I really felt the need to write a post about reviewing because of many reason.
I have recently become a reviewer at Read the Rainbow Reviews, managed by Caitlin Ricci. Ever since reviewing for her, I’ve paid a lot more attention to reviews in general and especially to those of books I like. Some of them really enraged me, not because of their honesty or cruelty, but because the reviewers seem to completely miss the whole point of rating a book.
I’ve also stumbled upon a very interesting topic on Goodreads that refers to ” fake” reviews (maybe I’ll write a post about those at some point too), and that, coupled with a low review of a series I have recently rated very high, prompted me to really speak my thoughts on the subject or reviewing author’s books.
So you bought a book, you read it and you feel the need to speak your mind about it. Where do you start from?
First, you should think of the whole reason why you want to review. Was the book that fantastic that you want to share this with the whole world? Was it so bad that you felt like warning everyone?
Both may be the case, but, honestly, why should anyone care what you think? People have the right to their own opinions. What you think of a book shouldn’t weight at all on their minds when they make the decision to pick that book up. Wanna know something? I could have missed on reading some amazing books if I had paid any attention to low reviews. Why didn’t I pay attention to them? Because, with the risk of sounding like a pompous bitch, I consider myself a smart person. And some of those reviews didn’t convince me at all.
Writing a good reviews, guys, a review that will influence people’s opinions, is more than just saying what you think of a book.
Writing a good review is about saying your honest thoughts about it and then coming up with arguments to support your opinion.
Ultimately reviewing a book means recognizing that every written thing has its value. Even the worst book will teach you a lesson. Maybe it will teach you that even you could write a better book, but that’s still a lesson, right? And for that reason alone, no book should be dismissed.
I’m sick of those reviews where people just say “This book sucked” or something along those lines. Are those worth being called reviews? Of course not! Those are just the opinions of narcissistic persons who think the world revolves around them and everyone should care that they “wasted” time reading a book they didn’t like. Well, newsflash for those kinds of people, we don’t care!
All that being said, let’s move on to the real mini tutorial.
In order to write a proper, meaningful review, these are a few things you need to take into consideration:
1. Don’t be a selfish asshole. People don’t really care what you personally thought of the book, but what the book is actually about, what goes beyond the small blurb they read on the publisher’s site. So, what is the book actually about? In order to properly explain it, ask yourself the following questions:
2. What is the theme of the book?
-what does the main plot revolve around?
-what do the secondary plots, if any, revolve around?
-is it a happy book? A sad book? A book that transmits a message of encouragement, love, positive energy etc?
No matter how short a book is, there’s always something that the author wants to convey. Find that, and you’ll find your theme.
3. Are the characters three-dimensional?
-do they have goals? Are there any obstacles that stay in the way of these goals?
-what do they have to lose?
-what do they love the most? What do they hate the most?
-do they have flaws?
-do they have issues? Do they surpass these issues along the way?
-how do they react to the plot? are their reaction exaggerated or too mellow?
-if this is a romance book, is the chemistry obvious? Do the characters connect naturally or does it seem forced? Etcetera.
Does the author do a good at depicting all of the above? If so, then you have a book with real enough characters.
4. What about the action?
-does the action flow or is it stagnant?
-do the characters do something or just eat, grin, chuckle, and sleep for the whole book?
-does what they do have a point,do chapters connect to form a linear plot in which every scene is the cause for the existence of another or are there chapters that seem to have no reason to be there?
5. Continuity, balance and grammar
– are there any major plot holes or silly errors (like mistaking names or eye color etc)?
– is the grammar really insufferable? (Please check a dictionary first and foremost before accusing an author or editor of stupidity, and bring the evidence to the table; for all we know, you might be the stupid one!)
– is the vocabulary or the phrasing too unclear? Are the phrases too long or too short for the entire book, making it irritating to read?
-does the author repeat too many words or do they use too many pompous words?
-is the humor exaggerated or does the opposite happen?
-are there too many descriptive moments as opposed to narrative moments; equally, is there too much dialogue, or too much sex on page, or too much action?
6. Finally, given consideration to all of the above and anything else that I might have neglected to mention, would you consider recommending the book?
Now, and only now, after you have actually deconstructed the book, it is the time to give your own opinion, based on your tastes.
7. Don’t forget to mention that, in the end, this was just your personal opinion.
I could go one like this forever, but, to recap, in my opinion, a meaningful reviewer should act like an editor. Bring objective arguments to the table. Don’t just say you liked a book or you hated it.
Obviously, you don’t have to state everything. you don’t need to share the whole process through which you have reached your conclusions, but bring solid, believable arguments that readers would care about. I, for one, don’t give a rat’s ass that you didn’t like the book just because you said so. But, if you say “I didn’t like the book because: the humor was forced, the language was too vulgar [give examples], there was just too much sex and no character development, the dialogue was ridiculous [again, examples], and there was absolutely no descriptions; I didn’t even understand what planet was the action going on, etc,” then, yes, I might really consider you opinion. Get my point?
I really hope so, guys, ’cause I’m seriously sick of idiotic reviews.
Hope you’ll spend a couple of minutes during your precious holiday thinking of my post and pay more attention next time you review a book.
Happy holidays and lots of love from Shayla.
Shayla Mist 