Book Reviews 101 - Where to Start When You Don't Know How to Start

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Today we'll talk about something interesting in the realm of books. I've had so many people come to me and ask where they should start when writing a book review. I figured I'd answer somewhere everyone can see it and take something away. If you're ready, grab a cuppa, and let's get rolling!

Book reviews are subjective. I said it. You know it. It's gonna be okay.

That's not all!

There's more?

Of course there is. There's subjectivity, yes, but there's also having a good baseline to start from. You want to rate on more than feelings. Those are still important, which is why they're in the list below, but they're not the end all be all for most people.

You'll also want to consider the following:

Pacing - Were you bored to tears during the first 3/4 of the book only to have the last quarter fly past? Were you bogged down in the language the author used? Was there too much dialogue and not enough action? It's a fine balance to get a book to carry the reader at just the right pace from page one to the end. Consider how well that balance was achieved.

Characters - Did you give a shit about them? Did they have a nice arc (experience change in a profound or minor way)? Were there too many? Were their names impossible to pronounce which caused you to trip over it every time you read it? Take all these things into account. Building complex characters that people can care about is difficult and part of the skill of writing a great novel.

Feeling - How did you feel as you read the book? If it's a suspense novel or murder mystery, were you on the edge of your seat, wondering what was about to happen? If it was a love story, did you feel all gushy and gooey at the end? Same with every genre--the feeling the words in the book give you should match the classification.

Overall Writing - Were sentences constructed in a way that didn't throw you out of the narrative? Were there a lot of typos? Was the overall story built well with a beginning, middle, and end (or cliffhanger)? Did it keep you interested? Think about the prowess of the author when considering this point. I feel like it's important even in trad pub. I mean, they have in-house editors, and many of them are supposed to be the best in the business. I've read Indie books with fewer errors than trad books.

Because I'm me (editor), and grammatical errors throw me out of a good story, I tend to give a full two stars of consideration for overall writing. You may assign feeling two stars. It's totally up to you.

Here are a few things most reviewers don't do:

• Complain that there's too much sex.
• Complain about too much violence.
• Consider price.
• Talk about specifics of the plot.
• Summarize the book.

Why don't they do those things?

I'm so glad you asked!

If you pick up an erotic novel... Yeah. Or even spicy romance can fall into that category. I mean, you know what you're getting into. It's bad form to complain about it in the review. This also goes for level of violence. If you've picked up a hard-boiled detective novel or a thriller, chances are, there's gonna be violence. To buy the book then slam it in the review for fitting into the genre it's classed as is rude. 

Price is what it is. If you were entertained for a day, that cost you less than a movie that only lasts a couple hours. Think about it before you yap about it. Authors have to make a living, too! If they don't, you won't have more books to read. We'll all quit.

Then what?

Specific plot points might have been planned as surprises. Don't ruin it for everyone else, please. This also goes for summarizing the damned novel. It ruins the book! Stop. It.

Here's a review for a series I haven't yet finished as an example:

Oh, man! Just when I thought I had the twists figured out, I was sucker punched from a mile away. I love this author's writing style, and her characters leap off the page and into my lap. Tension was kept high throughout the whole series so far, which is a plus for me. My fingers are itching to get hold of the last two. Love triangles with dire consequences for the choice made are the order of the day, but I still kinda want the MC to choose the guy I want. Yes, they're both amazing men, but I have my heart set on one, and nothing is going to talk me out of it. What a beautiful story arc for the MC. I've loved seeing her grow from page one. I look forward to what else she may do or discover about herself along the way. If you love magic, romance, and a good fade-to-black scene cut, I highly recommend this series. Loved it. Highly enjoyable read with few errors. Five stars.

As you can see, I didn't go into specifics, but I still managed to touch on every point I made above. It's possible if you consider the four topic sections and just talk about that. Insert yourself into your review because of the subjective nature of what you're writing, and you'll always write something that tells others what to expect.

Anyone wanna guess the series? :)

What do you think? Ever see a review that pissed you off? Have you seen some great ones? I'd love to know. Drop me a comment below and tell me.

I hope you all enjoyed yourselves today! Next week, we'll get back into the AI stuff. I needed a break from the monotony. :)

Well, folks, that's all for today!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo