Like books that got very popular but you never really could get into.
Harry Potter. Very shallow surface level magic where nothing made sense if you thought about it.
I mean, it’s a kid’s book. Maybe YA.
It has some general appeal to adults, but a book that’s intended to be read by kids isn’t supposed to have the same complexity as an adult fantasy epic.
To add to this:
Hogwarts was well thought out and imaginative. The setting was practically a character in its own right.
But Harry Potter himself was unbelievably bland. He was nothing special, but was treated as if he were because of who he was related to or otherwise connected to.
Ready Player One
That one is generational I think. It isn’t going to hit all your childhood nostalgia buttons if you weren’t born by about 1985.
Anything by Dan Brown but especially The Da Vinci Code
I picked this one up “to see what all the fuss was about”, and put it down after about 50 pages.
Enders Game
I will possibly upset a lot of people with this one but the twist in the end was obvious really early and the main character was terrible. Really shallow writing. I was honestly shocked when I realised just how popular it was.
There is so much better SF out there I still don’t understand it.
Oh no, not Enders Game! I loved it… but I understand the criticism. I felt that the main character not being very likable added to the story, but that’s personal opinion.
On the Da Vinci Code, it’s a lightweight page turner, I still thought it was enjoyable, but totally forgettable.
Where the Crawdads Sing. The main mystery was predictable, the writing was nothing special and neither were the characters. After I read it I was kinda stumped why I had been seeing it everywhere.
Hyperion Cantos. The beginning was incredibly promising but then it all went to hell with the magic Mary Sue type girl that deflated any stakes to zero and one of the most insufferable baffoons for the main character. Ah yes and the romance between those two was an actual joke, one-dimensional, unjustified and kinda creepy. By the end of the series I was seriously pissed off at the author for squandering all of the potential.
Cryptonomicon. Neal Stephenson has written interesting, compelling books - Snow Crash is fun and breezy; Anathem is among my favorite novels - but Cryptonomicon just doesn’t hold my attention. Lots of smart people love it, so I always have this nagging feeling that I’m the one in the wrong here.
Completely agree. I didn’t like Snow Crash either, but Anathem is also among my favorites ever.
Hitchhikers.
