Most Disappointing Books of 2020

“I love Thursday nights.”

First line in Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

I’m still in the process of wrapping 2020 up, and we’ve made it to my post about my most disappointing books of the year. These aren’t necessarily the worst books I read in 2020, although there are a lot of those on this list, too. It’s a list of the books that, for various reasons, let me down the most. So prepare for some ranting. These books are in no particular order.

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The Gray Wolf Throne (Seven Realms #3) by Cinda Williams Chima

My rating: 1 star

After having really liked the first two books in this series, I was incredibly disappointed with the pacing of this one. Not a lot happened because we had to witness reruns of all the relationship drama (which also wasn’t going anywhere). I was also particularly put off by this because there was some girl-on-girl hate for absolutely no reason at all. I have a full review here where I also talk spoilers.

Master of Sorrows (The Silent Gods #1) by Justin Travis Call

My rating: 2 stars

I don’t think I’ve ever come across such a dry writing style, and I can only assume it was the author’s intention to put readers to sleep. I was begging for time jumps by the halfway point because so far I had been subjected to a description of the MC’s everyday life in excruciating detail. We hadn’t even made it through a full day yet. It was disappointing because the world and its mythology showed great potential. We just never reached a point where any of it mattered.

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

My rating: 2 stars

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year because of its very cool focus on my all-time favorite trope: the chosen one. Even better, it was about the aftermath of being a chosen one. At least that was its marketing, but the book itself turned in a completely different direction very quickly and left most of the ‘chosen ones’ as glorified extras without any kind of story arc.

Infinity Son by Adam Silvera

My rating: 2.5 stars

Infinity Son was mainly disappointing because I couldn’t recognize Silvera in it. It was written very simplistically with characters that seemed more like caricatures, making it hard to really care about them. So even though this was Silvera’s first attempt at writing fantasy, it’s disappointing that the character work is the part that’s lacking because that shouldn’t be all that different from what he usually writes.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

My rating: 2 stars

A very hyped book I picked up even though sci-fi thrillers are outside of my comfort zone. I haven’t read a lot of thrillers but I have yet to find one with good writing, and Dark Matter didn’t have that either. The characters were almost comically flat, so I wasn’t going to care about them, and the main plotline was too predictable to keep my interest.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune

My rating: 3 stars

I’m sorry, okay! I know this is everyone’s favorite book of the year, and because of that, it’s probably my most disappointing one. But it’s my own fault. Had I known this book was Middle Grade, I wouldn’t have come near it. I am bored to death with these kinds of heartwarming stories with no real conflict. I need my characters to suffer before I love them, so this book was a total miss for me.

The Faithless Hawk (The Merciful Crow #2) by Margaret Owen

My rating: 2 stars

This one was a disappointing conclusion to a duology where I really loved the first one. The plot went from action-packed to meandering because the author failed to utilize the amazing and detailed world she had created. It was also disappointing to see several side-characters take a step backwards and get reduced to simple plot devices.

The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time #3) by Robert Jordan

My rating: 2 stars

This was the book that properly killed my enthusiasm for Wheel of Time because it made me realize how many ‘filler books’ there must be in this 14 books long series. There was zero point to this book. It didn’t need to exist. And it means I’ll probably never finish the series.

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

My rating: 3 stars

I had put this book on a list of 5 star predictions because I really love the story of Peter Pan. However, this taught me not to expect too much of classics. I just don’t love them. I often like the sentiment but not the execution which was also the case with Peter Pan.

Firestarter (Timekeeper #3) by Tara Sim

My rating: 4 stars

I know I shouldn’t be disappointed with a 4-star book, but when I gave to first two books in the series glowing 5 star reviews, it’s hard not feel a little let down by this final installment. There were some plot-related things I was especially disappointed with as they were quite cliché-ish and predictable. And you just really want the final book to be the best one!

That was 10 books I wasn’t all that excited about in 2020. I did read some amazing books in 2020, but it also wasn’t that hard to find books for this list. And I didn’t even include my two DNF’s. But I did feel that I learned a lot about my own reading taste by reading these books that didn’t quite work for me. I also hope it made a fun post to read, so it’s not all bad. What was your most disappointing read of the year?