Do you typically read blurbs/reviews before starting a book or do you prefer to go in blind? Or does it depend on genre?
I used to have a look at the reviews first, but of late I’ve just checked out the star rating then dived in and opened it up. It makes it much more interesting if you have no idea what you are getting into beyond genre (mystery, fantasy, etc.). I have found blurbs go into a lot of detail sometimes.
by saturday_sun4
4 Comments
I certainly never go in blind. I at least read the description on the back/inside cover. I don’t really know how a book would get on my radar as something to read unless somehow it had been described and/or recommended (beyond a meaningless number rating) in some way.
I read the blurb to see if it interests me at all
Most books that I know I want to read (because I know I like the author, because the book won a prize I respect, because a critic I like recommended it, etc.) I read nothing at all in advance. I read ebooks only so I can’t even easily read the blurb on the back except on goodreads or the amazon store page.
However, with books where I’m skeptical whether I’m gonna like them, books that I consider kind of an experiment (for example most genre fiction, books that are part of a series, books that I got recommended from a channel or booktuber that I don’t yet know I agree with, and I suspect I might not) I will skim read a handful of reviews, looking for signs that immediately turn me off. If I skim over 3-4 reviews on goodreads and don’t see anything that immediately makes me lose interest, I will give it a go.
I’ll skim a blurb, and if that interests me, I’ll download a free sample through Amazon Kindle to see if I like the writing style, story, etc. It’s saved me a ton of money on books that I thought would be good but just didn’t do it for me.