Sunday 12 December 2010

Just For Fun - Reviewing the Reviewer

This is just for fun! I want to put that right at the start for fear that people believe I am complaining. I have been browsing the recent comments on my reviews posted to Amazon (yes, Mr Mark Charan Newton - I am still doing this!) and I'm deeply amused by some of the reviews I receive of my reviews. Surely meta reviewing? *grins* Here are the comments and then I have linked to the corresponding review on my blog, for (hopefully) entertainment value :-)

1) Duncton Rising by William Horwood

Oh dear. You clearly have no taste and I don't quite understand why you go to great lengths to point out that they aren't for children - these were never ever in any childrens sections in bookstores.

As for "these Duncton books" - clearly you're read more than one and if Horwood didn't ever take the trouble to write anything worth reading, why did you bother reading beyond the first one?

2) By Midnight by Mia James

This review is terrible for the simple fact you reveal a huge part of the plot. You criticise the author's writing, but the fact you don't even consider yours proves just how dire you are...

3) The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman

What a very poor review. More than OK not to like or rate a book but to so willfully misunderstand huge sections and use such misunderstanding as justification is indolent.

4) Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill

People's reaction to Seth's constant (and supposedly tasteless) use of the "c word" is ironic, given the far-from-subtle undertones of class war in his chapters. Maybe you should just write to Nevill and ask him not to write any more working class, male characters in their 30s. Or completely abandon social realism. One or the other.

5) Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Why buy the third book if you didn't enjoy the first two?? Seems to me that you like a moan even more than Bella does.

Clearly, people, I know nothing about literature *winks*

Have you had any reviews of your reviews? Do you fancy sharing the choicest comments?

3 comments:

  1. I love going through the comments of reviews and reading them- some of them are seriously hilarious! And as the for Eclipse response? Even if I don't like a book I will still continue on with the series. A lot of the time I hope that the series will get better on with time...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good! Just remember, the more sane reviews that get on there, the better. You're making the world a better place. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jeff VanderMeer didn't think too highly of my review of Gregory Frost's Shadowbridge some time back, but I just put that down to VanderMeer being VanderMeer.

    ReplyDelete