hey guys it's Abi from Autumn of Pellinor and today I am talking about
the worst and most disappointing books I read in 2020 so there are going to be five books
on this list it's a combination of ones that were just shit and ones that just didn't live
up to what I wanted disclaimer if you liked it whatever let's get into the books I’ve either
unhauled or packed away all of these books because why would I want them out
so they're going to be in picture form I’m so sorry editing so the first book is Elizabeth
is Missing by Emma Healey and I just hated this book I ended up giving it three stars because on
Goodreads because I can imagine that somebody else would like it but I just really didn't
so this is about an old woman who is losing her memory as she ages and she is convinced that her
friend is missing she doesn't know where her friend has gone it flashes back and forwards
in time between her when she was younger and her when she's as an old lady when she was
younger her sister went missing I believe in like mysterious circumstances concern probably dead
sort of situation and then when she's older she's convinced that her friend has had that happen to
her she's like melding the two memories together and so we follow the two different timelines
for Elizabeth and see her and we see her getting confused and not knowing what's going on and her
family members getting very frustrated with her it is a very interesting book like I’m going to
be honest it's really really interesting it really opened my eyes to it sounds stupid but like the
common sense of how it must be so disorienting for this to be happening when you are the one
it's happening to I’m very lucky to still have one of my grandmothers and she is on the older
side and something less dramatic is happening to her I get annoyed and I shouldn't so this was good
in that way that's part of the reason it gave me three stars because it definitely made me think
it definitely made me kind of re-evaluate some things which is always good but the writing
when it wasn't like kind of explicitly about this relationship that you need to have with
your all the family members was just kind of er I preferred the bits back in time the stuff in
the present day was just boring and anti-climactic it was a struggle to push through it like for me
just the book two stars but because it made me think I gave it another star so I read that
for the thriller-a-thon in February and also for the thrill marathon I read watching Eddie
by Camila Way I don't know this I picked up from Poundland in 2015 for one pound and it sounded
decent it sounded pretty good and I’ll be honest the actual writing in this book was pretty decent
I was pretty invested in the plot this one is about a young woman who is navigating through
life she ended up leaving her small hometown where something happened when she was younger and she's
now in like her my age-ish like early to mid-20s and her old life is catching up with her so
this does the same thing as Elizabeth is missing bouncing backwards and forwards now I’m fine with
that as a concept just to establish that because apparently I don't like it in these two books
and I really was actually enjoying this book I enjoyed the moments back in time they were written
really well the thing that happened wasn't what I expected which is always great in a thriller it
wasn't too far out there but it also was still something that I didn't click onto before it
happened I loved the way that it made you think about all of the different individual characters
this stuff once again in the present day it was less interesting for me but I did still enjoy it
and I did still like seeing how the characters who we brought forward had developed but at the same
time there was a plot twist near the end that was horrendous like absolutely horrendous I remember
I commented on my voice is going I commented on Emma's video from drinking by my shelf and saying
I was going to read this for the thrill of song she was like I hated it I was like well hopefully,
hopefully I’ll disagree I didn't disagree and it was actually once I read it I went
back and was like was it this yes it was that we both didn't like the same bit
for me at least the writing was really well done I did really enjoy the base story
especially the back in time stuff I mean I say enjoy if you've read it
it's a thriller but like I was into it and then yeah that twist no just know next up is
one that's going to make Olivia cry and that is Othello by William Shakespeare so I will say that
even just watching Olivia talk about Shakespeare has made me less hateful towards this book but I
just didn't like it so Othello is about a black man in the roman army maybe the Greek I don't know
basically around alone like white Mediterranean people and he is married or betrothed or
with this last that somebody else wants is essentially like how it starts and then
kind of shit rolls out of control and he tries to do things to get this woman to leave Othello
and ruin his reputation and screw everything up now that I’ve had a lot of time to separate from
it I think it's okay but at the time I was reading it I just couldn't force myself through I’ve read
Shakespeare before it's not as though this is like me being completely unused to the writing style
and not being able to read in that kind of 1600s English within a play setting
it isn't that because I’ve read the other ones and I’m fine with the other ones I just couldn't
get through this story at all but like I said since Olivia has talked about it more
and just in Shakespeare in general and this is actually one of her favourites
sorry so I am up for trying it in another manner I don't think reading it again
right now is ideal maybe in the future but I think watching an adaptation could be really
good so I need to find one that I know will tick my boxes there are certain things adaptations that
I like and I’m sure there's been more than one for this so I need to go find an adaptation and sit
and watch that and then hopefully I’ll enjoy the story but this just wasn't for me I didn't like
the style of writing which makes no sense because I like Shakespeare I didn't like how the action
happened there's a lot of the miscommunication trip used in here and I’m sure it works on the
stage a lot better than it works on paper so I wasn't really enjoying that it's just not it's not
a thing and these next two books are definitely in the disappointing pile so the first one is
fire song by William Nicholson this is the third book in the wind on fire wind windsinger trilogy
I think so this is the third book in the trilogy I got these books when I was really little I
should have read them at the time I would have enjoyed them much much more but as an adult
the series as a whole is still all right but I gave this three stars the first book I struggled
through the second book I adored and this third book I was really hoping that it was just going
to keep amping up but it just kind of annoyed me obviously I can't tell you too much about
the story because it's the third book but for the first book we are following twins who can contact
within their minds and other people in their community also some of them also do have things
like this their mum can see into the future things like that and it is basically them overthrowing
kind of a dystopian society where people aren't great and the series progresses from there
this last book I just there was a lot of misogynistic ideologies that were included
and I was less invested in the characters than I was in the second one which is unfortunate because
we carried a lot of the characters from book two into book three and I really enjoyed them in book
two I just really wasn't as keen on them in book three there were aspects I enjoyed the development
of the kind of more magical side the development of that side a little further I really enjoyed
and there is a journey in this one and I was I was enjoying the journey I thought that was
done well but that it just it didn't hit the mark it's just disappointing and my last disappointing
book of 2020 was Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land this is a thriller book and the concept for
this book in the synopsis is that we're following, following a young girl who turned her mother into
the authorities because she was torturing and murdering children definitely murdering can't
remember if it was torturing and she is now being placed with the foster family and we are following
this young girl we get a little bit of a mixture of her new name and her old name because of course
she changed her name for her identity and for her privacy I need a drink and we follow her
settling in with this new foster family with the disagreements with her new foster sister
with the different developmental processes and how she's settling into this new school this
new environment she's been put with an upper-class foster family whereas she came from working class
with her mum so that's a big difference there so she there's a lot of like oh wow I’m just kind
of getting a laptop what is this I liked that I liked that it wasn't just like her adjusting and
thinking that was now normal because that wouldn't happen and I did enjoy the book but the first 80
of it was not what the synopsis says it just isn't and then the last 20
is what the synopsis said and that sounds like oh great it didn't no no it was like two different
books it didn't really make sense the first was more of a like contemporary standard fiction
of like a girl who had to turn in her mother who is now learning to adjust and then there's just a
switch that isn't done well it should have been in my opinion like progressed through the book
there should have been more hints left throughout like breadcrumb trails left I think that was
breadcrumbs and there wasn't and it was just and although I did enjoy the two separate parts
it was the fact that they didn't gel the fact that the majority of the book didn't match the synopsis
it was just so disappointing I gave it three stars both bits were written well I did enjoy
it when I was reading it I read it all in one sitting it just was not what I wanted
and I can point out how the author could have done it better so I’m very sorry Ali Land
I will say as well that for the four of these authors that might still be alive I don't know
I haven't checked but I know Shakespeare isn't I would probably give other books from them a shot
this is just my personal opinion I know a lot of people love Firesong it's the culmination of
a series that a lot of people loved so I wouldn't suggest not trying the series especially if it's
for a younger reader it is aimed at middle grade so if you're thinking of getting it for someone
in that age bracket 100 go for it these all had redeeming qualities don't get me wrong they all
had qualities where I was like you know what all right I mean Othello didn't but over time
I’m like okay I can see why this would be like good on a stage so these are the worst books or
the most disappointing books for me in 2020 let me know down below in the comments if you had any as
well and for any authors who have gotten this far into the video why are you watching this isn't for
you if you saw the discourse on book twitter about Gavin from How to Train Your Gavin he posted this
video like most of us do I don't always do them because I tend to just not think about my worst
books but I made an effort to do it this year but loads of booktubers do this video and some authors
who weren't even mentioned in the video let alone we're in the age bracket that he was mentioning
because he didn't mention any middle grade were complaining that he made negative reviews
if you actually watch the video I now want to pick a couple of them up so that's just bullshit so of
course I have to join in thank you for watching and I will see you guys in my next video where I
will be talking a little bit more positively about the books I’m reading thank you for watching bye!