Discussion – How Long Should Book Reviews Be?

Hello everyone,

Welcome to a discussion post! I have not written one for ages, but now I have finally come up with some ideas and hope to share them with you soon!

So what is a good length for a book review?

This question has come to me through my experience of being a book blogger, writing my own reviews for this blog, and reading the wonderful reviews that other members of our community have done.

When I first started, my reviews were fairly short, mainly consisting of an overview of the story and my overall thoughts. But since then, they have gradually become longer, to the extent that they often reach the 500-word mark. My review of Lethal White that I wrote last week came to 698 words!

Is that too long? When I write about a book, I really like to examine and analyse several aspects of it, going through all of the main positives and negatives in detail, and also give it a personal touch. But sometimes I wonder if it is just a bit too much, maybe I can summarise it in fewer words and still essentially say the same things.

After all, the shorter reviews I read on other blogs convey a lot. From reading these reviews, I often get a sense of what the book really was about, as well as personal thoughts and emotions based on how it all played out. There is an art to describing entire books in short, sharp detail, and I haven’t mastered it yet!

I am also conscious of the fact that some might not want read such a long review post. My attitude to blogging has always been to be honest and to be myself, so I am not going to change my style. However, I do occasionally wonder if my reviews are too long for the casual reader.

My personal opinion on this discussion is that reviews can be any length, as long as they are cover all the basics and don’t contain too much waffle. Less can definitely mean more, although there is nothing wrong with going into detail!

Let’s Chat

Where do you stand on book reviews? What is the right length for you? How detailed should they be?
Let me know in the comments!

Happy reading :)