How to Write The Best Book Review

Posted on May 7, 2019 by

55 Comments

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Hello, Book Lovers!

Authors pour their heart, time, and effort into writing their book. They then spend hours searching and speaking to many publishers to find the best possible way to distribute their work without giving all of the profit to the publisher. Sometimes they publish independently!

The Author finally manages to publish his work, but no one knows how good the book is unless someone decides to press that star button or write something nice about it. This is the harsh reality of how things work.

Here is where a nicely written review comes in handy. The first thing you probably should know is that everyone is interested to see what you think. Hence, giving an honest and detailed review makes it clear for the buyers and provides constructive criticism to the writer.

Take Notes

When you decide to take on reviewing a book, the first thing you do is taking notes. Every chapter you read will leave an impression on you. It may give you certain feelings or have you question certain things. These are all excellent points you keep for when you decide to write the review.

If you wait until you finish the entire book and then start writing, you may miss certain parts of the book or not be able to give a fair judgment on the entirety of the work. However, if you give it a day and then read your notes, you are more likely to make a better judgment and better understand how good or bad the book really is.

Time to Review

First, do not give away the ending!

There are two kinds of reviews you can write:

A Descriptive Review

Aims for the purpose of the work and provides a description mentioning some passages from the text. Make sure the description is intriguing so that the reader will want to know more. Also, try talking about the character, theme, plot, style, setting, biography, and history of the work.

A Critical Review

Aims for knowing more about the author and their purpose in writing such a book. The book should represent what the author does or is about. This relativity between the author and their book is normally the case for all. However, there are times where they do not sync. In any case, if they do, then you have more to say. You have to be comfortable knowing the entire context, literary standard, and history of the genre of which the book stands before you can even consider basing any evaluation on the work.

Important note

The work content should talk about the things you liked and the things you thought could have been better. If you cannot give constructive criticism towards the book, you better not say anything.

Do not forget the Author has spent hours of time and money and his whole heart into the story. Your deconstructive criticism will only give false negative feedback on the book, and you potentially become a factor for a possible cause of a good book becoming underrated. I am sure many may disagree with me here, but I firmly believe that unless you do not have a really negative fact about the book, then you best not say anything at all.

Summary

When you wish to summarize, emphasize the good parts of the book rather than the bad. You have already stated the negative part, and there is best not to dwell on it too much. If you wish, you can consider rating the book based on how you liked or disliked the book; you can also suggest that the reader buy the book or not consider it at all.

Written by: Jeyran Main

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Category: My Articles, Writing & PublishingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

55 Comments on “How to Write The Best Book Review”

  3. Excellent advice. I learned a lot about the “nuts and bolts” of writing a good review. Thank you, Jeyran ,for taking your time to help all of us understand more about the review process.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      • Well, “Catch- 22” is a satirical novel by author Joseph Heller. It was probably published in the year 1961.
        Often cited as the first novel post world war II based on world war- II. It describes the paradoxical requirements in the military from which the cadets have no escape.

        Liked by 2 people

      • Now I know why I have not heard of it. Thank you for the compliment by the way. I will look into it for sure. Thank you for suggesting it.

        Liked by 2 people

  6. I personally believe it to be one of the finest novels (right next to Lord of the Rings). I am sure you’ll like it.
    Haha, thank you for the compliment. I find the name “boring bug” a bit unique.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  7. A good post. I have self published two books so far and am always grateful for lofty praise and uplifting critique. So, anyone that likes to read my books and review them, feel free. Just go to Amazon Prime and type in my name and…presto.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. Ooh, Jeyran, I like the graphic, colorful background here! Thanks so much for visiting me, and the follow.
    I thought it was so funny, to see this article, right after I had written my first review! Too bad I didn’t see this first!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      • You’re most welcome. It was the right moment too – I’m working on a review right now! đŸ™‚

        I saw that you did. Thank you so much. I’m sorry if my comment was rude, I only thought Rae deserved the recognition for her writing.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Not all ! it was rightfully said and I did go there and tell her how wonderful her article was. It is good to see you here again đŸ™‚

        Liked by 1 person

      • Thank you for understanding. I look forward to reading more of your reviews & tips. I read your “About Me” page – you have experience in professional content writing? Neat! Me too! đŸ™‚

        Liked by 1 person

      • I will check your website again soon. I look forward to read more for sure. It is really nice to meet you đŸ™‚

        Liked by 1 person

  14. Thanks so much for having a look at my blog and the follow! Your blog is really good. I learnt so much about writing a great review and your posts really help me decide what I want to read. Thanks so much.

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    Reply

  15. Your review of writing a good book review is very well detailed and important for all of us bloggers who do reviews need to know. I always give honest reviews myself. I had to open a new goodreads account so it says I read 2 books..in all honesty i have read books since 2012 and did all the yearly challenges. So I started over and 2 books are better than none considering I started in Oct 2016. I am a proud book blogger. Like YOU đŸ™‚

    Like

    Reply

    • I did look at your goodread and you are right it says two books in 2016 and I thought, surely that is mistaken. You can find all the books you read and mark them as read by putting the year you read them in. Tell me how that goes for you

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      Reply

      • Thanks Jeyran Main!! I like to get a fresh start in 2017. I will keep you posted. Although I had to leave IL to move to Ohio and all my books are in IL. I have to get to good will to get new books too. I love the hard copies best. xxoxo

        Like

  17. Pingback: How to Write The Best Review – Review Tales – A Personal & Sincere Review On Books Read

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