The NOPE book tag was created by The Farah Project, and I first saw it on Bubbly Book Nerd! Figured I would keep the unpopular opinions going after Friday’s post. XD I promise I’m not a super negative person, but there is something fun about dissecting the stuff I don’t like.

A Nope-Worthy Ending

It’s not quite at the end, but I don’t know a single person who is ok with that one scene near the end of IT by Stephen King. If you’ve read the book, you know exactly which scene I’m referring to, and I do not plan on describing it. Personally, I think King could have made the same inferences, and conveyed the same information in a myriad of different, less yikesy ways.

Protagonist who Drives you Crazy

Alina Starkov. No two ways about it, she drives me nuts. I really want someone to create an abridged version of the Grisha Trilogy that cuts out all of her whining about Mal, and obsessing over what Mal is thinking. If I could just wipe Mal out of the Grisha Trilogy entirely, that would be swell.

A Series that’s a huge pile of NOPE.

So the series isn’t complete yet, but I have to give it to the Folk of the Air series by Holly Black. Aside from the dubious nature of the romance in the books, I can’t make sense of the plot. I’ve read both books, and I don’t know what I’m rooting for, or waiting for in the future. It seems like the point of the books is watching people get emotionally abused in a pretty setting. I don’t get anything out of them.

A Ship that Needs to Not Sail

I just talked about a few of these, but another ship I didn’t really care for is in Mirage by Somaiya Daud. I don’t care for this book as a whole, but the romance was just a bad idea from the word go. It was clear the entire time that things would not end well, and it was hard to watch it all unfold.

Plot twist you didn’t like or didn’t see coming

Let’s give it up for Sarah J Mass using sexual orientation as a plot twist, doesn’t get much worse than that. This was one of my major issues with A Court of Wings and Ruin. A part of me really wishes I never read that book.

NOPE Protagonist Action/Decision

I immediately thought of Rin from The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang. I love this book and how layered and complex Rin’s story is. It’s certainly not a happy book, and Rin is forced to make some super hard choices! There was a time or two when she went down a questionable path. Though I know her choices could cause things to get worse before they get better, I am 100% along for that ride.

NOPE Genre

In general, my NOPE genre is romance. I have learned to like some romance in Fantasy or Science Fiction, but I really don’t think I could spend a lot of time with a story where the primary focus is a romantic relationship. This is a major reason I struggle with a lot of contemporary books. Once in a while, it can be fun, but this is a genre I will always struggle with.

Your NOPE Trope

Oh geez so many. True Insta-love, when two characters meet each other and suddenly will do anything for each other, is super annoying. If I don’t have a reason to care about both characters on their own, I certainly don’t have enough information to care about them in a relationship. It’s almost never believable and pulls me out of the story. Unless there’s magic, or some other higher power involved, I can’t do insta-love.

Eye-roll Worthy Writing Cliche

Again I find myself thinking of Maas. She has this way of honing in on a specific word or phrase and reusing it over and over again. Some of my (least) favorite examples include the throat bob to indicate distress, bowels turning to water to indicate distress, and let’s not forget how often Feyre saw something she couldn’t imagine how to paint. Variety is the spice of writing.

NOPE Recommendation

All Shadowhunters books. I have no intention of ever reading a book in this series. I genuinely don’t have an interest in it for one, and I’ve read a few too many weird things about the author to want to engage with her work. In general, I do believe in separating an artist from their art a bit, but it’s tough when you’re talking about spending time read thousands of pages of words right from their brain.

NOPE Love Interest

Four Dead Queens has a very minimal romance subplot, but I don’t think it needed one at all. The love interest was by no means my least favorite element of that book, but it was not necessary.

NOPE Book

Woooo this is a tough one. Is there really a book that I loathe so much I think it never should have been written. Hmm…well you know. Sarah J Maas comes through for me again here. A Court of Frost and Starlight is my pick. I wish I could unread it, and I think that’s as close as I’ll get to saying it should never exist.

NOPE Villain: Someone Truly Terrifying

Levana from The Lunar Chronicles for sure. Woman is straight up scary. I have yet to read more than one of the Lunar Chronicles, though I certainly plan to. Levana is a huge part of the reason I want to keep reading, she gives me nightmares.

NOPE Death: Death you Want to Undo

Hedwig, no contest.

NOPE Author: Author you Don’t Plan to Read More of

This is a tough one. To reiterate, I do think that an artist can be segregated somewhat from their craft but I think it’s harder to do that for prose novels. At this point, I have had enough negative experiences/impressions of Pierce Brown that I have little interest in reading anything he publishes. I’ve tried a few hundred pages of his series as well. It’s just not for me.

Those are some of my NOPES! Let me know what writing habits/books/tropes make you say NOPE!

If you read this far, consider yourself tagged. ❤