The Worst Sci-fi and Fantasy Books

The Night’s Dawn Trilogy – Peter F. Hamilton

A three-part series about aliens who have created a situation on their ship that allows the dead to possess the souls of living people. Once possessed, they get superpowers to possess more people. This never-ending process has to be stopped, but for some reason the hero only arrives in the middle of the book because he’s busy mingling with the female characters. Finally, he finds the aliens, beats them and shoos them away.

Blood Canticle – Anne Rice

We aren’t fans of vampires or witches, but Anne Rice did write a few good books in The Vampire Chronicles series. However, Blood Canticle, the last part didn’t get the same reception. The ageless vampire Lestat continues his saga that includes tortures, immortality and death, and not to forget his quest to become a saint. Rice’s fan criticised her for making the characters appear completely different from the previous books.

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The Social War – Simon Mohler Landis

One book that breaks all records when it comes to bad writing and clichéd incidents is Landis’ self-published work. Released in 1872, The Social War highlights the war between American society and Naturalists. The latter is a military secret society led by Victor Juno and opposed by three people – Rob Stew, Joe Pier and Nancy Clover. We might even let the plot pass considering it was written eons ago, but it’s the style of the prose that makes it terrible. The book was named the worst science fiction novel of the 19th century by io9.

Legends of Dune – Kevin J Anderson & Brian Herbert

Starting from where Brian Herbet’s father (Frank Herbert) left wasn’t an easy job especially when the old man’s Dune was a smash hit. The trilogy (Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, Dune: The Machine Crusade, Dune: The Battle of Corrin) is set 10,000 years ago before the first novel and narrates the fight against the thinking machines called Butlerian Jihad. Some said it was a poorly written fan fiction, while others said it was a tad disappointing to see that Brian couldn’t match his legendary father’s potential.

Foundation – Isaac Asimov

It was not as captivating as I, Robot and that’s one very good reason why it wasn’t received well. Foundation was the first novel in a trilogy published in 1951 that comprised of five short stories forming one single plot. The book revolved around a group of scientist who were trying to preserve knowledge as the world around them was moving backwards. Honestly, the book appeared to be more of a comic than a sci-fi.

Mission Earth – L Ron Hubbard

The ten-volume sci-fi novel is considered as one of the worst books ever written. Hubbard got so carried away by that he used a different terminology to describe his opus – Dekalogy. Aliens discover Earth and get scared of its growing technology, thinking it can destroy their world. So they start Mission Earth to help them break into Earth and also lead to its downfall. The book landed in controversy and fell in the category of banned books because the old-school sci-fi referenced masochism, kinky sex, child abuse, racism and homosexuality.

Twilight – Stephenie Meyer

Girls were ‘unconditionally and irrevocably in love’ with the blood-sucking vampire – Edward and if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s a wolf (Jacob) who they also liked. The protagonist Bella, an immortal falls in love with Edward and eventually marries him, while Jacob is left heartbroken. The entire series, which could have ended in less than two books, was dragged for four books. Nonetheless, it was received well by women though men detested the Twilight phenomenon. Even Stephen King took a shot at Meyer saying, “Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn.”

The Sword of Shannara Trilogy – Terry Brooks

One BIG reason to hate this one is that it has only one girl in the entire book. Another reason is that the trilogy is a complete rip-off of the LOTR series. Yes, there are trolls, humans, dwarfs and elves that need to fight evil. The Warlock Lord wants to conquer the world by fighting the noble ones. He can only be killed by the Sword of Shannara and by the only heir of Shannara.

Sword of Truth Series – Terry Goodkind

This thirteen-part epic fantasy will test your patience with irritating characters and their conversations. Based on magic, it has three main protagonists – Richard, Kahlan and Zeddicus. They must keep doing magic in order to survive, but for some strange reason, the protagonists are at the mercy of their enemy, helpless and unable to use their power. The first four books are bearable, but the remaining books become impossibly intolerant, forcing the readers to abandon them.

Keeper Martin’s Tale – Robert Stanek

Stanek’s work has been widely criticised. The series revolves around the Elf queen who sends the warrior elf lord, Seth to the place where men reside. According to legends, the place had been divided for over hundred years after a bloody war. Very few survivors remained in each place and the Keeper Martin's Tale makes the readers witness the recounting of the first chapter through the histories of Ruin Mist. The entire book is appallingly terrible and is full of incidents with absolutely no significance.

Eragon – Christopher Paolini

Paolini started penning down the first draft of this book when he was 15. Going by sales, the boy made millions, but he was accused of plagiarism and thrashed for picking up events from here and there. A run-of-the-mill story of a boy named Eragon and a dragon called Saphira set in the village of Carvahall, nasty events with fights and eventually victory over evil form the crux of the book. Eragon was criticised for its B-grade movie language and long lost characters that suddenly re-appeared in the latter pages.

Wraeththu –Storm Constantine

This book makes it to our list because it has too much adult gay content, which honestly is a tad difficult for guys to read. On Earth, a very different kind of human race has evolved. They are smarter, more intelligent and much more beautiful than their peers. They also have psychic and physical powers with which they are going to supplant the earlier human race, but will the latter give up so easily? The storyline is compelling, but the writing is very dry.

From the October 2012 issue of FHM India.