Hello Lovelies,
As many of you are plenty aware, I recently decided to do reviews of the "Alien" movie novelizations. Now that I've completed all four, I wanted to address this as well as what is to come.
Getting started:
Why did I do these? In short, I myself had been on a reading binge of exactly those books and felt inspired to share. It was definitely outside of my normal writing habits and, to be candid, I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of it or not. However, it got my writing bug itching so I had to scratch.
Were they any good? I suppose this question is more to be directed at others. I'll be candid in saying I haven't ever really tried to do book reviews before. I did video game reviews once upon a time and those I truly understood how to break down. With regards to books, I feel like I was less reviewing them as much as I was just prattling on about things that caught my attention (both good and bad). That said, I'd love to get your input simply because the reviews never seemed to have much commentary (which, in my mind, means they likely weren't worth much).
Am I going to keep doing reviews? I guess that is kind of coupled with the last question. While I started the first two simply because I had the itch, the second two were done simply to complete the group. I feel like I have a lot more inspiration to do stories other than the Alien series, but I'm not sure if it was worth it. Again, I received very little feedback and commentary on these reviews and I'm not sure if they were even considered worthwhile. While this might be an inspiration for some to improve, my focus has always been more fictional works than reviews. I'm simply not sure if it's worth while to continue.
What else would you review? Should I review, the initial stories that come to mind are simply the ones that I enjoy. That said, that's a very mismatched pile of fiction, sci fi, and fantasy, some I'm again not sure if it's worth it. As previously mentioned, my focus has always been on fiction production more than reviews.
So, with everything said, I'd like to hear from all of you. I feel it's unlikely I'll do more reviews. Or, at the very least, it's unlikely I'll do them with any real consistency. However, as always, I'd love to hear your opinions. Did you particularly enjoy these glimpses? Would like to see more reviews? Is it worthwhile to pursue.
Thanks everyone! Let me know your opinion. It will help me for moving forward.
-RB
I like to hear about what caught the readers attention (the good and the bad) and to get a personal perspective on their reading. So rather than committing yourself to a schedule, perhaps when something particularly takes your fancy (or you loathe it with a passion) perhaps you could tell us about it?
ReplyDeleteI like to read what others thought of books and movies. A lot of times if it's a genre that I read, the review might entice me to read the book or watch the movie as well.
ReplyDeleteNote to self: Proof before you hit publish
ReplyDelete! like to read what others think of books also, but there is a fine art to reviewing (sharing likes and dislikes ) vs writing a synopsis of the book. I have read both kinds of reviews and loathe the latter. I really don't comment on a review. I simply digest what they wrote and compare it to my thoughts of the book (if I have read it) or decide if said book is something I want to spend my time reading. Either way it is fun to read a review!
There is a fine art to reviewing. But so many struggling authors are desperate for any reviews on Amazon as that ups their ranking in things like search. And, as a reviewer, you can request ARCs from publishers, which helps get you more reading material. So, I'd say keep doing it.
ReplyDeleteI skipped your review posts. I've never seen Alien or any of its sequels. While I like sci fi, Alien falls into a subgenre I don't like--creature features. That is, there's a big bad creature after our heroes. They irritate me, so I stay away from them.
Future book reviews... Unless I'm dead set against it (and there are only a few no-gos as far as topics for me), I'll read the review.