So, 2023 has come to an end. I read many books in 2023. Many of the books were great, while some were not great. I also had some disappointments. So without further ado, here is a post discussing some of my favorite reads during 2023 and the ones that disappointed me. Thankfully, I didn't encounter many awful books in 2023. I did encounter some disappointments, though.
For part one, I am going to focus on the worst books I have read in 2023. An important thing to say is if you enjoy some books appearing on this list, that's cool. Remember, this list is subjective.
Here are the worst books of 2023 (for me)
1. Zombie Makeout Club Vol 1: DeathWish by Peter Richardson
First up is Zombie Makeout Club Vol. 1: DeathWish by Peter Richardson. Zombie Makeout Club is a clothing brand focusing on shirts with vivid imagery inspired by anime and horror movies. I enjoy the art on the shirts. I have some Zombie Makeout Club shirts in my closet. So, when I heard that there was going to be a graphic novel inspired by the designs on the shirt, I became interested in checking it out. Since the comic started out as a webtoon published online, it was easily available. I read the comic on Azuki, a manga subscription service. I read the chapters and the first thought that popped in my head was, “This story is a mess.” And in a bad way.
The premise of Zombie Makeout Club is that a teenager commits suicide and is brought back to life. She tries to figure out why she was brought back to life. The story sounds straightforward, but the execution of the story is awful. The pacing is fast that it does not give the reader any time to stop and digest the story and characters. The story is confusing and difficult to follow because the transitions between the past and present are awful. The scene just jumps into another scene, lacking some buildup or continuity. So, I had a hard time keeping track of the story’s timeline. It does not help that the characters have nonexistent personalities that I didn’t care what happens to them, or invest in their story. The “story” focused more being violent and gory just because. I have no issues with clichéd characters and style over substance stories, but this comic does not do that formula right. It just felt pointless. Some people might find the dialogue in the story cringy due to the many characters saying “f**k” and other swears constantly. I don’t mind it, but I eventually got tired of reading it because it felt childish. It felt like it was written by a 12-year-old who spent too much time online and thinks saying “f**k” over and over again makes them look mature.
But the artwork in the book is still spectacular, as the designs on the shirts. The last story, Summer Death, is a decent story and is the only story in the book where I can understand what is going on in the pages. Summer Death is a bittersweet story about death and left an impression on me after I finished the book. The only flaw of Summer Death is that the ending is abrupt. Sadly, these positive qualities of Zombie Makeout Club Vol. 1 are not enough to save the messiness of the story.
2. Versailles of the Dead series by Kumiko Suekane
Spoilers ahead
Another work that is on my worst reads of 2023 is a series rather than a single book. This series is Versailles of the Dead by Kumiko Suekane. Versailles of the Dead is a historical dark fantasy story set in a universe that has 18th century France having a zombie invasion and Marie Antoinette has a twin brother, named Albert. During the trip to France for Antoinette’s wedding, the carriage gets attacked by zombies and leaves Albert as the sole survivor. Then, Albert decides to take his sister’s place to keep the alliance between Austria and France in place. Not only does Albert have to deal with court politics, but also deal with zombies. Now you wonder why this series is on my worst list. From the summary, I just gave out, it sounds wonderful. I mean, the summary sounds like Rose of Versailles meets zombies. There is potential for a premise like that. Well, like the last book I discussed, the execution for this one is also not great.
The first volume, while flawed, does an excellent job of setting up the premise and showing the world. Some cracks were showing in the first volume, with showing Louis XVI keeping a body of Joan of Arc in a secret basement, setting up for the confusing mess in the future volumes. I still gave the series a chance in the second and third volumes. It got worse in the next volumes. In the second volume, the story went down the drain and forgot about stuff introduced in the first volume. The intrigue and zombies are pushed aside in favor of a silly plot involving collecting super-powered jewels (which is a reference to the Diamond Necklace Affair) and Louis XVI’s obsession with Joan of Arc. The story flow became a mess and random characters are just popping in, barely getting to know them and their personalities and goals. The plot becomes convoluted, with the second volume introducing angels. Here’s an example of how messy the pacing and paneling for this series is: an angel shows up after some jewels of a necklace just burst into a random light. When I first saw this panel, I thought it was an explosion. That, for some reason, there was a bomb in the jewels. And it is revealed that Louis XVI wants to bring Joan of Arc back to life because he believes she can save France. He needs the jewels to do that. The story doesn’t explain that well. It just happens for some reason. Then, this one character, Bastien, gets killed by Albert and is brought to back to life by doing something. There is a group that is responsible for the zombies, but there is not a lot of focus on them. Three volumes in, and there are hardly any details about this group (and their end goals) despite, the first volume setting them up as antagonists. All I can remember about this group is that one of the members is a young Napeloen.
This series has 5 volumes. But I’m hesitant to continue with this series as the plot quality is declining as the story has no idea where it is going. It seems like the story was rushed, judging by the fact it is 5 volumes and volumes 2 and 3 introduced stuff non-stop. The artwork is fine, with the outfits looking pretty. But that is not enough for me to continue, so I’m dropping this series (stopped at volume 3).
Spoilers end
3. The History of Hentai Manga by Kimi Rito
Sigh. I had some high expectations for this book because there is a lack of academic works on anime and manga with publishing dates within the last ten years (it is slowly getting better). Especially academic books and journals originally written in a non-English language. This book doesn't get a ding for its topic matter. Writing an academic book focusing on trends and other aesthetics and the evolution of them found in hentai has plenty of potential. Discussions on hentai can help people understand censorship issues in Japan and why hentai is prone to using certain tropes.
But reading this book was a total slog. I was expecting the book to be more reading intensive than the usual books I read in my leisure time. I was prepared for that. As a graduate student, I have been reading many research papers that require my full attention and use of jargon rarely used in everyday life. I wasn't expecting this book to be boring. I know academic books are not the most exciting stuff to read. However, the History of Hentai Manga manages to be even more boring and laborious to read than my very thick LIS textbook.
I don't know whether it is the writing itself or the translation, but the writing was so, so dull and wordy. Even by research paper and graduate student level course work reading standards, this book was so boring. Most of the sentences and words used in this book were awkward or unnatural sounding. One example is this sentence:
"Breasts ... are mounds of attraction that nearly become swollen with hidden meaning, and thus, are parables unto themselves."
Kimi Rito, History of Hentai Manga
It sounds more like the “she breasted” meme rather than a sentence written in an academic work. Except that the meme is played completely straight (it's difficult to tell whether it was meant to be a joke or not). And there were a lot of these sentences in this book, that listing them all will take all day. The unnatural, wordiness of the sentences made reading this book a chore. After a few attempts, I put this book in the DNF pile.
4. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Out of the books in this list, this one is the most surprising, as this book has received a lot of critical and fan acclaim. This is How You Lose the Time War was not on my radar until it went popular on X (Twitter) earlier in 2023 thanks to a user with a creative username recommending people to read this book. Out of curiosity due to the post and the fact that it received many positive reviews, I went to check out the book itself and expecting some amazingness.
I hate to say this, but this book didn't live up to my expectations and the hype. Telling the story through a letter exchange by the two characters, Red and Blue, while it sounded like a great idea, was executed horribly in this book. This book starts immediately in the action in an attempt to get readers interested. But for me, I found it confusing as it felt like someone ripped the starting part of the book that sets up the first scene, causing the first chapter to feel like it's happening in the middle of the story. I continued on, hoping for future chapters to clear some things up and provide context to what is happening in the story. The story does finally provide some information about what is happening and who is who. But my joy for this book was short-lived due to the two main characters.
The two characters, Red and Blue, were one of the blandest characters I read in my history of reading. Both characters don't have any personality or distinct voices. Red and Blue felt like they were the same character due to both of them having the same voice and sharing a lack of defining characteristics that contrast both characters. The only thing different about them, besides their names, is that they're on opposing sides of the war. The characters' uninteresting personalities made reading their story to be a chore. It also made the romance between Red and Blue be uninteresting because of the lack of emotions in the characters. The writing style was also not helping.
The writing style in This is How You Lose the Time War leans very heavy in the purple prose territory. I don't usually mind purple prose, but here in this book was unbearable because it felt like it was overcompensating for the characters' lack of personalities and emotional connection. The language was over the top that it resembled the so bad its good anime dubs from the nineties and early 2000s, but lacking the charm. It didn't help that this flowery and overdramatic prose was used in every chapter, that it became repetitive and eventually monotonous. Reading This is How You Lose the Time became unbearable for me that I moved this book to the DNF pile.
With that, concludes my post for my worst reads of 2023. I'm lucky that I didn't encounter many stinkers and disappointments.
Later on in this month, I'm going to post some of the books I enjoyed reading in 2023. Stayed tune.
You are welcome to comment about books that you felt didn't live up to the hype or just weren't your cup of tea. But remember to be civil and be respectful.
See you next time!
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