For me, shitty style / lazy writing make me put a book down immediately. I was raised on the worship of style you find in writers like Flaubert or Nabokov (who also happened to have deplorable political views) and I can’t shake it.
Others commented here recently that making every female character in a story into a sex object is a bad thing.
What are some reasons you’ll put a book down after you’ve spent at least a little time giving it a try?
As soon as an otherwise-promising story introduces the feeemale hottie who is defined by whatever her father did, and her scientific credientials/magical prowess immediately spill out of her head the moment she sees DudeBro McManPain the Ego Insert, I put the novel down.
That's happened a distressing number of times.
If I wanted that trash I'd watch SyFy in-house movies.
Also, if there's prominent smirking, cold piercing stares, or soft chuckles, I'm going to get allergic reactions.