How to Write a Bad Review
WWW # 99 How to Write a Bad Review
Wednesday Writing Weekly #99: How to Give a Book a Bad Review
If you are a reader or a consumer of any kind of entertainment, you know there is the good, the bad, and the ugly in all forms of media. When it comes to books, I enjoy writing reviews to catalogue my experiences as a reader. Because of this, reviews—while they do help and impact an author and their book’s success—are the readers’ space.
I’m sure we love singing praises of our favorite books, but what happens when you don’t like a book? You never have to write a review and might want to skip one you don’t like but just like critiquing any work, there is an art to writing the big bad negative review.
What is the Purpose of Bad Reviews?
A bad review—not slander, not a “review” to make fun of something—is important to let interested audiences know what they might find in a product. I support fair and honest reviews. If you give a book a chance and want to voice why it didn’t fit your taste or was not what you expected, that is important!
While bad reviews can hurt an author’s sales, it is not on the back of the readers to prevent or reverse this. The book itself can only do this. Also, from a reader’s shoes, if I were to pick up a 5-star rated book with hundreds of raving reviews only to find out it was horribly written… I would feel quite betrayed and even worse, I would never pick up that author again.
An Example of a Bad Review
Whenever I write a review about a book I did not like, I try to think of two things. First, did I not like it because of my personal tastes? If so, what did the book do well? Second, did I not like it because something about the craft itself was not up to my standard, seemed to need more work, or were there any technical or story-planning issues? I treat my reviews the same way I would edit a story. If something is wrong, what do I advise instead? Have I thought about the author’s intent and what they were trying to convey?
To give you an example, here is a bad review I wrote recently for the new In the Name of Honor (Vows & Valor, #1) by Courtney and Clarke Collins. This book was marketed as an adult fantasy with romance and many adventures but what I read instead was a bland (questionably YA) reproduction of too many fantasies I’ve read before.
Review:
𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 & 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
This was a patchwork of many fantasies I have already read. Beat for beat, my mind was finishing the sentences I was reading as it predictably taped together what I’d expect.
⭐ ⭐/5 stars
In this genre, many readers love fantasy stories with your favorite themes like scenes in taverns, fancy meals, extravagant dances, every monster/ magic race having a presence, a FMC talented at archery, or dreaming about being a knight… I understand those are expectations, but they were listed in the story like they were checking boxes rather than being immersive or transformative. Readers seeking familiarity may enjoy this while I prefer new and unexpected elements, so this one wasn’t for me. But I don’t want my review to turn anyone away.
While I’m not feeling intrigued or necessarily drawn in, I can only imagine this was a labor of love for the genre. All these bits and pieces come from other stories and for some, there’s comfort in that.
👑
The villains were cool and scary, but I lost interest in their POV chapters. To me, this breaks the tension in the story. I’d rather be guessing what they are up to.
The descriptions felt uneven. There were detailed bursts describing one thing and then flying past new characters and locations with hardly any detail. There were so many places, it felt like not enough time was spent developing the story (beyond one adventure to the next) or characters.
The romance was also uninteresting. It seemed like they only liked each other due to their proximity. It was suddenly there without enough banter, flirting, or shown (not told!) feelings. Overall, it was rather stiff.
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:
👑 Roaming Adventures
👑 Multiple POVS
👑 Goblins, Giants, Dwarves, Dragons… oh my!
👑 Knights & Royalty
👑 Fights-back FMC
This is my honest review in exchange for a NetGalley ARC. Thank you!
How to Write a Bad Review Tips & Thoughts
As you can see in my review above, I practice one major rule: I keep the author in mind. Reviews are for readers, but I follow the rule where if I share a bad review online, I do not directly tag the author. If my review is negative, I present suggestions and try to understand where the author is coming from instead of tearing them down. This is not something you need to do but it is what I do as a writer who knows I would hope for reviews like this in the future, rather than the troll-like “you suck!” kind of reviews.
With these examples in mind, here are some things you can think about when you write a bad review:
Do not use insults, name-calling, or swearing toward the author.
Books with content you do not like might not be your taste. If something upsetting happens in a book, do not associate it with the author’s personal actions.
Reflect on “Did I just not like it personally” versus “Was this actually bad?”
Think, “If I was this author, what would help me?”
No personal attacks or threats.
Pretend you are reviewing a friend’s paper or story. How would you explain the parts you do not like?
Now, when you want to list problems with a book, this is important to readers because we will want to know what to expect. Wording is important here. You don’t want to insult the author and then list what you don’t like because this will erode fellow reader’s trust in your review. If I see an angry, violent review that was crazily written… I’ll scroll past and assume it is a troll post. But if you take the time to clearly express the problems you found in a book, that can be very helpful to someone trying to decide whether they should read it or not.
Simply, there are so many books and authors in the world. Honest reviews are a big help when navigating what to read next. Just remember, authors are people like you and me. bullying-behavior is never acceptable.
Conclusion
If you go onto Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or onto any other reviewing platform and catalog for books, you will find that every book has both good and bad reviews no matter what. A much loved book with thousands of reviews is always going to have bad ones too. I personally peruse the one-star reviews of popular books to get a good giggle now and then but when I am considering buying a new book, I take reviews seriously. I’m more likely to trust a well-written and thought out two- or three-star review over a gushing five-star review. Something one reader doesn’t like might be my cup of tea. And some honest reviews can turn me away from a book as they allow me to get a glimpse of what I can expect between the pages.