How I Review Books

Many book reviewers use the five-star system to quickly let their viewers and readers decide whether a book is worth their time. However, I find it difficult to evaluate a book in numbers and fractions. It feels too cold and distant. There are books I dislike that are deemed classics (looking at you, Catcher in the Rye), and books that I love that aren’t well-written or consistent (the Harry Potter series). This is because stories aren’t written to be so easily measured, and good taste, no matter what some people say, is never objective.

When trying to recommend a book to a friend, we don’t call them “a 3.5 book”; we call them “good” or “bad” because they fit our expectations of it. Sure, when trying to make a decision on what to purchase next, those five yellow stars on Amazon or Good Reads are easy to understand - though lately, I’ve been using Storygraph, which uses content warning and other tags to better explain what you’re getting.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to recommend books according to what I expect from them and whether they’ve met my personal expectations.

1. Is there gay in it?

I’ve been trying to consume more queer stories, or simply stories that have more queer characters in them. If they have more people of color or if they’re led by women, that is definitely a plus and something that I will bring up when recommending it. Does this make a good story? Not necessarily, but it’s definitely something that’s going to pique my interest.

2. Is it true to the premise?

What did the back cover promise to me? That doesn’t mean I expect to get exactly what the cover says. I expect some twists and turns, some characters I didn’t know I was getting, and some prose that will keep me engaged. In its most basic form, though, what is it that I was promised?

Did the book claim the Prince of England and the son of the American President would secretly fall in love, and then gave me a complete rewrite of the last four years in the most cathartic way possible? (Red, White, and Royal Blue)

Or was I promised the unlikely friendship between a Demon and an Angel trying to prevent the apocalypse, only to waste half the pages following the uninteresting adventures of the pre-teen Antichrist? (Good Omens)

3. Did this story make me happy or sad?

Sometimes, the only thing you want from a book is to be entertained, but I mostly chase feelings through my reading. When asking for a recommendation, I often ask my friends, “Does it have a sad ending? No spoilers, but, like, how much am I going to cry?”

Sad stories can be just as much a release as happy stories and it really depends on the mood you’re in. Perhaps you want neither and you’d rather have a plot-heavy book that keeps you on the edge of your seat (The Girl On The Train), or a heavy, historical tome that narrates a particularly grim moment of history that leaves you shaking your head at human beings (And The Band Played On).

There’s a myriad of feelings to chase, and a wide diversity of stories to match them.

4. Content warnings?

One of the reasons I switched from Good Reads to Storygraph was the fact that the latter allowed you to tag a book with warnings. They aren’t always perfect, but they’re enough to make me cautious. I don’t do well with hate crimes, sexual assault, and graphic violence, and, while I don’t exactly avoid these, I’d rather know what I’m getting into. Because of this, I try to extend the same courtesy to my recommendations. If the content is not easily digestible, I’ll let people know.

5. What were my favorite things about this book?

If I’m recommending a book or story, that’s because something special caught my eye and I’m going to mention it. A diverse cast of characters, beautiful art, exceptionally well-executed three-act structure… whatever it is, it’s going to be brought up. After all, this is why we want to share stories: because they speak to us and move us and we cannot wait for other people to share in our fortune.