There are plenty of reasons to learn how to write a great book review: to help readers find hidden gems, authors sell more copies, or help surface stories and ideas relevant to the conversation.
First and foremost, however, a good review should help readers figure out whether or not they should read a book. In other words, is a book worth their time and attention? As a reviewer, your job is to give the readers a taste of the story and the reading experience. However, that’s no easy feat. Many reviews end up being too detailed, too dry, or too dull.
How do you consistently write reviews that readers will find helpful? I’ve got five tips to help you write first-rate book reviews, providing examples of how other reviewers have applied them. Let’s dive in.
1. Talk about emotions
Humans connect through emotions. The best way to “sell a book” is to let the readers know how you felt while reading it. You can achieve that by sharing specific emotions and physical reactions you had, or what character and parts of the story captivated you the most.
Emily May’s review of The Poppy War is a great example. She starts with a “Holy hell, what did I just read??” which signals emotional turmoil. She describes the book as one that “demands that you sit on the edge of your seat for every horrific, nail-biting moment of it.”
Then she writes, “I cared so deeply about the characters that the action scenes were extremely tense and terrifying.” “I feel like my heart was pounding for the majority of this fantastic story.”
2. Keep the reader curious
Spoiler alert: there should be no spoilers. A great book review gives an overarching idea of the character and the story, never revealing too much. There are a few ways you can achieve that:
- Introduce the main character. What do they want?
- Get to the inciting incident. What kind of journey will they get into?
- Highlight intriguing characters. A mentor, enemy, or an ally.
- Hint at unexpected resolutions. Keep the reader curious.
Let’s look at Emily W. Thompson’s review of The Crossing. First, she sets the stage: a heartbroken young man finds himself on a road trip across America. Then she mentions a few unique characters (e.g., The Duke, “a throwback to another time, a man without a cell phone who reads Sartre and sleeps under the stars.”)
Finally, she teases the reader by hinting at an unexpected turning of events. It’s just enough to get you more familiar with the book but still excited about it.
3. Critique the craft objectively
Honesty is a crucial ingredient of a great book review. Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts for fear of hurting someone’s feelings. However, do it respectfully and as objectively as possible.
Highlight both the story elements you loved and those that made you struggle. A review that features both the strengths and weaknesses of a book will feel more trustworthy, especially when it comes to literary fiction, where craft issues are the most important.
Mith’s review of The Casual Vacancy is a great example. She describes the characterization as “mind-blowing” and “so very real”. However, she also argues that “the biggest strength of the book is also, unfortunately, its biggest weakness. The setting up of the characters and their lives just takes too long. [..] I was plodding along until I was so caught up that I couldn’t put the book down.”
4. Address the reader’s expectations
Let’s be honest, sometimes we approach a book with a big bag of expectations. Maybe we’ve heard mixed things about it; maybe it’s the final installment of a trilogy we were waiting for; maybe it’s just got an intriguing cover design.
Like anything else in life, when we set incorrect expectations about a book we can ruin our experience of it. As a reviewer, you should help readers match their expectations to the “reality” of the book – whether positively or negatively.
You can share:
- What expectations you had before reading. What were you excited about?
- Why you had them in the first place. Why did you expect that?
- The actual reading experience. Were they met or not?
For example, In her review of Dark Witch, Marina tells how excited she was about the book being staged in Ireland and how much she loved a previous trilogy by the same author. She also expected a specific type of romance (“I was waiting for a “destiny” love story, star crossed lovers…”) but she was disappointed (“the author delivered a run of the mill romance.” “I miss the spark Nora’s older novels used to have.”)
This helps readers with similar expectations to calibrate them, regardless of how they will like the book.
5. Qualify the ideal reader
A great way to round up your review is by qualifying the ideal reader — the reader who’s most likely to look at a book and go “this is MY TYPE of book.” You can compare the book to previous work from the same author, different authors in the same genre, or related creative work like movies and TV series.
A good example is MJ Silversmith’s review of Cara Winter’s debut novel, where he writes: “Evolution Vol 1: Sacrifice is highly recommended for fans of the TV series Black Mirror and Man in the High Castle, the movie Push, and the book (or series) Brave New World.”
To conclude, a powerful review implements at least some of these tips. Ultimately, writing a book review is a bit of an art in itself. It takes practice to master it! The best way to apply these tips and become better at it is by starting to review books and improve your skills with practise and time.
Rose Atkinson-Carter is a writer with Reedsy, advising authors on all things publishing, from explaining how to find ghostwriters to reviewing book writing software. She has previously written for Bang2Write, The Writer’s Path, and more. She’s also a massive bookworm, forever fighting to reduce her TBR pile. She lives in London.
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