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Originally Posted by jusmee
eh? Then they are faulty this time. Just what personal prejudice did I display? I can't believe I am prejudiced because I want to know a bit more info about the item I might intend to purchase!
Sometimes you might feel like trying a new author yourself - or even a book not reviewed elsewhere. So, when looking at the new book on one of these web sites, how do you know it's not just a short story instead of a complete novel?
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Mandatory is not among my favourite words. It reeks of someone trying to force their opinions and world view on others. Try reading "it should be mandatory for book sites to ..." as compared to "I would like book sites to ...". To me, there is a major difference in the attitudes expressed by those two sentence fragments. To you, it would appear to be trivial.
As for the length of a story? You have obviously mistaken me for someone who cares about the length of a story. I've been a science fiction/fantasy reader for many years. Those years included having subscriptions to Analog, Galaxy and the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy back when print editions were the only portable way to read books (unless you count microfilm/microfiche as portable). This may give you a gentle hint that I like short stories, novellas and their ilk. There are many authors whose work I admire who seldom wrote anything longer than a short story.
I've also read books that came highly recommended but ended with me agreeing with a book review by Dorothy Parker to the effect ""This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." There were some other books that would have done better entered in the Bulwer-Lytton contest. Other books that should have been left to molder on the slush pile.
Again, these comments are my personal opinions which I have no difficulty not mistaking for holy writ -- unless of course, the holy writ is "The Holy Book of Universal Truth and other humorous anecdotes".
To get somewhat back on the topic of this thread -- free Kobo books, wasn't it? -- Kobo does offer previews which you can download and read using either the desktop app or your reader. The last preview I looked at had the full table of contents so a good guess at the length could be made.
Regards,
David