Here at Speculative Book Review, we look at many things. While you see our major three criteria (Characterization, Plot and Style), there are many other factors that go along with it. When looking at characterization, for instance, we're looking to see if the qualities a character has are realistic, consistent, well thought out, etc. Of course, since the five of us at SBR are different people with different tastes, we all consider and weigh these sorts of things differently, even though we try to remain as objective and consistent as we can be.
When I'm looking for a new book to read, a book that I'm reading for myself, and do not have to worry about objectivity for the blog, I'm looking for a few things.
First, and foremost, I want efficient, yet beautiful prose. I want there to be tonnes of imagery, but with a minimum amount of words used for it. I do not want pages of description, but I want to know exactly what something looks like. This style of writing is hard to obtain, and I know that this shrinks the pool a bit, but it's the style I enjoy the most. It's usually full of action oriented sentences, but can contain a dream-like quality to it. Examples of authors who are quite good at this sort of thing would be Guy Gavriel Kay, Ursula K. Le Guin, Tanith Lee, and Sheri S. Tepper.
After style, I look for plot. I prefer adventure stories. Though, I do not require all of my adventure stories to include Indiana Jones and Tarzan-like antics and qualities in them. All I require is a character to go out on a limb and actively do things and go places. They do not have to go far, even if they only go a day's hike away, or across to the other side of the city, I'm fine. But I do prefer the withdrawal and return story patterns. I enjoy it when a character has to leave their society (whether it be their family, their village, their realm) in order to figure something out, let it be something that saves everyone, or just saves themselves. When it comes to the return part of the pattern, it does not have to be a literal return. They do not have to go back to their parent's home, or their village or their realm, but they do return to so-called 'normal' life, as in, a life outside of this singular adventure. They might go on more adventures later, but this particular one finishes. This pattern can be repeated in a million different ways, so it never bores me. It's how the author fleshes it out; fills in the details that interest me.
Personally, characterization is not big on my list. If there's a strong style and a strong plot (strong as in, based on my wants/desires), then there should be strong characterization as well. To me, characterization falls under the style category. If you have weak characters, then you've failed in style as well.
Lastly, I really enjoy novels that showcase human frailties and faults. Science fiction tends to do a better job at this than fantasy (or at least, there's more authors using science fiction to depict this). Call me a cynic, but I just don't think humans are all we say we are. We are not at the centre of the universe. And honestly, while we're capable of wonderful things, we're also capable of acts that are just as terrible. Look at what we're doing to our planet, for instance. Look at what we do to each other. I enjoy books that examine these sentiments in interesting and uncommon ways. Authors like Arthur C. Clarke, Margaret Atwood, and some of the others I've mentioned before are great at this sort of story.
On to covers. . . Do I let them influence me? Sometimes, yeah, I do. The cover is not going to be the final factor in whether I buy a book or not, but it does help me pick a book up in the first place. Sometimes I just like going to a book store for a few hours and look at what they have. More often than not, I do this when I'm looking for an author I have never read before. If there's a book with a nice looking cover, I'm more inclined to pick it up, read the back blurb, and then if that interests me, I'll pick a random chunk of dialogue and see if it passes my dialogue test. (This test includes looking for realism and quick little non-dialogue responses between lines of dialogue. As in, whether or not someone scrunches their nose, or scratches their eyebrow, or sits down, or stands up or. . . you get the picture.)
For those books which are unfortunate to have what I deem to be 'bad' covers (I don't like my hero standing heroically with a weapon and staring into nothing. In fact, I rather there not be people at all on a cover, unless it's a classic painting), I use their titles to influence me. If the title is something along the lines of The Gleaming Sword or The Opal Stone (The Opal Stone is actually a story I wrote when I was twelve. That bit of information might put some perspective in there for you), I'm probably not going to pick it up. The only way I would do this is if it came highly recommended to me by persons I trust. Please note the plural there. Only one testimony is not enough in this case for me. Why? Well, I have a prejudice. I'll admit it. I'm prejudiced against books that have titles like The Gleaming Sword. I am bigoted in the fact that I think they'll be silly and created for one of the lower common denominators, or at least twelve year olds, who're allowed to read such things, since they're young and don't know any better. I am egotistical in that I think I'm intelligent, I am proud of my intelligence, and I want books which will challenge my intelligence. I want to learn. So there. I've admitted it.
But enough about me. What about you?
- Victoria
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