The great horn sounded.
First line in The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett
I know a lot of readers deem it to be sacrilege to say that any movie was better than the book. I’m not one of those readers. You see, if I don’t like the book, there’s quite a big opportunity for the movie to be better. The most popular example is The Lord of the Rings.
A movie or a show has the opportunity to fix some of the issues I have with the book, especially in terms of writing style and sexism in books published (what feels like) 5000 years ago. So that’s what I’m talking about today. I’m going to be talking about books I gave 3 stars or less, that I think I would enjoy more if they hit the big screen. This was inspired by a recent Top Ten Tuesday post where I talked about all the books I love I would like to see adapted.
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
My rating: 2 stars
I know I’m not the only one who found this book very confusing, but I would still be very intrigued to see it turned into a Netflix series. It has enough interesting characters and a world writers can play around with. Especially the many inventions introduced in the book could be portrayed better in a TV series. In the book, I missed some background information about these things and why they existed, besides the fact that the characters needed them.
Master of Sorrows by Justin Travis Call
My rating: 2 stars
This book was too slow. And it was slow in the wrong way. For example, it spent a lot of time setting the scene every time we changed location. Those 2-3 pages-long descriptions of a room every so often would just be a single shot in a movie, meaning there could be room for so much more story.
What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
My rating: 3 stars
It’s not that I disliked this book. It just wasn’t anything special. I think that I personally prefer these cutesy romance stories in movie format. You know, with music in the background and generally beautiful cinematography to really make me feel all the feels.
Vicious by V. E. Schwab
My rating: 3 stars
This would need a major makeover as a movie to be something I liked, but it can be done. Fewer flashbacks and more present-time interactions between Victor and Eli would make it much more entertaining for me. A little more action, too, please. They have superpowers!
Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
My rating (book 1-3): 2-4 stars
I know we’re already getting an adaption of this, so this is me saying I have high hopes for it! I’m positive the show will do something about the awful gender stereotyping and generally give the characters a little more depth. The show format will also mean that I don’t have to trudge through long-winded descriptions of inns that look exactly the same.
The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett
My rating: 3 stars
This book has so many cool concepts that were sadly overshadowed by the worst case of “men writing women” I’ve ever seen. Watching a movie version would mean less eye-rolling for me and quite possibly make me much more interested in this world where demons rule the night.
That was this week’s fun little post. Let me know what you think of book-to-movie adaptions. Am I completely wrong in saying that the movie is sometimes better? Is there a movie you like better than the book or maybe predict you would if it existed? I would love to discuss it in the comments!
First Line Reader 
This is an interesting idea haha! I would totally agree with you about What if it’s us! I didn’t like the book, but I would definitely enjoy it as a movie I think!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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I will go ahead and sacrilegiously agree that sometimes, the movie (or more often: the TV show) is better than the book 😁 Some that come to mind immediately are The 100 (the book is one of the worst things I’ve ever read) and Jurassic Park (the book is great, but the movie is AMAZING!). I do love the Lord of the Rings books and movies equally, though – but after getting hit with the full force of Tolkien’s writing style in The Silmarillion, I guess I can understand a little better why some people think the Lord of the Rings drags on unnecessarily 😅
And I agree regarding The Gilded Wolves! That book actually made it onto one my most disappointing books of the year lists – and I can’t even tell you what it was that I didn’t like. I just felt disconnected throughout the whole thing, even though I did think the premise and characters were interesting 😕 So I’d love to give it another try in Netflix series form!
I’ll have to disagree with you on Vicious, though. The flashbacks are obviously the best part! 😉 In fact, I wouldn’t mind getting a show just about Victor and Eli experimenting on themselves back in university 😁
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Yay I’m not alone 😄
I haven’t read The 100 but watched the first couple of seasons and I believe you on that one. Have neither read nor seen Jurrassic Park but both book and movie seem well loved.
And yeah, I’ll never understand the hype for the Lord of the Rings. I’m sorry 😅 I haven’t even read The Silmarillion.
I was also so disappointed with The Gilded Wolves! It sounded so cool, and like you, I also liked the characters. The rest just didn’t make sense.
Oh, but I hate flashbacks! 😂 What if it was just about their life at university? Cut out the “years later” part. No flashbacks but still all the experimenting 😉
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That sounds like a good compromise 😂 As long as the experimenting and the university vibes are in the movie, I’m happy 😊
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Love this idea for a post! Sometimes the movie or tv show is better – I prefer The LOTR Movies to the books 🙈🙈 I haven’t read Gilded Wolves but I’ve heard mixed reviews of it tbf
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Glad you enjoyed it, and it makes me feel less alone to know that you also prefer the LOTR movies 😀
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I agree so much that “What If It’s Us” would be a better movie!! it was just kind of boring for me & I would love to see a visual artist interpret the setting & add a little specialness to the characters ❤ amazing post!!!
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Thanks! Yeah, I would really love to see what a movie could do with that story.
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I agree wholeheartedly about Wheel of Time. I tried so hard to finish the first book, but couldn’t do it. I’m very excited for the tv show!
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Long winded descriptions of inns that sounds exactly the same🤣💔. I haven’t read the wheel of time yet but if that’s what’s waiting for me then i’ll watch the show
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Well, you definitely need to love long-winded and repetitive descriptions if you want to love the books 😅 I got pretty sick of those as you can tell.
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