Carrying on with my end of year posts with my annual DNFs of the year. Every year I average about 7 DNFs and this year was no different. I thought there was a chance I wouldn’t DNF as many books this year but then I went through a reading slump and just couldn’t continue certain books so I ended up meeting my average!

Also, I believe we should all DNF books. Life is too short to waste our time reading books we don’t enjoy. This year I decided to add one more book to my reading challenge for every book I DNFed. To be honest, keeping an eye on DNFs etc and monitoring what number of books I read was super stressful to me. Next year I will just be sticking to one end goal and will only amend my goal if I read less than a quarter of the book as I feel at that point you have a strong understanding of whether you want to continue the book or not.

So, this year I DNF’d 7 books. Let’s jump right in.

Bullet Train – Kotaro Isaka

Reasons Why I DNF’D: I am going to be completely honest here when I tell you I just did not vibe with this book. There wasn’t any major reason for me not enjoying this novel. I just found it hard to pick up and when I read it I just didn’t enjoy it. I will watch the film when it does come out though!

Beast Made of Night – Tochi Onyebuchi

Reasons Why I DNF’D: So I DNF’d this book about 40% into the story so I got quite far into it before I decided to put it down. Unfortunately with this book it came down to a great premise but an underwhelming execution. I didn’t love or connect with the writing style and I got confused by the plot structure.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns – Julie C. Dao

Reasons Why I DNF’D: So the main issue with this novel was that I couldn’t connect to the main character. I found her to be quite boring. She is meant to turn into this evil villain by the end of the novel (not a spoiler it’s literally marketed as a Evil Queen re-telling) but she had no real personality so I couldn’t form any connection or relationship to her. Because of that I didn’t care much for the plot or her romance plot line.

Guards! Guards! – Terry Pratchett

Reasons Why I DNF’D: If you have been following my blog for some time you will know I had a hit-or-miss experience with this series. I always loved the ideas but either hated the execution or was just underwhelmed by the time I finished the novel. I had been questioning my continuation with this series by the time I picked up this book and sadly this book just solidified for me that this series is just not for me.

The Binding – Bridget Collins

Reasons Why I DNF’D: Another case of amazing idea, not so great execution. I have seen so much hype about this author that I had to check her books out for myself but I just found myself bored as I was reading this. There was only one element of the novel that kept me going page after page and when that element was removed from the book my interest in the book stopped.

The Child Thief – Brom

Reasons Why I DNF’D: I need to stop saying I can handle dark re-tellings because I can’t. I wasn’t a fan of some of the content within the book mainly just some of the over-sexualisation of the female characters within the book. Also I just couldn’t really connect to the story which seems to be a running theme with these DNFs.

Rumaysa – Radiya Hafiza

Reasons Why I DNF’D: I read this with the pure understanding that I am not the target audience for this novel as it is made for a much younger audience. And I do believe that the wiring style was the main factor for me not being as invested in the novel due to it catering towards younger readers. But I personally didn’t want to continue the novel. What I will say is that I did really enjoy Rumaysa as a character. I think she is a great female character for young girls to look up to.