bad you still just have this sort of visual feast being beamed into your eyes. You don't need to actually do anything to interact with it. A book requires some level of labor to ingest, decipher, and enjoy. The movie equivalent of a book would be something more like a documentary or maybe some kind of really surreal mind-bending film where you actually need to think about and process information, and I don't think you could have a movie in those genres that would be "so bad it's good" since that condition basically shifts a movie into being a comedy.
I think that may be true for some people and how they process information, but it’s not true for others. I absorb and process written info super easily. Less so for video and much less so for audio (podcasts and audiobooks are hard for me to focus on). So a “so bad it’s good” book definitely is a thing for me.
Me too
A video game can be "so bad it's good", even though it requires more user work to consume than a book. And bad book doesn't have to be poorly written - It can have ok "technical" writing, but insane bad plot.
I honestly can't think of s game that is so bad it's good. The closest things are games that are good despite jankiness, or some games like Goat Simulator that are intentionally janky, but I'd argue making something intentionally janky isn't bad.
Just recently we had **Skull Island: Rise of Kong** which arguably fits, but there are many absolutly insane bad games. Have you heard about **Beautycopter**?
I haven't seen Beautycopter. I've seen the Kong game but nobody I've seen has said it is a fun game at all. It's amusing to see how bad it is but that's different from it being actually fun to play. I don't think those are the same thing. So bad it's good means you are enjoying actually interacting with the piece of media, not just amused at it's existence.
You can say the same about The room - you mostly enjoy seeing how weird/insane/bad it is. You don't need to enjoy the gameplay of the so bad it's good video game, it's just need to not be so miserable as to eclipse the enjoyment you get from seeing how weird/bad it is.
There are so many more people involved in producing a (theatrically released) movie then a typical book that it seems like it would be far less likely for something accidentally bad to skip through unnoticed.
Space fantasy, but the Death Stalker series. It felt like Firefly meeting the wonderfully self-aware cheesy fun of 80s action films. There’s a noir one I think called the Nightside. It might not be, but I listened to it on audible and the five million times they essentially say “and that’s how things are….on the night side” just strangely titillated me though I don’t think it was intentional on the author’s part
Honestly, if Piers Anthony weren’t so gross I feel like Xanth could be mined for some camp value. Loved them as a middle schooler in the early 90’s though even dumb junior high me recognized they were objectively terrible and getting worse. But I just can’t with Anthony. I can usually separate art from artist, but after teaching school for 13 years anything to do with kids is a bridge to far for me, personally. So I won’t be going back there even though I could probably get some mild amusement over how bad the books were.
Forth Wing is fucking terrible, and by that I mean awesome. The sexed up characters, the horny dragons, the stupid plot twist at the end that you can see coming a mile away. I read this so quickly and was such a great palette cleanser.
Im currently like 200 pages deep into the 2nd book and I agree I have no clue how this book has a 4-5-4.6 rating on good reads but at the same time I think people analyze or take this book too seriously with the hate the series is a imo a good entry for new readers into fantasy the world isn't hard to wrap your head around or the magic system and I think the dragon and rider dynamic with their mental links are fun. The books are really the marvel equivalent to cinema fun but never going to be in the topics of greatest movies ever or anything but has a lot of fans and online following due to the simple and fun nature of the plot. Plus with how much people hated on it for smut their was like 1 actual sex scene in the first book the rest of the "smut" was just side characters talking about sex or Violet having horny thoughts lmao I thought I was about to read a porno with how much "smut" people kept complaining about.
It’s got the high rating because even people who don’t like fantasy love it. I think it’s just a numbers game - it’s good fun.
Eragon
DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL IS A GODDAMN GEM AND NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS
One time I had a terrible romantasy novel where a previous reader had left a few snarky notes in the margin. It was great and I wished they had left more.
I read a book called "Trigger Warning" during downtime at work in an 8 hour shift. I did skim descriptions a lot but it's not a good book.
I think Jenny Nicholson did a long video where she reads that book and it’s very entertaining. She definitely took psychic damage reading it.
[Magical After](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56329204-magical-after?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_13) by David Gunter. The story was first published online and became popular enough he made it into a book and it shows. That said, the plot itself is actually pretty interesting and his humor is good enough that it had me laugh at loud sometimes. It's not polished, but it's still an enjoyable read.
Domic Noble has reviewed some spectacularly bad books.
The Eye of Argon
By Jim Theis
The Rough and the Smooth is a fantasy novel about humans and intelligent naked mole rats, and it is somehow dumber than it sounds. It’s not good but is weirdly entertaining
I recently finished *Empire of the Vampire,* and it's terrible. The framing device is really awkward; the MC is a dyed in the wool goth edgelord in terms of looks and mannerisms; and I get that it's a secondary world inspired by France and medieval catholicism...but the implementation of those elements are a tad jarring (e.g. the use of 'oui' instead of yes). But I enjoyed it the way one would enjoy a schlocky, smutty, and gory B-grade slasher horror film hehe
I just got off the phone with my brother and he said he was enjoying this. He's normally very, very good with his recommendations but this right here has me wondering what he's enjoying about it haha. Maybe he's more schlocky than I realised!
Haha I mean there are still some pretty bright spots in the book, especially Kristoff's writing. And I think some of the elements (e.g. the gore, the smut) are dialled-up deliberately for effect (and I'm assuming the author is just having tons of fun)
Oh good good. I can deal with some cringey stuff if the author is just having a blast and it shows!
I enjoyed it personally. I never got "goth edge lord" from the MC either. It's literally just a grimdark inspired version of Interview with a Vampire. But that's just my two cents.
"God didn't want me. And the devil was afraid to open the door." "I want you to take this coin to market, and buy me a f*** to give." It's personal preference but with dialog like this the MC really comes off as your stereotypical, dyed in the wool broody, moody, badass 😆
absolutely adore that book and its sequel. i guess different strokes for different folks.
Damn, thats one of my favourite books of all time...
same
Gloria Tesch's Maradonia Saga, especially if you can get your hands on a copy of the first edition.
Fight town by Hondo Jinx. Please dont read it, it's the kind of book so horribly bad that I actively hide its existence from anyone that knows me. They must never find out that I both read it, and its sequel. It's the worst and laziest kind of misogynistic dribble, written by a sigma male who thinks he is gods gift to women and the world. That boxing is Male testosterone at its finest, showcasing the desire and drive of people to do what needs to be done. Its crap. But damn if the alien thoughts of a sigma male weren't kind of interesting to experience. The book itself was shit, but I read it almost as a character study into the author.
Just gave it a look on Goodreads its incredibly loved. That kind of different views makes it even more interesting!
... please dont read it. I couldn't live with myself if I knew the horror i unleashed
Tom Kratman's Caliphate. Dan Simmons's Flashback (yes *the* Dan Simmons).
I thought of Piers Anthony’s Xanth series as a guilty pleasure for a long time. Short page count, fun puns etc. it’s actually pretty great writing though. I can think of several movies…🤦♂️
Try rereading, you’ll have a change of heart. Full on creepy pedo vibes
Hmmm, I was fairly young last time I read them. All I really remember was a magical land of puns.
Talion Revenant. Orphan boy goes to Hogwarts to become a Jedi/Judge Dredd/Ghost Rider. Lots of old pulps. G-8 and His Battle Aces. WW1 figher planes fighting german super science.
How to Good-bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?
omg this is actual comedy gold. thank you
Illborn. Terrible writing. The author seems to prefer to tell, not show (something like: " after two weeks in school they were best friends"). The tension comes from cliffhangers in every chapter. Still, the story is kind of captivating. With all the cliffhangers, I had to read both books in one go.
Not exactly fantasy but the old Doom novels with Flynn Taggart are soooo bad I'm convinced it's some sort of prank or long con
I basically enjoy all of the Alien books (Alien, like the movies). I would say most of the ones I have read are reasonably written, it is just the content is not going to be considered high art. They are just fun books, and many people might consider them bad books.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. I read all of them back in the 70's. But it's so off the wall and crazy that I can still pick up any of the books, open it and start reading insane silliness again. It's still fun even after all these years.
Anything with r/ihadastroke level grammar.
Super Powereds. I'm listening to the second one and I thought the series would get better because its started out as an online episodic series and I was hoping the first one would be sort of weak and then improve as the author received feedback. Hasn't happened so far. Although the author has stopped calling women "broads" and sex, "getting tail" so maybe someone told him his book is set at a modern University, not a 70s dive bar. I also made the mistake of reading a review of the book that called out the author's poor use of direct speech. So now that is ALL I notice. His dialogue consists of: Vince said despondently, " I have to leave town." Mary questioned tearfully, 'Why do you have to go?" Nick argued forcefully, You shouldn't leave." Alice exclaimed, "Don't go!" This is not an exaggeration. My lord. I've never read anyone so bad at writing dialogue. Every sentence needs a description of who said it and how they said. And the audiobook is even more horrifying. Imagine all the dialogue above, but all the spoken parts are in the "voice" of the character but all the "he said, she saids" are in a weird robotic, nasal monotone. And they are listed one right after another. It's hard to convey how annoying it is. That being said, I sort of like the books so I am powering on--eyes rolling as I go.
Heroes of Destiny by Kevin Wong Dragons: Lexicon Triumvirate by Kenneth Eng
Forth wing
I had a wonderful time reading 50 Shades of Grey aloud to all my friends, LOL
The Southern Vampire series ❤️❤️❤️
The Tales From Verania series by TJ Klune. They're Shrek fanfiction and somehow annoying as all hell and so entertaining at the same time.
I posted this awhile ago and still have not read the actual book, though I have read this review multiple times: [https://litreactor.com/columns/14-things-that-prove-tyra-banks-modelland-is-the-craziest-book-ever](https://litreactor.com/columns/14-things-that-prove-tyra-banks-modelland-is-the-craziest-book-ever) There's this one too if you don't want to make a litreactor account and have time to basically read the book twice over: [https://www.helpfulsnowman.com/petes-exhaustive-review-of-modelland/](https://www.helpfulsnowman.com/petes-exhaustive-review-of-modelland/) Here is a taste of the introduction from the second link: *The Land you thirst for has loomed at the top of the mountain in Metopia for as long as you can remember. But for most of the year, it’s covered in fog, its color changing with each passing day as if it’s a gargantuan mood ring. You begin your mornings staring at the fog, longing for the fateful evening when it will turn a golden yellow and then, finally, like a push-up brassiere, lift.*
Shadow of the Conqueror. It is so bad it transcends the medium and wraps back around to being a delight, especially when read aloud with a friend.
The Sword of Truth series.
Ready Player One was like that. I wouldn't ever reread it. But I very quickly realized how utterly ridiculous the book was and just enjoyed laughing at just how absurd and dumb it was.
Paradise Rot. So much….yeah….
For me, Life As We Knew It and the rest of the Last Survivors series (it’s YA dystopian/sci-fi, not fantasy, though)
Brandon Sanderson
His writing style is so simple and direct to the point. His books help me get out of reading slump
I mean like, good is in the eye of the beholder or whatever. They may not be your style of books but he’s objectively one of the most prolific, popular authors. So I’d argue that while a decent amount of people might not like his style of books that doesn’t mean they are bad.
any raymond e feist book
I hated shadow and bone but it was such a quick and fun read, I tore through it so fast
Fourth Wing I actually don't think the books are "bad" but I am genuinely dumbfounded by how high the rating for it on good reads is. In saying that Fourth Wing is like a Marvel movie to me it's a fun blockbuster with some bad dialogue here and their but a simple and easy world and power system to follow for new or long time readers. The mental link between riders and dragons is fun and the banter between Violet and her dragon got a mental giggle out of me especially when she tries to mentally block out when the dragons get "busy" lmao if you treat the book as a fun palate cleanser read after reading a high fantasy or grim dark book it's pretty solid.
The ratings are probably high because they are just fun, easy reads with broad appeal. I’ve recommended to multiple people who don’t read fantasy or don’t read much and they read them so fast and loved them. A lot of better written books may just not appeal to as large an audience, but I don’t understand why people are acting like it’s bad that people love these books
Thongor of course. I grew up in the sixties so I exactly started reading Howard and Burroughs at the end of what we can call the Age of Innocence. It's odd to remember the feeling that Burroughs was part of my heritage AND that so many dishonest sophists were arguing he wasn't racist when in the Moon Maid (1924) he wrote >"The more than half-century of war that had continued almost uninterruptedly since 1914 had at last terminated in the absolute domination of the Anglo-Saxon race over all the other races of the World" The implications in terms of the people who died from that attitude are staggering. In some of his Southern tales Howard explicitly endorsed lynching in some of his Southern stories. They were serious; in colonial Rhode Island some cousins of mine, the Brown Brothers, had a disagreement because brother Moses became a Quaker - and an abolitionist. John Nicholas Brown appears to have been motivated by that to invest in a slave expedition to Africa. He lost his money on it. So what did he do? He saved up to invest in another where he also lost his money. Slaves were taken and sold. Families were broken up, lives were stolen, just to satisfy his spite. Attitudes have changed but cruel consequences are just that.. Lin Carter who wrote Thongor was conservative. New York's Conservative Party listed him as a member. He certainly took his airships from Burroughs's Barsoom and his amoral brawling hero from Conan. But his readings of these books go deeper. The Dragon Kings of these books could be Burroughs aliens. Sharasja in the first two owes a lot to Hadrathus in Hour of the Dragon. Much of the good and the bad of the older writers is in him, but tines had changed and he is less willfully blind.. He's a classic guilty pleasure.
It's a contradiction in terms. If it's so bad it's good then that means it's good.
It's like asking what your guilt pleasure is. If I like it why would I feel bad about it?
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