So you've read a book in Ann and now you want to review it, how you go about that depends of course on how well you liked the book. Now if you loved the book it's easy: say something nice, award it five stars and you can be on your way.
But what if you didn't love it, despite it winning all the awards... clearly you were sold a bill of goods, and it's time to get angry.
Writing an angry review is harder than you might think, so I've created this handy template that should get you up and running in no time.
It's pronounced "Teh-ah-time-eh"
Lead of with a mention of tea (a tea-pun is even better, but don't overdo it!) because one of two things everyone knows about this book is that people drink tea. In Space.
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| Tea in space? Ridiculous |
It's important that you mention that you disliked this book so much that you were unable to finish it. In fact the less you've read of the book, the better your review.
We were sold a bill of rights!
This is the crux of any angry review. You went in expecting something, but what you got was different from you expectations. Who would want that?
Ancillary Justice is classified as Space Opera in reviews, but the book does not align with your strict genre definitions. Clearly the MSM is just pushing this because of it's anti-colonialist message.
(Note: If you are reviewing one of the sequels it is important to mention that another book like Justice would've been fine, but this isn't the sequel we were promised).
The pronoun thing
This book is a big hit with literary types because of Leckie's use of the female pronoun. You should say two things about this:
It's not a novel idea for an idea novel
Gender? LeGuin did that. Spaceships? Heinlein had'em, AI? Asimov's your man.Clearly there's nothing new in Leckie's books, so you might as well dust of a half century old book by a real master of the genre. Be sure to recommend at least one book based on a superficial similarity in a single plot point.
Trekkier than thou
No one is going to believe your opinion is worth anything if you don't establish some nerd cred, so boast about the amount of Sci-Fi you read. Be sure to say that you've read All The Classics, or read dozens of books a day, or were an extra in a ST:TNG mockumentary that one time (but your part was cut).
This book is a big hit with literary types because of Leckie's use of the female pronoun. You should say two things about this:
- It's already been done by LeGuin decades ago. And much better too! (or so you've heard)
- It detracts from the story. Being confronted with you own unconscious biases takes you out of the story, so it's just bad storytelling.
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| Female genders are so 1969 |
Gender? LeGuin did that. Spaceships? Heinlein had'em, AI? Asimov's your man.Clearly there's nothing new in Leckie's books, so you might as well dust of a half century old book by a real master of the genre. Be sure to recommend at least one book based on a superficial similarity in a single plot point.
Trekkier than thou
No one is going to believe your opinion is worth anything if you don't establish some nerd cred, so boast about the amount of Sci-Fi you read. Be sure to say that you've read All The Classics, or read dozens of books a day, or were an extra in a ST:TNG mockumentary that one time (but your part was cut).
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