Slightly off-topic, but reminded by Enzyme's post below
There's only one book I've ever given up reading five pages before the end. It was 'The Redemption of Althalus' by David Eddings. Now, I love the Belgariad by Eddings - top-notch trashy fantasy which can be read without ever engaging the brain. I even quite liked the Malloreon, which was the same series again with twice as many 'sardonic' characters (and I hope never again to read the phrase 'rat-faced little Drasnian'). But since then he's got worse and worse, and the only explanation I can see is that his wife must be butting in more and more. (Not sexism - it's just that she gets a bigger credit each time).

So, to The Redemption of Althalus. I saw it in the shop and browsed the back cover. Ooh, thought I, this one looks like it might be a bit of a return to form. And it started pretty well. And kept going pretty well. And it was still pretty good about three-quarters of the way through. And kept being OK. Until I realised that this was it. It was never going to go anywhere. It was just going to be the same rambling crap all the way to the bitter end. And so I stopped.

edit: just noticed how similar my subject line was to the last post. Sorry
( flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Mon 19 May 2008, 16:03, 6 replies)

But you'll never know
if there was an amazing twist in the last 5 pages which tied it all up.

OK, there probably wasn't, but if I'd made it that far I'd have finished it just for the hell of it.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 19 May 2008, 16:09, closed)

^This^
Yeah. Five pages to go seems like an odd time to abandon ship...
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 19 May 2008, 16:21, closed)

It was just one of those moments
I realised that I'd just wasted a day of my life, and I was damned if I was going to waste five more minutes.
( flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Mon 19 May 2008, 16:22, closed)

Eddings
I read all the Belgarath stuff, and the ones about Sparhawk et al and enjoyed them

I struggled through the Redemption of Althalus despite if being full of weak characters and no plot.

Then I read the first in another series he had written called the Treasured Ones or similar....

this was one of the worst pieces of crap that I've ever had the misfortune to come across.

The characters had no personality whatsoever, there was nothing to cling onto about any of them.

I had to mentally edit the words "sort of" out of every (and I mean every) bit of dialogue. it drove me insane thinking that he had written this book where no one can give a certain answer about anything.

It was so bad that I daren't reread his previous works in case they were equally shite and I didn't notice at the time!

I totally agree that it must be his wife that is causing this to happen. surely he's got the balls to tell her to butt out?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 19 May 2008, 16:30, closed)

Makes the Eddings' works look good
Read the Wit'ch books by James Clemens. Just awful. I read the first one and never wanted to read a book again
(placenta pug life, Mon 19 May 2008, 18:24, closed)

The problem is:
As he goes along it becomes more and more obvious that he's just taking the same characters, renaming them and dumping them into a new map.

Also

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

I got quite hacked off when I got to the end of Althalus and the last Dreamers book to find he'd used a deus ex machina that pretty much made everything up till then pointless.
The Sparhawk stuff is good though.
(Big D, Mon 19 May 2008, 19:54, closed)