Wrapped up the first book after much struggle. Am I crazy for finding it extremely poorly written? Writing aside, the characters suck, the motivations suck, and the scenario building feels like it was tossed together by a 12 year old. I don't get the hype. Everything is paper thin. The fictional science aspect is the most compelling part but as a cohesive whole it fails to land.

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[–] PlasticExistence@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

I understand this community is about books, but I’m curious if anyone here who read this book also watched the Netflix series?

If so, do you hold a different opinion of the show?

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

The Netflix series felt very different then the book. I found the mystery aspect in the first part of the book the most interesting, but the show completely skipped it. So the show wasn't bad but I was still disappointed.

[–] PlasticExistence@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Yeah I can understand that. I liked Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies a lot, but there were some big differences between them and the books that I wished had been different. Tom Bombadil, for instance.

[–] blx@lemmy.zip 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I read the first book, and like OP found the characters bland and the writing boring. I reckon this is due to the way the original is translated into English. The style may be more appealing to a chinese audience. I guess there are cultural differences that transpire in one's language and prose.

Unlike OP however, I found the story compelling enough to finish the first book. I struggled a lot more with the second one, until my dog did me a favor and decided to shred it to pieces while I was away =D

I did enjoy the Netflix show though, and I'll happily watch season 2.

[–] PlasticExistence@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

Thank you for the response!

I also enjoyed the Netflix series, at least at a conceptual level, and am looking forward to season 2. I don’t think I’ll read the book though.