Antigua: The Land of Fairies Wizards and Heroes Part One: Worst book ever written?

[An Enemy Spy]

https://www.amazon.com/ANTIGUA-Land-Fairies-Wizards-Heroes/dp/1425997821

Has anyone out there ever read this thing? Are there books out there that are even worse?

[Ravens_cry]

https://www.amazon.com/ANTIGUA-Land-Fairies-Wizards-Heroes/dp/1425997821

Has anyone out there ever read this thing? Are there books out there that are even worse?
Well, it's published by a 'self publishing' company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AuthorHouse), so it's not like it went through the process a normal published book would go through.

[Fiery Diamond]

There was another self-published book that was the first in a series. The first is available for free on amazon, presumably to get readers hooked so they'll buy the rest. The description seemed interesting, so I gave it a shot. I couldn't get past the first two pages, it was so bad. Trying to remember what it was called...

Anyway, this seems to be on a similar level, right down to the fake self-created five star reviews. Actually, the one I looked at might be even worse than this one, because in the "excerpt" I don't see any actual incorrect grammar and using words that don't mean what the writer used them to mean. The other one did have such things.

[Anonymouswizard]

Well, it's published by a 'self publishing' company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AuthorHouse), so it's not like it went through the process a normal published book would go through.

Self publishing is interesting, in that it does produce a small number of real gems like Wearing the Cape (I'm in a Facebook writer's group where one member has at least one decent book on there, possible a whole trilogy), but I've found it's generally not worth wandering through all the crud.

Of course in theory it's the same as webcomics without the handy ability to read them online first. At the very least it's less problematic than Vanity Publishing is, there's no ripping people off just a lack of quality control.

If this first book is free on Kindle I might give it a go from morbid curiosity. It's not like it'll cost me anything, and I'll be able to actually join the discussion.

[An Enemy Spy]

I own a book that was self-published by somebody my mom knows. It is... really really bad. I couldn't get past page two because it was so horribly written. It's a book about a kid who is very obviously a thinly veiled expy of the author's son who gets sucked into a Call of Duty like video game based on the Vietnam War. It's bad. I didn't want to tell my mom what I thought of it because I didn't want to sound mean to someone she knew.

I'm writing my own fantasy novel, and I would really like to have it published by a real publishing company if at all possible. I don't want to push out an unedited, unpolished piece of garbage.

[Corvus]

Something being published by a real publishing company is no guarantee of decency. They have produced their own fair share of stinkers as well.

But yeah, that one looks really bad. Amusingly they are obviously making money from it as people have to have been buying it to give it all those 1-star reviews. Its like all those shockingly bad movies that people watch just to see how bad it truly is.

The indie self-publishing business is huge and while it does have books as bad as that one, it does throw up some really good books. The Martian was actually initially self-published. (Bet some publishing houses are kicking themselves they didn't pick it up now...)

Most trad published authors do not make a living from it and quite a few have moved over to the self-pubbed side because they figure that not only do they make a lot more per book that way than though trad publishing, but given they are having to do their own marketing anyway, why pay a business for not a lot? (Trad published do not market most books they publish - they simply throw it out in a the huge pile of new releases and see if it sinks or swims. Marketing is reserved for known names and the occasional one they think might do well.)

[Wardog]

Some children's / young adult fantast novel I found once, can't remember the name.

I skimmed through the the first couple of chapters. The protagonist was some sort of wizard, and the first-person narative described how he was fighting these demons, throwing spells at them, etc, in a style that seemed more like a description of a WoW session than anything else.

(To the extent that I assumed at first that it must be an acount of the protagonist playing a game, and it would switch to ''real'' events by the end of the chapter - but it just continued with him blasting away at monster after monster).

I gave up at that point, so I don't know if it got any better or changed in tone.


Edited to add:

I scrolled down to the bottomof the Antigua: The Land of Fairies Wizards and Heroes, and saw this in the ''Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed'' list:
Horny Ghost Of Osama Bin Laden: Rise Of The Ghost (https://www.amazon.com/Horny-Ghost-Osama-Bin-Laden/dp/1490372091/ref=pd_sbs_14_5/156-2461393-2447962?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=G42AYCHH8XS093HF0MBR)

[Eldan]

Eh, from the reviews, it seems to be going for juvenile sex comedy with some shock value and for that, isn't even all that bad. IT seems to be very tongue in cheek about its own badness.

[Gastronomie]

Available Winter 2007 The Adventures of the Teen Archeologists (Book 1) in: The Land of the Moepek In the Adventures of the Teen Archeologists (Book 1) The Land of the Moepek- Six teenagers embark on an adventure through the jungles of Africa in search of an ancient underground city that no archeologists or scientists could find! The teens are able to find the ancient city because they have something that archeologists don't have! They have the actual map leading right to the city! They have to go through a pyramid full of booby-traps to get to the lost city! The Land of the Moepek is in itself an underground city full of riches and hidden dangers! There are gigantic flying dinosaurs, and a giant gorilla that has threatened and terriorized the hidden civilization for years!This one looks just as promising, if you want to read more of Denise Brown Ellis.

[An Enemy Spy]

Geez, every sentence with an exclamation point? Who taught this person how to write? And you can buy it for the low, low price of $2,495.55!

[Anonymouswizard]

Eh, from the reviews, it seems to be going for juvenile sex comedy with some shock value and for that, isn't even all that bad. IT seems to be very tongue in cheek about its own badness.

I agree. I've got it mentally filed under 'worst idea for a book ever', but at ~£2 on kindle it's actually cheap enough that I may buy it if I feel like I need a quick laugh. After reading the reviews I'm fairly certain that the 'blurb' on the site is intended to show how ridiculous it is. For fun, I'd thought I'd share the one review of it on amazon.co.uk.


5.0 out of 5 stars
looks good By MED73 on 15 Aug. 2014
Format: Paperback
i havent read this book and dont intend to but the title is very funny and the girl on the cover has a nice ass so well worty of 5 stars

Really, the difference between ATLoFWaHPO and Horny Ghost of Osama Bin Laden can be seen from the titles, the latter knows it's idea is inherently funny and seems to go out of it's way to make that obvious, and then just rolls with it. Also anything that puts 'part one' in the title immediately gets my suspicion, I believe each part of a book series must work as a stand alone story just in case your readers aren't beginning at book 1, I occasionally have gotten hooked on series by reading the latest instalment, and if it styles itself as part one the chances become less likely.

I mean, I have plans for a science fiction series myself (very roughly mapped out the first three books plus a short story, still worldbuilding), but the plan is for each book to be self-contained so you can jump into book X without the exposition of how gravatics work from book 1.