On writing negative reviews
Posted June 22, 2016
on:Hey blogger buddies – do you write negative reviews? And what I mean by a negative review isn’t “this book sucks”, it’s “this book didn’t work for me and let me tell you why”. A well written negative review tells you just as much information about the book about a positive review. When I write critical / negative reviews, it’s mostly to talk about why I bounced off a book, or why I though the book was problematic. Oftentimes, it’s a book that the majority of readers really enjoyed, perhaps the book even won a ton of awards, but really, really didn’t work for me. Any of my friends will tell you I’m not the kind of person to sugar coat. If I think something didn’t work on some level, I’m going to say so. If I was offended by something, or thought it was boring, or thought the POV switches weren’t clear, I’m going to say so. If a book made me, personally, feel like the world of that book is not a world I would be welcome in, I’m going to say that too.
I do not write negative reviews to dig at an author, or to convince others not to read that author’s books. I need to make that clear: it is a negative review of a book, not of an author or of their career. In fact, I’ve had people respond to my negative reviews with “that sounds like a book I’d like!”
I’m interested to know if my peers write negative reviews, and how you think about those reviews, because I’m in the process of writing a negative review right now. Many people have praised this particular new-ish novel, but I’m finding it predictable, and with a plot that moves forward solely by the power of “because of course it is” combined with characters that do willfully dumb things. (which will be further explained in the review)
Ok, so sound off in the comments, because I wanna know:
Bloggers: Do you write negative reviews? It that a different reviewing process than when you write a glowing review?
Writers: how do you react when you become aware of a negative review of your work?
It’s extra fun being me, because not only do I write negative reviews, but I then run into those authors at SFF Conventions! Fun! And by fun I mean quite awkward. Should “I’m going to meet this person!” affect how I review their books? Nope.
40 Responses to "On writing negative reviews"
What is the point of reviewing a book if you are not honest in whether it was able to draw you in as a reader? I blog to reflect on the my reader experiences, inspiring my non-SF readers to read SF. If I am disingenuous with a review my personal creative experience is tainted. Maybe it is easier as my blog doesn’t receive the traffic that of the blogs I read do. That being said, I did have one backlash to a negative review, the author banned me on twitter.
LikeLike
Good advice for me. I thought about how to write a negative review and I realize its best not to say a thing. Sometimes I don’t have a respond for the good either. I try to be positive or I’ll sink myself throwing negativity at someone.🍓
LikeLike
I try to review everything I read so inevitably there will be some negative reviews. In fact, even if I liked to book on the whole, I might note things that didn’t work for me. It doesn’t make sense to me to run a review blog and only post glowing reviews. I tend to ignore those reviewers because I can’t really develop a sense of what they like and what they don’t like and how close that is to my own taste. It makes their opinion essentially worthless to me.
I don’t think negative reviews are harder to write than positive ones. I go about writing them pretty much the same way. If it is overwhelmingly negative I might let it sit a day and go over it again to see if I supported my opinion properly and not made it personal towards the author. It’s the books that were okay but didn’t really impress you one way or the other that are hardest to review. I call them the ‘meh’ reviews. I tend to have very little to say on them.
LikeLike
Yes, I’ve written my share of negative reviews. It’s hard and I don’t like doing it, especially knowing that a book that is the product of an author blood, sweat, and tears. At the same time I also have to be honest and I won’t pretend I liked a book when I didn’t. When I first started blogging, I used to be a lot softer and pulled my punches, until I realized I wasn’t doing myself, the authors, or the readers any favors when I did that. Now I just write the truth of how I feel, but I also believe the importance of being polite and civil so I try to keep my criticism as constructive and positive as possible. Sometimes I’m horrified when I’m on Goodreads and see just how downright nasty and mean some reviewers are. Also, it’s one thing to talk about why the book didn’t work, but I’ll never find ad hominem attacks towards the authors themselves acceptable.
LikeLike
I struggle.. I find it difficult to write a bad review.. especially if I got the book for free. But, my time has value too.. and just the fact that I read a book.. and disliked it.. I will write a soft negative review. If it’s a book that a friend wrote.. I skip writing the negative review. Sometimes I will tell them it’s best not to ask me to review that particular book.. and yes.. I did read it… but, probably best I not review it.
LikeLike
I used to only review things I could recommend, but have included a few negative ones lately. Unfortunately, one of them was from a favorite author.
LikeLike
Yep, I write negative reviews if that’s my experience with the book. I don’t feel like there’s a lot of value in a person’s reviews if they only ever give high marks. I don’t think I’m harsh (I am in fact a total nicey-nice softie), but I try to be honest. OK, except for this one time when a scholar wrote a popular history of his field and shoved in every unsubstantiated rumor he’d ever heard. I was kind of a little harsh then.
A sensible author knows that the beloved baby book will not suit everyone. It’s hard to take those stings of negative reviews, but it comes with the territory.
LikeLike
[…] FRANK OR VITRIOLIC? the Little Red Reviewer asks a question to begin “On writing negative reviews” […]
LikeLike
I try to recommend good books, music CDs, and DVDs on my blog. Time is short so why waste time bashing inferior books. But, that being said, occasionally I’ll post a negative review simply as a warning. I also rate the books, music CDs, and movies I review with A, B, C, D, and F grades (I’m a college professor so that comes naturally for me).
LikeLike
1 | @lynnsbooks
June 22, 2016 at 6:38 am
I do write negative reviews – I think I’m probably still a bit ‘soft’ when I do so – but I’m not going to say I love a book if I didn’t. I don’t have that many negative reviews and people maybe think I’m a pushover in that respect but it’s simply that I no longer continue with the books I’m not enjoying and I don’t review a book if I don’t complete it – therefore less negative reviews. Every now and again I make myself finish a book I’m not loving – but frankly, that’s even worse because then I really do feel naffed off with ti if it didn’t redeem itself a little!
To be honest I always read negative reviews by others – it’s not going to sway the way I feel but it’s interesting to know. If I enjoyed a book I’m not going to change my mind because somebody else didn’t. We’re all different after all and it makes for more interesting discussion. That’s what I like about blogging – the discussions about books and seeing how people react differently to the same book.
I love your reviews – you don’t pull the punches but you always give your reasonings in an intelligent and well thought out way which is important I think. I don’t like some reviews that are just all about the sarcasm and that turn a bit nasty – there’s no need and in fact it’s a bit disrespectful (I think) after all, that’s somebody’s work there and just because you might not like it you don’t have to be mean. It must be awful for an author to read negative reviews but if they’re well constructed and enough people are making the same comments I like to think that those reviews are helpful.
Them’s my views.
Lynn 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person