14 Responses so far

1. 1. Marie Brennan on Apr 15th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

   I need a review to give me a sense of what the book is, but without spoilers. So I dislike ones that spend most of their wordage on summarizing the book’s plot, but like ones that tell me in a sentence or two what the premise of the story is. Then I want the reviewer to discuss, at a minimum, what’s strong and what’s weak about the concept, plot, worldbuilding, characters, etc — not necessarily all of those things, but whichever seem to be the most worth comment.

   Where space allows, I like reviews that trigger my academic brain a bit, maybe talking about where this book fits into and/or argues with the genre, or the implications of the author’s ideas.

   I don’t follow any one review source with dedication, but I prefer situations where I know who the reviewer is, since it’s useful to develop a sense of their taste, and how it compares to mine. (Then even a negative review can make me go pick a book up, if I know things the reviewer hates, I tend to like.)

2. 2. Mary Fitz... on Apr 15th, 2008 at 2:07 pm

   No spoilers, no plot synopsis, that’s for sure.

   I like a review that gives the flavor of a book w/o the bones.

   I like a comparison to other books or other writers’ style but I understand that bringing up other writers in a review is frowned on by some review sites. I see it could be abused but as a reader it helps me know if I might like a book,

   I also like it if a review gives me an idea where the reviewer is coming from so I know how much weight to give his/her opinion. For example, “I don’t usually enjoy epic fantasy, but Book X really wowed me.” tells me more than “BookX is the best thing since Lord of the Rings”

   I don’t have any one reviewer I follow.

3. 3. neth on Apr 15th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

   What do you look for in a book review?

   short on plot summary - more meaty on what was liked and disliked and why. I don’t have time for long reviews, so anything over th 800-1000 word range is skimmed at best. The reviews I write are basically the type that I want to read.

   Who are some of your favorite book reviewers?

   Hard to say - I follow quite a number. Mostly book reviewers I find that I can trust enough to judge my opinion versus there’s. I find that I can consistently judge my taste versus Larry at the OF Blog, Rob B at SFF World, and Jay at Fantasybookspot. There are a few others with blogs and at messageboards I can trust as well.

   Do you buy books based on book reviews? Or only be specific reviewers?

   Sometimes a single reviewers will be the deciding factor, but more often it’s either an aggregate opinion that I gather from many sources, or my own desire to read the book seperate from any other opinions.

4. 4. simon owens on Apr 15th, 2008 at 3:40 pm

   Harriet Klausner is my favorite reviewer

5. 5. Christopher Weuve on Apr 15th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

   I have to have some sort of plot synopsis, just like I will very rarely buy a novel that doesn’t have a plot synopsis on it. You can cover the back of a book with quotes from Xenu on down and without a plot synopsis, my reaction is “must not be very good if they won’t tell me anything about it.”

   I generally could care less about who wrote the review, unless the reviewer is a known idiot. I generally want to know what the basic story is and what “big ideas” are in the book, plus whether the writer gets extra credit for their wordsmithing. I’ve been known to keep books I don’t like because they have either a really cool idea or the writing is just so good. An example of that is M. John Harrison’s _The Centauri Device_, which is thoroughly unpleasant and depressing, except for lines like “when defense is a rag of memory in a hot wind.”

   Your mileage may vary.

6. 6. heather (errantdreams) on Apr 15th, 2008 at 5:23 pm

   I don’t include plot synopses at Amazon because they already have them, but at other sites I do, because I don’t know what (if anything) a visitor already knows about a book. That said, I should really revise that to say I include a premise synopsis, because I try to explain the set-up of the book without going into depth on too much of what happens during it. I don’t want to ruin any surprises.

   Once in a while I feel compelled to discuss something that might be considered a spoiler, but in that case I’m VERY careful to set it off—fore and aft—with bolded spoiler warnings so readers pretty much have to deliberately choose to read it.

   I also try to include any biases I have that affect my opinions (like what Mary said above, ‘I don’t usually enjoy X, but…’) and think a bit about what others might like or not like about a book that I didn’t get out of it. I also look for the same out of the reviews that most move me to add books to my wish list—a balance of premise description, personal opinion about the book, and context for why the reader felt as he or she did.

7. 7. SMD on Apr 15th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

   I just need enough to give me a feel for a book. I have to know if it will be something I’d be interested in. So, 200 words about the book, it’s good and it’s bad parts, and that’s all I need. If it sounds really interesting I’ll pick it up next time I’m in the book store.

8. 8. Josh on Apr 15th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

   I like to find authors through short fiction but 2-3 sentences of plot synopsis. Comparisons to other authorsis also a huge help.

9. 9. Mark Terry on Apr 15th, 2008 at 7:35 pm

   I think all reviews need to include the following lines:

   1. A real page-turner.

   2. Will have you on the edge of your seat.

   3. I couldn’t put it down.

   4. Transcends the genre.

   5. You won’t be disappointed.

   What am I missing?

   I was just thinking that Stephen King once commented that somebody had reviewed one of his books with something along the lines of, “Make sure you have a barf bag handy when you read this one.” He thought that was kind of classy. At least it was refreshing.

   I was also thinking of a novel by Iris Johansen I reviewed where I commented that some readers would think the main character was a spunky, plucky, tough woman, while other readers might think she was a self-involved nitwit with low impulse-control, and if you were the former, you’d like the book and if you were the latter you’d hate it. I didn’t bother to say which one I as a reader was, but I figure the readers of the review could probably figure it out.

10. 10. Steve L on Apr 15th, 2008 at 10:17 pm

    Tell me about the book without telling the story. Tell me how it compares to the author’s other books, and how it compares to other similar books that are well known in the genre. What does it do well? What does it do that is new? Don’t be afraid to tell me if the book isn’t worth my time.

    Some of my favorite reviewers: John Clute (always a challenge, in a good way), Gary K. Wolfe (Locus), Faren Miller (also Locus, I have read and trusted Faren’s reviews for more years than I care to recall). Joanna Russ used to write excellent reviews, but alas, not for a long time. There are a few others, too, that I trust.

    It’s not hard to tell, usually, how much insight a reviewer has to offer after reading just a few reviews. I certainly don’t expect to agree with every review. I trust a good reviewer to tell me enough to know where our views diverge.

    I depend on reviewers to find new authors for me. I already have my favorite authors, but a good review can definitely get me to buy and read a book by an unfamiliar author.

11. 11. Scott Parker on Apr 16th, 2008 at 10:15 am

    First, the reviewer has to know his stuff. I don’t want some guy who hates SF or mystery to review SF and mystery books. What’s the point. The reviewer, if possible, should place the book in question within the wider genre, name the book’s ancestors and forefathers, or mention that the author is a new and up-and-coming writer in the style of X. Sometimes, the writer is entirely new and that’s good.

    For SF, I have gradually relied upon the blogosphere for my best reviews. The most consistent are the folks over at SFsignal.com.

    I have purchased books based purely on book reviews. It is rare, however, for me to do the same thing regarding music. However, back in January, I did read a short review of a new band called Vampire Weekend. I read the following sentence, immediately went to the band’s Myspace page, then almost as immediately, downloaded the CD from iTunes.

    ”Imagine New Order sitting down with Paul Simon and talking about the first Talking Heads record, while Pavement plays over the cafeteria loudspeakers.”

    This passage does everything I want from a book/music review. Gives me an idea of the style, gives me the heritage, and promises enjoyment.

12. 12. Jeff C on Apr 17th, 2008 at 9:51 pm

    Like others have mentioned, I like to read reviews that do not contain spoilers, or spend a lot of time rehashing the plot. I can get those rather easily from either the back of the book, the author/publisher’s website, or even amazon. I just want to know what areas of the book were good, and what areas were bad (or didnt work). The above reasons are why i adopted the odd format for my reviews, where i just list What I Liked, What I Didnt Like, and why (and if the reason I like something is personal, i mention it). Oh, and while long reviews might be more “literary” (in some cases), I prefer a review i can read and ingest in 3-5 minutes.

    I follow a lot of the blogger reviews, but my favorite reviewers are Robert at Fantasy Book Critic, Aidan at Dribble of Ink, and Adam at the Wertzone. All 3 of them are very good reviewers and worth bookmarking.

    I don’t buy books too often based on reviews, however, as I have read fantasy for 25 years now and usually know what I will like or won’t like. Plus, I collect books, so if I think there is a chance i might want to read a book in the next 5-10 years, i go ahead and buy it (a book company’s dream i guess ).

13. 13. Dark Wolf on Apr 18th, 2008 at 2:14 am

    I like the reviews to be the honest opinion of that reviewer. I like to see a little synopsis, because I like to know a little what the book is about and I like to see the strong and weak points in the reviewer opinion.

    Some of my favourites are Robert (fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com) and Chris (thebookswede.blogspot.com), but I read other blogs also.

    Sometimes I do buy books considering book reviews, but on the other hand despite a bad review I want to see what the book is about.

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