Book reviews - long or short?

[iamjenai]

I'm just wondering how long do you write your reviews? Well, for me mostly it would be just 2-3 short paragraphs unless I have too many things to say about the book. I am afraid that if I write longer reviews it would bore my readers as I tend to stay away from long reviews. I mean most of the 'long" reviews I read, it would include spoilers especially YA books . So as much as possible when I go to amazon or any book review blogs, I only check those with short reviews.

I asked because I was looking for some reviews about a certain book yesterday and there's only a few short reviews. I mean I'm buying a book and I don't want to read something with spoilers on it. Any thoughts?  Thanks!

[ManOfLaBook.com]

Now that you said that I realize that even in the NY Times, the "review" itself (if there actually is one) is a paragraph or two but the synopsis of the book is the majority of the article.

http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

[iamjenai]

Oh really? I haven't noticed that ... 

[Stephen Lawrence Brayton]

I review for two websites and an online magazine. For one site I'm supposed to provide a general summary of the plot in one paragraph and the second paragraph tell the aspect I like about the story. For the others, I write three paragraphs, the first introducing the type or kind of story, the second a general plot, and the third mentioning he positive aspects. Normally I try not to go over 300 words and I don't give spoilers.

 

For my review blog, I take some of those reviews and expand on them a bit more. I discuss Plot, Characters, Dialogue, and Writing, again with no spolers, but it's a bit more honest and I'm not restricted to just talking about the positive things. I mention editing errors, or surface characters or soap opera type dialogue. I also mention a little about he syle of the book, whether first or third person POV, length of chapters, if there is any profanity or sexual scenes. Yes, I have posted some reviews that gave lower rankings for books, but thankfully, those are not the majority.

[Marissa]

this has been my question too and thanks for posting it i'm learning :)

[Rosen Trevithick]

I tend to leave anywhere between three and six paragraphs. If I'm reviewing a book for an indie, I try to make sure that I include some quotable sentences.