You wanted to read the book, you were excited to crack it open, you came into it with good faith and anticipation… but you ended up dnf-ing it. Which book and why?
Mine was The Maid by Nita Prose. It was for my book club and looked like a fun murder mystery. Instead I got instant manic-pixie-dream-neurodivergent-girl vibes, and I noped out before the crime scene was even found.
Already been beaten to my actual answer, so here’s my back up - Foundryside by Robert Jackson. Fantasy thieves and heists are my favourite comfort reading, so it started with a bunch of good will.
I initially stopped before the opening heist ended. It was all just McGuffin’s and not even the hint of any cunning. You need to build up the rules of the world before you use magic to solve every problem, or it just feels like handwaving.
But I gave it another go a few weeks back. Maybe I was being unfair. This time I made it far enough in to be introduced to the central tension and what I assume is the deuteragonist. I stopped after he went on a rampage to break out a bunch of children who were being forced into prostitution.
The whole thing was so gratuitous and without any tact. This is a book is terrified you might miss a detail and will repeat it several times, and have characters either state what they obviously should all know or use their inner monologue for it. I was not trusting such a clumsily written book to handle these topics.
I left with the impression that the author thought his audience were incredibly stupid, and didn’t trust them at all.