Okay, book reviews -

Who writes 'em? Any particular place you picked up the knack? Helpful resources you can share? Which leads me to ...

How do I write 'em? I'm going to start writing reviews of the comics, trades and graphic novels I read, and not really sure of what I'm doing. Are there common elements I should always have? Are there things I should watch to avoid? What sort of detail do you like to see in the reviews you read? Which leads me to ...

Who reads 'em? Any particular reviewers you read regularly (online)? I know my first step ought to be to read lots of reviews, then start writing my own, but time being what it is these days, I'll have to settle for reading when I can and writing as I go along.

I put my first review up just a bit ago. I'd appreciate any comments you might have to the review (and the book, if you ever get around to reading it - it's a great read).

Okay, I'm going to be mean and nasty, just like they were to me when I started writing.
I will also treat this as a review that wants to be published, rather than a journal entry. Okay? You're being judged by professional standards.

As you said yourself, this is not bad. You've got a good grasp of the elements you can use in a review, like the shopping list at the beginning of what the book contains, or the style description. Your own style is fine, too.

However you're making the classic mistakes of the unpracticed. You're not helping the reader decide, you're putting yourself into too much focus and you're (excuse me) telling, not showing.

1) Consider who you are adressing and what for. A classic review is adressed to the reader in order to help him decide whether he wants to read this book or not. At the moment, this is not helping me decide. It is merely the (well worded) ramblings of an enthusiast.

2) The first, and absolutely necessary component is therefore a synopsis of the story. When you start writing, it's probably easiest to get that over with right at the beginning of your review, later you can experiment.

3) So at the beginning: Forget the "I did this and I think that" parts. You can use those once you've got more practice and know how to employ them judiciously to make the book stand out more clearly. At the moment, you're just distracting us from the book with your personal details.

4) You could for instance start with (and I'm just rambling here): "Is Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele's "The Surrogates" is a sci-fi-cop story? Yes, and an excellent one, but it is also much more: Philosophical diatribe, visionary excess, (whatever)." Then go on with the narrative: "As the story opens, we find our hero *whatever his name is* doing *whatever*. As it progresses, he is sucked more and more into *etc. etc.*"
(That sounds awfully pedestrian, but that's the structure I would suggest, though not the words.)

5) Do not explain yourself. Nobody wants to hear that you're not an artist or a critic. You're distracting.

6) Don't tell people what they'll see in the book. Give them examples. Everything that does not give me a clear idea but only piques my interest, you hope, is not good enough. "We begin to realize what it means for our lives to be lived through surrogates." Well, what does it mean? What kinds of things happen to show what this means? This would be a good time to illustrate it with an example. Give us an example how someone's life is impacted by having a surrogate.
This makes the reader arrive at ideas himself. You won't be telling him what he will be reading, you'll be giving him an appetizer and he'll come back wanting more and wanting to read the book. Does that make sense?

6) Also, go easy on the description of style. This is because expressions like *edgy feel* and *futuristic* and *raw* are highly subjective descriptions. They don't tell me very much as a reader. Try to keep that short. YOU think you've described what the style is like perfectly, but for many people it's going to leave them with a mere blurry impression.
You could also quote from the book to illustrate what you mean with "raw", for instance.

The last paragraph, btw. is really good. It's a perfect end to a review.
It's the beginning that needs a killer intro, and then the bit in the middle needs more focus, like I've said above.
(Also, remember that brevity is the soul of lingerie...)

I've just thought about what reviews I really like, and this is my favourite reviewer, albeit a reviewer of films. Maybe that'll help.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: His Noodle Girl,