I have gotten a few questions about my review style, so I thought I'd explain it here on my blog.
In my opinion, reviews for history books require a bit more nuance than reviews for fiction books. I think this is the case because someone's enjoyment of a history book doesn't influence whether or not that history book includes good history. Enjoyment comes from the characters, the world, the writing, and a few other things. As a result, a lack of enjoyment does not equal a bad history book. Maybe someone doesn't like the main people discussed in a history book or isn't too interested in the setting. This is okay. As individuals, we are allowed to not enjoy things.
However, contrary to what I said before, enjoyment of a history book usually does equate to a good history book. This is because the author was able to convey the history in an enjoyable way. I did say "usually" in my phrasing, though. I chose that indicator for two main reasons.
Reason 1: Sometimes history books don't have information completely correct, for whatever reason.
Reason 2: History can be outright unpleasant at times, no matter how enjoyable the author may make their book.
While using the Goodreads set up for reviewing books (5/5 star rating and a review), I also have my own personal set up for book reviews, seen below.
Title: ____
Author: ____
Summary: ____
Breakdown of Info: 5/5 stars
Diversity of Opinion: 5/5 stars
Minimum Bias: 5/5 stars
Use of Research: 5/5 stars
Overall: 20/20 stars
I use this set up for two reasons.
The first is that I have to think a bit more about the book when I'm reviewing. "Does it deserve the full 20/20 stars? If not, where do I feel like I need to dock a star?" Questions like that get me thinking about what exactly I read.
The second is that it's not about whether or not you like(d) the history you read about. We don't have the power to really change what happened in the past, and you're not obligated to like it. It's about what you learned while reading that history book
This is super interesting! I like how you rate different things of the book.
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