When we think of this generation’s beloved novels, we think of “Harry Potter”, “The Hunger Games” and “The Maze Runner”. However, are these books worth the hype or simply rehashes of one another? Are we just parroting praises or have we analyzed these books thoroughly? Here are five popular novels and book series that perhaps, can be booted off the list of the best books of all time.
1. The Hunger Games
Critics praise the series for the themes within, but in actuality, it is a poorly written story constructed on concepts and ideologies such as humanity and centered around the world of Katniss and her feelings. It is based less on the idea of a dystopia and more of a "coming of age" story and the social justice warrior concept — if social justice warriors were uneducated angsty teenagers. Moreover, this entire novel feels extremely mediocre. This may be targeted for a younger audience, but the writing style is bland and unimaginative, which only narrows the range of people gaining new perspectives or reading comprehension from the book.
2. The Giver Quartet
The main issue with the Giver is the lack of a new perspective covered in the book. The tropes within the book are nothing new and while the setting and the premise had a lot of potential, I believe that the takeaway from the book is limited to the consequences of uniformity. Other books with similar themes such as 1984 at least attempt to provide the reader with a new insight on the effects of totalitarianism. However, this entire book felt more like an unnecessary emphasis on democracy already being implemented in its target markets rather than a revolutionary work of literature.
3. The Maze Runner
The constant withholding of information did not improve the pace of the story but instead dragged the plot for much longer than it should have been. The most promising aspect of the book was its premise, however, it fell short on many counts. The characters were bland and the advancement of the plot based on Thomas’s convenient recollections would have benefited from better book storytelling and foresight. Something else that fell short was the threat of the Grievers and the maze itself. The only thing to be done inside the maze was moving walls and avoiding Grievers —which given the impression emphasized upon the reader —was unsatisfactory to watch the progress. The death of the main characters evoked no emotion and some other characters were simply unnecessary. This book is too long and too boring and leaves many loopholes and questions unanswered.
4. The Harry Potter Books
For all Harry's clout, his entire existence is extremely convenient. He's wealthy, famous, and popular without doing anything of his own doing. He has defeated the main antagonist before receiving a preschool education and — get this — he's untouchable because of his mother's love. The main issue is that Harry himself did not contribute to the plot as much as the main character should. Everything he did was either inherited or instant, or all too convenient. He was special for nothing of his own doing. Honestly, the favoritism lauded on Harry is not an idea to feed to children. He was never severely reprimanded and everything worked out for him He has everything: Dumbledore's influence, Hermione's genius, Ron's house and family. Harry's burden of self-improvement has been lifted from himself! Nothing he ever did was of his own accord, but rather, tailored to fit the narrative.
5. Divergent
In my personal opinion, the worldbuilding of Divergent fell flat when it could have been so much more. The reasoning behind the construction of the factions was not meaningful, they were honest, selfless, brave, peaceful, and smart simply just because. Something else I found extremely distasteful was the forced romance between Tris and Four. With Four, there was no character development and Tris herself was irritating and judgemental. The killings also seemed to serve no purpose and failed to move readers. Furthermore, the setting itself lacks a lot of reality and believability when compared to reality. Do Amities simply make friends all day? Where do they get income to support their affairs? This book would perhaps be a good introduction to sci-fi or dystopian books but really, there are many other good books with better worldbuilding and plots.
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