Besides posting on the writing process, I’ll also review books across a variety of genres including fantasy, science fiction, general fiction, history, political science and business. This is an eclectic mix which matches my reading tastes. Having said that, there will be a focus on fantasy and science fiction since these are my preferred genres for writing.
Many of these reviews also appear in Goodreads and Amazon so I’ll use their five star rating system with 1 star representing total dreck; 2 stars being an OK, but not terribly cool read; 3 stars representing a good book worth checking out; 4 stars being a very strong effort that I’d highly recommend reading; and 5 stars being a classic with real literary value. I don’t give many 1 or 2 star evaluations because I won’t usually finish these books. Also, even the worst book, especially by a new author, probably took real effort to craft and I haven’t the heart to lambast them. Likewise, a 5 star review is rare and I don’t subscribe to the ‘grade inflation’ rampant on many review sites where it seems that many (most) reviews for rather average fiction get 5 stars.
I’ll strive to be concise, limiting myself to three paragraphs. My critiques will tend to be in the following format: the first paragraph is a brief summary of what the book is about and what I liked about it; the second paragraph contains aspects of the work that I thought could be improved; the third paragraph will be any lessons that I, as a would-be author, gleaned from this specific work. At no point will I simply recap the entire back jacket blurb or provide a lengthy plot outline.
