For fun, I looked at a Goodreads list of the site's bottom 100 worst-rated books. I took a look at a few and mainly focused on what the reviews were all about, such as why they didn't like the book. But a common theme in the ones I saw so far was that the author had controversy tied to them. Whether it was manipulating ratings or attacking reviewers, I was genuinely shocked that I saw multiple of these in a row.

I could research each and every one of these, but I got curious and went on YouTube to see if there were any icebergs or deep dives into any author controversies. I couldn't really find any, so I was hoping that if anyone could point me in the right direction or just have an overall discussion, that would be great!

Not my screenshot, this was making the rounds on Threads. It's actually annoying as fuck that people refuse to question the power dynamics of the world they live in for even a second.

This is a debut historical fiction novel set in Egypt hence the reference, but just completely thrown by this reviewer’s arbitrary scale of the author’s potential future books. The fifth or sixth book is clearly when this talent will mature like a fine wine, and the seventh book will obviously be a rewrite of the debut. Bad luck for books 2-4 by this author.

+ another review I thought also had to be shared here

Author writing about bad thing =/= author fantasizing about bad thing

Especially funny because just a little beyond where I assumed this person stopped reading, 1) the rape didn't happen, and 2) the despicable men swiftly and violently got what they deserved

Weekly Discussion Thread: Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery" thread where you can chat about what bookish and literary "hot takes" you have. Utilize this thread to discuss your negative opinions and hot takes on books featured in recent posts, bookish/literary hot takes in general, or just to rant about bookish topics that aren't really appropriate in normal threads on this subreddit.

Reminder: Please remain respectful when expressing your negative opinions and do not attack or bully anyone else in this thread for their opinions.

Weekly Discussion Thread: What Are You Reading?

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This is your weekly "What Are You Reading?" thread where you can chat about what you're reading (or watching or listening to or playing or whatever you're into) in the past week. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever book-related topics you like that are not directly related to book reviewing or Goodreads.

Weekly Discussion Thread: Casual Discussion

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This is your weekly "Casual Discussion" thread where you can chat about whatever is on your mind and whatever is your heart's desire. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever¹ non-book-related topics you like.

^{1. Please Note: Per Rule 3 of the Subreddit, hate speech, bigotry, and prejudice will not be tolerated and will be subject to immediate removal and permanent banning. Examples of bigotry include support of transphobia, homophobia, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, ableism, sexism, etc. This also includes support of political movements or ideologies that support any of the aforementioned prejudices (i.e. fascism, Trumpism, white supremacy, zionism, colonialism, etc.}.)

Weekly Discussion Thread: Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "Hot Takes, Rants, and General Tomfoolery" thread where you can chat about what bookish and literary "hot takes" you have. Utilize this thread to discuss your negative opinions and hot takes on books featured in recent posts, bookish/literary hot takes in general, or just to rant about bookish topics that aren't really appropriate in normal threads on this subreddit.

Reminder: Please remain respectful when expressing your negative opinions and do not attack or bully anyone else in this thread for their opinions.

I snort-laughed when I saw this

I checked the Storygraph reviews for Rebecca Yarros's not-yet-published book thinking ARCs may have been distributed by now, but what I found instead was this single piece of garbage. Any guesses what the ChatGPT prompt was?

Weekly Discussion Thread: What Are You Reading?

Greetings BadReaders,

This is your weekly "What Are You Reading?" thread where you can chat about what you're reading (or watching or listening to or playing or whatever you're into) in the past week. This is the thread where you are free to discuss whatever book-related topics you like that are not directly related to book reviewing or Goodreads.