Books that *tried* to be Unique – Top Ten Tuesday

Posted on by Casey smurph

Today I’m doing Top Ten Tuesday! This is a feature created and run by The Broke and the Bookish.

This weeks topic is: Top Ten Of The Most Unique Books I’ve Read BUT I’m going to do a strange spin on this and go with books I thought we’re going to be super unique but were actually cliches waiting to happen/ didn’t deliver what I thought they would, why? I don’t know my brain works in mysterous ways.

Books disguised as unique amazingness and ended up being the same old over used tropes/had characters I wanted to put in a pool and delete the stairs:

 

26158403Killing Game/ The Assassins Game by Kirsty McKay

A School of geniuses on a mysterious island playing a prank game where you prank kill as many over students without getting caught? FUN, add in a real killer? Freakin epic right? Wrong.

This book was lame pranks mixed in with mediocre villain and a fairly stupid cast of “geniuses” I have a ranty review here if you’d like to learn more…

Books you should read instead:

  • For geniuses kids solving mysteries: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
  • For Young Adult thriller: Black by Fleur Ferris

24476465The Kanin Cronicle’s

Okay so I expected so much from this series! I mean you tell me trolls as people who protect another race and are badass fighters well I’m expecting something cool and unique right?

What I got was a blond hair, blue-eyed, tall slim “troll” who was oh so different because her fellow trackers were tan, short, and muscley, cry me a river. This book series was average and seriously lacking in creativity for me especially as I had my hopes set high for a cool spin on Trolls.

Books you should read instead:

  • For Magical Beings: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • For a main character that is a paranormal body-guard: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
  • For magical creatures: Fantasic Beasts and Where to find them by J.K Rowling

 13262783Everyday by David Levithan

This is a very unpopular opinion but hear me out. Everyday is the story of A, a character with no body, and wakes up everyday possessing a new person. A is shown as a physical representation of gender fluid going from girl to boy one day to the next. The thing is while this was unique all the main character did was obsess over a girl and it just lost it’s individuality in doing this.

Books you should read instead:

  • Ancillary Justice for non binery characters
  • Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard for gender fluid

33777895THE SILENT INVASION by James Bradley

This book! I thought this book was going to be climate change killing the world, Aliens invading, and a dystopia set in Australia. What I got was a poorly done version of The Fifth Wave, NO DESCRIPTION AT ALL asides from the occasional a Kangaroo jumped past or a Sugar glider was over head… um okay BUT WHAT DOES THE CHARACTER LOOK LIKE, where is the alien descriptions? What even is the problem with the “climate change?” This book sounds unique and right up my alley and ended up being 300 pages of walking across the country and major random insta love.

What you should read instead:

  • For Aussie dystopian: Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden
  • For Alien Invasion: The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancy

 

So this was my weird take on Top Ten Tuesday books that had unique properties but didn’t pull it off and some alternatives that I believe are better.

Some of the recommendation I included are on my TBR but from the reviews I’ve read they already sound better than their counterparts.

What book did you think was going to be unique and ended up just being disappointing? Did you do Top Ten Tuesday? Let me know so I can check your post out! 

40 thoughts on “Books that *tried* to be Unique – Top Ten Tuesday”

    1. *groaning forever at your pun* I thought your were a Mum today and then you hit me with a dad joke! XD bahahaha Thank you!

      I wish I hadn’t read them, they did sound really interesting from the synopsis though so I blame good publishers writing interesting blurbs to lure me in xD

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  4. Haha I love this! I always wanted to read the Kanin Chronicles…I might just stick to the Vampire Academy haha. I don’t know if the Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard was trying to be unique…I guess in some way every author is trying to write something different, however I felt that it was really, really meh. OH and Caraval!! Caraval tried sooooo hard to be unique and it really fell flat for me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I was thinking Red Queen but the story line is a bit cliche from the start XD I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT CARAVAL omg that book was mediocre and Scarlett was such an annoying main character I wanted to shake some sense into her!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  6. Pingback: Top Ten Most Unique Books I’ve Ever Read – Down the Rabbit Hole

    1. omg Lauren I really want you to read it just so we can yell about how bad it is (or if you enjoy it you can inform me as to why xD) I was hoping for a fun read too but it’s just got nothing o propel the plot and none of the scifi elements are explained so its just ugh. The covers pretty tho… bahahaha

      Like

      Reply

  8. Love your take on this topic! I’ll definitely make sure to stay away from the books on this list 😀 The book I’m reading at the moment kind of has a unique idea: it tells two stories – a writer and the story she’s writing. I’ve only just started, so I’m hoping it won’t disappoint!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you! Yes let me experience the badness of these books so you don’t have to xD

      Oooo that does sound like a cool idea I’ve read something similar but not really the same, it was MPOV a granddaughter learning about her grandmothers history intersected with a story her grandmother wrote about her time in World War II but as a paranormal fairy tale, it was really cool to see the two collide and come together. Hope you love your current read!

      Like

      Reply

  9. haha love how you twisted this topic around! I couldn’t agree more with you about Every Day by David Levithan. It’s pretty evident at a certain point that A does have a specific identity, which kind of ruined the whole point of the story for me. I think the novel had a lot of potential, but it just wasn’t executed in the most effective way. Great list! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. THANK YOU so many people love Everyday that I’m always a bit hesitant to name and shame it but it was just so disappointing, the idea is fantastic but the characters are just bleh definitely could have been better executed.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. I agree with you with that series from Amanda Hocking. Disappointed too… My disappointment of the day is “The Fate of the Tearlings”. I’ve loved the first two books of the series and expected so much from the last one but it’s been a huge disappointment. As you said being curious about ours, here is the link: http://bewareofthereader.com/?p=460 Enjoy! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I was expecting so much more from the Hocking books and they were just bland and like so many other stories that have been done a million times before.
      I havent read The Fate of the tearlings but having a disappointing last book suck 😦 You always want it to wrap up well esp if you loved the first two!

      Like

      Reply

    1. I’ll definitely be doing a full review but I needed a little calming time so I didn’t just bash the book XD I don’t understand all the hype it’s getting it’s a great idea but so poorly executed in my opinion.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Ancillary Justice is actually one of them that I haven’t read but I have the book on my shelf and know that it doesn’t use gender specific pronouns and thought that was a really cool thing to see in a sci-fi. I can’t wait to read it I’m basing this rec off friends glowing reviews so hopefully it doesn’t disappoint *finger crossed*

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  17. Pingback: April Wrap Up and Haul – adoptabookaus

Leave a comment