Comments on: Fair and Square

By: Lori Henderson

Lori Henderson — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:03:23 +0000

Deb: my RL makes doing that impossible, so I do what I can. I feel a responsibility to the pubs that send me the review copies, and try to review the titles as best I can. But at least with talking and reading with other bloggers, I feel I have or can get a good idea of what a series is about when I take it up.

Kate: Then I don’t feel bad for my reviews. If B.O.D.Y. and SA didn’t have good first volumes, I doubt my opinion by 2 or 6 would change. Thanks.

Ed: Thanks.

By: Katherine Dacey

Katherine Dacey — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:53:26 +0000

Trust me when I say that neither B.O.D.Y nor S.A. had a stellar first volume!

By: Deb Aoki

Deb Aoki — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:48:20 +0000

In general, I never review the middle volume of a series if I hadn’t read and reviewed the prior volumes — or at least the first one. If I receive middle volumes from a publisher, then I wait until I buy all the prior volumes before I attempt to review it. It’s a lot of out-of-pocket cash for me to do so, but I think it gives me a better idea of the creators’ intentions and the evolution of the story.

I think of it as how a reader would pick up a story. Few would start reading a series from a middle volume — most prefer to start from volume 1. I do try to review subsequent volumes if the creator has made significant strides in improving the story or art after a weak first volume.

By: Ed Sizemore

Ed Sizemore — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:22:52 +0000

Great post. I totally agree. When I review middle volumes of a series, I like to mention to the audience if this volume is accessible to a first time reader. Something that Negima is so continuity heavy that you’ll spend a lot of time on Wikipedia to get caught up (almost as much time as if you just went ahead and read the prior volumes).

As you point out the review is really about that particular volume. Just because the prior 5 volumes of a series was great is no guarantee that volume 6 will be equally as good. So being familiar with the previous volumes is no guarantee of a good review. Fans of a series believe that if you had just read the prior material you would had love this volume. Not always true.