Anyone else think sometimes reviews give too much of the plot away?
Anyone else think sometimes reviews give too much of the plot away?
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They can do. Really, we don’t want to know what happens, we want to know if you thought it was good, or bad, and why.
@Kath I agree. I don’t like to read a review that writes about the plot. Some things may happen early in the book , but I want to discover that for myself.
Absolutely they do. To a degree sometimes that one has to question the motives.
Yes. Drives me nuts! And I woke up to a 1* for The Feud this morning because I wrote in present tense!!! Grrr. x
@Mandy That doesn’t seem fair!
@Susan Nope. I commented. I don’t normally but that was taking the you know what!
@Mandy In my opinion it doesn’t warrant a 1star rating.
@Susan Thanks, Susan. This person never even read past the second page.
I must admit that I dont like books written in the present tense so the review would have been helpful to me.
@Neil But that’s why the Look Inside facility is there. So you can see such things. So it would seem to be unfair to buy a book, not having checked it out, and then post a bad review about it based on personal taste. Unless for some reason it’s not clear from the Look Inside that this is the case @Mandy?
I think that is why the reviews are there. To me it’s perfectly acceptable to post a one star review for a book written in the present tense. I would rather read reviews than use the look inside. Reviews also give readers the opportunity to say if we don’t like books written in this style. If another reader likes it then they will ignore the review anyway.
When I do a review I try not to mention plot too much
I don’t read reviews. I read a lot of shit books ?
Yes. Read a few lately that made me feel I’d read the bloody book so didn’t bother buying them.
@Louise . I don’t often read reviews before I’ve read a book, but that would definitely put me off.
And when they give the plot twist away- that’s just cruel.
So many reviews are really a synopsis – and some of the professional reviewers are as guilty of that as the amazon/goodreads readers variety
Yes, drives me bonkers. I write very short reviews, rarely more than a paragraph of just several sentences. ?
@Andi I try not to mention plot
@Susan, definitely no spoilers!
Yes, sometimes. I made the mistake of looking at reviews for a book yesterday and it said “I was disappointed that my favourite character X dies”. And the character was named. That’s one book I won’t be downloading.
@Sheila that’s not a good review.
I read a review on NetGalley a few weeks ago. The person obviously didn’t enjoy the book. Her last sentence named the murderer and said oops is that a spoiler. I definitely think it was intentionally. I reported it to NetGalley and they removed it x
@Audrey That is so unfair. Pleased it was removed. I can’t understand why reviewers do this.
@Susan it is unfair and nasty
@Audrey Obviously the reviewer knew it was a spoiler. Shocking!
It’s good that NG removed it. ‘zon is very lax about doing the same.
I rarely do reviews as like any other opinion its subjective, the most I like to hear is good plot/characters/ good twist ect…
@Kate I don’t even want to know about a twist ?
don’t tell me about a twist l like to get to the end and think to myself well I was not expecting that!
Do not get this rant started … you do not want to start the rant on this… 🙂
Wiki says it all.
Some do, yes. I try really hard to never go past anything that is stated in the blurb and would never ever give away the ending. Sometimes you are left with not much you can say apart from concentrating on the quality of the writing and the characters. Having said that, even a short review is really important to the author and much better than nothing at all! 🙂
^^ This! My rule of thumb is never to give away anything which would spoil another reader’s enjoyment but generally, I tend to write more for a lower star to make it clear that it’s just IMHO so that a reviewer can see if the things I didn’t like are the very things which would appeal to them.
@Alyson I enjoy your reviews
Thank you Susan! That means a lot x. It’s a tough one this, we complain when people don’t leave reviews but then some people just get it wrong! 🙂
For me the worst reviews are ‘1-star Hated it’. Why?? It’s fine to hate a book but why not explain a few reasons? Because your ‘hate’ could be just what someone else it looking for.
@Susan Agreed – great reviews.
I think blurbs are worse culprits actually, but I do hate when reviews contain much more than the hook…
You’re presumably using the US meaning for blurb rather than the UK one? UK blurbs don’t contain spoilers 🙂
Yes . it’s so hard though sometimes to give a good review when there’s so much you want to say but can’t
What annoys me is when people just put in a review what it already tells you in the synopsis.
Annoys me too – no mention of what they liked or didn’t like about it!
@Rona exactly ? I always put in my reviews what I liked. P.S. enjoy your books too ?
No x
yes I stop reading them for that reason and those that carry the blurb I can read that for myself
a review is just your thoughts on what you have just read nothing to deep just wether you enjoyed the book
some people think it is an opportunity to write the synopsis of the novel, spoilers included. very irritating.
I have a rule that I mention nothing in the review that happens in the last 50% of the book or would give the plot away if it happens in the first 50%. I’ve fallen fowl of reading reviews that have given too much away and always avoid doing it.
why such in depth reviews though I don’t understand I don’t really care about the quality of the writing and as for the characters I prefer to find out about them as I read the book
Yep … never understood why a reviewer would ever do this 🙁
Yes I do, I am always very careful when reviewing a book to not give away anything that might reveal too much to a potential new readerof that book.
Your reviews are billirant 😉
@Lesley Well thank you my esteemed Leader and I hope you are feeling better today, I was concerned about you yesterday.
@Lesley Thank you. Still feeling as if I could make a hibernating dormouse look like an insomniac, but I’ll get there 😉
@Lesley I do sincerely hope that you are as fit as a flea very soon X
@Lesley You only want me for my Ted 😉
@Lesley Oooh low blow even if correct hahaaa
Yes! Why people think they need to regurgitate any of the plot is beyond me – just tell us how it made you feel!
Exactly, concise, short and to the point and no spoiler’s!
@Lesley So few actually do this!
@Rona I think it’s because some have a rather inflated idea of themselves as serious critics. I don’t want a professional review, I want some one like me, an ordinary person who has read a book and tells me why they personally like it and not the entire plot!
@Lesley Absolutely agree with that. They are the invaluable ones, the ones which actually help authors the most.
@Rona Members reviews are ideal for book recommendations.
@Rona you seem very critical of reviewers, maybe you should ask for no reviews on your books???
My reviews are short and straight to the point . Why I liked it and finished
I’ll take a slightly different view here. I agree that a review should not spoil anything for the reader (without clear warnings first, and then only if it’s critical to the review — e.g., if the ending of the book leaves everything unresolved and waiting for the next book, it’s appropriate to tell a potential reader what they are getting themselves into). But, often the basic plot of the book is not clear from the book jacket blurb and it’s appropriate to tell the potential reader something that will help make an informed decision about whether to buy/read. I recently reviewed a book that, if you just read the blurb, you would think was about a baseball player and his personal struggle to succeed. But, the baseball part of the book (first half) was just the set-up for the real story, which involved the young man being accused of murder and then the investigation, trial, conviction, and imprisonment of the kid and the toll that whole series of events had on him and his family. I would not spoil the ending, but the potential reader has a right to know something about what the book is really about.
Also, a review that tells me something about the basic plot that is not clear from the blurb makes me believe that the reviewer really read the book and is not just throwing up a meaningless positive review.
Sorry Kevin I disagree, if the book takes a certain turn then that is for me to find out because I may like the turn it has taken and may even enjoy the book more because of it.
I understand and can agree to disagree. As long as there’s no actual spoiler, I think it’s fair.
Absolutely. To be honest, it has stopped be buying a book before and that is one of the reasons why I don’t read reviews anymore. So annoying. Why people do this is beyond me.
I have absolutely no interest in reading other people’s book reviews – I prefer to read the books I want to read, that I’ve bought to enjoy and just do so .. We all like different things, so why would I want some ‘strangers’ opinion influencing mine ?? ??
I only review my reads on GR, and this is usually just a few sentences for me to look back on later – what did I love ?? what did I hate ?? do I want to read more by the Author ??
The more time spent reading reviews about whether you should read a book, means less time for actually reading the book .. ?
Exactly it is your decision.
I read lots of reviews out of interest. Nobody’s opinion influences me. Old enough to know my own mind 😉
Reviews are like film trailers sometimes. They give too much away.
I’m exceptionally careful. I do mini overview of the book. Literally the basics.
Then I talk about how I liked the plot, characters, etc etc
I don’t do spoilers or giving anything away if I can help it etc.
And it’s just my opinion. X
Yes. Sometimes I feel the story has been told, and I no longer need to buy the book.
With films totally x
Yes. I don’t read long reviews on Goodreads for that very reason.
I rarely read them…
Yes, I watch carefully what I put in my reviews
Very often x
Shouldn’t need to write the book. That’s what the author is for. It’s just for an opinion on whether you enjoyed it or not. Would you recommend or buy more from this author. Whether it reached you emotionally/intelligently etc. It annoys me when people ruin it before you start.
I try not to give too much away in my reviews and definitely never the ‘twist’ etc
Of course its perfectly acceptable to write about how you felt the characters were portrayed and how the writing style was etc
Authors generally tell us they want reviews and how much they help, the people on this thread vehemently against reviews is no problem
though, just don’t read them!!!!
@Mark spot on xxx
Totally agree Mark. I write a lot of reviews to help the authors but I can’t say I read that many! 🙂
i cant understand the need to help the authors by going in depth about the characters especially as if you have chosen to read that book you already going to know to much about the characters ! i like to read myself how each character develops through the book,
I usually write a line, maybe 2 about the characters at most, usually on how easy they are to ‘get to know’ and if I loved them or not and how realistic I found them but not a deep look at them
it really spoils it for me if i know to much about the book and the characters before i had a chance to read and discover for myself
kevin why is it appropiate to let fellow readers know what they getting into most us choose books as a stand alone or a series and if we choose a series we already know there will be carry over issues
Absolutely. I don’t read reviews on books I want to read until after I have read them. Because usually they give away the whole plot.
@Storm then your reading the wrong reviews!!!
I try really hard not to give much of the plot away, I think I need to check out other people’s first to see how they write an interesting and adequate review without doing so xxx