The Benefits of Writing Book Reviews
A book review is more than sharing an opinionâit s a conversation between readers. Sam Risak shares the benefits of writing books reviews, as well as best practices for getting started.
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Jul 22, 2021
Writing as both a practice and profession is a process of many drafts, each of which requires a series of conscious decisions before we can move onto the next. While this understanding of writing is far more accessible than that of the “creative genius” model, to a writer still early in their career, how to make such decisions can appear so opaque it might as well require an epiphany. That’s where writing a book review can help. An exercise that requires careful attention, book reviews sharpen the writer’s lens and uncover paths that can take us, and our writing, to where we want to go.
These Lifeless Things by Premee Mohamed tantalizes with evocative ideas, excellent characterization, and beautiful language. It is a perfect story to tell in novella form, a snippet of a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been defeated too many times to make sense of its struggle. Mohamed alternates the book’s narration between tense, hopeless diary entries and commentary by an anthropologist who has discovered the diary in question decades later. This isn’t a plot-driven tale; rather, it’s thematically rich, with layered backstory and worldbuilding which rewards a second read.
The two narrators are Emerson, the anthropologist, and Eva, the diarist. Emerson lives in a comfortable world not too different from our own (phones, computers, and other technology are mentioned), part of a team of scientists visiting a “siege city” on a research trip. Eva lives in a nightmarish combat zone, scavenging supplies from the destroyed city and eating human flesh to surviv
T
he Memory Collectors relies upon a deeply poetic set of ideas. In it, objects and places give off emotional auras, which can be perceived by people sensitive to these energies. Each of the characters – Evelyn, a fragile young woman; Harriet, a lonely hoarder; Owen, a kind but somewhat mysterious artist; and Noemi, Evelyn’s careless, charismatic younger sister – perceives this sensitivity a little differently, whether as a gift or a curse or something else. The novel hardly has a plot so much as it has a series of emotional turns and revelations, so that the beauty of its ideas can claim most of the reader’s attention. For those who want to invest in a novel more concerned with character and relationships than action,
(Tachyon Publications , $15.95, 304 pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, April 16, 2021)
Danae is not only herself. She is concealing a connection to a grieving collective inside of her body. But while she labors as a tech servant in the dangerous underwater enclave of Bloom City, her fractured self cannot mend. In a desperate escape, Danae and her lover Naoto hire the enigmatic ex-mercenary Alexei to guide them out of the imploding city.
But for Danae to reunify, the three new fugitives will have to flee across the otherworldly beauty of the post-apocalyptic Southwest. Meanwhile, Danae’s warlord enemy, the Duke, and a strange new foe, the Borrower, already seek them at any price.
Katharine Coldiron Reviews A Wild Winter Swan by Gregory Maguire locusmag.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from locusmag.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.