Comments on: How to write a negative review

By: The Slowest Bookworm

The Slowest Bookworm — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:04:18 +0000

Hi, I was just clicking around the blogs when I came across your article. I am a ‘new blogger’ and I actually felt just a little hurt when I read that first paragraph. It came across that just because I am new to the blogging scene, I am not worthy, or any good at writing book reviews. I totally understand where you’re coming from with what you say about ratings, and I have seen many examples of bloggers who only ever give out 4 or 5 star ratings, but maybe it’s not just newer bloggers who are guilty of this?

Reading further into the post you’ve given some great pointers on how to go about writing a negative post and I think/hope that this is something I already do. My Goodreads page states that my average book rating is 3.59.

Thanks for a post that dragged me in enough to make me want to comment =)

By: Serena

Serena — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:57:32 +0000

I think honesty is important and I find that publicists prefer it.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 09 May 2010 04:24:04 +0000

I enjoyed reading this article and found myself agreeing wholeheartedly!

I don’t have a problem writing negative book reviews. In fact, I rather like them.

So far (!) I’ve only had one irate author comment on a negative review. I published her comment, but couldn’t be bothered replying. The book was extremely low quality, patronizing new age twaddle.

What irks me -as you’ve pointed- is when people DON’T have passion for what they’re writing about. If a book doesn’t move me in some way -if I can’t find something to wax lyrical about- then I don’t write a review. A boring, meh! review is as much a negative review because it’s going to put people to zzzzzzzzz sleep!

Thanks for the thought-provoking article!

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 02 May 2010 20:27:09 +0000

Honestly, I try to follow your formula whether I liked a good or not.

I know I do tend ot be overly positive, but that’s mainly because I chose my reading, so I tend toward stuff I think I will like. If I don’t like an author, I definitely don’t pick them up again.

By: Kay

Kay — Sun, 02 May 2010 13:19:01 +0000

I agree with your comments, but I will say that i rarely finish a book that isn’t working for me. It’s kind of my rule. Too many books, too little time. Don’t have to read something I’m not liking. Even a review copy. I would try to either pass the book along to someone else (such as my book groups) or I would email the person sending it to me with a bit of an explanation as to why I won’t be reviewing it. I do try to pick books that I think will appeal and turn down many that don’t seem like something I would enjoy. That being said, I don’t 100% love every book I review and I will probably include something like, “While I might have wished that the pace of the mystery was a little faster….” or somesuch. Otherwise, if I love a book, I say I love it. And if I say I love it, I mean it. That, in a nutshell, is why you won’t see a negative review on my blog, but I still feel it is an honest blog. Perhaps I should do some posts on DNF books, but I don’t choose to. At least not at this time. Thanks for a thought provoking topic!

By: Debbie's World of Books

Debbie's World of Books — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:53:55 +0000

I know some blogs do only review books they like. I try to review everything I read but I try to buy, borrow or accept for review books that sound like they are ones I would like. That said occassionally I do end up with books I dislike. When I review them I try to say why I didn’t like them. I rate on a scale of 1-5 and so far I think the lowest raiting I’ve given is a 2. Most fall along 3-4.

By: Gina

Gina — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:46:40 +0000

Honestly (no pun intended) I am in total agreement. I write negative reviews, but they are not purely negative. Regardless of the book, if you are going to take the time to review it in the first place, there had to be some redeeming quality, some shiny pearl of hope that you can make reference to within it’s pages. After all, you are writing your opinion about what you read and really…you thought every second of every book was fantasical? Umm..okay, if so great…but really, is that your final answer? Case in point, I have a few (yes, more than 1) coming up this week that I wasn’t in love with. It doesn’t mean I desicrated them by any means, but I did discuss the story, the good, and the not so good. From what I’ve seen so far, authors, publishers and readers respect your opinion more if you are honest than if you make everything into rainbows and sunshine. (sorry for the mini-rant…I get wordy at times) ^_^

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:02:13 +0000

I have more positive reviews than negative reviews because I’m becoming a better judge of books I think I will like. But even with the books I enjoy, there still might be a little something that didn’t work for me, and I’ll talk about it. When it comes to a book I didn’t like at all, I usually try to find something good about it, but there definitely is a way to say the book wasn’t my cup of tea without being rude about it.

By: heidenkind

heidenkind — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:56:06 +0000

The only books I don’t review are ones I didn’t finish, because I feel that’s unfair. But even those I sometimes write about (although they are NOT reviews :D).

The vast majority of books I read get three stars. It always amazes me when people are like, “Oh, I’m sorry you did like it.” Er, what? I gave it three stars; that means I did like it. I don’t know why everything has to be all gushy to translate into a “like.”

Anyway, if you’re looking for a bunch of gushy, positive reviews, my blog is definitely not the place to go. :)

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:42:33 +0000

A lot of the bloggers I read have been saying that they don’t write negative reviews because a) they don’t finish books they don’t like and/or b) they don’t want to deal with the author or the fan fallout from a bad review. I’ve been thinking about this a lot for the past six months. One blogger I had a lot of respect for had a post about how she wouldn’t finish a book she didn’t like, and so for a while I didn’t want to argue directly with her. Now she’s no longer blogging and I’m posting my thoughts about negative reviews over at Necromancy Never Pays on Thursday of this week.