Book reviews for fiction - do you read them? What do you look for in a review?

[4691mls]

The ongoing thread about self-pubs had some posts about book reviews that got me thinking about this topic.

I may look at reader reviews (such as those posted on Goodreads or Amazon) before buying/borrowing the book if the description on the library or bookstore website is very minimal, or if it sounds interesting but I am unfamiliar with the author's work.

I don't like a "review" that just tells the story, especially if this is done without spoiler warnings. Then there are the reviews that were clearly written by idiots - like the one that said basically "This series is boring - in every book, someone gets killed and then the main character finds out who did it." (It's a cozy mystery series - what did you expect?!)

I find it helpful to know any of the following: Was the book full of grammar/spelling errors? Was the writing overly simplistic or overly complicated? Was the book full of continuity errors, anachronisms, or historical inaccuracies? Was the ending too sudden, and/or did it not make sense based on the rest of the book? Were there a lot of loose ends that weren't tied up at the end? In the case of a cozy mystery, did the main character continually engage in too-stupid-to-live behavior?

If I can tell the reviewer has different tastes from me, a negative review may even prompt me to read the book. For example, if the reviewer complains that "there was too much telling and not enough showing" or that the main character did too much thinking and not enough acting, I might like the book.

Two big tipoffs that I won't like the book, even if most of the reviewers liked it: 1) There are a lot of positive reviews, but the reviewers come across as barely literate; and 2) The reviewers have filled the page with images of movie or TV actors or cartoon characters that they believe represent the characters in the book.

[Barbara1955]

I don't review books. Wish Amazon would quit asking!
I don't read book reviews. EVERY time I read a Great review I find I cant Stand the book! I really hate it when the review gives away the Whole book! I stopped buying on of my short story series... All I had to do is follow the Reviews!

[Yolina]

^^^ that ^^^

[Ravensknight]

I read reviews. But only from people who I've invested time in and have learned their tastes. Like my friends at booklikes, or other social reading sites.

Random stranger reviews only work for me if they are telling me the book is full of errors, amateur, etc and hence I'll avoid it. Random reviews don't draw me to a book, but they keep me from wasting time on a lot of dreck.

[DiapDealer]

I may read the reader reviews from people I know (or at least know the reading history of) on Goodreads. But other than that, I don't really read them at all. I just look for decent volume and a somewhat natural dispersal across whatever like/dislike/meh ranking-system is being used.

But honestly; I hardly ever go browsing randomly through the virtual stacks for reading material anyway. My potential purchases come to me mostly via word of mouth (aka: real and virtual social circles). I pretty-much know I'm really interested in a book long before I ever get near a review of it.

I don't mind stumbling across an undiscovered gem occasionally, but I'm not actively out looking for them. Which makes anonymous reader-reviews mostly irrelevant to me.

[Atunah]

I do look at reviews. Its not the only item in my vetting process, but it is important. Sometimes the reviews can tell a story about the book without even reading a word of the review. Its when a new author, new book comes out of the gate with lots of rah rah 5 star reviews and they all kind of read the same and so over the top praising and often they say they got a copy from the author bla bla. If those are the only reviews there are, I automatically pass on such a book.

I disregard any review that sounds and looks like its from a street team, arc team, most blogs. Only exceptions on that are folks I follow on goodreads that happen to get arcs from places like Edelweiss and Netgalley.

Street team reviews are especially prevalent in the romance category now. Makes finding new reads a bit of a challenge.

I also read the lower star reviews first usually. If I find stuff in there that really bugs me, I move on from the book. Things that make the book not actually part of the genres they claim to be, things that just totally turn me off and I don't want to read about. Stuff like that. Formatting errors and blatant mispellings and such.

I don't know a lot of technical terms when it comes to writing, so if a lot of technical stuff is mentioned in a review it doesn't help me. I want to know what they liked, characters, setting, story, etc. Or didn't like.

I don't care if reviewers have perfect grammar or if they can't express what they feeling in a perfect english class type of way. I can't either. Those are often the ones that come from the heart and since I am all about the feels when I read, I can relate to those.

I don't like the book report type ones that are more like cliff notes on the whole story. They are useful on some older releases when there isn't an actual blurb listed, but otherwise, I want to read the book, not the review to know what happens.

I also ignore those reviews that come from other writers and those that keep naming the author in such a way like they know them.

Really, I just been sticking to the goodreads reviews. As I follow and friend folks that read a lot of stuff I like reading, those reviews always come up first. So I don't have to sift through the garbage stuff anymore.

It just has sadly eliminate the joy of browsing for books on my own.

[Dusky Rose]

Originally Posted by Atunah

I also read the lower star reviews first usually. If I find stuff in there that really bugs me, I move on from the book. Things that make the book not actually part of the genres they claim to be, things that just totally turn me off and I don't want to read about. Stuff like that. Formatting errors and blatant mispellings and such.

Same here. By starting with the lower stars, I can see what the complaints are and if I care about those issues. Sometimes they're about stuff I can't stand, sometimes they're exactly what I'm looking for.

Then I work my way up the list. I hardly ever read the five start ones, I just note how many there are.

(Although I do tend to leave a lot of five-star review myself. But I think that's because I've filtered my own books well enough to be happy with my choices.)

If it's a series, I'll check the reviews as the series moves along. I don't mind a bit of ratings drop, as the story arc progresses, but a huge drop shows me that the author's lost it along the way, and it's probably best not to get invested, even on a good first book.

What do I like to see in a review? What's not in the summary. Vague impressions without spoiler details. Whether there's a lot of time jumps, POV shifts, character growth, realism, characters without common sense, plots that do/don't work, mysteries that have too many red herrings or that don't make sense when revealed, plot holes, warnings of torture porn (where descriptions of torture are so overdone they seem to be the point of the story).... things that the summary doesn't include but other readers might want to know.

And I do value the "Did Not Finish" tags. I know some people say you shouldn't review a book unless you finish it, but I say that if a person has invested time in a book and can't finish it then that's a huge thing other readers need to know. Because even with a great cast and a great plot idea, if the author can't keep the reader interested then that says an awful lot about their skill.

When I Do Not Finish a book, I'll take a minute to decide if maybe I just wasn't in the mood and picked the wrong genre, have read so many that fit the same genre that even a good book would bore me, or if it was the book itself. If the first two, I'll put it aside to start again later. If the last, then I'll leave the DNF review, stating why, and move on.

When I find a reviewer I agree with, I tend to catch up with them and see what they recommend next.

[Cinisajoy]

I try to leave reviews on the did not finish books. Now I only do that on fiction books if there are so many errors that I cannot read the book.
Not if it was just my taste and the book didn't get along.
I am much harder on non-fiction books. Those I will point out errors, mistakes, etc. I have also been known to report the books to Amazon for blatant plagiarism.

Oh I just thought of another way to see if the author uses friends or fivver. Check the most helpful critical review to see how many unhelpful votes it has.

[barryem]

I'll read a few reviews on Amazon if I'm trying to decide if a book interests me. Usually if it has poor reviews, few stars, I stop looking further unless there's something that's especially interested me before that. If the stars say the reviews are generally favorable I'll skim a few till I find one or two that give me good information about the book.

I don't want to be told that the reviewer did or didn't the book, although why he did or didn't care for it might be useful. More than that I'm interested in descriptions of what the book is about and what it's like and what the writing is like.

I don't think of reviews as a particularly good way to decide about a book but the only other thing available is the book's description and I usually find that to be marketing hype and less than trustworthy. I look for the information from reviews I wish I could get in the description.

Barry

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Katie1

I don't review books. Wish Amazon would quit asking!
I don't read book reviews. EVERY time I read a Great review I find I cant Stand the book! I really hate it when the review gives away the Whole book! I stopped buying on of my short story series... All I had to do is follow the Reviews!

Amazon has no clue about meaningful reviews.

When I rated a book, I the got an expanded questionnaire .
I fired off a 'What criteria (metrics) do I use?" for these questions. (maybe a Professional reviewer might know this, but not me)

(I am an Electronics Tech by training. I deal in Volts, Amps, Ohms... . All have standards that allow comparison and repeat-ability. )

All I got back, the location of the 'review here' page

[Fbone]

I'll scan a few of the negative reviews to look for patterns such as typos, info dumps or cliff hangers. None of which I care for.

[Wearever]

I read reviews , look at the most negative first and then read the high rated ones. I don't want to read books with lots of foul language, or typo's. Oddly enough I also look at names of the main characters, if they all sound the same , I think there is a lack of imagination, or a formula type read. After reading the reviews, I'll read a sample to get a feel of the book. The sample can make or break the deal for me.

[4691mls]

I usually skim over the 5-star reviews. I tend to prefer 3-star reviews; those are often by people who will point out both positive and negative aspects of the book.

I will also check the one- and two-star reviews to see if they are all talking about the same problem, or if the issue they point out is something that matters to me.

Sometimes I think about joining Goodreads so I could write my own reviews, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I guess I would rather start reading the next book than stop to write about the one I just read.

[NickyWithNook]

If a negative reviews says that there didn't appear to be an editor, or if it is about any very specific issue, then I pay attention. If a negative review is because the book dealt with some controversial topic someone doesn't approve of, or because they expected it to be a different genre or something, or is very vague, then I ignore it.

[emoorman]

I am a former USAF pilot and later a working engineer. I review everything before buying or reading it, cars, books, tools, electronics, guns, you name it. It's just my nature.

Before electronic books, I always read the dust cover of hardbacks and the back cover summary of paperbacks. I do tend to love series of books, especially detective stories. It definitely cut down on books that were so bad I wanted to burn them. I can forgive a few technical errors, like calling a handgun a pistol on one page and a revolver on another, if the author can tell a good story. I also forgive spelling errors and the difference in English and American, which I rarely even notice.

On Amazon, the first thing I do for any shopping is check the reviews. If there are only a few, I don't trust them-they might be fixed. I scan a few 5-star reviews, and check the total percentage of 4 and 5-star reviews. I like this sum over 80%. Next, I read all the 1-stars and a few of the 2-stars. If the book seems really good, I add it to my wish list. As it percolates to the top of the list, I check the reviews again before I buy it. All this is excepted for my favorite authors, who I snap up quickly.

I guess I am fairly critical, since I have read most of my books 4 or 5 times. I'd rather read a good book again than read a poor new one. Thanks for listening.https://www2.mobileread.com/i/smiliestext/thankyou.gif