A great book review is much like the delicious smell of a cake baking in the oven—it induces a mouthwatering eagerness to gobble up its subject! And your reviews certainly made us want to delve in, not only piquing our interest in recently published books but also reigniting our love for classic titles and inspiring us to seek out new reads from around the world.
Below, Guest Judge Megan Daley shares her winning picks and tells us why they wowed!
Winner: Shivona (UK)’s review of Nowherelands: An Atlas of Vanished Countries, by Bjorn Berge
Congratulations on a review that is as informative as it is engaging—this is a tricky balance to achieve with the book review genre. Your review achieved its main goal—to spark an interest in this book, which seems to be an eccentric but refreshingly original account of the lost countries of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This would not be a book I would normally choose but your review sent me off to order my own copy of Bjorn Berge’s book—a piece of writing that sparks an action in its reader is a powerful piece of writing. Your introductory sentence immediately grabs attention, and your first paragraph contains not only a short summary of the books purpose and main ideas but also has some wonderfully emotive phrases which set the tone for the review to come: “weaves together”; “frayed ends”; “taste the richness” and “trickled down the generations.”
The second paragraph is a strong assertion of your opinion on why this book works, with specific examples and some strong phrases such as “invites us on a journey” and “challenges the idle thought.” Without being negative, you critically discuss what could be seen as a weaker point of the book, “some chapters feel more rushed … researchers may be sceptical towards this inconsistency,” but you also make the point that the audience is probably not academics and that the book serves more as an “introduction; a starting point”—this is an excellent way to establish the audience for this book. Your conclusion loops elegantly back around to emotive language and your final recommendation packs a punch.
The sequence of topics for your review is in a logical order and your creative voice is strong. In terms of mechanics and language your writing is well edited and polished. You use complete sentences and a variety of sentence types and have chosen vibrant and effective vocabulary.
Well done—this is a powerful book review!
Runner-up: Saher Gole (India)’s review of Refugee, by Alan Gratz
Your writing is a fine example of the genre of review writing. Your introduction is inviting as well as explanatory, giving the reader details of the book, a summary in which the ending is not revealed and information which goes beyond the obvious and predictable. Your analysis and critique is polished, and I particularly liked the connection you made with the “news stories we see in our feeds today” as this made a strong link between the book and real life. Themes and characters are discussed in depth and your use of quotes from the book to highlight these are appropriate and add strength to your writing. While the recommendation for the book is strong and explains in detail why you would recommend it, I would like a little more detail about who you think the readership of this book is—who should read it.
This is a polished book review—well done!
Peer Review Winner: Emma Gold (US)’s peer review of The moment I met what life truly meant
Your peer review gives so much quality feedback to the writer of the review. Your comments are articulate, encouraging and challenge the writer in a positive manner. Your first sentence is perfect in that it states that you were intrigued enough by the review to seek out a copy of the book—the writer clearly hit the mark and it was great that you acknowledged this at the start. Your comments are ones I agree with re: polishing the writing piece, and you beautifully layered critique with encouragement. Well done!
Finalists:
Madeleinewren (UK)’s Kerouac’s On the Road: an Ode to Dean Moriarty, masculinity and the American Dream
Emmagrace (US)’s review of Out of My Mind
Caitlin Rothery (UK)’s review of Rebecca
Special Commendation:
Delia Rune (US)’s review of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse