Do you read the reviews of a novel before reading it ?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Star platinum, Feb 12, 2020.

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  1. Star platinum

    Star platinum Well-Known Member

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    Hello !!
    So I have this bad habit (or good idk) of reading the reviews of a novel (manga or anime) before reading it myself
    And I most likely believe? Those reviews ..
    For exemple if a novel has good rating but bad reviews I end up not reading it ..
    Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing out on good things (I'm blame my laziness too)
     
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  2. ExcitableFoci

    ExcitableFoci Well-Known Member

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    While I don't really care about being spoiled, I don't like reviews in general as they are way too subjective.
     
  3. I_UwU_I

    I_UwU_I Active Member

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    Yeah it saves you a lot of time and mostly I trust those reviews. Because hell if it was so good (or so bad) that I have the urge to write a review it means it's worth it(or not). But if I read the synopsis and it piqued my interest but has a lot of bad reviews I'll still give it a shot 3 episodes for anime is my rule then I'll quit on it if it's bad while in manga 5 chapters. For novel 1 volume(atleast 10 chapters) is good enough to decide wether it's good or bad. Always give it a shot first because we all have our own preferences and the author is publishing his work for free wether it's good or bad.
     
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  4. Westeller

    Westeller Smokin' Sexy Style!! Staff Member

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    I skim them for information, but try not to let the opinions they give determine how I feel before reading it.
     
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  5. YoriMei

    YoriMei (ㆁᴗㆁ✿)

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    Sometimes, I read the synopsis first, then rating and then maybe the top 2 reviews to get an idea. You do have to keep in mind that more people are willing to post about bad reading experiences than good ones.
     
  6. Deleted member 155674

    Deleted member 155674 Guest

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    No, I don't
     
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  7. Star platinum

    Star platinum Well-Known Member

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    I guess I should do this more.
    Because I dropped a lot of novels with excellent reviews .. the opposite can be possible too
     
  8. Yamcha

    Yamcha Friendnemy

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    The ones I read from novelupdates, yes. Usually I listen more to reviews that give 3 or 4 stars, they are not salty as the reviews of 1 stars and make more sense that a 5 stars review that doesn't explain the motivation behind the score. Then comes the 1-3 chapters reviews, users that have read maybe only a few chapters and then give a score, those are score to completely ignore for me. As for 1 or 5 stars reviews, tastes are very subjective so I check those to see if there's anything in the story that I could like.
     
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  9. Star platinum

    Star platinum Well-Known Member

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    Exactly I believe more the reviews that completed the story. Theirs make more sense
     
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  10. Meloman

    Meloman My dog is lazier than me

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    No I don’t as they usually have spoilers
     
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  11. IceLight303

    IceLight303 Well-Known Member

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    +1
     
  12. baka8roukanako

    baka8roukanako Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, I do. It could save your life. It really works when the reviewer mentions things I want to avoid, which are not covered by the tag system - I can ignore the novel without much regret.
     
  13. Casszune

    Casszune Active Member

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    I used to read reviews when I first started. But after a while I noticed things like good novels getting low scores for minor things like "the MC's possible love interest left him for his rival" or "there's enough of this kind of story we don't need another one"

    I've seen a few novels with only a prologue + chapter 1 get low scores as well and that's when I realized that the reviews on this site are too unreliable to seriously take into account when picking novels to read.
     
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  14. Nocta

    Nocta Well-Known Member

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    For anime, I never read reviews, I like to watch the first episode and decide by myself if it's promising or not. At worst I'll only lose what, 1 hour of my life if I abide by the 3 episodes rule?
    But for novels, I read them. Especially the negative ones. I noticed people tend to overly praise some novels and I've been disappointed by the poor quality of the plot several times. I always wonder if those people who left 5 stars reviews have read the same story as me, of if their brain is damaged... On the contrary, people who leave negative reviews justify why they didn't like the story and they tend to argue well. If I find several negative review highlighting the same faults, then I might not read.
     
  15. Aleff Null

    Aleff Null Well-Known Member

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    Mostly when I don't understand the synopsis of a novel.
     
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  16. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    I never bother with reviews, I think I'm pretty good at judging quality by cover, title and Synopsis~
     
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  17. Feng Tian

    Feng Tian Well-Known Member

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    1 Chapter. Maximum. Thats how much you need to know how good or bad a novel is likely to be. Sometimes even one paragraph is enough.
    There is just so much more to writing than plot or characters. And frankly speaking if an author does not mess up the first hook and has decent style you can put a decent amount of trust into him or her.

    While writing a half decent synopsis is expected of a good writer its by no means everything. Same with the title. The cover is irrelevant. The problem with a synopsis is that it only establishes the premise. And the premise? Pointless. Execution is everything. Which is exactly why you judge the first chapter (and the writing style). If it doesn't hook you... well. Might as well ditch the rest. Same goes for badly written.
     
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  18. TypeFantasyHeart

    TypeFantasyHeart Well-Known Member

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    To that question, then yes, but you must know that haters and trolls are everywhere, its impossible for everyone to like one novel but funnily enough its possible for everyone to hate it xD.
    Putting that aside, try to read more than a few reviews before deciding if read or not. This is because quite a lot of reviews are done in just the very few first chapters, so you must take notice to check what chapter is the person who put a low score at, if its in just the first few chapters then that review its not going to do justice. Its also important that genre matches your tastes and that the tags are something you like. I have enjoyed a lot quite a few novels a few mad reviews. But generaly you can consider not reading it if the novel has an overwelming amount of bad scores
     
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  19. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    You'd be surprised~

    Like... From my own personal experience, about 90% of the novels with only a girl in the cover, yet have a Male Protagonist tend to be of garbage quality. I don't mind missing on the last 10%.
    In addition to those, there are some covers that just scream "Generic and bland recycled Adventure plot A"... 100% of those that I tried were exactly what I expected, so I stopped reading them after a while.
    Aside from those, there are a few others that I just look at and go like... "Uhn... This seems kinda bad" and quit. It's a really subjective criteria, but everytime I disliked the cover, I ended up disliking the novel as well, so you learn to respect your own instincts, they can be more accurate than you imagine~

    Titles usually are big enough to give me a notion of the premise, which is a big indicator of rather I'll like it or not, so... They certainly help quite a bit.

    As for the Synopsis, this one is the perfect writing quality judge. A good synopsis is really hard to write, so... If someone wasn't able to write a good one, it's already one strike against their writing quality.
    If I see a mediocre premise with a bad synopsis, I won't read it.
    If I see a good premise with a bad synopsis, I prooooooobably won't read it.
    If I see a good premise with a mediocre synopsis, I might consider reading it on the other hand, though I probably will leave it rotting forever in the list of "stuff that I'll read later", which is already big enough to the point I know I won't finish it in a lifetime.
    And a mediocre (or better) premise with a good synopsis will actually make me read it~
    At the end of the day, the synopsis is the most relevant part to hook me. I don't have time to waste reading chapter 1 of anything that looks a bit interesting, so either it has a good synopsis or I won't bother with it.

    If all your synopsis does is tell me the premise, then your synopsis already failed. It needs to hook me somehow, make me feel like your story has something that is good enough to make me read it. How much can a paragraph or two tell about your novel? A whole damn lot, it's the most important part of your novel actually.
    There are too many books out there to try out, so I need as many filters as possible. Cover and Title are the first two filters that I can go through in the blink of an eye, synopsis is the next filter that tells me if you know how to write a hook properly. And then comes the actual story afterwards~
     
  20. Loni4ever

    Loni4ever The Fluffy White Wolf

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    Yup, I think I almost always do. Helps to save a lot of time... also, from a certain pov, reading positive reviews before reading a novel may skew your perception towards the positive, making you look forward to and enjoy the novel more. And isn't enjoyment what we all seek (´▽`)

    I also like looking at bad reviews cause it helps me know things in advance that I'm not gonna appreciate, so I could steer clear of the novel.
    That ↑
    The vibe a novel gives off or the feelings it creates for you can only be expressed with a review rather than short simple tags.
    As for ignoring novels, I always look out for reviews containing dubcon/noncon views if it's a romance novel; that's a total fly in the soup and I'm thankful for reviews pointing it out.

    whut, never?? Also, mind making your reading list public? owo
     
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