Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

I can already feel the hate!

Lana del Rey mood. 

Welcome back readers. For today's post, I decided to revisit some unpopular opinions; I kind of started with a previous post titled "I Want to See the World Burn". This time it'll be more book focused though.

For those of you who don't know what this tag is about, I will be presenting a series of nine questions where I will provide some of my unpopular opinions about books. Even though I know disclaimers can be annoying, here's a very quick one: I don't mean to offend you or your favorite books; this post is only about my opinion, so you don't necessarily have to share it. I'll try to not be so mean.

Now, let's get started!

1- A popular book or series that you don't like: 

Hell no! 

I won't go very deep into this first question, because I've talked plenty in previous posts about why I dislike Narnia so much. I know of several people who started reading as kids because of these books, and that's great; any book that gets you into reading is a good thing. But I personally hate this series with a passion. Thanks, but no thanks.

2- A book or series that many people don't like but you love: 

Disney Twisted Tales

These are the Disney Twisted Tales, and they are written by various authors. I found these books randomly on Goodreads and I saw a couple of reviews on YouTube about them, so I decided to give them a try. And boy, have I enjoyed them! I get why many people don't like them, but I have loved every single one I've read so far. These books take Disney's classic stories and give them a fun and dark twist, often giving the princesses more agency and political power. They have changed the way I see their tales, for which I'm thankful.

3- A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you didn't want them to end up with OR an OTP (One True Pairing) that you don't like: 

Tessa Gray. 

"Clockwork Princess" by Cassandra Clare is the last book in the "Infernal Devices" trilogy in the Shadowhunter Chronicles. If you know me, you must know I love the shadowhunter books with my entire life, and this trilogy is no exception. There's a love triangle among Tessa (the trilogy's protagonist) and her friends Will and Jem. Now, I despise love triangles, but this one was done so well I couldn't help but love it. The thing is, even though I loved both Jem and Will, Tessa ended up with... the one I didn't want. I won't spoil it if you haven't read the books, but I was devastated with the outcome. I've made my peace since then, but still.

From left to right: Will, Tessa and Jem. 

Who am I kidding? I'll never be over them. They're perfect, they're beautiful. Send me help.

4- A popular genre that you hardly reach for: 

Contemporary. I really dislike this genre. These books are realistic fiction, dealing with matters of growing up, maturing, facing social and personal problems, and so on.They're mostly set in modern times. I've read several contemporary books and I'm not impressed at all. Does it mean that the genre is bad? No. It's just not for me; I either end up hating those books or loving them, there is no in between. If you haven't noticed, I'm more of a fantasy and science fiction reader (although historical fiction books are amazing too). 

The only contemporary book I loved.
Got me through depression on my worst days. 

The books that made me hate contemporary.
Sorry not sorry. 

5- A popular or beloved character that you don't like: 

Severus Snape
Credits to the artist!

I must say, I really dislike Severus Snape. I try to look at him objectively: he did a lot of good for the heroes of the story, acting as a double agent, saving Harry Potter several times, and what not. But even though I get why he is cold with people, there is one thing I will never forgive him for: bullying his students. I am teacher myself, and like Snape I was bullied as a kid and as a teenager. But that doesn't give me permission to inflict psychological torture on my students. I for one love my kids with my life, and even though I get mad at them sometimes, I wouldn't dream of hurting them. Imagine bullying a little kid so much that you become his worst fear- a.k.a Neville and Snape. I don't care how much he needed to pretend being a bad guy, he had no right whatsoever to torment those kids. As a teacher that's something I can't get behind. Period.

6- An author that you can't seem to get into: 

This is John Green by the way.

Nope. I just can't. I could make a full book about why I dislike John Green's writing. For me every single one of his books is the same: white teenagers full of angst and BS that fall in love. These teenagers tend to be full of weird and unrealistic characteristics, they say unrealistic and cheesy things (mostly in "The Fault in our Stars"), and most of the story's focus is in their romance. I like books with romance mixed in the plot, not books which sole purpose is to tell a love story. And like I said previously, his books made me hate contemporary fiction.

7- A popular book trope you're tired of seeing: 

For this question I chose the trope I hate the most, and believe me I hate many. That is the girl who sees herself as plain (sometimes even ugly), she's clumsy, uninteresting, edgy, full of angst, but the main love interest sees her as perfect. You know, the typical Bella Swan: thinks herself as plain when she's actually beautiful. And for Bella's case, I'm talking about the character, not the actress. 

No shade to Kristen Stewart- I think she's improved in her work.
Bella Swan I can't stand. 

8- A popular book or series that you have no interest in reading: 

The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. 

I bought these books because some of my favorite booktubers talked endlessly about them. I read what they were about and I decided to give them a try. Boy, was I wrong. This trilogy takes place in a fantasy world that is heavily inspired by Russian folklore and mythology (which is pretty cool). The premise of the book is good, some characters are somewhat interesting, the world actually seems amazing, but the writing style was not for me. I couldn't get past the first book, and I lost any interest I had for finishing the trilogy. As an avid fantasy reader, this felt like a stab in the back. I ended up selling them to a former student. 

9- The saying goes that "the book is always better than the movie", but what movie or TV adaptation is better than the book? 

The second book in "The Lord of the Rings". 

I haven't even finished this book; I have been struggling with it for a couple of months already. The writing style is heavy, slow, quite dense and it often bores me- and that is not a very good sign when reading a book. I like "Lord of the Rings", I adored "The Fellowship of the Ring", but "The Two Towers" I can't get through it. I do want to finish it because I want to read the last book, but it's hard. I think the movie was better in terms of pacing, as it made the story more fast paced and entertaining. For me this installment in the trilogy suffers from the second book syndrome: it doesn't live to the previous book, and it feels as just a step for the third and final book. 

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This is the end of my unpopular book opinions! I hope you liked it, and that you don't hate me by this point. Any discussion would be welcomed in the comments below. As always thank you for reading me, and I hope everyone is staying safe. See you next Sunday. 

P.S If you want me to do a Harry Potter unpopular opinions post, let me know.