Writing book reviews isn’t always as easy as some people think.
Sometimes you read a book and you find it quite hard to articulate why you loved that book or maybe why ypu really didn’t enjoy the book.
When writing my reviews, I always try and think of a few different categories that help me get down on the keyboard what I enjoyed about the book.
Even then, sometimes, it may not make obvious sense as to why I in fact loved the book, but at least I was able to articulate easier what I did in fact enjoy.
Therefore, I thought I’d write down some notes on what I try to remember to write about whenever I’m trying to flesh out a review.
I don’t actually write full book reviews any more but I may still pick up the odd thing to review.
To help make it easier, as this is a blog, I’ve broken the list down into ten easy sub titles so you can jump to whichever tips you think are most relevant to you. Maybe you often forget to describe the characters, maybe you’re struggling to work out what yo enjoyed about the plot.
I hope the list below helps you flesh out your book review and write a review that helps you better articulate why you despised or enjoyed a book.
1. Your emotional response to the book
One of the biggest hooks for a book for me is the emotional response I have from it. There are quite a few books out there that are often considered great simply because the author manages to touch on the reader’s emotions.
Think back to when you were reading the book, was there a moment where you laughed or where you found yourself welling up because of what was happening? Consider this and whether it was emotional because of your own experiences (so others may not find it quite so emotional) or whether it was because the characters were great or the plot was deep etc.
2. Whether the characters had good personalities
A big killer for me can be when the plot of a book is really imaginative but the characters who take you through the plot are incredibly one-dimensional.
Did the character make you laugh? Did they say something that resonated with you? And then, something I always think about is how realistic the character was. If they seem always villainous or always happy and perfect, I struggle to think of them as real. However, if they learn, change and make mistakes every now and then, it makes them so much more believable as a character.
3. Did the plot keep you engaged?
Was there a moment where you were kind of skimming the book because what you were reading about wasn’t that interesting?
Quite a large portion of books have to have slower moments in them to allow for character building or to allow for some pacing control. However, I have read books in the past where the slower, quieter moments were incredibly brief and these books were incredibly enjoyable.
Additionally, just because those moments aren’t all action, doesn’t mean they can’t be fun or enjoyable. It could just be a great conversation between two characters, it could be the plot slowing to allow for something else interesting to happen soon. Either way, it’s worth considering how much of your time spent reading you spent waiting for something interesting to happen.
4. Was the pacing consistent throughout?
When reading, people often talk about the “pacing” of a book. The pacing refers to the speed with which the story is progressing. For example, you could have 50 pages of a grand battle with lots of deaths and then 100 pages of just characters talking without really progressing the plot, this would be a change in “pace”.
So when reading a book, it’s worth considering whether the pacing aggected the way you felt about it. Did you feel like it started really slowly – nothing interesting seemed to happen for a hundred pages or so and then thigns started to pick up for example?
It is worth noting that different readers have different tolerances of pacing and different genres of books contain different pacing. Thrillers for example are often short, snappy and filled with tense and action-packed moments. Fantasy books are a combination of action and fast-paced scenes mixed with slower travel or politics scenes.
You may also, as I mentioned, just enjoy different pacing to people. Some people may read books for the action, others may read them for the prose, decide this in your reviews.
5. Was the writing of a high quality?
Now, you may not be someone that can really depict good or bad writing, so don’t worry too much about whether you believe the writing was good or not.
Some quick wins for me when I’m deciding if a book was well written or not is that it avoids using cringey one liners, cliche lines from every American film or it repeats itself multiple ways to fill space. Sometimes this is because of poor editing, but it can sometimes just be poor writing.
Some signs I believe a book is written well are the use of a strong vocabulary to describe a situation or feeling that you yourself would have struggled to articulate or the fact the book is flowing really nicely despite not a lot of action happening.
6. Was the dialogue believable?
This is loosely along the lines of writing too, but I mentioned “cringey one liners” in the text itself but what about when people are speaking to one another?
Does their conversation read like a real conversation would sound in real life? Are they using the more formal “we’re” instead of “we are” like someone would in real life? Are they saying cringey one liners like “just you wait” or “one day you’ll pay” or things like this that make you think “no one actually says that in real life”?
If these things are happening, it can be a real turn off and can often make you unable to connect to the characters.
7. Was the ending satisfying?
Sometimes the final 100-150 pages of a book completely define the book and can flip your negative opinion into a positive one or vice versa, so let people know this.
Too often books are written off because the author decided to start the book quite slowly (pacing) introducing characters, building an understanding of them and the world before the actual action and plot properly gets going.
I always try to finish a novel because I’ve had a lot of experiences where those last chapters or so are the reason I loved the book – it tied it all up nicely or the clever twist just hits right. So make sure to let people know if the ending was the decider for you.
8. Who might enjoy the book?
I like to think that makes book reviews respectful is that the reader of the review needs to understand that if, despite the review getting a good or a bad score, this book is for them or not.
So what I try to do in my reviews is a “if you enjoy… then you might enjoy this book” and include a book example or some of the themes in the book. This way, you give people a greater understanding of the book and a more personalised review, allowing them to decides for themselves if it’s for them or not.
9. Were there any underlying themes?
Something definitely worth considering when summing up your thoughts on a book are whether there were any themes covered in the book. If it’s a negative theme, this could lead you on to considering what trigger warnings you may need to let people know about if they’re going to read the book.
The book could be telling a tale of racism or inclusion or it could be political or some other more niche message. It’s always worth considering talking about these in your reviews but don’t feel compelled to as it may just open a can of worms that you don’t want to bother getting into.
Remember, reading books is a hobby, not a chance for everyone to voice their aggressive views.
10. Note why your opinion may differ from others
And then finally, it’s always worth trying to look at the book from somebody else’s point of view. Yes, you may have some strong feelings about the book, but remember that there are people out there who will have almost completely opposite views to you and so consider these in your review.
When writing your summary, remember to give your opinion but also note why someone may have a different experience reading the book. It’s one of the hardest things to do when reviewing a book – see the book from someone else’s point of view. But in showing people that you’ve considered other views, you’re showing your opinion is based on your view only and isn’t fact.
Round up
So there you have it, there are ten tips to help you when writing your book reviews.
If you’re just getting into writing book reviews or you’re someone who’s been doing it for a while and just want to see what other people do when they review books, I hope you’ve managed to pick something up from this list.
Remember – this isn’t the be all and end all of review tips – there will be far more out there and many will be far better, but these are things I try to remember to include or look to when I’m struggling to flesh out my thoughts, so I thought I’d put them down in a very rare blog post.
Let me know if you have tips for reviewing books too – what do you like to cover in your book reviews? What’s something crucial that I’ve missed that you like to see when reading other reviews?
Let me know in the comments below or by finding me on social media and messaging me (@lukesblog1 on all platforms).
