Worst 5 Books I Read In 2021

Welcome to another book-related blog post! Today I’ll be discussing the Worst Five Books I Read In 2021! 

Like last year’s Worst 5 Books list, I will be listing the worst five books that I read during this year, 2021. This was harder for me to rank this year because I read many more books that I rated as 1-2 out of 5 stars, from badly-written romances and too many unnecessary sex scenes to strange conclusions to various book series. In the end, figuring out which books I read were the worst five books came down to identifying the reasons I rated them so low, to begin with.

In addition to hyperlinking my full reviews in the titles listed, I will also list any content warnings as needed.

The Worst 5 Books I Read In 2021 are the following:

5. “Wings Of Fire: Darkness Of Dragons” by Tui T. Sutherland (1.5 out of 5 stars)

This book was an absolute letdown for me. I’m shocked that I’m placing this book or any of the books by Sutherland in my worst five books at all, considering that I loved the initial books in Sutherland’s “Wings Of Fire” series. However, the quality of the writing steadily decreased throughout the second main story arc (encompassing books 6 to 10) up until “Darkness Of Dragons,” where various characters acted in contradiction to what they discussed in previous books.

4. “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” by Holly Jackson (1.5 out of 5 stars)

A major reason I disliked this book was that I did not like the protagonist, mainly because she broke every single ethical guideline she was supposed to follow for her capstone project (as the mystery she was investigating was the capstone project itself). She was also incredibly insensitive to others’ personal lives being impacted by the mystery she investigated, and unnecessarily angered many people. Additionally, the story itself was underwhelming with its overall development.

Content Warnings include mentions of murder (of both people and animals), cyberbullying, kidnapping, a scene with attempted sexual assault, discussions of actual sexual assault and drug use, and sexual relationships between adults and underage individuals

3. “Home Body” by Rupi Kaur (1 out of 5 stars)

Is it a poetry collection? Yes.

Is it still one of the worst books I read this year? Yes.

The best way I can describe “Home Body” it’s mainly a rehash of themes Kaur used in her past collections about sexuality, abuse, romance, and loss. Those that did not enjoy reading her past collections likely will not enjoy reading this collection either. I felt that Kaur at least tried to give some of the poems some titles, and also tried to write a few of these poems in a different form than she usually does. However, I do think many of the poems could have used some more…development and editing, for lack of better words.

Content Warnings for this collection include discussed topics of sexual assault and harassment, abuse, and other sexual content.

2. “Truly, Devious” by Maureen Johnson (1 out of 5 stars)

I heard a lot of good things about “Truly, Devious” before reading the book, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, the side romance in this book was badly executed, the protagonist barely had any development and lacked opportunities to assert her own autonomy, and the cliffhanger ending felt like it came out of nowhere.

Content Warnings for this book include murder, violence, kidnapping, panic attacks, and discussions of anxiety.

1. “The Witch King” by H.E. Edgmon (1 out of 5 stars)

I went into this book really wanting to enjoy reading it. I even mentioned that it was one of the books I wanted to read the most by the end of this year! However, the romance was a trainwreck from the beginning to the end. I found it difficult to connect to the protagonist and his actions throughout the story, and a lot of the worldbuilding was poorly executed.

Content Warnings for this book include discussions of sexual assault, kidnapping, actual murder and attempted murder, some instances of transphobia, and unhealthy romance between both partners.

Those are all of the Worst 5 Books I Read In 2021! I hope that all of you reading enjoyed checking out this post.

Do you agree with this list? Which books would you put in your worst five books that you read this year? Let me know in the comments below!

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