How do I write a good peer review?

How do you write a quality book review?

• Let's say I finished reading a novel. Let's say I want to write a review of said novel. What would I need to include in a review? What should I avoid? What gives a book review weight, and distinguishes it from an 'I Liked The Book Because It Was Good' review? Is a book review the same as a critique? You can tell I really don't know much about what I'm asking. That's why I'm asking. In general, what would I need to know to write a good book review? P.S. Lucky for me, this isn't a homework assignment. Lucky for you, too.

• Answer:

  A question with no simple answer. Is a book review the same as a critique? ~ Could be. The two terms are often interchangeable, and they certainly focus on similar issues, but the glaring difference is that a book review will be broader and not need as strict a structure or aim as a critique. Generally, a book review will be more personal and favorable than a critique. Because of this, a praising critique often gets the label, "book review." Reviews, somewhere or another, always contain the book's stats: page count, publisher, and price. In published reviews this info is usually given under a photo of the author or book jacket, and not included in the body of the work. You could include it in a footnote if you chose. After that is generally a one to two paragraph introduction to the author, work, or scope/theme of the book. But it's mostly a free for all in book reviews. Usually you aim for balanced, trying to point out the strengths of the book as well as the weakness, but neither is mandatory. The review may center around the style of writing, the plot, the genre, a character, the development of the author since his last work, and on and on. It could focus on all those things as well. Here are some points that separate a strong review from a weak review: ~ A book review is a persuasive essay. You are encouraging your readers to read or not read the work in question, and your goal is to leave your reader feeling highly informed, yet still curious about the topic. (Unless it's a negative review, in which case you generally frame the topic as shallow and not worth the time. A cruel but effective way to do this is to recommend another book dealing with the same issues.) You want to provide samples of the work, and insight into the scope. Basically, what are the book's selling points or what are its irreparable flaws - your review should make this abundantly clear, in a very subtle manner. ~ Style becomes very important in this as well. A critique should be (but usually isn't) clinical in it's approach. A review, on the other hand, generally mimics the tone of the work in question. A review of comedy will be light hearted, a review of drama will be dark, a review of current events book will be well informed, etc. After this comes micro-style issues (diction, syntax), if you have a personal style, use that, otherwise don't shy away from patterning your review after the work on the language level either. In general, a book review should be thorough but short, informative while still creating intrigue about the book, and most important, in my opinion, entertaining. Those are your goals, but there is no formula to achieving them. However there are two steadfast rules that carry over into this genre from critiques and other essays (excepting the "personal essay"): 1) Do not write in first person. 2) Anything taking place in the book happens in present tense. Have fun.