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Kirkus Prize names Jesmyn Ward, Héctor Tobar among finalists for top literary award

2023 Kirkus Prize finalist Jesmyn Ward, pictured at the 2017 National Book Awards in New York City. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images hide caption

2023 Kirkus Prize finalist Jesmyn Ward, pictured at the 2017 National Book Awards in New York City.

A leading literary trade publication, Kirkus Reviews, has announced 18 finalists for the 2023 Kirkus Prize in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young Readers' Literature.

The award, while not as well-known as the Pulitzers or the National Book Award, is one of the most renumerative in the world of literature. Winners receive $50,000 each. Finalists were drawn from a pool of books reviewed by Kirkus editors. That included 608 young readers' literature titles, 435 fiction titles, and 435 nonfiction titles.

"From gorgeously written and moving fiction, to deeply researched and clear-eyed nonfiction, to young readers' literature that entertains and educates, the finalists represent the very best books that Kirkus has seen this year," said Kirkus Reviews editor-in-chief Tom Beer in a statement.

Kirkus Reviews , founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus, is known among writers, publishers and readers for its starred reviews of books; the list of finalists follows, along with a quote from their Kirkus review.

The three Kirkus Prize winners will be announced on Oct. 11, 2023.

Author Interviews

Author jamel brinkley explores loss, love & responsibility in his new book, 'witness', author jamel brinkley explores loss, love & responsibility in his new book, 'witness'.

Witness by Jamel Brinkley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) "Short stories that in their depth of feeling, perception, and sense of place affirm their author's bright promise....After just two collections, Brinkley may already be a grand master of the short story."

Book Reviews

Eco-idealism and staggering wealth meet in 'birnam wood'.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) "A story that's suspended on a tightrope just above nihilism, and readers will hold their breath until the last page to see whether Catton will fall. This blistering look at the horrors of late capitalism manages to also be a wildly fun read."

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link (Random House) "Seven modern fairy tales by a master of the short form....Enchanting, mesmerizing, brilliant work."

James McBride's 'Heaven & Earth' is an all-American mix of prejudice and hope

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead) "McBride follows up his hit novel Deacon King Kong with another boisterous hymn to community, mercy, and karmic justice....If it's possible for America to have a poet laureate, why can't James McBride be its storyteller-in-chief?"

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) "An Irish family's decline is rendered in painful, affecting detail....A grim and demanding and irresistible anatomy of misfortune."

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward (Scribner) "Every time you think this novel is taking you places you've been before, Ward startles you with an image, a metaphor, a rhetorical surge that [is] worth your attention. And admiration."

Nonfiction:

'Red Memory' aims to profile people shaped by China's Cultural Revolution

Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution by Tania Branigan (Norton) "The former China correspondent for the Guardian explores the 'cumulative forgetting' of the devastations of the Cultural Revolution....A heartbreaking, revelatory evocation of 'the decade that cleaved modern China in two.' "

Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century by Jennifer Homans (Random House) "An intricate, meticulously researched biography of the revered and controversial dance icon....The definitive account of a remarkable and flawed artist."

Mental Health

A survivor of multiple suicide attempts explains 'how not to kill yourself'.

How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind by Clancy Martin (Pantheon) "A recovering alcoholic reflects on his experiences with suicidal ideation....Disquieting, deeply felt, eye-opening, and revelatory."

How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair (Simon & Schuster) "A tale of reckoning and revelation focused on the author's fraught relationship with her father....More than catharsis; this is memoir as liberation."

Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of "Latino" by Héctor Tobar (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux) "A pensive examination of the many ways there are to be Latinx in America....A powerful look at what it means to be a member of a community that, though large, remains marginalized."

Ilyon Woo's new book explores the relentless pursuit of freedom

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo (Simon & Schuster) "A gripping adventure with Ellen Craft (1826-1891) and William Craft (1824-1900), who risked their lives to escape slavery in Georgia in 1848....A captivating tale that ably captures the determination and courage of a remarkable couple."

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Percival Everett, Rufi Thorpe and Louise Erdrich Among 2024 Kirkus Prize Nominees — See the Full List!

"They’re all books that speak to our time, and we know they’ll be read for years to come," Kirkus Reviews editor-in-chief Tom Beer said of the nominees

Doubleday; Morrow/HarperCollins; Harper/HarperCollins

The finalists for the 2024 Kirkus Prize have been announced.

On Wednesday, Aug. 28, Kirkus Reviews announced the 18 finalists for this year’s award, which is given to one author each in the categories of fiction, nonfiction and young readers. Among the finalists are American Fiction writer Percival Everett, Rufi Thorpe , Louise Erdrich and Jason Reynolds .

Each winner will receive $50,000 — one of the largest literary awards in the world. 

To be considered for the award, the authors' book must have received a starred review from the Kirkus team for a book published between Nov. 1, 2023 and Oct. 31, 2024. According to a press release, the star is only awarded to about 10% of the titles reviewed annually. 

Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum; Candlewick; MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Doubleday

 "The finalists for the 2024 Kirkus Prize represent the very best of an outstanding crop of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ titles published in the U.S. this year," said Kirkus Reviews editor-in-chief Tom Beer in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

"Our fiction finalists reimagine the art of storytelling while addressing the vital concerns of our day. The nonfiction finalists cast new light on misunderstood historical events and offer affecting personal narratives. Our young readers’ finalists present powerful narratives for children and teens through a combination of prose, verse and art." 

Beer added: "They’re all books that speak to our time, and we know they’ll be read for years to come."

Each category has its own selection of jurors with bookstore owner Christine Bollow, Kirkus reviewer Jeffrey Burke and Kirkus fiction editor Laurie Muchnick judging the 2024 Kirkus Prize in Fiction. Nonfiction jurors include author Hannah Bae, Pulitzer Prize winner Mary Ann Gwinn and Bee, and those judging the young readers literature category are Kirkus reviewer Christopher A. Biss-Brown, professor Michelle H. Martin and Kirkus young readers editors Mahnaz Dar and Laura Simeon.

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The three winners will be announced at an in-person ceremony on Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. ET at the TriBeca Rooftop in New York City. The event will be livestreamed on Kirkus’ YouTube channel .

See all the finalists and a quote from their Kirkus review below. 

2024 Kirkus Prize in Fiction

Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet "The author of Make Your Home Among Strangers (2015) delivers a stunning second novel…Unclassifiable and unforgettable."

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich "The Red River of the North cuts a vivid track through the hardscrabble lives that anchor Erdrich’s surpassing North Dakota fiction … In this tender and capacious story, love and tragedy mingle along the river and into the world."

 James by Percival Everett  "Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as told from the perspective of a more resourceful and contemplative Jim than the one you remember … One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him."

Playground by Richard Powers "A story of friendship, technology, oceans and a small island … An engaging, eloquent message for this fragile planet."

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe "A college freshman finds out that everyone was right: Her decision to have her English professor’s baby really does ruin her life. Until it doesn’t ... Terrific characters, rich worldbuilding, deep thoughts about fiction and morality, a love story and a happy ending."

 Prophet Song by Paul Lynch "As Ireland devolves into a brutal police state, one woman tries to preserve her family in this stark fable .. .Captivating, frightening and a singular achievement."

2024 Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction

The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq by Steve Coll "The Pulitzer Prize–winning author returns with a tour de force examination of the events leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq … Required reading for all conscientious citizens."

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism And Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham  "A searching history of a disaster-laden effort to build and launch a space shuttle … A deeply researched, fluently written study in miscommunication, hubris and technological overreach."

 Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls "A graphic novelist contends with her maternal family’s complicated history … A work that glimmers with insight, acumen and an unwillingness to settle for simple answers."

MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing "The award-winning author pens a fascinating and personal journey of paradise … An intellectually verdant and emotionally rich narrative journey."

Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America by Shefali Luthra  "The human consequences of the Dobbs decision … Vivid portrayals of lives disrupted and freedom denied."

Another Word for Love: A Memoir by Carvell Wallace "The story of a poet and podcaster’s journey to claim the fullness of his identity and power as a queer Black American … An exquisite, soulful must-read."

 2024 Kirkus Prize in Young Readers’ Literature

Picture Books:

We Who Produce Pearls by Joanna Ho, illustrated by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya " Eyes That Kiss in the Corners (2021) author Ho reflects on Asian American history … Striking and defiant: an unabashed declaration of hope."

There Was a Party for Langston by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey "Reynolds and the Pumphrey brothers take readers on a dazzling journey through Langston Hughes’ legacy … A bar set stratospherically high and cleared with room to spare."

 Middle Grade:

Safiyyah’s War by Hiba Noor Khan "In this novel inspired by a true account of French Resistance during World War II, a courageous 11-year-old Muslim girl joins the effort to save lives … A must-read distinguished by its powerful plot and poignant writing."

Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston "A Florida middle schooler tries to hide her problems at home as she attempts to have a normal school experience … A deeply satisfying tale with an irresistible protagonist."

 Young Adult:

Gather by Kenneth M. Cadow "Family matters; friends, both two- and four-legged, help too … A heartfelt novel about the challenges of youth and the value of community."

Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo  "A teen poet in Washington, D.C., becomes entangled with an older man as she tries to break free from her mother’s expectations … A stunning work that deeply explores poetry, the complexities of identity, and the longing for love."

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News, Notes, Talk

Here are the finalists for the 2024 Kirkus Prize.

The Kirkus Prize, one of the richest annual literary awards in the world, has announced its list of finalists for 2024. The award is given to three titles that received a starred review from Kirkus on publication. A panel of bright book people and Kirkus editors select the finalist pool, and then winners in three categories — fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature — each receive a healthy prize of $50,000.

Here are this year’s finalists.

Jennine Capó Crucet, Say Hello to My Little Friend (Simon & Schuster)

Louise Erdrich, The Mighty Red (Harper/HarperCollins)

Percival Everett, James (Doubleday)

Richard Powers, Playground (W. W. Norton)

Rufi Thorpe, Margot’s Got Money Troubles (William Morrow/HarperCollins)

Paul Lynch, Prophet Song (Grove)

The jurors for this year’s Fiction prize are Christine Bollow, the co-owner and director of programs for Loyalty Bookstores in the DMV, Jeffrey Burke, a former editor at Harper’s , an d Kirkus fiction editor Laurie Muchnick.

Steve Coll, The Achilles Trap : Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq (The Penguin Press)

 Adam Higginbotham, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism And Disaster on the Edge of Space (Avid Reader Press)

Tessa Hulls, Feeding Ghosts : A Graphic Memoir (MCD/FSG)

Olivia Laing, The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise (W.W. Norton)

Shefali Luthra, Undue Burden : Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America (Doubleday)

Carvell Wallace, Another Word for Love : A Memoir (MCD/FSG)

The jurors for the Nonfiction prize are journalist and author/illustrator Hannah Bae, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Mary Ann Gwinn, and Kirkus editor-in-chief Tom Beer.

Young Readers

Picture Books

Joanna Ho, illustrated by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, We Who Produce Pearls ( Scholastic/Orchard)

Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey, There Was a Party for Langston (Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum)

Middle Grade

Hiba Noor Khan, Safiyyah’s War (Allida/HarperCollins)

Sherri Winston, Shark Teeth (Bloomsbury)

Young Adult

Kenneth M. Cadow, Gather (Candlewick)

Safia Elhillo, Bright Red Fruit (Random House/Make Me a World)

The jurors for the Young Readers’ Literature prize are Christopher A. Biss-Brown, curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia , Michelle H. Martin, the Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor in Children and Youth Services in the Information School at the University of Washington, and Kirkus young readers’ editors Mahnaz Dar and Laura Simeon.

Kirkus editor-in-chief Tom Beer says of this year’s titles, “they’re all books that speak to our time, and we know they’ll be read for years to come.”

The three 2024 Kirkus Prize winners will be announced at an in-person ceremony in New York on Wednesday, October 16.

Congratulations to all the finalists!

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Kirkus Best Fiction of 2021

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Feast your eyes on Kirkus ‘ Best Fiction of 2021 !

LIGHT FROM UNCOMMON STARS by Ryka Aoki DESTROYER OF LIGHT by Jennifer Marie Brissett RAZORBLADE TEARS by S.A. Cosby SECOND PLACE by Rachel Cusk THE TWILIGHT ZONE by Nona Fernández CROSSROADS by Jonathan Franzen EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR MOTHER IS A WITCH by Rivka Galchen ZORRIE by Laird Hunt MY MONTICELLO by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson THE BLIZZARD PARTY by Jack Livings ONE LAST STOP by Casey McQuiston WALKING ON COWRIE SHELLS by Nana Nkweti A LONELY MAN by Chris Power BEAUTIFUL WORLD, WHERE ARE YOU by Sally Rooney FIGHT NIGHT by Miriam Toews HUMMINGBIRD SALAMANDER by Jeff VanderMeer

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Blog – Posted on Friday, Mar 29

17 book review examples to help you write the perfect review.

It’s an exciting time to be a book reviewer. Once confined to print newspapers and journals, reviews now dot many corridors of the Internet — forever helping others discover their next great read. That said, every book reviewer will face a familiar panic: how can you do justice to a great book in just a thousand words?

As you know, the best way to learn how to do something is by immersing yourself in it. Luckily, the Internet (i.e. Goodreads and other review sites , in particular) has made book reviews more accessible than ever — which means that there are a lot of book reviews examples out there for you to view!

In this post, we compiled 17 prototypical book review examples in multiple genres to help you figure out how to write the perfect review . If you want to jump straight to the examples, you can skip the next section. Otherwise, let’s first check out what makes up a good review.

Are you interested in becoming a book reviewer? We recommend you check out Reedsy Discovery , where you can earn money for writing reviews — and are guaranteed people will read your reviews! To register as a book reviewer, sign up here.

Pro-tip : But wait! How are you sure if you should become a book reviewer in the first place? If you're on the fence, or curious about your match with a book reviewing career, take our quick quiz:

Should you become a book reviewer?

Find out the answer. Takes 30 seconds!

What must a book review contain?

Like all works of art, no two book reviews will be identical. But fear not: there are a few guidelines for any aspiring book reviewer to follow. Most book reviews, for instance, are less than 1,500 words long, with the sweet spot hitting somewhere around the 1,000-word mark. (However, this may vary depending on the platform on which you’re writing, as we’ll see later.)

In addition, all reviews share some universal elements, as shown in our book review templates . These include:

• A review will offer a concise plot summary of the book. 
• A book review will offer an evaluation of the work. 
• A book review will offer a recommendation for the audience. 

If these are the basic ingredients that make up a book review, it’s the tone and style with which the book reviewer writes that brings the extra panache. This will differ from platform to platform, of course. A book review on Goodreads, for instance, will be much more informal and personal than a book review on Kirkus Reviews, as it is catering to a different audience. However, at the end of the day, the goal of all book reviews is to give the audience the tools to determine whether or not they’d like to read the book themselves.

Keeping that in mind, let’s proceed to some book review examples to put all of this in action.

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Book review examples for fiction books

Since story is king in the world of fiction, it probably won’t come as any surprise to learn that a book review for a novel will concentrate on how well the story was told .

That said, book reviews in all genres follow the same basic formula that we discussed earlier. In these examples, you’ll be able to see how book reviewers on different platforms expertly intertwine the plot summary and their personal opinions of the book to produce a clear, informative, and concise review.

Note: Some of the book review examples run very long. If a book review is truncated in this post, we’ve indicated by including a […] at the end, but you can always read the entire review if you click on the link provided.

Examples of literary fiction book reviews

Kirkus Reviews reviews Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man :

An extremely powerful story of a young Southern Negro, from his late high school days through three years of college to his life in Harlem.

His early training prepared him for a life of humility before white men, but through injustices- large and small, he came to realize that he was an "invisible man". People saw in him only a reflection of their preconceived ideas of what he was, denied his individuality, and ultimately did not see him at all. This theme, which has implications far beyond the obvious racial parallel, is skillfully handled. The incidents of the story are wholly absorbing. The boy's dismissal from college because of an innocent mistake, his shocked reaction to the anonymity of the North and to Harlem, his nightmare experiences on a one-day job in a paint factory and in the hospital, his lightning success as the Harlem leader of a communistic organization known as the Brotherhood, his involvement in black versus white and black versus black clashes and his disillusion and understanding of his invisibility- all climax naturally in scenes of violence and riot, followed by a retreat which is both literal and figurative. Parts of this experience may have been told before, but never with such freshness, intensity and power.

This is Ellison's first novel, but he has complete control of his story and his style. Watch it.

Lyndsey reviews George Orwell’s 1984 on Goodreads:

YOU. ARE. THE. DEAD. Oh my God. I got the chills so many times toward the end of this book. It completely blew my mind. It managed to surpass my high expectations AND be nothing at all like I expected. Or in Newspeak "Double Plus Good." Let me preface this with an apology. If I sound stunningly inarticulate at times in this review, I can't help it. My mind is completely fried.

This book is like the dystopian Lord of the Rings, with its richly developed culture and economics, not to mention a fully developed language called Newspeak, or rather more of the anti-language, whose purpose is to limit speech and understanding instead of to enhance and expand it. The world-building is so fully fleshed out and spine-tinglingly terrifying that it's almost as if George travelled to such a place, escaped from it, and then just wrote it all down.

I read Fahrenheit 451 over ten years ago in my early teens. At the time, I remember really wanting to read 1984, although I never managed to get my hands on it. I'm almost glad I didn't. Though I would not have admitted it at the time, it would have gone over my head. Or at the very least, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate it fully. […]

The New York Times reviews Lisa Halliday’s Asymmetry :

Three-quarters of the way through Lisa Halliday’s debut novel, “Asymmetry,” a British foreign correspondent named Alistair is spending Christmas on a compound outside of Baghdad. His fellow revelers include cameramen, defense contractors, United Nations employees and aid workers. Someone’s mother has FedExed a HoneyBaked ham from Maine; people are smoking by the swimming pool. It is 2003, just days after Saddam Hussein’s capture, and though the mood is optimistic, Alistair is worrying aloud about the ethics of his chosen profession, wondering if reporting on violence doesn’t indirectly abet violence and questioning why he’d rather be in a combat zone than reading a picture book to his son. But every time he returns to London, he begins to “spin out.” He can’t go home. “You observe what people do with their freedom — what they don’t do — and it’s impossible not to judge them for it,” he says.

The line, embedded unceremoniously in the middle of a page-long paragraph, doubles, like so many others in “Asymmetry,” as literary criticism. Halliday’s novel is so strange and startlingly smart that its mere existence seems like commentary on the state of fiction. One finishes “Asymmetry” for the first or second (or like this reader, third) time and is left wondering what other writers are not doing with their freedom — and, like Alistair, judging them for it.

Despite its title, “Asymmetry” comprises two seemingly unrelated sections of equal length, appended by a slim and quietly shocking coda. Halliday’s prose is clean and lean, almost reportorial in the style of W. G. Sebald, and like the murmurings of a shy person at a cocktail party, often comic only in single clauses. It’s a first novel that reads like the work of an author who has published many books over many years. […]

Emily W. Thompson reviews Michael Doane's The Crossing on Reedsy Discovery :

In Doane’s debut novel, a young man embarks on a journey of self-discovery with surprising results.

An unnamed protagonist (The Narrator) is dealing with heartbreak. His love, determined to see the world, sets out for Portland, Oregon. But he’s a small-town boy who hasn’t traveled much. So, the Narrator mourns her loss and hides from life, throwing himself into rehabbing an old motorcycle. Until one day, he takes a leap; he packs his bike and a few belongings and heads out to find the Girl.

Following in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and William Least Heat-Moon, Doane offers a coming of age story about a man finding himself on the backroads of America. Doane’s a gifted writer with fluid prose and insightful observations, using The Narrator’s personal interactions to illuminate the diversity of the United States.

The Narrator initially sticks to the highways, trying to make it to the West Coast as quickly as possible. But a hitchhiker named Duke convinces him to get off the beaten path and enjoy the ride. “There’s not a place that’s like any other,” [39] Dukes contends, and The Narrator realizes he’s right. Suddenly, the trip is about the journey, not just the destination. The Narrator ditches his truck and traverses the deserts and mountains on his bike. He destroys his phone, cutting off ties with his past and living only in the moment.

As he crosses the country, The Narrator connects with several unique personalities whose experiences and views deeply impact his own. Duke, the complicated cowboy and drifter, who opens The Narrator’s eyes to a larger world. Zooey, the waitress in Colorado who opens his heart and reminds him that love can be found in this big world. And Rosie, The Narrator’s sweet landlady in Portland, who helps piece him back together both physically and emotionally.

This supporting cast of characters is excellent. Duke, in particular, is wonderfully nuanced and complicated. He’s a throwback to another time, a man without a cell phone who reads Sartre and sleeps under the stars. Yet he’s also a grifter with a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” attitude that harms those around him. It’s fascinating to watch The Narrator wrestle with Duke’s behavior, trying to determine which to model and which to discard.

Doane creates a relatable protagonist in The Narrator, whose personal growth doesn’t erase his faults. His willingness to hit the road with few resources is admirable, and he’s prescient enough to recognize the jealousy of those who cannot or will not take the leap. His encounters with new foods, places, and people broaden his horizons. Yet his immaturity and selfishness persist. He tells Rosie she’s been a good mother to him but chooses to ignore the continuing concern from his own parents as he effectively disappears from his old life.

Despite his flaws, it’s a pleasure to accompany The Narrator on his physical and emotional journey. The unexpected ending is a fitting denouement to an epic and memorable road trip.

The Book Smugglers review Anissa Gray’s The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls :

I am still dipping my toes into the literally fiction pool, finding what works for me and what doesn’t. Books like The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray are definitely my cup of tea.

Althea and Proctor Cochran had been pillars of their economically disadvantaged community for years – with their local restaurant/small market and their charity drives. Until they are found guilty of fraud for stealing and keeping most of the money they raised and sent to jail. Now disgraced, their entire family is suffering the consequences, specially their twin teenage daughters Baby Vi and Kim.  To complicate matters even more: Kim was actually the one to call the police on her parents after yet another fight with her mother. […]

Examples of children’s and YA fiction book reviews

The Book Hookup reviews Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give :

♥ Quick Thoughts and Rating: 5 stars! I can’t imagine how challenging it would be to tackle the voice of a movement like Black Lives Matter, but I do know that Thomas did it with a finesse only a talented author like herself possibly could. With an unapologetically realistic delivery packed with emotion, The Hate U Give is a crucially important portrayal of the difficulties minorities face in our country every single day. I have no doubt that this book will be met with resistance by some (possibly many) and slapped with a “controversial” label, but if you’ve ever wondered what it was like to walk in a POC’s shoes, then I feel like this is an unflinchingly honest place to start.

In Angie Thomas’s debut novel, Starr Carter bursts on to the YA scene with both heart-wrecking and heartwarming sincerity. This author is definitely one to watch.

♥ Review: The hype around this book has been unquestionable and, admittedly, that made me both eager to get my hands on it and terrified to read it. I mean, what if I was to be the one person that didn’t love it as much as others? (That seems silly now because of how truly mesmerizing THUG was in the most heartbreakingly realistic way.) However, with the relevancy of its summary in regards to the unjust predicaments POC currently face in the US, I knew this one was a must-read, so I was ready to set my fears aside and dive in. That said, I had an altogether more personal, ulterior motive for wanting to read this book. […]

The New York Times reviews Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood :

Alice Crewe (a last name she’s chosen for herself) is a fairy tale legacy: the granddaughter of Althea Proserpine, author of a collection of dark-as-night fairy tales called “Tales From the Hinterland.” The book has a cult following, and though Alice has never met her grandmother, she’s learned a little about her through internet research. She hasn’t read the stories, because her mother, Ella Proserpine, forbids it.

Alice and Ella have moved from place to place in an attempt to avoid the “bad luck” that seems to follow them. Weird things have happened. As a child, Alice was kidnapped by a man who took her on a road trip to find her grandmother; he was stopped by the police before they did so. When at 17 she sees that man again, unchanged despite the years, Alice panics. Then Ella goes missing, and Alice turns to Ellery Finch, a schoolmate who’s an Althea Proserpine superfan, for help in tracking down her mother. Not only has Finch read every fairy tale in the collection, but handily, he remembers them, sharing them with Alice as they journey to the mysterious Hazel Wood, the estate of her now-dead grandmother, where they hope to find Ella.

“The Hazel Wood” starts out strange and gets stranger, in the best way possible. (The fairy stories Finch relays, which Albert includes as their own chapters, are as creepy and evocative as you’d hope.) Albert seamlessly combines contemporary realism with fantasy, blurring the edges in a way that highlights that place where stories and real life convene, where magic contains truth and the world as it appears is false, where just about anything can happen, particularly in the pages of a very good book. It’s a captivating debut. […]

James reviews Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight, Moon on Goodreads:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is one of the books that followers of my blog voted as a must-read for our Children's Book August 2018 Readathon. Come check it out and join the next few weeks!

This picture book was such a delight. I hadn't remembered reading it when I was a child, but it might have been read to me... either way, it was like a whole new experience! It's always so difficult to convince a child to fall asleep at night. I don't have kids, but I do have a 5-month-old puppy who whines for 5 minutes every night when he goes in his cage/crate (hopefully he'll be fully housebroken soon so he can roam around when he wants). I can only imagine! I babysat a lot as a teenager and I have tons of younger cousins, nieces, and nephews, so I've been through it before, too. This was a believable experience, and it really helps show kids how to relax and just let go when it's time to sleep.

The bunny's are adorable. The rhymes are exquisite. I found it pretty fun, but possibly a little dated given many of those things aren't normal routines anymore. But the lessons to take from it are still powerful. Loved it! I want to sample some more books by this fine author and her illustrators.

Publishers Weekly reviews Elizabeth Lilly’s Geraldine :

This funny, thoroughly accomplished debut opens with two words: “I’m moving.” They’re spoken by the title character while she swoons across her family’s ottoman, and because Geraldine is a giraffe, her full-on melancholy mode is quite a spectacle. But while Geraldine may be a drama queen (even her mother says so), it won’t take readers long to warm up to her. The move takes Geraldine from Giraffe City, where everyone is like her, to a new school, where everyone else is human. Suddenly, the former extrovert becomes “That Giraffe Girl,” and all she wants to do is hide, which is pretty much impossible. “Even my voice tries to hide,” she says, in the book’s most poignant moment. “It’s gotten quiet and whispery.” Then she meets Cassie, who, though human, is also an outlier (“I’m that girl who wears glasses and likes MATH and always organizes her food”), and things begin to look up.

Lilly’s watercolor-and-ink drawings are as vividly comic and emotionally astute as her writing; just when readers think there are no more ways for Geraldine to contort her long neck, this highly promising talent comes up with something new.

Examples of genre fiction book reviews

Karlyn P reviews Nora Roberts’ Dark Witch , a paranormal romance novel , on Goodreads:

4 stars. Great world-building, weak romance, but still worth the read.

I hesitate to describe this book as a 'romance' novel simply because the book spent little time actually exploring the romance between Iona and Boyle. Sure, there IS a romance in this novel. Sprinkled throughout the book are a few scenes where Iona and Boyle meet, chat, wink at each, flirt some more, sleep together, have a misunderstanding, make up, and then profess their undying love. Very formulaic stuff, and all woven around the more important parts of this book.

The meat of this book is far more focused on the story of the Dark witch and her magically-gifted descendants living in Ireland. Despite being weak on the romance, I really enjoyed it. I think the book is probably better for it, because the romance itself was pretty lackluster stuff.

I absolutely plan to stick with this series as I enjoyed the world building, loved the Ireland setting, and was intrigued by all of the secondary characters. However, If you read Nora Roberts strictly for the romance scenes, this one might disappoint. But if you enjoy a solid background story with some dark magic and prophesies, you might enjoy it as much as I did.

I listened to this one on audio, and felt the narration was excellent.

Emily May reviews R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy Wars , an epic fantasy novel , on Goodreads:

“But I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.”

Holy hell, what did I just read??

➽ A fantasy military school

➽ A rich world based on modern Chinese history

➽ Shamans and gods

➽ Detailed characterization leading to unforgettable characters

➽ Adorable, opium-smoking mentors

That's a basic list, but this book is all of that and SO MUCH MORE. I know 100% that The Poppy War will be one of my best reads of 2018.

Isn't it just so great when you find one of those books that completely drags you in, makes you fall in love with the characters, and demands that you sit on the edge of your seat for every horrific, nail-biting moment of it? This is one of those books for me. And I must issue a serious content warning: this book explores some very dark themes. Proceed with caution (or not at all) if you are particularly sensitive to scenes of war, drug use and addiction, genocide, racism, sexism, ableism, self-harm, torture, and rape (off-page but extremely horrific).

Because, despite the fairly innocuous first 200 pages, the title speaks the truth: this is a book about war. All of its horrors and atrocities. It is not sugar-coated, and it is often graphic. The "poppy" aspect refers to opium, which is a big part of this book. It is a fantasy, but the book draws inspiration from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking.

Crime Fiction Lover reviews Jessica Barry’s Freefall , a crime novel:

In some crime novels, the wrongdoing hits you between the eyes from page one. With others it’s a more subtle process, and that’s OK too. So where does Freefall fit into the sliding scale?

In truth, it’s not clear. This is a novel with a thrilling concept at its core. A woman survives plane crash, then runs for her life. However, it is the subtleties at play that will draw you in like a spider beckoning to an unwitting fly.

Like the heroine in Sharon Bolton’s Dead Woman Walking, Allison is lucky to be alive. She was the only passenger in a private plane, belonging to her fiancé, Ben, who was piloting the expensive aircraft, when it came down in woodlands in the Colorado Rockies. Ally is also the only survivor, but rather than sitting back and waiting for rescue, she is soon pulling together items that may help her survive a little longer – first aid kit, energy bars, warm clothes, trainers – before fleeing the scene. If you’re hearing the faint sound of alarm bells ringing, get used to it. There’s much, much more to learn about Ally before this tale is over.

Kirkus Reviews reviews Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One , a science-fiction novel :

Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Cline’s first novel is old wine in new bottles.

The real world, in 2045, is the usual dystopian horror story. So who can blame Wade, our narrator, if he spends most of his time in a virtual world? The 18-year-old, orphaned at 11, has no friends in his vertical trailer park in Oklahoma City, while the OASIS has captivating bells and whistles, and it’s free. Its creator, the legendary billionaire James Halliday, left a curious will. He had devised an elaborate online game, a hunt for a hidden Easter egg. The finder would inherit his estate. Old-fashioned riddles lead to three keys and three gates. Wade, or rather his avatar Parzival, is the first gunter (egg-hunter) to win the Copper Key, first of three.

Halliday was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980s, primarily the arcade games, so the novel is as much retro as futurist. Parzival’s great strength is that he has absorbed all Halliday’s obsessions; he knows by heart three essential movies, crossing the line from geek to freak. His most formidable competitors are the Sixers, contract gunters working for the evil conglomerate IOI, whose goal is to acquire the OASIS. Cline’s narrative is straightforward but loaded with exposition. It takes a while to reach a scene that crackles with excitement: the meeting between Parzival (now world famous as the lead contender) and Sorrento, the head of IOI. The latter tries to recruit Parzival; when he fails, he issues and executes a death threat. Wade’s trailer is demolished, his relatives killed; luckily Wade was not at home. Too bad this is the dramatic high point. Parzival threads his way between more ’80s games and movies to gain the other keys; it’s clever but not exciting. Even a romance with another avatar and the ultimate “epic throwdown” fail to stir the blood.

Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.

Book review examples for non-fiction books

Nonfiction books are generally written to inform readers about a certain topic. As such, the focus of a nonfiction book review will be on the clarity and effectiveness of this communication . In carrying this out, a book review may analyze the author’s source materials and assess the thesis in order to determine whether or not the book meets expectations.

Again, we’ve included abbreviated versions of long reviews here, so feel free to click on the link to read the entire piece!

The Washington Post reviews David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon :

The arc of David Grann’s career reminds one of a software whiz-kid or a latest-thing talk-show host — certainly not an investigative reporter, even if he is one of the best in the business. The newly released movie of his first book, “The Lost City of Z,” is generating all kinds of Oscar talk, and now comes the release of his second book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” the film rights to which have already been sold for $5 million in what one industry journal called the “biggest and wildest book rights auction in memory.”

Grann deserves the attention. He’s canny about the stories he chases, he’s willing to go anywhere to chase them, and he’s a maestro in his ability to parcel out information at just the right clip: a hint here, a shading of meaning there, a smartly paced buildup of multiple possibilities followed by an inevitable reversal of readerly expectations or, in some cases, by a thrilling and dislocating pull of the entire narrative rug.

All of these strengths are on display in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Around the turn of the 20th century, oil was discovered underneath Osage lands in the Oklahoma Territory, lands that were soon to become part of the state of Oklahoma. Through foresight and legal maneuvering, the Osage found a way to permanently attach that oil to themselves and shield it from the prying hands of white interlopers; this mechanism was known as “headrights,” which forbade the outright sale of oil rights and granted each full member of the tribe — and, supposedly, no one else — a share in the proceeds from any lease arrangement. For a while, the fail-safes did their job, and the Osage got rich — diamond-ring and chauffeured-car and imported-French-fashion rich — following which quite a large group of white men started to work like devils to separate the Osage from their money. And soon enough, and predictably enough, this work involved murder. Here in Jazz Age America’s most isolated of locales, dozens or even hundreds of Osage in possession of great fortunes — and of the potential for even greater fortunes in the future — were dispatched by poison, by gunshot and by dynamite. […]

Stacked Books reviews Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers :

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Malcolm Gladwell’s writing. Friends and co-workers tell me that his subjects are interesting and his writing style is easy to follow without talking down to the reader. I wasn’t disappointed with Outliers. In it, Gladwell tackles the subject of success – how people obtain it and what contributes to extraordinary success as opposed to everyday success.

The thesis – that our success depends much more on circumstances out of our control than any effort we put forth – isn’t exactly revolutionary. Most of us know it to be true. However, I don’t think I’m lying when I say that most of us also believe that we if we just try that much harder and develop our talent that much further, it will be enough to become wildly successful, despite bad or just mediocre beginnings. Not so, says Gladwell.

Most of the evidence Gladwell gives us is anecdotal, which is my favorite kind to read. I can’t really speak to how scientifically valid it is, but it sure makes for engrossing listening. For example, did you know that successful hockey players are almost all born in January, February, or March? Kids born during these months are older than the others kids when they start playing in the youth leagues, which means they’re already better at the game (because they’re bigger). Thus, they get more play time, which means their skill increases at a faster rate, and it compounds as time goes by. Within a few years, they’re much, much better than the kids born just a few months later in the year. Basically, these kids’ birthdates are a huge factor in their success as adults – and it’s nothing they can do anything about. If anyone could make hockey interesting to a Texan who only grudgingly admits the sport even exists, it’s Gladwell. […]

Quill and Quire reviews Rick Prashaw’s Soar, Adam, Soar :

Ten years ago, I read a book called Almost Perfect. The young-adult novel by Brian Katcher won some awards and was held up as a powerful, nuanced portrayal of a young trans person. But the reality did not live up to the book’s billing. Instead, it turned out to be a one-dimensional and highly fetishized portrait of a trans person’s life, one that was nevertheless repeatedly dubbed “realistic” and “affecting” by non-transgender readers possessing only a vague, mass-market understanding of trans experiences.

In the intervening decade, trans narratives have emerged further into the literary spotlight, but those authored by trans people ourselves – and by trans men in particular – have seemed to fall under the shadow of cisgender sensationalized imaginings. Two current Canadian releases – Soar, Adam, Soar and This One Looks Like a Boy – provide a pointed object lesson into why trans-authored work about transgender experiences remains critical.

To be fair, Soar, Adam, Soar isn’t just a story about a trans man. It’s also a story about epilepsy, the medical establishment, and coming of age as seen through a grieving father’s eyes. Adam, Prashaw’s trans son, died unexpectedly at age 22. Woven through the elder Prashaw’s narrative are excerpts from Adam’s social media posts, giving us glimpses into the young man’s interior life as he traverses his late teens and early 20s. […]

Book Geeks reviews Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love :

WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5

SUBJECT: 4/5

CANDIDNESS: 4.5/5

RELEVANCE: 3.5/5

ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5

“Eat Pray Love” is so popular that it is almost impossible to not read it. Having felt ashamed many times on my not having read this book, I quietly ordered the book (before I saw the movie) from amazon.in and sat down to read it. I don’t remember what I expected it to be – maybe more like a chick lit thing but it turned out quite different. The book is a real story and is a short journal from the time when its writer went travelling to three different countries in pursuit of three different things – Italy (Pleasure), India (Spirituality), Bali (Balance) and this is what corresponds to the book’s name – EAT (in Italy), PRAY (in India) and LOVE (in Bali, Indonesia). These are also the three Is – ITALY, INDIA, INDONESIA.

Though she had everything a middle-aged American woman can aspire for – MONEY, CAREER, FRIENDS, HUSBAND; Elizabeth was not happy in her life, she wasn’t happy in her marriage. Having suffered a terrible divorce and terrible breakup soon after, Elizabeth was shattered. She didn’t know where to go and what to do – all she knew was that she wanted to run away. So she set out on a weird adventure – she will go to three countries in a year and see if she can find out what she was looking for in life. This book is about that life changing journey that she takes for one whole year. […]

Emily May reviews Michelle Obama’s Becoming on Goodreads:

Look, I'm not a happy crier. I might cry at songs about leaving and missing someone; I might cry at books where things don't work out; I might cry at movies where someone dies. I've just never really understood why people get all choked up over happy, inspirational things. But Michelle Obama's kindness and empathy changed that. This book had me in tears for all the right reasons.

This is not really a book about politics, though political experiences obviously do come into it. It's a shame that some will dismiss this book because of a difference in political opinion, when it is really about a woman's life. About growing up poor and black on the South Side of Chicago; about getting married and struggling to maintain that marriage; about motherhood; about being thrown into an amazing and terrifying position.

I hate words like "inspirational" because they've become so overdone and cheesy, but I just have to say it-- Michelle Obama is an inspiration. I had the privilege of seeing her speak at The Forum in Inglewood, and she is one of the warmest, funniest, smartest, down-to-earth people I have ever seen in this world.

And yes, I know we present what we want the world to see, but I truly do think it's genuine. I think she is someone who really cares about people - especially kids - and wants to give them better lives and opportunities.

She's obviously intelligent, but she also doesn't gussy up her words. She talks straight, with an openness and honesty rarely seen. She's been one of the most powerful women in the world, she's been a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, she's had her own successful career, and yet she has remained throughout that same girl - Michelle Robinson - from a working class family in Chicago.

I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't benefit from reading this book.

Hopefully, this post has given you a better idea of how to write a book review. You might be wondering how to put all of this knowledge into action now! Many book reviewers start out by setting up a book blog. If you don’t have time to research the intricacies of HTML, check out Reedsy Discovery — where you can read indie books for free and review them without going through the hassle of creating a blog. To register as a book reviewer , go here .

And if you’d like to see even more book review examples, simply go to this directory of book review blogs and click on any one of them to see a wealth of good book reviews. Beyond that, it's up to you to pick up a book and pen — and start reviewing!

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Locus Online

The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field

2024 Kirkus Prize Finalists

• The Mighty Red , Louise Erdrich (Harper)
• James , Percival Everett (Doubleday)
• Prophet Song , Paul Lynch (Atlantic)
• Playground , Richard Powers (Norton)

Young Adult

• Bright Red Fruit , Safia Elhillo (Make Me A World)

Other categories include Nonfiction, Picture Book, and Middle-Grade. “Each award comes with a $50,000 cash prize. Books become eligible for the prizes by receiving a starred review from Kirkus , a distinction achieved by only about 10% of the books reviewed in the magazine.”

For more information, see the  Kirkus announcement .

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The 13 Best Book Review Sites and Book Rating Sites

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Nobody likes to spend money on a new book only to face that overwhelming feeling of disappointment when it doesn't live up to your expectations. The solution is to check out a few book review sites before you hit the shops. The greater the diversity of opinions you can gather, the more confidence you can have that you'll enjoy the title.

Which book review and book rating sites are worth considering? Here are the best ones.

1. Goodreads

Goodreads is arguably the leading online community for book lovers. If you want some inspiration for which novel or biography to read next, this is the book review site to visit.

There's an endless number of user-generated reading lists to explore, and Goodreads itself publishes dozens of "best of" lists across a number of categories. You can do a book search by plot or subject , or join book discussions and reading groups with thousands of members.

You can participate in the community by adding your own rankings to books you've read and leaving reviews for other people to check out. Occasionally, there are even bonus events like question and answer sessions with authors.

2. LibraryThing

LibraryThing is the self-proclaimed largest book club in the world. It has more than 2.3 million members and is one of the best social networking platforms for book lovers .

With a free account, you can add up to 200 books to your library and share them with other users. But it's in the other areas where LibraryThing can claim to be one of the best book review sites.

Naturally, there are ratings, user reviews, and tags. But be sure to click on the Zeitgeist tab at the top of the page. It contains masses of information, including the top books by rating, by the number of reviews, by authors, and loads more.

3. Book Riot

Book Riot is a blog. It publishes listicles on dozens of different topics, many of which review the best books in a certain genre. To give you an idea, some recent articles include Keeping Hoping Alive: 11 Thrilling YA Survival Stories and The Best Historical Fiction Books You’ve Never Heard Of .

Of course, there's also plenty of non-reading list content. If you have a general affinity for literature, Book Riot is definitely worth adding to the list of websites you browse every day.

Bookish is a site that all members of book clubs should know about. It helps you prep for your next meeting with discussion guides, book quizzes, and book games. There are even food and drink suggestions, as well as playlist recommendations.

But the site is more than just book club meetings. It also offers lots of editorial content. That comes in the form of author interviews, opinion essays, book reviews and recommendations, reading challenges, and giveaways.

Be sure to look at the Must-Reads section of the site regularly to get the latest book reviews. Also, it goes without saying that the people behind Bookish are book lovers, too. To get a glimpse of what they’re reading, check out their Staff Reads articles.

5. Booklist

Booklist is a print magazine that also offers an online portal. Trusted experts from the American Library Association write all the book reviews.

You can see snippets of reviews for different books. However, to read them in full, you will need to subscribe. An annual plan for this book review site costs $184.95 per year.

6. Fantasy Book Review

Fantasy Book Review should be high on the list for anyone who is a fan of fantasy works. The book review site publishes reviews for both children's books and adults' books.

It has a section on the top fantasy books of all time and a continually updated list of must-read books for each year. You can also search through the recommended books by sub-genres such as Sword and Sorcery, Parallel Worlds, and Epic Fantasy.

7. LoveReading

LoveReading is one of the most popular book review sites in the UK, but American audiences will find it to be equally useful.

The site is divided into fiction and non-fiction works. In each area, it publishes weekly staff picks, books of the month, debuts of the month, ebooks of the month, audiobooks of the month, and the nationwide bestsellers. Each book on every list has a full review that you can read for free.

Make sure you also check out their Highlights tab to get book reviews for selected titles of the month. In Collections , you'll also find themed reading lists such as World War One Literature and Green Reads .

Kirkus has been involved in producing book reviews since the 1930s. This book review site looks at the week's bestselling books, and provides lengthy critiques for each one.

As you'd expect, you'll also find dozens of "best of" lists and individual book reviews across many categories and genres.

And while you're on the site, make sure you click on the Kirkus Prize section. You can look at all the past winners and finalists, complete with the accompanying reviews of their books.

Although Reddit is a social media site, you can use it to get book reviews of famous books, or almost any other book for that matter! Reddit has a Subreddit, r/books, that is dedicated to book reviews and reading lists.

The subreddit has weekly scheduled threads about a particular topic or genre. Anyone can then chip in with their opinions about which books are recommendable. Several new threads are published every day, with people discussing their latest discovery with an accompanying book rating or review.

You'll also discover a weekly recommendation thread. Recent threads have included subjects such as Favorite Books About Climate Science , Literature of Indigenous Peoples , and Books Set in the Desert . There’s also a weekly What are you Reading? discussion and frequent AMAs.

For more social media-like platforms, check out these must-have apps for book lovers .

10. YouTube

YouTube is not the type of place that immediately springs to mind when you think of the best book review sites online.

Nonetheless, there are several engaging YouTube channels that frequently offer opinions on books they've read. You’ll easily find book reviews of famous books here.

Some of the most notable book review YouTube channels include Better Than Food: Book Reviews , Little Book Owl , PolandBananasBooks , and Rincey Reads .

Amazon is probably one of your go-to site when you want to buy something. If you don’t mind used copies, it’s also one of the best websites to buy second-hand books .

Now, to get book reviews, just search and click on a title, then scroll down to see the ratings and what others who have bought the book are saying. It’s a quick way to have an overview of the book’s rating. If you spot the words Look Inside above the book cover, it means you get to preview the first few pages of the book, too!

Regardless of the praises or criticisms you have heard from other book review sites, reading a sample is the most direct way to help you gauge the content’s potential and see whether the author’s writing style suits your tastes.

12. StoryGraph

StoryGraph is another good book review site that's worth checking out. The book rating is determined by the site's large community of readers. Key in the title of a book you're interested in and click on it in StoryGraph's search results to have an overall view of its rating.

Each book review provides information on the moods and pacing of the story. It also indicates whether the tale is plot or character-driven, what readers feel about the extent of character development, how lovable the characters generally are, and the diversity of the cast.

13. London Review of Books

The London Review of Books is a magazine that covers a range of subjects such as culture, literature, and philosophy. Part of its content includes amazingly detailed book reviews. If you feel that most modern book reviews are too brief for your liking, the London Review of Books should suit you best.

You'll gain insight into the flow and themes of the story, as well as a more thorough picture of the events taking place in the book.

Read Book Reviews Before You Buy

The book review sites we've discussed will appeal to different types of readers. Some people will be more comfortable with the easy-to-interpret book rating systems; others will prefer extensive reviews written by experienced professionals.

Although it’s easy to be tempted by a gorgeous book cover, it’s always best to have a quick look at the book reviews before actually buying a copy. This way, you can save your money and spend it on the books that you’ll be proud to display on your shelves for a long time. And check out recommendations, as well, to help you find what's worth reading.

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Independent Book Review

A Celebration of Indie Press and Self-Published Books

30+ Top-Notch Book Review Sites for Readers & Writers

Here are 30+ top-notch book review sites for booksellers, librarians, readers, & writers. Learn more about 30 bookish companies helping spread the word about the best & latest books.

Top-Notch Book Review Sites for Readers & Writers

Book reviews are for all of us.

Readers need to know whether books with the best covers are worth the time they’re about to put into it. They find it helpful (and fun!) to check out reviews after reading the books, too, so they can see what other real-life humans had to say about it.

Authors & publishers need to get book reviews to build buzz and credibility for their product. Librarians & booksellers need to hear from trusted sources that the book they are about to buy for their collection has the capability to get picked up & to satisfy. 

Book review sites have transformed the book-recommending landscape.

We can write reviews on product pages, on social media apps, and some of us, for publications that have been around since before the internet. Book reviewing has changed. But maybe it also hasn’t.

What kind of book review sites are you looking for? Chances are, this list has you covered.

Here are 30+ book review sites to read, write, and bookmark. 

1. Independent Book Review

Does this logo look familiar? (Hint: You’re sitting on it).

IBR, the website you’re on RIGHT NOW, is all about indie books . There are so many books in the world right now, but if you feel like you keep seeing the same ones recommended over and over, start reading indie!

Independent presses & self-published authors are doing some incredible work right now. IBR reviews books, curates lists, does indie bookstore round-ups, and uses starred reviews & best-of-the-year lists to show which books are going to blow your mind.

2. Book Marks

Lit Hub rules. You already knew this.

But do you know about Book Marks? They’re a branch of the Lit Hub network, and they are an excellent way for booksellers and librarians to get shorter recaps from multiple sources and voices.

Their staff peruses book review sites and shares pull-quotes from them in book lists & more. By reading all of these sites, they can give the book a rating based on the average: “Rave, Positive, Mixed, or Pan.”

My favorite book-buying platform, Bookshop , uses Book Marks’ scale for their books’ ratings, and I love getting access to that.

3. Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly has been around since 1872. By now, they’re a review churning machine. They cover so much of the book industry in so many different ways, reviewing nearly 9,000 books per year and providing publication announcements, agency announcements, industry job listings , bestseller lists, industry stats, a self-publishing partner, and more. 

4. Kirkus Reviews

Another one that’s been around since before the internet! 1933 to be exact. Kirkus is a widely recognized publication that book buyers & librarians follow carefully. I dare you to find a bookstore or library that doesn’t have multiple books with Kirkus Reviews plastered on their front and back covers.

5. Booklist

The American Library Association runs Booklist , a platform dedicated to helping libraries, educators, and booksellers choose books. They’ve got a magazine (since 1905!), book reviews, lists, awards, and one of my favorite bookish podcasts out there: Shelf Care .

6. Library Journal & School Library Journal

As you might be able to guess, Library Journal & School Library Journal focus on librarians too! They review a ton of books, and they write often about library-related news, collection management, technology, programs, and more. If you’re an author hoping to land your book in libraries, these are essential targets.

7. BookPage

You may have seen BookPage in your local library or bookstore. Some shops provide it for free so that patrons can look through it to find which books to buy in-store. Their website is clean and intriguing and always full of the most up-to-date releases and bestsellers.

Speaking of libraries! Have you seen our gifts for librarians ?

8. Foreword

Foreword is such an enthusiastic and dedicated champion of indie books, and they’ve been doing it since the 90s! I love how much attention university presses get here too. Their reviews are well-written & thorough, in both print & digital, and I always find something to speed-purchase once the Foreword Indie winners come out.

9. LoveReading

LoveReading is a top book-recommendation website in the UK. They’ve got starred reviews, lists, staff picks, a LitFest , eBooks, and they even donate 25% of the cover price of their books to schools of your choice. It’s reader-friendly and apparent how much they appreciate the wonder of books. 

10. Washington Independent Review of Books

What’s not to love about The Independent?

Back in 2011, a group of writers & editors were frustrated by newspapers dropping book review sections and decided to do something about it. The Washington Independent Review of Books is quite a lovely something! This nonprofit posts every day: from reviews to interviews to essays and podcasts. They host events too!

11. Book Riot

Try being a reader and not finding something you love on Book Riot. Book lists, podcasts, personalized recommendations, newsletters, book deals—this site is a haven.

It doesn’t post solo book reviews like other sites, but they do share mini-reviews in book lists and talk about reading in unique & passionate ways. The Book Riot Podcast is such a winner too! I love listening to Jeff & Rebecca laugh about the latest in books & reading.

12. Electric Lit

From novel excerpts to original short fiction & poetry, they might not only be a book review site,  but they do offer a lot in the world of book recommendations. Their Recommended Reading lit mag features unique staff picks and short, insightful book reviews.

13. The Millions

The writing in The Millions is something to behold. They are an artful source for all things book reviews & recommendations. They write stunning essays about books & reading and long reviews of new and old books. They’ve got some of my favorite Most Anticip ated lists too.

What are the biggest benefits of reading ? 🧐

14. Bookforum

Did you hear? Bookforum is back ! This book review magazine announced in December 2022 that they were closing, and my heart sank a little bit. This company means so much to the publishing industry and has for 20+ years, so when I saw (last week!) that they are returning, I did more than a few jumps for joy.

Welcome back, Bookforum! Can’t wait to see what you’ve got coming for us in book world coverage.

BOMB is in it for the art. Art, literature, film, music, theater, architecture, and dance. There are reviews and interviews, and the literature section is a real delight. The reviews are like poignant essays, and the author interviews are in-depth and feature some fascinating minds.

16. The Asian Review of Books

The only dedicated pan-Asian book review publication! It’s widely cited and features some of the best in Asian books and art, so booksellers and librarians have a source to trust to stock their collections with high-quality pan-Asian lit.

Have you seen our gifts for book lovers yet?

17. Chicago Review of Books

I love so much of what Chicago Review of Books does. They have a clean & sleek design that features some of the buzziest books as well as plenty of hidden gems from our favorite indie presses. I’m a particularly big fan of the spotlight they put on books in translation .

18. Rain Taxi

I love Rain Taxi ’s style! They champion unique books, publish their own fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and put a real emphasis on art for their magazine covers . It’s a beautiful print magazine to subscribe to, but they also share free online editions & digital archives. They even run the Rain Taxi Reading Series & Twin Cities Book Festival if you’re a real-lifer in Minnesota!

19. The Rumpus

Oh, The Rumpus ! This mostly volunteer-run online magazine publishes reviews, interviews, essays, fiction, and poetry. The reviews are in-depth and personal and heart-melting, and in addition to the site, they’ve got cool perks like the Poetry Book Club  and Letters in the Mail . The book club is where you get a pre-release book and meet the poet via Slack with other club members at the end of the month, and Letters in the Mail are actual postcards sent in the mail to you twice a month from your favorite authors.

20. Book Reporter

The selection in Book Reporter is carefully curated & enticing: hot new releases, forthcoming books, major presses, & indies. And there are plenty of unique ways to learn about them, like video interviews and monthly lists & picks. It launched in 1996 and is in The Book Report Network, which includes Reading Group Guides , a super useful resource for book clubs.

21. BookTrib .

BookTrib does such a great job of making their site browsable. The different ways you can enjoy what they offer—from book lists to giveaways to ebook deals —are difficult to keep your purchase finger off of.

23. Lit Reactor

Writers & readers—where bookish people meet! LitReactor’s book reviews are in the magazine portion of their website, and they’ve got plenty of them! Reviews, interviews, lists, introspectives, writing tips, and reading discussions. I’ve found some really unique content on Lit Reactor, like this ranking of literary parents . The website is a haven for writers especially, as there are workshops, writing blog posts, and even a forum to participate in.

24. Crime Fiction Lover

Dark alleys. Stray bullets. Hard-boiled detectives. Runaway thrills. If you’re a mystery-thriller reader, you’ve got to know about Crime Fiction Lover. They’ve got a passionate group of readers and writers talking about the best books in the genre and the ones that are soon to come out too.

25. SF Book Reviews

Speculative fiction fans unite! SF Book Reviews has been reviewing sci-fi and fantasy books since 1999, and while they’re a relatively small staff, they publish regularly, feature books of the month, and work wonders for their fantastical community.

26. Historical Novel Society

For all you historical fiction fans out there, the Historical Novel Society has reviewed more than 20,000 books in its twenty years. This one works like a membership for “writers and readers who love exploring the past.” You get a quarterly print magazine as a member, and if you’re a writer, you can join critique groups and ask for book reviews.

27. The Poetry Question

The Poetry Question writes about poetry published by indie presses and indie authors. They are a small passionate team dedicated to showing the world why indie presses continue to be a leading source for award-winning poetry.

28. Goodreads

Did you know that there are over 125 million members on Goodreads? When users review books, they can have conversations with fellow readers and follow reviewers too. If you’re looking for the biggest community, there’s no doubt Goodreads is the one. I like using sites like this because it helps you catalog books, one of my favorite ways to build a strong reading habit . 

29. The Storygraph

A big community of active users that’s Amazon free! Come review books, use half & quarter stars (!), and complete reading challenges. You got this.

29. Bookwyrm

Bookwyrm is small (around 5,000 members at the time of this writing), but doesn’t that sound kind of nice? There are active members and a genuine collective goal in talking books. Grow with it. I think you’ll be comfy here. There are other communities within the Bookwyrm umbrella too, like Bookrastinating .

30. Reedsy Discovery

I hold a special place in my heart for book review sites dedicated to helping writers! I got into this business as a book marketer, and I experienced first-hand, through hundreds of books, how hard it was to get exposure & validation for small press and self-published authors. 

Reedsy Discovery is a branch of Reedsy (the author resource company) that connects authors & reviewers so that people can read free books, sometimes receive tips for it, and authors can get more reviews in the process. Readers can choose from the latest books as well as the ones that are getting the best reviews.

31. Netgalley

Netgalley is a book review site for pre-released books. Reviewers sign up for a free account, request galleys from publishers and indie authors, and get to read them before they’re published so that they can leave reviews for the book, preferably on Amazon, Goodreads, or their blog. They also run Bookish , the editorial arm of Netgalley, which has book recommendations, interviews, and more.

32. Online Book Club

This review site combines a bunch of cool things! The 4-million member community gives me a lot of Goodreads vibes, especially with the Bookshelves app . But Online Book Club is a place for you to get eBook deals and talk about books in reviews and forums.

What are your favorite book review sites to follow? Let us know in the comments!

Thank you for reading “ Top-Notch Book Review Sites for Readers & Writers !” If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Book review sites serve as invaluable resources for both readers and writers, offering insightful critiques, recommendations, and discussions on a wide range of literary works. Whether you’re seeking your next captivating read or looking to promote your own book, these platforms provide a wealth of information and opportunities for engagement. https://ghostwritersplanet.com/

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Artists in Fiction

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By Maxwell Carter

• Feb. 26, 2016

OIL AND MARBLE A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo By Stephanie Storey 345 pp. Arcade, $24.99.

Giorgio Vasari didn’t stint with his praise. ­Everything Leonardo does “clearly comes from God rather than from human art,” while Michelangelo, who was “graciously” sent down by “the benign ruler of heaven,” is the “perfect exemplar in life, work and behavior and in every endeavor.” Celebrating perfection, as Vasari’s gossipy “Lives of the Artists” does, is one thing — ­dramatizing it, quite another. Storey’s richly imagined tale of Leonardo and Michelangelo and their rivalry, as they conceive the Mona Lisa and the David in Florence at the turn of the 16th century, casts Vasari’s not-of-this-world paragons as men, and starkly different ones at that, as the title’s play on oil and water suggests.

Leonardo, at the height of his powers, is graceful and distinguished, with unbounded insights and interests. Michelangelo, more than 20 years Leonardo’s junior, is disheveled, obscure and single-minded. Storey’s heroic foils are convincing, as are the cameo appearances of the pair’s famous contemporaries Sandro Botticelli, Cesare Borgia and Niccolò Machiavelli.

Tremendously entertaining and “unapologetic” in its artistic license, “Oil and Marble” will remind an older generation of the pleasures of Irving Stone’s art historical fiction, particularly his chronicle of the Sistine Chapel ceiling commission, “The Agony and the Ecstasy.” Storey’s affection for the period is clear. Her narrative instincts are strong and her dialogue sharp; throughout, her exposition is adroit and informative. The only false note is struck, inevitably, in her depiction of Lisa del Giocondo, which involves the thankless task of divining the sitter’s “secret.” Sir Kenneth Clark called the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile “a quarry so shy” it must be approached “with every artifice.” Storey’s attempt, by no means clumsy, doesn’t come off. But then, one can hardly fault her for not being Leonardo’s equal. Vasari wouldn’t either.

THE WEEPING WOMAN By Zoé Valdés Translated by David Frye 302 pp. Arcade, $25.99.

Picasso wasn’t the 20th century’s most enlightened boyfriend, to put it mildly. Women, he once told Françoise Gilot, the mother of two of his four children, were either “goddesses” or “doormats.” Dora Maar, the Surrealist photographer Picasso left for Gilot, defied the artist’s outrageously glib tags. Valdés’s novel explores Dora’s mysterious, self-denying life after Picasso through the prism of her fateful 1958 trip to Venice with the writer James Lord and his former lover, Bernard Minoret.

Narrated by an author much like Valdés — an ardently anti-Communist Cuban exile who lives in Paris with her husband and daughter, as Valdés has done — “The Weeping Woman” interweaves present and past with intelligence and humor. An acquaintance’s dilettantish chatter is laid bare: “Renata worked; at least, she told us she worked, or I seemed to gather as much, or she used to work, though not so much or so often anymore; that is, she was still working, but not that much, only ‘sporadically,’ seasonally.” And Lord’s snobbish, vicarious self-importance is checked: Valdés dryly observes his habit of perching in front of his portrait by Giacometti. But not everyone comes off badly. Many of the leading Parisian avant-gardists — Guillaume Apollinaire, Leonor Fini, Juan Gris, Max Jacob, Wifredo Lam, André Lhote, Kiki de Montparnasse, Man Ray — are conjured with fidelity and charm.

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• Perspectives

Best of 2022: Our Favorite Fiction

BY Laurie Muchnick • Nov. 13, 2022

Every November, when I look back at the year’s fiction, I try to discern trends: Was this the year of books with ghosts or the year of books about unhappy young people talking about relationships? The first thing that pops out at me looking at  our list of the best fiction of 2022 is a tiny but distinctive microtrend: Books about families titled with the name of that family. And to make the trend even more specific, both books that fit into it are published by Norton: There’s Lan Samantha Chang’s The Family Chao (Feb. 1), an update of The Brothers Karamazov about a Chinese American family running a restaurant in Wisconsin—our review calls it “a disruptive, sardonic take on the assimilation story”—and Rubén Degollado’s The Family Izquierdo (Sept. 6), a novel about three generations of a Texas family that believes they’re living under a curse, which our review calls “a gloriously rich epic.”

Some of the year’s most striking fiction was exceptionally long; consider The Books of Jacob  by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft (Riverhead, Feb. 1), which follows the historical figure Jacob Frank, who in parts of 18th-century Ukraine was thought to be the Messiah. “A massive achievement,” says our review, and the book isn’t made any less massive by the fact that it starts on Page 961 and counts down to 1. At 592 pages, Alice Elliott Dark’s Fellowship Point (MarySue Rucci Books/Scribner, July 5) also makes a large impression with its story of two friends from Philadelphia Quaker families who grow old, sometimes gracefully and sometimes not, and consider the best way to preserve the nearly untouched land where they’ve spent summer vacations in Maine for their entire lives.

But some of the shortest novels on our best books list have just as much impact. Julie Otsuka’s The Swimmers  (Knopf, Feb. 22) and Elizabeth McCracken’s The Hero of This Book  (Ecco, Oct. 4) have something else in common besides their brevity: They’re both possibly autobiographical stories of a mother-daughter pair, and both make adventurous experiments with form. Our verdict on Otsuka: “The combination of social satire with an intimate portrait of loss and grief is stylistically ambitious and deeply moving.” McCracken: “Novel? Memoir? Who cares. It’s a great story, beautifully told.”

As always, there are striking debuts. Jonathan Escoffery’s If I Survive You  (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Sept. 6) is a collection of linked stories about a Miami family with roots in Jamaica. Escoffery’s voice is vivid and engaging whether he’s writing in the first or second person, in standard English or Jamaican patois. Luke Dani Blue’s Pretend It’s My Body  (Feminist Press, Oct. 18) is a “collection of stories about characters on the brink of claiming new genders, sexualities, lifestyles, and even forms….Blue writes with nuance, empathy, and wit,” according to our review.

And let’s not forget second novels! Douglas Stuart follows up his Booker Prize–winning Shuggie Bain  with Young Mungo  (Grove, April 5), about two Glasgow boys—one Catholic and one Protestant—who fall in love in the 1990s. Our review calls it “romantic, terrifying, brutal, tender, and, in the end, sneakily hopeful.” (Listen to our  interview with Stuart on the Fully Booked podcast.) And some great books are the second in a series: If you want to read Marlon James’ Moon Witch, Spider King  (Riverhead, Feb. 15) or N.K. Jemisin’s The World We Make  (Orbit, Nov. 1), you should probably go back and read their predecessors, but you’ll be glad you did.

Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor.

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