MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Book reviews for fiction - do you read them? What do you look for in a review?

Atunah · 01-16-2016, 09:29 AM

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.

01-16-2016, 09:29 AM	#6
Atunah Wizard Posts: 1,817 Karma: 23400001 Join Date: May 2012 Location: USA Device: K1/K3/BasicK Voyage/Oasis1/Oasis3	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.