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How to Write a Fair Book Review

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Do you write book reviews? I write them on Goodreads, NetGalley for the advanced reader copies(ARC) that I get for honest reviews, and on my Instagram account. I sometimes leave reviews on Amazon too.

I've only ever written one bad review - bad as in I gave it 1 star. In the main I don't leave 1-3 star reviews because I assume that it's just not a book for me. The one negative review I did write was for something that should never have been published. There were continuity issues, poor copyediting, unrealistic characters and plot, and the dialogue was stilted and unrealistic. There was little positive you could say about the book. I only finished it because I was on holiday and had little else with me to read.

All the other reviews I give tend to be 4-5 star reviews because I'm selective in what I read. I look at the reviews other people leave and I find myself wondering why they written what they did. There are 1 star reviews where people comment that 'this just wasn't my kind of book' - er, well, then it's not a 1 star, is it? It's a poor choice! And then there's the reviews that don't tell me what the person thinks about the book, rather they tell me the story - oh come on! If I want to know the story I'll read it. And spoilers, really, did you have to give away the crucial twist so that it takes away the mystery of the first 200+ pages? Where's that face palm emoji?

How, then, do you write a fair book review? Here are my tips.

Let's start first with the things not to leave a review about:

  • If you found part way through that you chose a book that just isn't for you, don't blame the writer for that. Simply move on. Nothing to review here.
  • If you didn't finish, for whatever reason, that's not the writer's fault. Again, nothing to review.
  • If there was a problem with the delivery of the book, contact the seller. Delivery issues is not what reviews are for. When you leave a 1 star review for something that has nothing to do with the writer you are affecting their rating. Don't do that.
Ok, now let's look at the things to put in your review:
  • Did you enjoy the story? Say so. Include 3 things that you particularly liked. Did you connect with the main character of the story? Were you carried along with the pace? Was it written in a way that made you want to know more? Was it a page turner?
  • What do you think others will like about the book? Is it a love story that you can lose yourself in when you're sitting on the beach on holiday? Does the twist make you hold your breath? Are you willing the protagonist to defeat the demons (inner demons just as much as actual demons)?
  • Are you looking forward to reading more from this author?
  • Would you recommend the book to others? If so, what kind of genre does it fall into? People who love YA or romance novels are probably not going to enjoy a psychological thriller, and those who love historical fiction may not be so keen on sci-fi or fantasy.
What you can leave out of your review:
  • It's not necessary to tell people the number of pages in the book - there's enough on-line information to tell them this without you using it as a filler for your review,
  • If there's something in the book that you think others won't like (abortion, religion, murder, sexual abuse etc) it's not for you to decide for them that something will upset or offend them. My mum wouldn't read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine because someone had written in their review that it was about child sexual abuse. She won't believe me that it's not at all about that. As a result, she has missed out on reading a truly beautiful story. Leave others to decide to put a book down if it's not for them.
And finally, how long does a review need to be? In truth, as long as you want. However I find when I'm reading reviews that I generally only read the first paragraph or so. Which means that shorter reviews are maybe of more value. I tend to go for between 1 and 2 paragraphs. The better the book, the more likely I'll go into the second paragraph.
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