Our review policies regarding what we choose to review and when may remain mercurial for some time to come, but we believe that one thing should be clear, why we give the reviews that we do. We do this to keep ourselves honest, but also so the authors we review can better understand why they received the review that they did. Enjoy.
Story
Story is rated on a number of smaller scales, those mainly being originality, cohesiveness, plausibility and interestingness. Stories that are high in most or all of these categories will receive a 5 star review. In terms of our reviews, this is likely the easiest category to receive high marks. On the other hand, to receive low marks, the story must contain serious continuity issues or be completely incomprehensible. A great story is one that is interesting, natural and original, while a terrible story is incoherent, contrived and bland.
Writing and Formatting
This is where things become more mysterious. We do not keep a running tally of mistakes, but we do consider especially egregious errors when making our ratings. 2.5 stars is average, which means the story has some mistakes in formatting, spelling and writing, but is to a degree that they are not terribly distracting. A 5 star mark in this category means, usually, a professionally edited book with few to no noticeable errors. A 1 star mark indicates a book so full of errors that the story is basically unreadable.
Literary Value
We at Fantasia Reviews care about more than just a story, we want to be left thinking when we are through, and we don’t mean just pondering the book we finished. A score of 2.5 means that the book touches on standard themes expected of genre novels but does not extend much beyond that, and does not do anything extraordinary. A score of 5 would indicate an exceptional work of art, a sublime experience that should be enjoyed by all. A score of 1 indicates a book so devoid of independent thought that you could duplicate the experience of reading it by inhaling a jar full of someone else’s flatus.
Overall
This score is not as simple as it seems. While it is partially an aggregation of the other scores, it more accurately reflects our recommendation to read the book. A score of 5 would indicate a must read book, while a score of 1 would indicate a book that should be avoided like rodents carrying the plague.
Thank you for reading our guidelines
Fantasia Reviews Team