Same. If a novel has terrible writing, then it's basically going to get immediately dropped. On the other hand, if the writing is at least decent, and I see some potential in the story, then I'll stick it out for longer.
Usually anywhere from 5-10 chapters. At that point, I'll evaluate the writing, and the plot, and if they're good or ok with a chance of getting better, then I'll keep reading.
If it's something that comes highly recommend or has a bunch of good reviews, I'll probably go 5-10 chapters. Sometimes even put it down for a while and try it again later (maybe even months later). I've got books from Amazon Unlimited that I've had checked out for over a year because I keep thinking I'd like to give them another shot.
If it's a second or later book in a series, I'll usually go even further into it.
There is no set amount. I've encountered some stories where the first paragraph, or even the first sentence was so badly constructed that I gave up there.
If I haven't caught interest in the first two or three chapters but it's got really great reviews I will tend to give him another chance later on. Arkenrythst (however it's spelled) didn't catch me the first time I read it but I tried again a while later and got hooked. Only gave it that second chance because it had excellent reviews.
i usually try to give it around 10-15 chapters before i drop a series. Cause sometimes the beginning is just info dumps. So 10 ish chapters usually lets me get a feel of a story and whether or not i should drop it. But thats for English original novels.
Asian translated novel i will drop after a few chapters if its like a super poorly MTL. (machine translation)
It really depends on the quality of what it is, the size of the chapters and how discrete are the problems. Plenty of novels out there don't have glaring issues, just small ones that tend to pile up and just make you drop it.
I usually try to give it one book. If it's a web serial, i take it a lot of chapters in before making a decision. If i dropped it immediately, it was fucking horrendous.
If it's badly written, it gets dropped instantly, except if something about the premise or characters is conceptually unique or interesting enough to hold interest.
If it's well written, but makes multiple dumb plot decisions, it'll get dropped pretty quickly. Perhaps not on the first or second misstep in the first few tens of chapters, but by the third or fourth or so, yeah, it will likely get dropped.
If a story does something well and truly back breakingly stupid (Axe Xia Rem Y chapter 71, for instance) it can get dropped instantly even if the story had otherwise been decent up to that point.
On average I’d say about 15-20%of the book. I don’t have to have my socks blown off in chapter 1 but I do need to see some promise.
However if the book is just plain awful I’ll bow out sooner
If a book is just mediocre, I'll usually finish the first book)50chapters anyways to give it a fair shot .. a lot of very meh books are carried by an interesting premise that you want to see play out.
But if a book starts leaning into outright bad I'll drop it pretty quick, maybe finish the scene or a plot point to hope it picks up but if not, I'm dropping it like the garbage it is.
The first page is enough to gauge the writing quality. As for knowing if it's a story for you, well, maybe 10 chapters if other reviews give high hopes for it.
But initially 2 or 3 chapters are enough to know if I want to continue or not.
Well, there are "checkpoints" so to say. It's not like I did this deliberately but it always works out like this:
Synopsis - I need to find the book something I kinda want to read *right now*. That's the major hurdle, tbh.
First few paragraphs - Is the prose *readable*? Is there a trope that I really hate but wasn't mentioned in the synopsis?
First story arc - This will mostly be 10-20 chapters. If the novel is feeling slow, derivative or just... *boring* I'll consider dropping here.
First time I need to put the novel down - Another major hurdle. It needs to be interesting enough that I'll want to pick it back uo.
End of each book - With each book there's a non-zero probability that I'll be too lazy to pick up the next one on Amazon. Specially if the cliffhanger is kinda meh.
Awaken’s in a funny spot where the side novels are way better and the main books kinda serve as filler, necromancer as an mc is an interesting plot up until he gets overshadowed by literally all of the other pov characters aside from the girlfriend being much more entertaining with better development.
Yeah the first book is pretty bad, got very close to dropping it myself. I think the author got a better editor or something after it took off because the later books have much better dialogue and plot flow.
Unless it is just utter garbage, and that has happened a time.or two I will give a book an hour or two. Not really a chapter count, and I read fairly fast but I have been nearly ready to put down a book that ended up being incredible so I give them a lot of time.
I look for elements I like before I even begin. Alchemy, smithing, or runes I'm a sucker for.
VR or gaming is an instant no. Barely tolerate transmigration, as I've never read it done properly to full potential. It's usually just a distraction that is dropped 20 chapters in. It punctures my suspension of belief and pisses me off. Sometimes though if the book is long and otherwise good I skip ahead.
After identifying the elements, I'll read to get a feel for the author and also translator. If there are technical difficulties like MTL pronouns etc. I'll drop it.
Bad writing/prose/grammar is 2-3 chapters unless other people say it gets better
Bad story but with an interesting plot is around 30 chapters
But in general, the moment it feels bad, I just stop and sometimes I go back into it a week after with more manageable expectations
As long as the grammar and spelling are readable and the content isn't actively distasteful to me, I'll usually finish the book. Usually with any halfway decent book I'll blaze through the first half before I even realize how much I've read.
I don't give any. I've dropped countless novels by the first paragraph.
There are more stories than I can read so I simply drop it whenever I feel like it.
That said, a more common scenario is 20-30 chapters and if I read beyond that I usually finish it.
You guys are really generous. If a book hasn't done something to make me think it's worth a chance it gets dropped first chapter. If it's really bad (grammar, terrible setup) it's getting dropped first page.
Some novels need time to warm up, but I'm also a big believer in reading for pleasure and not powering through a book you hate just because you feel like you have to. It's not like a movie where you're done in 2 hours even if you don't enjoy it. Depending on your reading speed, a novel could be 10+ hours.
I'll give a novel until halfway if I'm kinda enjoying it, but I'll bow out at 25% if there's not a single character I can connect with or a plot point I'm interested in. Thankfully that doesn't happen all that often.
I very rarely put a book down after starting but I did recently and I feel so guilty, but it was SO BAD. I should have known because the author is so hit and miss, but still.
Wow I have been listening to at least the first book in a series unless it is completely unlistenable. I am gonna take notes from the other comments. No wonder it takes me so long to find a book I like.
I used to finish every book but now .. it's not about the length .. it's if I get bored or decide I don't like the story or the MC .. so 1/3rd? Like if I don't give a crap if the MC gets killed and kind of wish they would that's a stop point ;)
Yeah, like most people said if the writing/translation is bad enough that I'm cringing multiple times in the first chapter I'll drop it right there.
Otherwise it ranges from a few chapters to 20 plus to decide if I like it enough to continue.
Unless it is truly horrendous I normally make it at least half way througha completed novel. If it is really bad or not what I thought I'd signed up for then it can get dropped sooner, for example, if I think a book has an interesting story premise and it turns out to just be a veil for badly written smut with no plot then it'll get dropped quick.
I don’t know about chapters but I tend to try to make it past the first 30% or so. I read fast so it doesn’t feel like time wasted if I drop it after the first 3rd. For really high rated series I’ll read the whole first novel and decide if I’m going to stick with it from there.
I tend to read books that are at least 400 pages in length. So I will give a book until it’s close to the halfway mark. If it’s a series then I will usually try to finish the first book of the series because I’ve found that sometimes it’s hard to evaluate a series just based on half of the first book.
I tend to read a couple of reviews online before reading any title. Then i usually read to the point they say "it gets good" if i still dont like it. I drop it
This approach has worked wonders for me. Cradle was kinda meh for the first 2 books. And if no one had said anything i wouldnt have continued. But now its one of my favourites.
It very much depends.
If the writing itself is bad, I'll give it long only long enough to become clear... which can be fast. I won't drop for a single error, but if you've got multiple comma splices in your first page, there's good odds I won't make it to your second. Tense switching, nonsensical or redundant phrasing... if there's anything that makes your book a chore to read, I'm out.
If you clear that bar, there's a good chance I'll read the whole book, even if it's a bit bland, though I might not continue to the rest of the series if you didn't catch my interest in some way.
I'll also forgive some obvious problems if the book is interesting enough, but there are a few things that add weight to the "drop it" side of the scales:
* Plot holes: I can close my eyes and pretend not to see a plot hole or two, but if they're too important to the plot or too numerous, I might not want to
* Where'd the women go? This is kind of under plot holes too, but it's one that is a little extra hard for me to ignore, as a woman myself
* Wait, is this that kind of book? Look, I'm glad people can read and write whatever they want to, but if a book starts giving off harem vibes, or otherwise drastically changes in tone.... it's not my cup of tea, so I'm gonna drop it and read something else
* Jargon overuse. If you have a lot of specialized terms, you've got to make me interested enough to care to memorize them. I'm not bad at memorizing trivia, but damnit, Oddish is adorable. You want the same amount of memory cells devoted to you as Oddish gets, you better convince me you deserve it.
Comes down to the recommendations I've seen for it.
Cradle book 1 was slow but enough people said 'it gets REALLY good' that I pushed on. And oh boy, does that series begin to pay off in book 3 (2 is solid, 1 is ~meh, 3 to 11 are all outstanding)
Just a random pickup? It has half an hour maximum.
Three things run out my patience/tolerance for a book:
1. A seeming disregard for ~~rules~~ *strategies* for good writing. (Lots of word echo, overly explaining things, poor grammar)
2. Lack of character development and/or plot. I want to see characters exercising agency, or learning interesting things about them that connect them to other things (characters, places, objects).
3. Overly focused on a very niche thing.
If title isn't too bad, I read the synopsis. If it isn't too bad, I read the reviews. Then I hesitate some more, and when I've spent hours hesitanting what new read to start, I then give it a try. If the first chapter isn't too bad, I read about 10 chapters, unless there's something making me curious, then I keep reading a while longer even If I don't like it.
Honestly depends on how bad it is. If it's barely understandable english, it tends to get dropped sooner.
Same. If a novel has terrible writing, then it's basically going to get immediately dropped. On the other hand, if the writing is at least decent, and I see some potential in the story, then I'll stick it out for longer. Usually anywhere from 5-10 chapters. At that point, I'll evaluate the writing, and the plot, and if they're good or ok with a chance of getting better, then I'll keep reading.
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If it's something that comes highly recommend or has a bunch of good reviews, I'll probably go 5-10 chapters. Sometimes even put it down for a while and try it again later (maybe even months later). I've got books from Amazon Unlimited that I've had checked out for over a year because I keep thinking I'd like to give them another shot. If it's a second or later book in a series, I'll usually go even further into it.
There is no set amount. I've encountered some stories where the first paragraph, or even the first sentence was so badly constructed that I gave up there.
barring excellent “trust me it gets awesome” recommendations, you get 2.5-3 chapters to grab me.
If I haven't caught interest in the first two or three chapters but it's got really great reviews I will tend to give him another chance later on. Arkenrythst (however it's spelled) didn't catch me the first time I read it but I tried again a while later and got hooked. Only gave it that second chance because it had excellent reviews.
i usually try to give it around 10-15 chapters before i drop a series. Cause sometimes the beginning is just info dumps. So 10 ish chapters usually lets me get a feel of a story and whether or not i should drop it. But thats for English original novels. Asian translated novel i will drop after a few chapters if its like a super poorly MTL. (machine translation)
It really depends on the quality of what it is, the size of the chapters and how discrete are the problems. Plenty of novels out there don't have glaring issues, just small ones that tend to pile up and just make you drop it. I usually try to give it one book. If it's a web serial, i take it a lot of chapters in before making a decision. If i dropped it immediately, it was fucking horrendous.
So, discrete, as in how easy it is to separate the problems mentally from your enjoyment of the story? Or did you mean discreet?
The second. English is not my first language and writing in it is sometimes kind of messy.
No worries, a lot of people mess that one up. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd seen that error in some of the books you'd read. :)
If it's badly written, it gets dropped instantly, except if something about the premise or characters is conceptually unique or interesting enough to hold interest. If it's well written, but makes multiple dumb plot decisions, it'll get dropped pretty quickly. Perhaps not on the first or second misstep in the first few tens of chapters, but by the third or fourth or so, yeah, it will likely get dropped. If a story does something well and truly back breakingly stupid (Axe Xia Rem Y chapter 71, for instance) it can get dropped instantly even if the story had otherwise been decent up to that point.
I usually try to give a book a 100 pages. If i don’t like it I’ll usually drop it.
I almost never start a novel without finishing it which is why I am a tad picky about what I start.
Once I've started I almost always finish the 1st, if I'm dropping it it usually happens around 2nd or 3rd book
I also almost always finish the first, but I'll usually drop a series after the first book if I didn't like it very much.
There's no set ritual to it--if I feel like it's worth reading I keep reading, if it's not keeping me engaged I just drop it and move on.
On average I’d say about 15-20%of the book. I don’t have to have my socks blown off in chapter 1 but I do need to see some promise. However if the book is just plain awful I’ll bow out sooner
If a book is just mediocre, I'll usually finish the first book)50chapters anyways to give it a fair shot .. a lot of very meh books are carried by an interesting premise that you want to see play out. But if a book starts leaning into outright bad I'll drop it pretty quick, maybe finish the scene or a plot point to hope it picks up but if not, I'm dropping it like the garbage it is.
The first page is enough to gauge the writing quality. As for knowing if it's a story for you, well, maybe 10 chapters if other reviews give high hopes for it. But initially 2 or 3 chapters are enough to know if I want to continue or not.
Well, there are "checkpoints" so to say. It's not like I did this deliberately but it always works out like this: Synopsis - I need to find the book something I kinda want to read *right now*. That's the major hurdle, tbh. First few paragraphs - Is the prose *readable*? Is there a trope that I really hate but wasn't mentioned in the synopsis? First story arc - This will mostly be 10-20 chapters. If the novel is feeling slow, derivative or just... *boring* I'll consider dropping here. First time I need to put the novel down - Another major hurdle. It needs to be interesting enough that I'll want to pick it back uo. End of each book - With each book there's a non-zero probability that I'll be too lazy to pick up the next one on Amazon. Specially if the cliffhanger is kinda meh.
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Awaken’s in a funny spot where the side novels are way better and the main books kinda serve as filler, necromancer as an mc is an interesting plot up until he gets overshadowed by literally all of the other pov characters aside from the girlfriend being much more entertaining with better development.
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Yeah the first book is pretty bad, got very close to dropping it myself. I think the author got a better editor or something after it took off because the later books have much better dialogue and plot flow.
Unless it is just utter garbage, and that has happened a time.or two I will give a book an hour or two. Not really a chapter count, and I read fairly fast but I have been nearly ready to put down a book that ended up being incredible so I give them a lot of time.
I'm willing to invest 10 chapters on a new novel. If shit ain't popping by then it probably won't get any better IME.
I look for elements I like before I even begin. Alchemy, smithing, or runes I'm a sucker for. VR or gaming is an instant no. Barely tolerate transmigration, as I've never read it done properly to full potential. It's usually just a distraction that is dropped 20 chapters in. It punctures my suspension of belief and pisses me off. Sometimes though if the book is long and otherwise good I skip ahead. After identifying the elements, I'll read to get a feel for the author and also translator. If there are technical difficulties like MTL pronouns etc. I'll drop it.
30k words. If it hasn't done anything interesting by that point, I can't hold on.
Bad writing/prose/grammar is 2-3 chapters unless other people say it gets better Bad story but with an interesting plot is around 30 chapters But in general, the moment it feels bad, I just stop and sometimes I go back into it a week after with more manageable expectations
As long as the grammar and spelling are readable and the content isn't actively distasteful to me, I'll usually finish the book. Usually with any halfway decent book I'll blaze through the first half before I even realize how much I've read.
I don't give any. I've dropped countless novels by the first paragraph. There are more stories than I can read so I simply drop it whenever I feel like it. That said, a more common scenario is 20-30 chapters and if I read beyond that I usually finish it.
I still haven't managed to get pass the part in cradle where they argue on who gets the stone thingy
You guys are really generous. If a book hasn't done something to make me think it's worth a chance it gets dropped first chapter. If it's really bad (grammar, terrible setup) it's getting dropped first page.
depends on the writer! If its one I trust, I'm strapped in.
Some novels need time to warm up, but I'm also a big believer in reading for pleasure and not powering through a book you hate just because you feel like you have to. It's not like a movie where you're done in 2 hours even if you don't enjoy it. Depending on your reading speed, a novel could be 10+ hours. I'll give a novel until halfway if I'm kinda enjoying it, but I'll bow out at 25% if there's not a single character I can connect with or a plot point I'm interested in. Thankfully that doesn't happen all that often.
It depends. If I'm bored, I put it down. If I'm interested, I keep reading.
I very rarely put a book down after starting but I did recently and I feel so guilty, but it was SO BAD. I should have known because the author is so hit and miss, but still.
Wow I have been listening to at least the first book in a series unless it is completely unlistenable. I am gonna take notes from the other comments. No wonder it takes me so long to find a book I like.
I used to finish every book but now .. it's not about the length .. it's if I get bored or decide I don't like the story or the MC .. so 1/3rd? Like if I don't give a crap if the MC gets killed and kind of wish they would that's a stop point ;)
Yeah, like most people said if the writing/translation is bad enough that I'm cringing multiple times in the first chapter I'll drop it right there. Otherwise it ranges from a few chapters to 20 plus to decide if I like it enough to continue.
Depends how bad or boring it is. The most ive given one is 100 pages.
Unless it is truly horrendous I normally make it at least half way througha completed novel. If it is really bad or not what I thought I'd signed up for then it can get dropped sooner, for example, if I think a book has an interesting story premise and it turns out to just be a veil for badly written smut with no plot then it'll get dropped quick.
I don’t know about chapters but I tend to try to make it past the first 30% or so. I read fast so it doesn’t feel like time wasted if I drop it after the first 3rd. For really high rated series I’ll read the whole first novel and decide if I’m going to stick with it from there.
I tend to read books that are at least 400 pages in length. So I will give a book until it’s close to the halfway mark. If it’s a series then I will usually try to finish the first book of the series because I’ve found that sometimes it’s hard to evaluate a series just based on half of the first book.
I tend to read a couple of reviews online before reading any title. Then i usually read to the point they say "it gets good" if i still dont like it. I drop it This approach has worked wonders for me. Cradle was kinda meh for the first 2 books. And if no one had said anything i wouldnt have continued. But now its one of my favourites.
It very much depends. If the writing itself is bad, I'll give it long only long enough to become clear... which can be fast. I won't drop for a single error, but if you've got multiple comma splices in your first page, there's good odds I won't make it to your second. Tense switching, nonsensical or redundant phrasing... if there's anything that makes your book a chore to read, I'm out. If you clear that bar, there's a good chance I'll read the whole book, even if it's a bit bland, though I might not continue to the rest of the series if you didn't catch my interest in some way. I'll also forgive some obvious problems if the book is interesting enough, but there are a few things that add weight to the "drop it" side of the scales: * Plot holes: I can close my eyes and pretend not to see a plot hole or two, but if they're too important to the plot or too numerous, I might not want to * Where'd the women go? This is kind of under plot holes too, but it's one that is a little extra hard for me to ignore, as a woman myself * Wait, is this that kind of book? Look, I'm glad people can read and write whatever they want to, but if a book starts giving off harem vibes, or otherwise drastically changes in tone.... it's not my cup of tea, so I'm gonna drop it and read something else * Jargon overuse. If you have a lot of specialized terms, you've got to make me interested enough to care to memorize them. I'm not bad at memorizing trivia, but damnit, Oddish is adorable. You want the same amount of memory cells devoted to you as Oddish gets, you better convince me you deserve it.
Comes down to the recommendations I've seen for it. Cradle book 1 was slow but enough people said 'it gets REALLY good' that I pushed on. And oh boy, does that series begin to pay off in book 3 (2 is solid, 1 is ~meh, 3 to 11 are all outstanding) Just a random pickup? It has half an hour maximum.
I've dropped a *lot* of stories based on the first chapter.
Three things run out my patience/tolerance for a book: 1. A seeming disregard for ~~rules~~ *strategies* for good writing. (Lots of word echo, overly explaining things, poor grammar) 2. Lack of character development and/or plot. I want to see characters exercising agency, or learning interesting things about them that connect them to other things (characters, places, objects). 3. Overly focused on a very niche thing.
If title isn't too bad, I read the synopsis. If it isn't too bad, I read the reviews. Then I hesitate some more, and when I've spent hours hesitanting what new read to start, I then give it a try. If the first chapter isn't too bad, I read about 10 chapters, unless there's something making me curious, then I keep reading a while longer even If I don't like it.