Reading Reviews

Here’s a fun post at Kill Zone Blog, about reading reviews — really about types of reviews.

The Bad Review

The Good Review

The “Meh” Review

The Irrelevant Content Review

The All About the Reviewer Review

The Actionable Review

Now, this post — by Laura Benedict — is fun to read, but let me just mention that when she says “bad review” she means “negative review.” And similarly, “Good” means “Positive.” That’s fine, but I wanted to clarify, because actually there is all the difference in the world between a bad review and a negative review. Though from the author’s point of view, both might be maddening and certainly neither is welcome.

A bad review is actually one where the reviewer seems not to have read the actual book, but possibly a weirdly incorrect plot summary. Every now and then you do read a review that makes you scratch your head and say, Now, listen, are we talking about the same book?

In contrast, a negative review is, well, negative.

In some ways I think the most offensive one-star review is the Irrelevant Content type. The book arrived with a torn cover, so one star! I actually have seen that. *Rolls eyes*.

Of course the most *useful* review is not a type at all. It’s a review written by someone who shares your general taste in books.