This has got to be the worst fiction book I ever read
928006
This has got to be the worst fiction book I ever read!  The author is obviously sex crazed and writes like a 6 grader.  I only felt obligated to finish the book, since I paid for it.  It ranks up there as with the movie 'Wild Hogs', which my husband loves.
3853804
This book is at the top of the list of worst books I've ever read.  The situations are incredibly convoluted and the many coincidences completely unbelievable. The characters are barely two dimensional and the author reiterates the theme of the story so many times and with such a heavy hand that one rapidly stops caring.  Most of the men in the book are portrayed as awful and callous abusers of women and the few who are not so portrayed come off as totally saintly. It reads like something written for a high school English class. Utterly awful.
2255550
I recently had to read this book as part of my senior English curriculum, and I must say, it is one of the worst books I have ever read. It is poorly written, with each page filled with mind-numbing drivel that is either part of a huge run of dialogue alone or description alone.

I really had high hopes for this book, as the plot seemed intriguing, in that post-nuclear war sort of way. I was completely wrong however, as the nuclear setting actual factors into the book suprisingly little. It is pretty much structured like this: People in Australia generally go about their everyday lives for about 200 pages, and then all of a sudden- everyone starts getting sick! Of course, there are only about 70 pages where this happens, so really it plays a minor role. Of course, that is excusable, as this book is mainly a character study of a variety of people and their different reactions to the end of the world. This might have worked had the reactions been more varied than: A. "We're all believe we are going to die, let's do what we want." or B. "I don't believe I will actually die. Let's do what we always do."

Also, it does not help the book that Nevil Shute is really a terrible writer. Why does each character need like 20 epithetical names? Why is Peter Holmes referred to as Holmes, Peter, the Australian, the liason, the lieutenant (or whatever his rank was), the young man, the young father, and a whole host of other names? Couldn't Shute have just said Holmes and left it at that? Also, the sheer amount of repetition in the language is amazing and the dialogue is terrible, sad, since it makes up so much of the book.

Here is a nice phrase: "She oughtn't to keep crying like this ought she? Do you think we ought to get in Dr. Halloran?"

"I shouldn't think so," Peter said.

At least shute simply used "Peter" there...

While some people may like this book- worship it even- I simply felt that it was WAAAAAY too boring. This is the only book I have EVER read that has literally put me to sleep every time I picked it up. I am not joking, and I read a lot of books. The book simply doesn't feel like what it is- an end-of-the-world drama, weaving the tales of the thoughts and dreams of the survivors of the blast. Instead, the book usually reads like a poorly written Great Gatsby, full of drunken parties and annoying people overstaying their welcome. Avoid this book like radiation sickness, please, for your sake and the sake of others.
3849009
This is possibly the worst book Ive ever read, or attempted to read. Nothing but random thoughts, musings, daydreams, and night dreams clog up the majority of the pages, so much so that I had to re-read many pages over just to discern whether I was reading about an actual scene or yet more of her rambling daydreaming. The main character, Jo Jo/Bettie Jo, is the only character that has any depth, as the remainder of the cast are shallow and one-dimensional at best. Not only does the book get lost with her constant inner thoughts, but it also jumps around chronologically as well. Present day, 10 years in the future, 10 years in the past, and everywhere in between. I had so much trouble following who, what, where, and when. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the unending streams of adjectives describing every little aspect about everything in excruciating detail. Long-winded descriptions of SO many things that were completely and totally irrelevant. I would understand if these boring monologues had something to do with the story or the situation, but they rarely (if ever) did. I finally had had enough at the 50% mark, as I really and truly tried to give it an honest chance, but it never got any better. Rambling, confusing, back-and-forth timelines, and utterly nonsensical thoughts and diatribes all contribute to a complete waste of my time. And I don't feel Im being overly critical, either...in the 400+ book reviews Ive written here on Amazon, this is only the third one-star rating Ive given.
3025039
In a creative writing class I took in college my professor posed the question to us: What is the difference between real life and fiction? Fiction has to be believable. Why did I start my review with that memory? Because this book's failure starts with the fact that it isn't believable, even for a fantasy world.

J. K. Rowling also progressed to break so many rules of good literature that I can't even start to name them all. Any editor with an ounce of self-respect would have scrapped the whole book and told her to go back to the drawing board. So how did this book get published? Because it reads like it never saw an editor's eyes.

It was overtly clear in Half Blood Prince that the series had gotten away from her and the conclusion, that was worse than horrible fan fiction, did nothing to disprove that. Having read the first six books in the series once each, I could have written a more believable and literarily acceptable conclusion to the series.

I would have given this pitiful excuse for a book negative stars if I could have.
3903663
I cannot stress what a terrible book this is.  I felt like I was reading something from a writer's workshop, where the writer was on the right track but was in dire need of a good editor and several more drafts.  Newcomb has a handful of interesting *concepts*, but they are poorly thought out and strung together in an excruciatingly immature fashion.  Everything is too convenient:  Tristan doesn't have the time to take a bath, but he can lounge around and chat while waiting in the hall, and even make a side trip?

The characters are stereotypical and weakly drawn: the amorality of the sorceresses is unintentionally comic, the sister's conversion to their ways is not even remotely believable, and the dwarf is but a poor shadow of Martin's Tyrion Lannister.

This isn't even worth a mindless read, because it's so poorly written that you'll keep smacking your head with the book.  There's so much better fiction to be had out there.  Don't waste your time with this one.
2408254
I find it so annoying that I have wasted so much time on reading badly thought out thriller plots that start off vaguely feasible, but then after reading 75% to 85% of the book, they become so unrealistic that I have to put them down. One of the later chapters in this book is entitled, "Reality Check" well it's a shame that by then the author hadn't had one. I'd be even more annoyed if I had paid for this trash. Thankfully, it was one of the free books for Prime members. I must remember, you get what you pay for. I'm going to stick to more factual books, historical, or biographical for a while, I need a reality check myself and I cannot be doing with all of this supernatural fantasy stuff that so many are fixated on these days.
2419593
This was the worst book I have ever read about teaching and relating to children at work and home. Please note that this book is, first and foremost, a work of FICTION. The authors have created a persona, and have written a story in the first person about a fictional character and her interactions with other fictional characters. The dialogue among teachers is contrived and the conversation always ends with the characters agreeing with the authors of the book and their own anecdotal research.

There is no solid evidence that the techniques in this book actually work. It is filled with cartoons depicting "real life" conversations where, through the use of the authors' techniques, the children come up with the answer on their own, and will always do the right thing. In my 13 years as an educator and 6 years as a parent, this almost never works!!!

They authors also, shamefully promote their previous book by having the main characters of their story read their previous book and comment about it.

Run from this book!!!! If it is given to you, throw it in the garbage where it belongs, or better yet, use it as a firestarter and roast marshmallows with your children. The time by the fireside will help you communicate, and you can make smores!
3822846
This is truly one of the worse books I have ever read. Painful. I read it for my book club, and we rarely all agree on our assessment of a book. We all hated it. I really enjoy historical fiction, and was looking forward to the subject. The main problem is the character, Mary Dodd, is unbearable. Some classic "main white character saves the Indians from themselves" scenes, like the laughable latrine scene, and when the white women break into the men's sweat lodge, and the medicine man only shakes a stick at her. Really? Most of the other characters are stereotypes. And of course this obnoxious woman marries the handsome and wise leader of the tribe. I seriously doubt the accuracy of what is presented here, and as many people have pointed out, the main character speaks like a 20th century person. Save your time and read something else.
736947
I'm very much in the minority here but this is one of the most contrived plots and resolutions of a story that I have ever read.  I know fiction is fiction but it also must be believable and make some sense; this book fails at both.  There were situations that were so unbelievable that I was literally sitting here shaking my head.
1554544
I ve never read true fiction that was so boring, I like the introduction of the new cops but after that the main killers got lost in the blah blah of the story. Not much about the killings themselves. just a awful book.
4598569
In over 50 years of reading I have read everything from classics to comic books.  In that time I have read some great books, some good books, some not so good and a few that were downright bad.  This has to be one of the worst books I have ever had the misfortune to purchase. In fact,I would have to say it is in the top 5 worst books of all time.  It is the literary equivalent of "Plan Nine from Outer Space.  If I could give it minus stars I would.  If it were possible I would demand a refund of the purchase price, plus another $50.00 for the waste of my time and energy.  Twice I put this book down and then went back to it in the hopes that it would improve.  Much to my dismay it only got worse.  About half-way through I finally gave up.  Despite what some of the reviewers would have you believe, this is junk, pure and simple.  Please, don't waste your money on this piece of trash, buy a couple of comic books instead.  At least they have pretty pictures in them.
2693409
Worst work of fiction I have ever touched. This book's only purpose is to act as a target for my AR15.
1808824
Has to be the worst book I have ever read! I think I'll go and donate $2,000 to a charity that believes in love and life.
231336
I don't normally write reviews on books, but this book was so bad I felt it was necessary to try and help others avoid this book. I don't understand how it has gotten as high a rating as it has. The errors should be enough to disscourage you from reading it, but the writing is so redundant and pointless, there is no character development and the story is so slow and never gets anywhere. A complete waste of my time.
4652222
This is one of the worst books I have ever read. I only finished it (and it was a real pensum to do so!) as I think that it is not fair to review books without finishing them. The book is presented as romantic suspense and fails on all grounds:
- The suspense is completely gone after the first 5 pages as the action is incredibly predictable. In addition the police procedure description is abysmally bad
- The romance part is even worse, from the completely unrealistic falling in love of the two (traumatised and scarred!) head characters at literally first glance to the very predictable and clichd cycles of misunderstandings that follow. The last scene is so utterly ridiculous that it made me laugh aloud!
Writing style is at best mediocre. Definitively not a book to recommend!
4751257
This is the worst piece of crap I have ever read. A complete waste of time.