Writing book reviews...

[Rysabi]

I'm late to the game and just now joined Goodreads. I like reading so I figured, why not?
Anyway, how do you write good book reviews? I have never done it before.
Gimme tips. sweatdrop

I toyed around with posting in the book forum but I like sticking to my guilds lol.

In case anyone is wondering I read a lot of children's picture books, YA, historical fiction, trashy romance, and occult stuff.

 

[sylphh-ie]

I don't write book reviews unfortunately but I read Goodreads reviews often when hunting down potential new books so I may be able to give some input smile
My ideal review would include:

1) A short beginning paragraph/few sentences to describe the overall impression of the book. Maybe include a reason why you picked the book in the first place and whether it met your expectations (have you read from this author before?). Some people also include a favourite quote before they start writing their review. Or if you prefer, you could dedicate a section of favourite quotes later on!

2) Stuff from the book which was impressive/disappointing. This can cover writing style (e.g. describing scenes, dialogue), plot (e.g. pacing), characters (e.g. the ones which gave you the biggest impression, interesting relationship dynamics), major themes, worldbuilding, etc.

3) Any big reasons why the book may not be for them? This can include major trigger warnings and stuff the author significantly falls short on

- Optional: Any alternative books you recommend that is like the one you are reviewing?

Conciseness and not repeating yourself are important too. This may be very difficult but not revealing any spoilers is a bonus for me. If you decide to include spoilers however, Goodreads allows you to filter out portions of text with formatting (seen in the 'Formatting tips' option). I cannot guarantee that these tips will give you a good review but I hope this helps xp

Edit: I just saw the age of this thread emotion_facepalm If people aren't looking for book reviewing tips anymore then I apologise lol emotion_skull I'm quite new to Gaia. I'll keep these as notes for myself though