To clarify what I mean: You sometimes find statements like “For people who like X” or “The new X” (substitute X with a mostly well-known author) on books. Who would be your X that makes you put a book down immediately and why?
My answer would be George R.R. Martin. I never read his books because I never heard of them before GoT started and I honestly did not watch the show. But somehow his books got saved as filled with too much politics (not in a real world way) and intrigues in my brain. Both are things I only want in really small packages in my fantasy books. So everytime I read his name on any book, I instantly put it away.
by Chemist-with_Beard
5 Comments
… You dislike when books are compared to an author whose work you’ve never read before?
That’s … a new one to me
I don’t have any that are explicit turn aways, but I’m much more likely to take it seriously if it’s not something very famous.
“For fans of Harry Potter/Game of Thrones/Lord of the Ringes”–meaningless, ignore it
“Like China Mieville”–informative, useful, nobody would make this comparison unless it was *actually* like China Mieville
I don’t really pay much attention to comps as they compare to individual books or authors, but more the broader genre. Most epic fantasy is going to get a GRRM comparison… any book with academia and murder is going to be compared to *The Secret History*.
I wouldn’t let a comparison to a particular author I dislike turn me off of the book unless it’s a genre I dislike. Like, I’m not into epic fantasy, so I’m not going to read “the next generation’s Game of Thrones” or whatever. But I do like horror, and I dislike (for example) Riley Sager… but I wouldn’t automatically take a book off my TBR just because the author was compared to Riley Sager since I like the wider genre.
For about ten years every new crime novelist was compared to Elmore Leonard. It did get tiresome.
Maybe try reading a George R.R. Martin book before dismissing any minor connection to him outright?