SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
Members' Chat
>
What's Your View On Reviews?
date
newest »
newest »
Reviews and review scores are a factor in my decisions, but not a large factor. I occasionally consider average review scores to determine whether to add a book to my list, and I read the reviews of a few select reviewers to inform my opinion as well. I very rarely look at the masses of reviews from random people except to glean some basic facts about the style of the book and maybe to find some red flags.A much larger factor for my decision making is "what are the books people who love the genre are talking about?"
Back before I joined Goodreads, I wanted to know what the best new fantasy novels were, and I imagined I could figure this out from review scores on Amazon.
It turns out that using this method, the "best" fantasy novel of the year by far was something like book 20 in a series I'd never heard of, with a shirtless male hunk on the cover. Apparently it featured teenagers and vampires. It had basically no negative reviews. I'm not in the habit of judging books that I haven't read, but I strongly suspect this particular novel is not one that SF&F fans as a whole would consider the very best of the genre. Rather, its marketing (and being #20 in a series) had successfully weeded out every reader who wouldn't love it. For all I know, it really was the very best book of the year for its intended audience.
David wrote: "Reviews and review scores are a factor in my decisions, but not a large factor. I occasionally consider average review scores to determine whether to add a book to my list, and I read the reviews o..."Your point about the weeding out of readers is a good one. And I think there's a temptation for some reviewers to give a ravingly good review for a favourite author, even if the book was less than ideal.
What I don't understand, is those who review a book before they've read it...
I find people are much too free with 5 Star ratings for any book they liked. So I tend to put more weight on written reviews especially from people who I know share at least some of my tastes.
Have you ever written a bad review on a book that most other readers loved and gave 5 stars? I have, but I'm not proud of it and not going to brag about it here. Your views on any book will not be taken by anyone to be the absolute truth. People's tastes differ widely, even among groups of friends with similar interests. My review of this discussion thread is similar to my opinion about most discussions in most goodreads groups: three stars - it's easy to be hard.
J. wrote: "Have you ever written a bad review on a book that most other readers loved and gave 5 stars? I have, but I'm not proud of it and not going to brag about it here. Your views on any book will not be ..."I think the thing to keep in mind is that not everyone likes the same thing. Where one sees a work of genius, another sees a boring slog.
Having said that, there are some things that hold true for all writing and correct grammar and spelling are two of those things. Again here, we do have to acknowledge that there are different national versions of each. I'm Australian, so the letter 'u' is rather important to me, in words such as honour and labour, as is the use of 's' in words such as recognise.
I however, do recognise such differences, and appreciate them. Colloquialisms are fascinating things to me, and I never mind having to look them up - it's an opportunity to learn - while others detest writing that's outside their 'norms.'
J. wrote: "Have you ever written a bad review on a book that most other readers loved and gave 5 stars? I have, but I'm not proud of it and not going to brag about it here. Your views on any book will not be ..."Yes I have but I'm always careful to try and point out that it's just my opinion. Usually I will add specific reasons into the private 'my comments' section at the end so I can refer to them if asked specifically.
I tend to think that what works for the reviewer is what's most important. I choose my ratings so that two or three years down the road I'll know how much I liked it. If people want to rate only in the 3-5 stars range and it works for them then that's what matters. If people give out 5 star ratings rarely and it works for them then that's fine, too.I truly don't understand why people think that they should have any say in how another person rates and reviews. They're entirely personal and based on the reviewers reaction to the book, not other readers' reactions.
I think I would be happy to give a book 1 or 2 stars regardless of what people thought, if I actually read such a book.The problem is, it's very unlikely that I would pick up a book and read enough of it to rate it if it's only going to get 1 or 2 stars. I've never read more than a small fraction of a book that's bad enough to give 1 star, and I don't rate books that I've barely read.
The only time I read a book to completion that really wasn't working for me was The Shadow of the Torturer, which is part of a series regarded as having literary merit in the genre and I felt like I should put in the time to figure out why.
It seems it all washes out in the end, in the averages. Nearly every book on my radar seems to end up between 3.75 and 4.25 stars on average. Anything below that is either extremely polarizing or maybe not very good, and anything above that is probably regarded as at least somewhat special by its target audience (with the caveats we've already discussed)
I don't review books unless I've read them twice, and I'm not going to do that for even a two-star book.
David wrote: "The problem is, it's very unlikely that I would pick up a book and read enough of it to rate it if it's only going to get 1 or 2 stars. I"Why is this a problem?
I often complete 1 & 2 star books but that doesn't mean that I expect you to do so.
And the thing about rates is exactly what Sarah Anne said - it's personal. And since its so personal, you have no clue what really stimulated said rate unless the reviewer explained it to you. And even then its possible you wouldn't understand.
Ex: My rating for The Warded Man would be 1 star. 2 if I was being generous.
And yes. I found the book to be well written and [mostly] enjoyable. But I hated the ending with the burning passion of a thousand fiery suns. I hated the ending so much I refused to read the rest of the series. When searching I found the author commented on my issue in a GR thread...and that BS commentary/excuse made the reading experience even worse. It was at that point I gave the book away to get it out of my house and I decided I'd never read another book by the author ever again.
1 Star
Mary wrote: "I don't review books unless I've read them twice, and I'm not going to do that for even a two-star book."If I crack it open and I'm in the mood, I'm reviewing it. Even if I DNF it at 2 pages in - if the book is the reason I stopped reading, I'm reviewing.
MrsJoseph wrote: "Why is this a problem?"I'm think I was being inarticulate. I meant to use the abstract meaning of the word "problem" in reference to the question posed by J, of why I almost never give low ratings, given my own rating criteria. I don't think there's a "problem" in the sense of it being a bad thing. I'm totally cool with anybody rating books how they like.
David wrote: "I've never read more than a small fraction of a book that's bad enough to give 1 star, and I don't rate books that I've barely read. read enou..."I do the same thing. Most of my reviews are in the 3-5 range because I give up on 1-2 star-books and then don't rate them. I don't really want to slam authors anyway.
When I review books, I try to intuit the reason for the book, and if it met that reason well. It can gain a point for that. If it was well written, it gets another. If it's predictable or actually copies another book, it loses another. If it's repetitive, almost as in rewriting the other previous books in the series, it loses another. If it's interesting and very original, it gains another. But if there are just too many errors (I include misspellings [i allow for the "u" in British english], I subtract one more; if there are hundreds, I subtract even more. If I liked it, it'll gain one; if I swooned (not a romance type of swoon) it'll gain another. If the author reuses the same words lots of times, (stubbornly, like silicon instead of silicone, hundreds of times, it'll lose all points and begin again.)Long, "slogging" I usually like! I enjoy detail (as long as it's relevant), so it gains another. If it has too many books in a series (10 + books, really?), it'll lose before I even start.
It sounds complicated, but it's not.
I'm also getting pickier as I get older. If I only have 10 more years left, I'd better not waste my time. So I'm becoming more selective.
I'm tired of soft porn (talk about repetitive), or the protagonist is stupid beyond belief and doesn't learn, I may finish the book, but it won't be pretty. I understand about hormones and sex, but some of the descriptions are obviously only gratuitous sex, to gather excited readers...
So, I may have unbalanced numbers. I wish I could give zeros. Instead, I've made a category named Regretful purchases).
I try to be fair, and helpful, honest, in my reviews. And if it surprises me (reading over 10,000 books can make a reader rather jaded), it'll gain two points.
And I love good SF ( hard to find).. Can be "epic or light hearted" along as it's good, if it's insightful, especially in social situations, I learn something, it gets many more stars.
My categories help ME. As do my rating numbers.
I read about 175-200 books a year. But I've found if I do that, I have to shorten or promise my reviews later. (I write them as I read, keep the little pares, so I can do that later. And in the writing of them, I sometimes realize what I learned, so they're very helpful!
The only problem is that I can give 5 stars to books that aren't even close to each other. Sometimes I do feel bad giving low stars. But authors need practice, and good feedback can be important.
And I usually don't like best sellers! I have no problem disagreeing. Life experiences inform us all.
Sorry so long. I'm tired, and prob overthinking. But this IS my process.
And I understand how hard it is for most authors. It's a great effort; if they did a lot of research, tried real hand, I reward that.
I'll also offer an error list, if they ask. I keep track of the pages, make suggestions of the changes to be made.
But they have the option. Unless the book really should have been shredded. There was 1 ebook like that
I review pretty much every book I read. I try to be fair, but I hate the 5 star system. I don't think it distinguishes enough. Because I don't want to hurt the writers, I don't give a lot of 2s (and I don't think I've ever given a 1). Because I think 5s should only be given to truly exceptional books, I don't give a lot of those, either. I therefore tend to give a lot of 3s and 4s, so there's not enough room to distinguish between a really good book, a good book, an OK book, and a book that's not really very good but not horrible. I also admit that I tend to rate self-published books a little higher than traditionally published book, since they don't have the advantage of great editors, and individual reviews can do more damage. I also admit that if there's a wildly popular book that I just don't think is worth the hype, I rate it slightly more harshly than I would if it didn't have such buzz. None of this is fair...or is it, in a balancing sort of way? I struggle with the ethics of it. So, knowing all my own issues with reviewing, I tend to take reviews with a grain of salt. I usually don't read them beforehand anyway, except with self-published books (looking for red flags about the actual writing and editing).
What I like is reading the reviews AFTERWARD and comparing them to my own views. Like a little book club discussion.
I don't really pay much attention to the overall star rating in order to decide to read it, but if a book has caught my eye I tend to check what the average rating is, what people liked and what they didn't. If a book has a lot of great reviews, I tend to read two or three of the not so great ones to see why those readers didn't like it, but I rarely let reviews change my mind about actually reading the book. There are some books that have mostly great reviews, that I hated, and other books that people didn't care much about, that I really enjoyed.
I think they both play a pivotal role—the star rating acting as a condensing of your thoughts and how each of the factors ties into your overall score. Beyond that, the "breakdown" (or the words) of the review go over the specifics. What worked? What didn't work? Those questions may factor into an overall star rating but can't be answered by it in a detailed way. As to how much weight I give them, it truly depends, although I find I usually do agree with the overall most of the time.
I will respond both as an avid reader and as an author.As a reader, I look at reviews with a certain criticism. If it is from people that I know, I will trust those. If I do not know the people, I will have a look at the number of reviews. Very few reviews might be biased (eg, from friends of the author or from trolls, which also exist), so in those cases I read an excerpt to make up my mind. Biased reviews are relatively easy to spot because they tend to be very close in time to each other (usually a few days); if the reviews are spread out over months, they are likely to be real, with perhaps one or two exceptions. A very high number of reviews is probably statistically significant, even if there are many opposing reviews. (Last time I checked, Harry Potter had over 3,000 1-star reviews, yet the global score was 4.7) From my point of view, you can trust a high number of reviews.
Now, from the author's point of view: Reviews sell, there is no doubt about that. I am very lucky that my books have a majority of good reviews, with an occasional bad review because the reader did not like it (obviously you can't please everybody) or because it is a troll (or competing author) trying to hurt you (those are quite easy to spot by the author, sometimes not so much by the reader). My most beautiful book (sorry, only in Spanish) got a 1-star review from somebody who had not even purchased the book, just because she did not like the subject as described in the blurb. Yet, the book has worldwide some 70+ reviews, and an average score of 4.6. It sells quite well. And a few bad reviews don't hurt at all - just the opposite, they add credibility, especially when you do not have (yet) hundreds of reviews. The author just can only hope that the global score will stay positive and that the readers will see through trolls. However, if all reviews are systematically bad, then the author should rethink his book in the first place.
I don't know about the real value of ratings and reviews. To work, they depend on the readers being logical and fair in their opinions of the books they read. Unfortunately, widespread past evidence shows that readers' opinions are too often affected by things that have little to do with the quality of the writing or level of storytelling displayed by the author in his/her book. This should not be surprising, as individual tastes vary widely and can be highly suggestive. Some, who are firm Christian believers, may object to the fact that a story does not promote their own views about religion. Others may inject their political bias in their reviews and ratings. Many will object to descriptions or even mere mentions of sex. Quite a few will like about anything that follow what they think is the ideal storyline (look at the Harlequin romance pocket books, which sell like hot cakes despite being mostly the same stories regurgitated hundreds of times, with only minor differences in details and plots). One reader that blasted one of my first books called it 'a direct attack on Christianism and a full endorsement of communism' (I am a humanist and am certainly no communist). What can you say when being the target of such strident nonsense? Look at how divided the reviews and ratings could be for books that are generally acknowledge by litterary experts as mediocre or worse (Fifty Shades of Grey anyone)?
So, I will tend to go by the more elaborate reviews, those which explain in detail why they think that the book is good, bad or indifferent.
So, I will tend to go by the more elaborate reviews, those which explain in detail why they think that the book is good, bad or indifferent.
Michel, to a certain extent you are right, some of the reviews can be very biased based on the beliefs (or prejudice) of the reader.The 1-star review that I mention in my previous comment (for one of my Romance books, not SciFi) actually called me outright a pederast because it is a love story between a dying 14-year old girl and a 48-year old man. I know this sounds somewhat shocking, but as I say, 70+ reviews provided an average score of 4.6. (Sorry, the book is in Spanish, so you won't be able to read it unless you speak that language). She thought that the idea was so disgusting that she blasted the book even without reading it. The fact that the girl in the most beautiful love story (Romeo and Juliet) was only 13 apparently does not seem to count for much. Those who read the book, luckily, thought differently and praised it, sometimes with very moving reviews.
There will be always zealots and trolls whose prejudice prevails over everything else. My experience, however, is that such people are a minority and when sufficient reviews are collected, the quality of the book (good or bad) is usually well established based on the average score.
But you are right that more elaborate reviews tend to be of higher quality than shorter ones.
Ramon wrote: "The fact that the girl in the most beautiful love story (Romeo and Juliet) was only 13 apparently does not seem to count for much..."Romeo and Juliet were the same age. A 48 year old with a 14 year old child is legally a pedophile. They often justify their predatory behavior by calling it love. It isn't. I happen to have liked "Lolita" but I would never characterize it as a love story.
What Faith said. I didn't want to derail this thread but I think making this about you and your book has already done that. Ramon, you have clearly fundamentally misunderstood the objection, which is clearly not the age of the child. 14 year olds do ridiculous things that put them in danger all the time, dying or not. Which is why they are considered minors who cannot yet give consent in the majority of jurisdictions that adhere to actual human rights. 48 year old men on the other hand, know better. There is no romance in an adult taking advantage of a power dynamic.
Mod
One thing I love for reviewers to do is point out things that they found tricky to read. I may be okay reading a graphic violent battle scene, but maybe not if I'm not expecting it. YouKneeK actually did this very well in one of her reviews, and it caused me to make a whole bookshelf of things I shouldn't read due to content I know I'd find very upsetting. It didn't spoil the story at all, but it was enough for me to ask if I really wanted to subject myself to those thoughts, and I was able to make an informed decision based on her comments.
Faith wrote: "Romeo and Juliet were the same age. A 48 year old with a 14 year old child is legally a pedophile."Krazykiwi wrote: 14 year olds do ridiculous things that put them in danger all the time, dying or not. Which is why they are considered minors who cannot yet give consent in the majority of jurisdictions that adhere to actual human rights.."
I don't want to derail this thread either. However, this is exactly the attitude that Michel was complaining about, where your prejudice takes over without even knowing what what you are talking about, because you never read the book. I hate pedophiles as much as anyone else, and this book is not about that. Amazon would not allow for a book like that to be published either. This is not a Lolita-type book. It is based on a true story (which was too harsh to tell), and I regret that you cannot judge it for yourself because the book is written in Spanish and is very difficult to translate, so I never tried.
Apart from that, you should be aware that US states allow child marriage, and even though they state a minimum age, they do not state what the age difference should be. New Hampshire, for example, allows the marriage of a girl as young as 13, Massachussets is deemed to allow a 12-year old girl to be marriageable, and Alaska, North Carolina and New York have 14 as a minimum age (check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_...). None of them, by the way, have a limit on the age difference. A 48-old (or even older) could legally marry a young girl in those states, and it would NOT be legally phedophilia. Unless, of course, you believe that the USA officially approves that kind of depicable behavior.
A once read a book from Blanca Miosi, EL GIGOLÓ, where the age difference is 70 years (in this case, it's the woman who is the oldest). True, here the younger one is not a minor, but the age difference is even worse. Even so, it is a nice love story, which tells you that the age difference does not necessarily mean anything.
I do not want to promote that book (which does not make sense either, as it is not in English), but if you read Spanish you can look it up and look at the the reviews (or check them using Google translator). Many of those reviews highlighted exactly the same concerns you voice, yet gave the book 5 stars. As I say, worldwide I have 70+ comments, and only one (from somebody who did not read that book) makes that accusation.
If I gave the example, it was exactly to highlight what Michel was complaining about: that people judge too often based on prejudice or beliefs without even bothering to read the story and sometimes the reviews reflect that. Your comments are a perfect evidence of it.
Mod
Ramon, I believe there are lots of threads in author sections about the use and gathering of reviews for promotion, if you'd like to contribute! If not, you should start one! Similarly, if you wanted to start a conversation in an author space about the use of controversial material in writing, I'm sure that would also be fascinating and spark some great debate.
Allison, this particular book does not fit the SciFi category, so I should not have mentioned it here in the first place. I only used it as an example about how bias can derail reviews. In any case, this is the only "controversial" book that I have...But yes, I'll open a thread on controversial material. Probably it will be an interesting discussion.
Mod
Extremely! Can't wait to see everyone's thoughts :)
Ramon wrote: "I don't want to derail this thread either. However, this is exactly the attitude that Michel was complaining about, where your prejudice takes over without even knowing what what you are talking about, because you never read the book. I hate pedophiles as much as anyone else, and this book is not about that. Amazon would not allow for a book like that to be published either. This is not a Lolita-type book. It is based on a true story (which was too harsh to tell), and I regret that you cannot judge it for yourself because the book is written in Spanish and is very difficult to translate, so I never tried.Apart from that, you should be aware that US states allow child marriage, and even though they state a minimum age, they do not state what the age difference should be. New Hampshire, for example, allows the marriage of a girl as young as 13, Massachussets is deemed to allow a 12-year old girl to be marriageable, and Alaska, North Carolina and New York have 14 as a minimum age (check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_...). None of them, by the way, have a limit on the age difference. A 48-old (or even older) could legally marry a young girl in those states, and it would NOT be legally phedophilia. Unless, of course, you believe that the USA officially approves that kind of depicable behavior."
How about this: YES, Amazon would allow that book unless it was greatly complained about - they have allowed much more controversial than this.
Also, you are talking about a major trigger point and something so controversial that it would have been banned in some places (and still will be in others if they learn of it).
I feel that you are barking up the wrong tree if you want to complain about being treated as controversial when you are being controversial.
As a reader I would find your subject matter disturbing. As a reader I find the actions of the friar in Romeo and Juliet disturbing. In fact, a local Shakespeare theatre recently performed a mock-trial of the parents and caretakers of Romeo & Juliet to determine what crimes they should be tried for in the deaths.
As a reviewer, if I were given a book with this subject matter, I'd more than likely DNF it and I would clearly mark it with trigger warnings for pedophilia and/or possible child molestation. And then most people would ignore it or investigate it for personal interest.
And I feel - based on your previous reactions - that you would scream bloody murder all over my review. This would filter to all of my friends and followers based on my feed set up. The feed postings would then lead to my friends commenting - pushing it to their feeds.
So.....
Ramon wrote: "If I gave the example, it was exactly to highlight what Michel was complaining about: that people judge too often based on prejudice or beliefs without even bothering to read the story and sometimes the reviews reflect that. Your comments are a perfect evidence of it. "Prejudice? For not wanting to read what I don't want to read? I also don't particularly enjoy Scottish Highland time travel romances, so I don't read them. Not big on amish romances. and sports memoirs, not for me, particularly sports that I'm not even familiar with. I guess I'm prejudiced against objectified highlanders, beards and sports ghostwriters too?
I think it's truly disingenuous to call people prejudiced because they are not interested in the topic of a book, whether it's controversial or not. I'm sure some of those highlander amish sports time travel books are fabulously well written, and I would love them if I could just get past the fact that the subject matter does not interest me in the slightest.
I far too often have rely on reviews to figure out what a book is even about, let alone if it's got content I'm actually likely to be interested in (or object to.)
MrsJoseph wrote: "And I feel - based on your previous reactions - that you would scream bloody murder all over my review. ..."I have never complained about a fair review (and I have received my share of bad reviews, like everybody else). I have good reviews and I have reviews where I have been called "boring", "slow" and much worse things, so I would not scream bloody murder if you had actually read the book.
More than a few readers have found the book disturbing, and have stated so in their reviews, yet have given it good ratings. Only ONE person (who had not even bought the book) in 70+ reviews (over 100, if we consider Goodreads ones) started doing everything that you state that you would do.
The issue is that if prejudice prevents somebody from even reading a book and yet starts asking that the author be burned at the stake (virtually or not), that does not seem to be a "review". Controversy makes you think. Some people, however, have their minds so set that they are not willing to consider the possibility that not everything is black and white. So shall we forbid Shakespeare?
If I ever translate this book into English, I will be pleased to send you a copy, and will be pleased to accept you harsh criticism - but only after you have actually read the book. I you are sufficiently open minded to read it, then I think that you would do none of the things that you have stated you would do. You might blast me for not knowing how to write, but nothing worse.
I think that any further blasting of this example should be moved to the thread that I have opened in the Authors section about controversial books (you are most welcome to burn me there, if you want to). It was only meant to highlight that people sometimes make "reviews" from their guts instead from actual reading, and the responses that I received have shown how true that is.
Ramon wrote: "I think that any further blasting of this example should be moved to the thread that I have opened in the Authors section about controversial books (you are most welcome to burn me there, if you want to). "The one where you specifically asked for comment from other authors, and not from readers?
Krazykiwi wrote: "Prejudice? For not wanting to read what I don't want to read?"The prejudice does not come from not wanting to read what you do not want to do. I have myself a lot of books on subjects that I will never read.
The prejudice that I refer to is that some people condemn a book based on the subject without having ever read it.
Refusing to read a book because you do not think that the subject matter is appropriate is laudable, as you stand with your principles. Burning a book (and sometimes its author with it) without having even read it is something that has been done too often in history. And you can "burn" somebody virtually in a review.
Allison wrote: "I think this conversation is a great example of why reading reviews is so important! For example, having read that review, I think many of us would just say "okay, not for us!" and moved on. While ..."Fully agree!
Krazykiwi wrote: "The one where you specifically asked for comment from other authors, and not from readers?"Sorry if I made a mistake in the question. Readers are also welcome to comment! (I'll see whether I can edit it to extend the invitation)
Ramon wrote: "Allison wrote: "I think this conversation is a great example of why reading reviews is so important! For example, having read that review, I think many of us would just say "okay, not for us!" and ..."Well then the reviewer performed a service. Potential readers who would be upset by a romance between a child and a dirty old man now know to move on and read something else. And the 70 people who think that such a "romance" is possible are very troubling. And yes, I am totally and proudly prejudiced against adult/child romance.
Mod
I moved the rest of my comments on to keep from de-derailing, lol.
Allison is right, any time somebody wants to discuss their own writing it needs to be in the author section.
Agreed, I will only discuss this topic in the other thread. Sorry it derailed the discussion, I was just providing an example.
Don ViecelliI started writing reviews for SciFi writers only back in 2011. It was a way to learn what other authors were doing in the genre so I could write better stories. Recently, I joined Twitter to promote my books and found that many promoters will not promote your book unless it has five or more 4 or 5 Star Reviews. So my take on this subject is you need reviews to promote your work more effectively and/or to reach a broader audience; unless of course you have a literary agent and publisher who already does this for you. I hope this helps to clarify things a little for other writers like myself who don't have an agent yet.
Before putting a book on my "to read" list I read a few reviews, both good and bad. It has saved me some time and money, because some of the books I thought I would like based on the description were books I rejected after a read of some bad reviews. When I review a book I usually only write a review if it was very good or very bad, I don't much bother with reviews for 3 star books. I only write bad reviews of books that were very popular or written by a big name author. I don't want to discourage new writers or discourage anyone else from reading a new author.
I did notice that I am more likely to give a 5 star review to a non-fiction book than fiction.
I read the blurb, I count the number of one and two stars on the first page. If there are too many I give up the book. If there are only a few I read them too see if they say "it isn't the book's fault, it's theirs " or not. I check if their concerns are likely to be mine or not (without the spoilers), things like plot holes, purple prose, love at first sight, boredom, MC too stupid to live etc... If it is a YA book, I check what two prolific reviewers rate it. Bad ratings = I should skip it.I put the book on to-read or maybe and maybe one day I will read it if I manage to get it (with more or less intent depending my enthusiasm). I am also likely to have forgotten the details of the blurb and reviews. Overall I am more for having a blank state when starting a book except if it is a sequel or a book by a liked writer.
I read sometimes the positive reviews after I finish the book or while I am wondering if I should finish it or give up.
Ideally reviews are a good thing, but this does not mean that they are perfect or even genuine. Some great works have not been popular in their day. Also, these days a lot of indie authors game the system by buying reviews or things like that. Also, as an indie author, I can tell you that most people just don't write reviews even if they like the book.
I will buy a book if I like the synopsis, and if my friends liked the book, and if the book gets at least 4+ stars.
I read a couple of the five star reviews and a couple of the one star reviews, and if I'm undecided I'll check out the 3s. Stars are completely arbitrary. I've even given books a certain star rating and then looked back at them and gone- what the hell was I thinking?Review content is much more insightful if the reviewer is good. And usually I can tell if a book is something I would enjoy or if the content is forgivable even if it's rated one star. A good example is Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. A lot of people rated it a one just based on the fact that Jorg is evil. I looked at that critique and negative rating and thought that just made the book more interesting.
Likewise, Bernard Cornwell is one of my favorite historical fiction authors. His series the Saxon Stories tends to get negative reviews because the women are written poorly. I must be a bad feminist, because I just didn't care about that sort of thing. It's Uhtred's story anyway, so I could overlook the fact that the women fell flat.
Now if someone comes along and says the dialogue or plot line felt forced or contrived, or the writing was poor and riddled with mistakes or bad euphemisms, that's a little less forgivable to me.
So I skim a few reviews and really read the thorough ones.
Mod
4+ stars all told? Or from friends?
Sarah wrote: "I read a couple of the five star reviews and a couple of the one star reviews, and if I'm undecided I'll check out the 3s. Stars are completely arbitrary. I've even given books a certain star ratin..."Yes! The threes are the best to read if you want an accurate and relatively unbiased review.
I read the back cover blurb. Then the reviews. If there are some from people I know --and whose taste in books I know--I pay particular attention to what they said. Then I read the "read me" section. That's when I make my decision to buy or not buy.
If I'm in a bookstore, I read the opening, and several randomly selected pages to get a sense of the writing.
When I review a book, I try to give the review reader an idea of what they are going to find inside the book--not so much the plot, though that's important enough, but the writer's style, the ability of the book to engage, and without spoilers, tell if I thought it was a satisfying ending and a good read.
If I'm in a bookstore, I read the opening, and several randomly selected pages to get a sense of the writing.
When I review a book, I try to give the review reader an idea of what they are going to find inside the book--not so much the plot, though that's important enough, but the writer's style, the ability of the book to engage, and without spoilers, tell if I thought it was a satisfying ending and a good read.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Prince of Thorns (other topics)EL GIGOLÓ (other topics)
The Warded Man (other topics)
The Shadow of the Torturer (other topics)
Kindred (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Mark Lawrence (other topics)Don Viecelli (other topics)
Octavia E. Butler (other topics)
Dorothy L. Sayers (other topics)
Dorothy L. Sayers (other topics)
Another situation I'll read reviews in is when I'm unsure about starting or bothering to finish a series--reviewers are good at pointing out when a book lags, ends badly, or escalates unrealistically, and it can give me a good idea of whether or not a series is worth my time and emotions :)
Basically, I read reviews to flesh out my overall impression of the synopsis.