I try my best to complete a book I started, even if I’m not all that entertained by it. Why do I do this? I’m not entirely sure. I think it’s just a part of my personality. I like to finish what I start. Needless to say, this has led to some really frustrating reading sessions.
Despite my high tolerance for mediocre reads, there are still quite a few books and series that I just couldn’t get through, and surprisingly, a good number of them were/are pretty popular. Not all books on my DNF shelf are permanent, though. Some, I have every intention of finishing….one day. But the other ones are most certainly DNF’d for good.
These are some of the popular books I’ve DNF’d temporarily and permanently. Please don’t kill me…
Permanent DNF’s
Eragon | Christopher Paolini
I managed to get through the first book of this widely loved series, but I could barely get through the second chapter of Eldest. And even though I liked Eragon, I was still fairly bored with it by the middle. So, I’ve given up on the series. Even though I love dragons, I’m not sure this is the dragon series for me.
Maximum Ride | James Patterson
I’m not sure exactly when I gave up on this series but I’m thinking it might have been by the third book. From what I remember (because I DNF’d this series a loooong time ago), I think I jumped ship once Dylan showed up and Angel wasn’t so cute anymore. Too much drama, not enough action.
House of Night | Kristin and P.C. Cast
There’s just too much I dislike about this series. The characters, the plot, the characters, the relationships, the characters….I liked the series up until the fifth book and even by then I felt like I was trying to drag myself through a pit of drama and angst.
Blue Bloods | Melissa de la Cruz
Just like The House of Night series, Blue Bloods became too much to handle. The characters acted much older than they were, the relationships were all jacked up, and the angst was palpable. I just couldn’t hold on until the end. I gave up on the second to last book, I think.
The Selection | Kiera Cass
I managed to finish the first book, but I wasn’t in the least convinced to continue on with the series. It’s like a strange dystopian spin on The Bachelor. I didn’t like any of the main characters, mainly America Singer, and the political aspect the author tried setting up was kind of flimsy. I know many readers enjoy this series, but it’s just not for me.
Divergent | Veronica Roth
I really really really wanted to read this series. But before I could finish Divergent, someone spoiled the ending of Allegiant to me. After that, I saw no reason to finish the series. Plus, I’m not sure I’d like to read three books just to get to an ending like that!
Temporary DNF’s
Glass Sword | Victoria Aveyard
Oh boy, this book…..I actually enjoyed Red Queen. I thought it was fairly entertaining and I also appreciated the x-men/superhuman aspect of the story. However, Glass Sword is testing my patience. The characters have gotten worse, especially Mare, and the pacing is painfully slow. I started this book in November and I haven’t looked at it since. I’ve temporarily DNF’d it but I’ve heard King’s Cage is much better. So, I’m willing to drag myself through Glass Sword just to get to the third book.
Ruin and Rising | Leigh Bardugo
It’s been about two years and I haven’t read the last book in the Grisha trilogy. I kind of know how it ends, so that’s kept me from reading this one, but I’ve always planned to, no worries! I’ve just been preoccupied with other fantastic reads, like Six of Crows 😉
Percy Jackson | Rick Riordan
I’m a bit late to this series. I find I have a hard time enjoying middle grade books nowadays, but I’m willing to try for certain series. I’ve read the first book and I plan to read the other installments later this year!
There are a few more books I’ve DNF’d so I’ll be sharing the rest of those in Part 2! I really tried to get through some of these, but I guess they just weren’t for me. What do you think? Do you agree with some of my choices? Which popular books have you DNF’d?
Anyways, that’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by! I’ll see ya soon ❤
The Uncharted Word 
Omg, finally someone else that shares my unpopular opinion of these books! I have tried to read Percy Jackson more than once, but I just can’t
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Yay! I’m not alone haha. I read the first book of Percy Jackson but the writing was too childish. I liked the story though. I’m willing to give it another chance, maybe later this year.
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I temp DNFed Glass Sword too.
Did you maybe have a prob with the characters in House of Night lol? 😂
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Glass Sword just isn’t cutting it with quite a few readers it seems.
And quite possibly…. LOL XD I’m mostly thinking of the main character, Zoey. She got on my last nerve by the second book. I couldn’t take it anymore after a while.
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I struggled with Glass Sword too! Mare is so selfish!
I couldn’t get through the Lightning Thief either, which is a shame because I know a lot of people love his writing!
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She really is, isn’t she?! It’s so frustrating lol
I read The Lightning Thief but I wasn’t all that motivated to continue on with the series at the time. I’ll give it another shot before I decide to keep reading or permanently DNF the series!
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Great post Azia. There are a fair few series I have on my DNF list, a lot of which are permanent DNF because I’m just no longer a fan of the story but there are a few temporary ones. The Legend books by Marie Lu are on my temporary DNF list, I want to try and get back into them soon because I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about her work. Plus I really loved Legend when I read it a few years back.
House of Night and Maximum Ride are on my permanent DNF list too. Mostly for the same reasons you mentioned. They seemed to go on too long and I just lost interest.
Still for all these books on your DNF list there are probably plenty more on your TBR list right? 😀 ❤️
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Thank you, Beth 🙂 I’m glad the Legend trilogy is a temporary DNF for you. It’s one of my favorite series! HoN and Maximum Ride became such disappointments after a while. It was hard to keep going with it, so I just stopped. I think we made the right choice.
And most definitely! I have so many interesting books to read! Can’t wait to see which books I crack open in the next few months 😀
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That’s all right! Yeah I definitely need to get back into the Legend trilogy, it’s at the top of my ‘I need to read this series again’ list so maybe one day soon even!
Better than forcing yourself to carry on reading a book you’re not enjoying right? 🙂
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I hope you enjoy the Legend trilogy in its entirety! 😀
And I couldn’t agree more 🙂
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Thanks, I hope so too! 😀
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Oh my gosh, this is uncanny! I DNF’d all of the books you mentioned except The Lightening Thief. I might revisit the Grisha trilogy though since I love Six of Crows so much. I also DNF’d the Throne of Glass series because I just couldn’t get into the writing style. I heard it gets better though so I may try to read the sequel.
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Oh really?! Wow, so happy I’m not the only one that’s set these books aside haha. I plan on continuing with the Percy Jackson series. It’s just not at the top of my priority list. And yes, I’m going to finish the Grisha trilogy because of SoC, too! I really didn’t like the first book in the ToG series, but the second book is a vast improvement over the first. I have yet to read the third book but I recommend giving the series another shot! 😀
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I grew up with the Percy Jackson series so I’m biased when I say those books are great! 🙂 I think I will give the series another shot, everyone says the second book is a huge improvement.
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I definitely plan on continuing on with Percy Jackson one day, hopefully sometime this year! And it really is 😀 I hope you really do decide to give it another shot!
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I actually remembered this conversation today when I went to the library and checked the second book out! Fingers crossed! I hope I like it ☺
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Oh fantastic! I hope you like it too! Can’t wait to see what you think of it 😀
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This year I decided, life is too short to waste time so if I’m not feeling love for the first book I’m not going to continue (even if I already own the second book I probably won’t) I feel much happier embracing this way of being, as I’m not having to sit through as many sessions of reading that pain me in some way. I don’t want to read to be pained. I know that with any media you’ll experience stuff you don’t like but now that I know more about my tastes and various patterns in books I want to do things to minimize it.
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That’s probably the best way to go about reading nowadays. There are so many good books out there right now, it’s best not to waste any time on books that fail to interest you. Glad it’s working for you! I might have to adjust my reading habits as well to help avoid any displeasure I might experience while reading 😀 Thanks for stopping by!
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I haven’t bothered to move onto Glass Sword. I get why you might have gave up on Eldest, I found Roran’s chapters super boring the first time I read it. House of night, I only ever read book one because it was so meh. I have no idea why I persisted with Blue Bloods for as long as I did.
I’d really like to try Percy Jackson at some point but am worried about the whole middle grade thing.
In other words I majorly agree with most of this post haha. 😜
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Oh that’s fantastic 😀 I’m so glad I’m not the only one who’s felt this way about these books. And good choice not bothering with Glass Sword. Honestly, I dont think it’s worth it lol. I should have never held on to House of Night or Blue Bloods for as long as I did, either. They’re both so dramatic and there aren’t that many likable characters in either of them. And people keep telling me that Percy is one of the middle grade fictions that hold up over time. So maybe it won’t be too bad if we start the series??
Thanks for reading! 😊
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I got through the first two books of Eragon, but the third one was just way too slow.
Kind of sad to see Percy Jackson on this list tho! x
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I wish I could have finished the Eragon saga, but it just wasn’t for me.
And Percy is only temporarily DNF’d! I liked the first book so I plan to read the rest of the series one day. It’s just not at the top of my priority list right now 🙂
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Still makes me a bit sad haha! But it’s understandable. 😊
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Whoa!! My first reaction is, you should’ve post this sooner because I just bought Eragon hehe… but then you mention about DNFing Leigh Bardugo’s book, so I’m thinking.. ok hang on there.. I read book one of the series and really liked it though.. so I’ll have to see how I feel about Ruin & Rising there.. 🙂 I still have yet to read any of the books in your list.. so I can’t share your dislike for them yet 🙂 Great post though! hope you don’t get any tomatoes throw at you hahaha..
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Well I hope you enjoy Eragon far more than I did! 😀 And the main reason I’ve temporarily DNFd the Grisha series is because I’ve been distracted by other books and I know how the story ends. So it’s been placed on the back burner. I’m sure it’s really good, though! And so far no tomatoes lol. Quite a few ppl have agreed with some of my choices actually, so that makes me feel a bit better! 😂 I hope you enjoy any of these if you choose to read them!
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Thanks! That’s too bad you already got the spoiler on the Grisha series. I hope you will still decide to pick it up again one of these days 🙂
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Oh I will! I love Leigh Bardugo too much to not finish her original series 😀
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Glad to see Zoey gets on other peoples nerves as well. I keep hearing that it gets better, so I’ve decided to borrow it from the library, and rereading them, though I think the rating went down a smidgen the second time. Blue Bloods, I’m just happy someone else has attempted reading them, those are on my back burner to try and get through, the idea looked interesting, though yes, the characters…. not as much. I’d thought about Eragon, personally a fan of if the cover looks kinda cool, I’ll read it, might just pass on it now. The Selection does get a bit better, however, The Heir. That book has become a struggle, though I’ve heard I need to just push through and read it, heck I’m 3/5s of the way done in the series.
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Oh yeah, Zoey got on my last nerve by the 5th book. She really wasn’t all that likable. I’ve heard it got better by the end, too, but I think I’ve outgrown the series. Not sure I can give it another go, unfortunately. I hope you enjoy it this time around! I’ll be interested to see what you think 😀 Blue Bloods was so good for the first two books, but then it just got too messy and angsty for my tastes
And the characters were not so great haha. Hope you like Eragon once you get around to reading it! It’s definitely worth the read if anything. And I love the covers to the Selection series. I’m tempted to buy the books simply for the cover appeal 😅 I probably won’t read the series but I hope you can get through The Heir and the rest of the series!
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