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My already high DNF count is even higher because my Kindle deleted all couple hundred books I hadn't head yet, so in trying to replace them, a number I read already got onto it. Blah.

DNF #100: The Shadow of Black Wings by James Calbraith. I started reviewing books in 2012, and this one was published in 2012. I'm certain I read it, but I can't find mention of it in any of my reviews... Since it's a reread and another review said the story just cuts off in the middle, in hopes to get you to buy book 2, I'm DNFing this one.

DNF #101: Secret of the Wolves by Dorothy Hearst. I tried to read this one last year as well, but DNFed it. "Checking Goodreads, I discovered this book does one of the worst things ever: It has no ending, it just gets cut off and continues in the next book." Review here

DNF #102: The Scavengers by Michael Perry. I read this one back in 2019. I loved the first third, but it went downhill from there. Review here.

DNF #103: A Bone from the Dry Sea by Peter Dickinson. This one was published in 2015, so I should have a review for it, but it's another one I can't find. I read it for sure though, and hadn't enjoyed it. Goodread reviews agree, review after review calling it "boring".

DNF #104: Pictures of You by TJ Alexian. I read this one in 2014. I liked it, but it's not the type of book I usually read, so I moved on to something new. Review here.

DNF #105: Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates. A new book! Finally! I just wish it had been a better one. The most cliche of cliche horror stories. Every single element was unoriginal. Another reviewer described the main character as:

Have you seen the GEICO commercials that make a spoof about horror movies? Teens are being chased by something evil on the grounds of a scary mansion. To get away, one teen suggests hopping into the idling car and driving to safety. But the majority say going into the basement or hiding in the cemetery would be safer!
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I'm still working from my oldest books forward, which is why I have so many DNFs. Many years ago, I gave self-published books as little scrutiny as I do traditionally-published books, and so I ended up with so many bad books. So many bad books...

40) Sentari: Ice by Trevor Booth. The writing in this one was just so awful, I didn't even get far enough to know what the plot was about. Things like "The death hound stared with death in his eyes and chased them on death-filled paws", the same basic description used multiple times in a sentence.

41) Secret of the Wolves by Dorothy Hearst. Supposedly told from the POV of a wolf, it supposedly told the story of how wolves became domesticated. If that had been the actual plot, I would have loved it, but instead it was this odd mythical thing about how "Ancients" (gods? aliens?) told the wolves to be the keeper of men otherwise the Ancients would destroy the world. Checking Goodreads, I discovered this book does one of the worst things ever: It has no ending, it just gets cut off and continues in the next book.

42) Cold Between Stars by Belinda Crawford. Told from the POV of a trans boy on a spaceship, he wakes up out of stasis to find everyone else dead. As interesting as that sounds, the story didn't hook me at all. Checking Goodreads, apparently it does the same thing as Secret of the Wolves: Just stops mid-story and picks up in the next book, no ending at all. Plus the author did the "glossary of words you'll find in this book" at the beginning, which always annoys me -- if you must make up words, show the reader what they mean in your text.

43) Nri Kryne (Monsters and Demons) by Mara Duryea. The dialogue and writing in this one just didn't work for me, too many needlessly made up words (but at least no glossary!).

44) Sands by Kevin L. Nielsen. The plot of this one seemed interesting enough: Desert tribe has to constantly move to avoid sand-monsters. But the main character was just so unreasonable and did such stupid things, I lost interest really quickly. Plus her name was Lhaurel, which unreasonably annoyed me (Laurel + h?). I kept trying to pronounce it la-ha-urel.
thistlechaser: (Book with cat: Litterbox)
Secret of the Wolves by
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



The second book in the "...of the Wolves" series, but I hadn't realized that and read it first by mistake. I was pretty quick to realize what was going on (the first part of the book was a massive info dump, I figured had to be explaining the first book). I didn't think I owned the first book, so I tried continuing on with this one. 'Starting in the middle of the series' issues aside, neither the writing nor the story worked for me, so gave up about 10% in.

The plot was unclear. Something about how gods had wanted to have wolves work with humans, and the wolves agreed, then someone (wolves or man) broke that promise. Thousands of years in the future, we arrive at current time (in the book, alternate universe) and wolves are just starting to be willing to work with humans again, though some wolves are against that.

Promise of the Wolves by
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



Then it turned out I did actually own the first book in the series, so I tried reading that. Why would a first book start with an info dump? I slogged through that, but found the same issues with story and writing, so gave up on this one as well.

Beneath a Winter Moon by
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



I'm starting to listen to signs that I shouldn't read a book. This one had a very long, very poorly written author's forward. It ended with "Note: This book has been edited by the author, only." I gave it a couple pages into the story to see if it would be as poorly edited as I suspected. It was. I deleted it.

Werewolf story, but I can't say more about it beyond that.

Currently reading: War Stories: New Military Science Fiction. Usually I wouldn't be very interested in war stories, but Karin Lowachee (author of the Warchild book I loved so much) has a story in this, so I bought it.

I'm two stories in, and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. So far it's more about people than wars. Her story is the second to last one, so I have a ways to go before getting to it.

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