Hey Renuka! Do you have any tips on writing eloquent book reviews regardless of the genre?
Nice question! I’ll try my best!
Basically, there are some points that are usually the same for most fiction books (characters, romance, conflict) and you want to see how well those are developed in every book. You want to make sue the characters are understandable and have depth. They don’t always have to be relatable, but it’s also nice to check that they aren’t flat or the same as other books. The romance shouldn’t be awkward, rushed, or thrown in unnecessarily. Even if it is a romance novel or a fantasy adventure, if it has romance, it should flow. Obviously, conflict has to be well written for every novel, and all novels should have some form of rising action otherwise it’ll be pretty boring.
But there are some points such as setting and plot that are different based on the genre. For example, setting and world-building are much more important in fantasy, adventure and science-fiction novels. You want to pay more attention to those in your review for books that take place in the future or in foreign lands. Things such as different religions, languages, magic, hierarchies, customs (etc.) are going to be very different, and you should comment on how well the book addresses each of these. A novel set in today’s time period will not need to elaborate so greatly. For historical novels, comment on how real the time period seems to you, or how accurate. They characters won’t be conversing in modern slang and the clothing should be different. Focus in on that.
For each book, first talk about the overlying things that are usually the same, and then zoom in on things that are specific to the genre or that you believe were particularly well done. If the book was bad, don’t hesitate to explain why. Project your own voice into by commenting on what you loved and what you thought could have been done differently.
I know I’m throwing a lot of information at you haha (long answer), but here is another post where I also talked about reviews. I hope I answered your question well and actually did help! Good luck with reviewing and happy reading!
