Hi friends! It's Monica,
and today I'm going to be discussing which series I will never finish.
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When I say I will never finish... it's most likely
that one or two series on this list I might go back and finish the series off.
But the majority of these are book series I've either lost interest in or I just don't want
to finish the book series.
Also note that - this video is nothing against the authors themselves.
This is just my own personal opinion and whether I want to finish reading their
book series or not. And if any of the books on this list happen
to be one of your favorite series, there's no hard feelings.
These are just my thoughts and opinions and I'm just sharing them in this video.
The first series that I won't ever finish is the Three Dark Crowns series by Kendare Blake.
I first wanted to read this YA fantasy series because it was really hyped up
as a really dark fantasy series. And it follows a set of triplets,
who are all competing against each other
for the crown to ultimately become queen of this land.
I have only read the first book in the series, and with that book,
it was really tough to get through. It was a really slow paced and the concept
of the set of triplets needing to fight against each other, basically warring queens,
against each other was a really nice concept. And each of the triplets have
different magical abilities: one has fire magic, one can ingest poisons,
and the last one can control plants and communicate with animals.
But unfortunately, none of them really stood out to me
as like a starring character for myself. I didn't really connect with any of them.
I think what made it really hard for me to connect to the characters.
We're being introduced to so many of them all at once at the beginning and
I felt the world building was lacking a little bit.
In the end, I was hoping for a lot more than what I had gotten from this book series;
so I will simply just won't be continuing on with this book series.
The next book series I won't finish is Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin.
I think that's how you pronounce your name. So this book series at first is everything
I really want in a YA fantasy series. There's enemies to lovers;
there's witches and witch hunters; you have a marriage of convenience;
and you have a lot of witty bantering in their relationship throughout the book.
At first, I really did enjoy reading this book. I've only read Serpent and Dove,
which is this first book I have right here. One of the things that I did believe was lacking
was the world building itself,
but we do learn about, I think, the world more in the later books.
This entire novel does rely on its characters to carry the story forward and that's not bad
because I enjoyed reading about Lou and Reid. So their romance is what kept me reading
in this book and is what carried the book for me.
So I actually do remember there being a spiteful witch character that's after Lou.
And other than that, there are some side characters.
And I remember, in this book, that sticky* buns were a really fun thing;
and the main character Lou really enjoys sticky* buns,
which are like cinnamon buns in our world. But other than that, I did actually read
this first book twice because I was preparing to read Blood and Honey, the sequel.
I think the one thing that did turn me off from continuing the series were all the
mixed reviews that I've heard from people on the internet and stuff about the sequel.
And I have bought the sequel, but I have still yet to pick it up.
So I think this is one of the series that I might give
another shot later on if i feel like it.
But, in the meantime, I have moved on to other books.
And I will just continue on to read other books and leave this one aside.
And right now, it's a maybe to continue with this series.
So this next series that I will never be finishing is
the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, if that's how you pronounce his name.
And I did want to mention that I did love the books of which I've read in this series.
And I've read the two prequel books, which are The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny,
and I also read the first two books in the series: Blood of Elves and Time of Contempt.
I stopped at book two, and although,
the book series is engaging and I love learning more about the world.
Based on the Witcher video games and the TV show, of course.
I did really like learning about the world even more from the books,
but, I think, overall, I just stopped because I simply lost interest of learning
more stuff in this world. And I think I lost interest, specifically,
because of the writing style and I do believe book series
is originally written in Polish. And so then it's translated to English
and with translated works, it's a bit difficult for me to get into them
because maybe it's like the style and the voice is a little bit off.
Other than that, it's just the matter of picking
and choosing which books I want to read versus reading a series out of obligation,
and needing to be up to date to every single thing in a fandom.
But, overall, I still enjoyed the Witcher series a lot
and I still will continue to support the Witcher series.
My next book series I want to mention is A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer.
So this is the fairy tale retelling of Beauty and the Beast,
and so far of the trilogy, I read the first two books
and I've enjoyed both of those two books as well. But after thinking about
some specific events in book two, which is called A Heart So Fierce and Broken,
there's some questionable actions of one certain character.
And I feel like it could have had more build up and development for that scene to happen.
The build up in the sense of the actions that this character goes through
would be less jarring to the readers and
would seem less out of character for that one particular character.
I'm not going to say name because it's spoilers.
But other than that, the world building in this fantasy series
is incredibly well done. It's really immersive and you really feel
that Beauty and the Beast romance aspects as well. But the characters themselves are also
quite original in their thoughts and their actions.
This is the other book series that I will probably give another chance in the future
whenever I change my mind.
Overall, I was uncertain of putting this book series
on this list since the writing is fantastic and really digestible.
And I really had a fun time reading this book. I think it's been like a few years now
since the last book came out and I still haven't picked it up.
Maybe I have an aversion to ending series off. So again, I think this book series on this list is
specifically because I lost interest and no hard feelings against the author or
the book series itself. But, A Curse So Dark and
Lonely, it's one of the top series that I most likely will get back to.
Next up is Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco.
This is a YA historical fiction series that focuses on solving murder mysteries
with our crime-fighting duo Audrey Rose and Thomas Cresswell.
It's either set in the early 1800s or early 1900s, in England, London originally.
So I've read through the first 3 books of this quartet series
and the first two books being: Stalking Jack the Ripper
and Hunting Prince Dracula. Those two were really great to read through.
The murder mysteries really held my attention; the forensic science aspect of those two books
also were excellent in their discoveries of learning the truth of who the killer is.
Also, the dynamic between Audrey Rose and Thomas is,
of course, very fun to read about. However, what turned me off
from the rest of the series is book three, Escaping from Houdini,
and I felt this book lacked from a significant and gripping murder mystery case.
And it felt like the author just repeated the story again
because each book centers around a new murder mystery case.
I just felt it was really repetitive and I didn't feel there was any new development
with their characters, except that there was a random
new love interest that pops up. I didn't really feel the
need to finish off this book series. It's like OK the main couple in this book series
will end up together anyways. And I didn't really
have a need to find out how exactly that happened and I'm fine with that.
One of the other things in the third book, specifically,
is that I wanted something new and refreshing. And maybe the romance turmoil in that book
was something new, but it didn't really capture my attention.
However, this author's writing has continuously improved,
especially in her Kingdom of the Wicked series, which I have right behind me.
So her writing has improved in this series a lot and I really like the characters in this one
more than the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. And I think the concept itself of
this new book series of hers is more entertaining for me to read.
Overall, Stalking Jack the Ripper series remains on this list.
Okay so this last book series that I will never finish
is the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. So this one is an adult historical fiction
that describes a romance that defies time. And just to start off, I watch the tv show
and I have tried to pick up the first book a couple times now.
I think two-three times, and I just can't
simply get through the first book. I think the TV show does an excellent job
at portraying of what occurs in the books from what I've heard on social media
and Twitter specifically; and that people are pleased at the adaptation.
The story itself of Outlander follows Claire, who mysteriously travels through standing stones
in Scotland back to the 1700s, and there, she meets Jamie Fraser.
I have nothing against the book series itself. The writing was fine when I did read it.
I think it's the genre itself of historical fiction
that I sometimes struggle with to get through so I decided to put the book series down
and just watch the TV show. And also, the TV show was releasing the episodes
a lot more quickly then I had the motivation then to read the books.
And I think one thing that does turn me off about the Outlander series
as a whole is the mention of the various sexual assault scenes in the books
and on the TV show. They're pretty graphic so that is a warning,
if you are interested in this series. I do skip those scenes when they come up.
I guess that's another reason why I didn't pick up the books.
Based on the show itself, I really enjoyed Outlander
for its recurring themes of war, love, family, and trust.
There's a lot of issues that happen because back then, in the 1700s, and then,
you follow our characters through rebellions and wars.
And it's not fun for our characters, but you can't help but keep on watching.
And this current season season six is really intense,
and I'm really excited to see what happens next. However, I won't pick up the book series
and that's okay. So that was my last book series I mentioned.
I hope you all enjoyed this video. And again, all my opinions are my own
and there's nothing against the authors nor if these are your favorite book series.
It's just I personally just don't see myself reading these book series in the near future.
Thanks so much for watching! Don't forget to give me a big thumbs up,
hit that subscribe button down below and ring that notification bell to not
miss any future uploads. I'll see you all soon!
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