The series I began reading long ago is The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I stopped somewhere in the middle of Wizard and Glass. I don’t know why but I just simply lost interest in it somewhere in the beginning. I kept reading because I don’t like to leave a book reading unfinished.
One day I just chose to not read because I had other things to do that day. “I will continue the next day,” I said to myself but this next day turned into next week then next month and I forgot about it. Maybe the fact I was binge-reading the series made me tired of it.
After that, I ended up often not finishing other books. I know it’s not a bad thing since I can use the time I would spend reading those books on reading others that will interest me, but I still feel some kind of guilt when I choose to dnf a series or a book.
What was the first time this happened to you and what kind of things can make you dnf a book?
by 978866
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I try not to stop reading a book unless there is a pressing reason.
The first book that I consciously and even without regrets abandoned, without thinking that I continue reed after was “Shelter of Dreams”(Maybe a little differently) Maria Remarque. I found the book boring, so I didn’t continue it.
I abandoned the next book not so long ago, perhaps in December. It was “Unstoppable Wonderland and the End of the World” by Haruki Murakami. I abandoned it because I decided to read another book by this author.
In general, I don’t often come across books that I have to give up, because I choose quite clearly.
I stopped almost exactly 50% through the [*Broken Earth*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._K._Jemisin#Broken_Earth_series) series. I realised I just didn’t like it. I found the characters annoying and kind of flat, the world-building and magic system mediocre. I had other books on my list that I wanted to read, so I moved on.
I got to book 4 in Wheel of Time and I just can’t seem to get through it. The characters are all deeply unlikable and the pacing is slow.
I used to insist on finishing every book I started and then I started reading The Deep by Nick Cutter. I tried, I really did, but I absolutely could not finish it.
I’m grateful to Nick Cutter for The Deep because it made me realize that I was wasting time by forcing myself to finish books I wasn’t really enjoying. Now I will stop reading a book and move on to something else if I want to.
The Hunger Games series. I read the book a couple years ago cuz I found the movie interesting
Sarah j mass throne of glass series. I finished the first and just never started the second one. I had to force myself to finish the first one.
Couple of months ago, I stopped reading East of Eden, my first ever DNF. After an entire page about how much the two brothers loved each other, the next page was Adam beating the ever living shit out his brother for no reason whatsoever. Yep, done.
That’s shitty writing, shitty story telling and grotesque violence for no reason. So yep, no thanks, I’m good.
I read the Realm of the Elderling series… about half of it. Robin Hobb writes well and there’s good story telling but….I don’t know, the whole misery porn is not my thing and that particular aspect seemed to add no value to the main plot beyond a certain degree.
A kid I knew and his dad died in a plane crash when I was in 5th or 6th grade. It did not occur to my school to change the syllabus in light of this, so we were assigned “Hatchet”, which starts with a vivid description of a plane crash.
I read the first chapter and. Lost. My. Mind. Usually damaging a book would be a punishable offense but my mom let me tear Hatchet into tiny shreds over a trash can while I basically just screamed into the void.
In further tone-deaf shenanigans, we also (WHY.) watched “Alive” in class that year, which was about that football team that crashed in the Andes and had to resort to cannibalism. Alive also starts with a graphic plane crash.
I’m 37 and still petrified of flying.
I was halfway through the second of Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth books. It wasn’t that bad but it was extremely slow and hearing about what the series turned into later on I decided to just nope out before I invested more time into it
Red Rising.
It was a thrilling read but pretty violent and depressing. Apparently they only get more gory and hopeless and there are SO many. I don’t have the stomach to continue.
Original Dune series, I thought Dune Messiah was the best way to end it. Children of Dune I thought was a good book but felt like a cash grab, same with God Emperor. Stopped reading during Heretics.
All of WEB Griffin’s anthology. Got burned out from all the sex and his later books were beginning to become summaries of what happened in earlier books from the different series
I’ve given up on Charles Stross Laundry Series – gibbering cthulian horrors from beyond the stars combatted by British Civil Servants worrying about their pensions and ISO accreditation.
Trouble was it never got anywhere and I got fed up
The Dune prequels. Made it halfway through the Machine Crusade and called it a day. They’re not good at all. The writing, characters and even the action sucks. I’d normally finish a series too.
Funny I did the same thing at Wizard and Glass. Went back a few years later and finished it after Wolves of Calah came out. Totally worth it I’ve read the whole series probably a dozen times.
The first book I remember putting down thinking I’d get back to it but never picking up again was Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. I got bored half way in and I can lose interest pretty quick if I get bored and it doesn’t seem to be picking up any as I go on.
“Less” by Andrew Sean Greer is the only book I have ever quit on. It was so whiny, I just could not care.
Last year I read The Knife of Never Letting Go. That was the first time after finishing reading a book that I’ve ever actively decided to not finish a book series.
The premise was enough to hold my interest for one book, but the way it was written wasn’t doing it for me and I couldn’t imagine reading more of it
Warrior cats was the first series I deliberately didn’t finish … I think?
It might have just be my first DNF for a book in general actually, I mean I didn’t finish every other series I read but they weren’t deliberate, more cases of me not knowing there were more books or them being standalone (magic treehouse)
Now I DNF all the time
I’m not sure. It’s been a long time But I think it was John Norman’s “Gor” series in the mid 70’s.