Totally Didn't Book Tag

As I wrote this, I realized that I'm not exactly answering the questions. I'm just talking about problems I have surrounding said questions, so this tag ended up a bit of a rant.


1. Totally didn’t need to have a sequel/sequels.
The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

2. Totally didn’t need to have more than one point of view.
To be honest I don't read a lot of books with more than one POV, and usually I'm not a fan of it.
It makes me distanced from the characters, if not done well, and I never like that feeling.

3. Totally didn’t need to change cover art through the middle of a series.
Across The Universe is one change I never understood. The original ones were so much more aesthetically pleasing! I understand the want to change some covers, but finish with one and the revamp them all. An Ember in the Ashes is one also

4. Totally didn’t need a love triangle.
I tend to hate this trope so pretty much any book with one. It creates tension and awkward situations, and usually the reader knows how it'll end up so it's a waste of time - in certain cases

5. Totally didn’t need this book to be included in this series. 
I've talked about the second book syndrome that happens when a book might me intended as only one but they add on another one without really having a proper plot from the beginning which unfortunately brings boredom. For example the second book in the Matched series.

For this reason I am always really apprehensive towards books that have later been added books to. An Ember in the Ashes was supposed to be one book, then two and now four books. The first one was great and then I got a bit scared would the second one be? It was but will the rest be?

6. Totally didn’t need a cliffhanger.
Using cliffhangers is a fantastic way to get the reader to buy the next book since their curiosity has peaked. But that works only if you are invested in the characters and in learning what will happen to them. So they need to be balanced; don't write a cliffhanger in each chapter. Make the readers go to the edge of their seat and wonder, anticipate and then, and only then, have said cliffhanger.

TV series often get this upside down. Yes after each episode you need something to make the watchers come back, but instead of a cliffhanger in each episode prove to the watchers that it's a show worth watching. Develop the characters, enrich the world, play with our emotions and when everything is at it's peak - have a cliffhanger. See the problem with having too many of them is that each one need an answer. One. So when a conclusion is reached regarding that one cliffhanger, what is keeping the watchers or readers still there? Usually it would be the characters and plot, but have you delved into those enough on the side of all the cliffhangers?
For the former a bad episode is a deal breaker, but in the latter the fans will stick with the characters like intended.

7. Totally didn’t need to have just one point of view.
TFiOS would have been great with both Hazel and Augustus' POV

8. Totally didn’t need that much hype.
I try to read books also from outside my comfort zone, and by hearing people whom I trust their opinions on really like a book I wouldn't have picked excites me. But I hesitate and try to not get my hopes up, which helps because then I don't get disappointed if it was "only" good.

9. Totally didn’t need a relative book reference. (Eg, For example: Hunger Games fan would love Divergent.)
Sometimes this is the only way to get my attention towards a book, but it needs to be well done because it can make people that would like the book walk away because they didn't like the one book it was referenced towards. Comparing books can be fun, but having that idea on the back burner of your head while reading the book can be distracting.

10. Totally didn’t deserve my time.
I've been getting better at not finishing books if I feel like I'm wasting my time. I used to just stick to it til' the end and hate it. So why do it? We say too much to read and too little time, then why spend some of it on books we don't like. Sure the book could pick up pace, but I personally read enough to know whether I like it or not. And I encourage you to learn that for yourselves.

Read on lovelies,

S