Here is a list of 10 best free book review websites. These website offer reviews of books on different criteria like plot of the story, characters, storytelling, way of ending the book and much more. They are your one stop solution to know whether a particular book is worth reading or not. This will not only save you some bucks but also help you find out the books which are really worth spending time on. Some of these websites also offer various other options like book recommendations, list of trending books, best selling books, popular authors, author bio, etc.
I won’t keep you waiting for more, so let’s get started.
1. Goodreads:
Goodreads is the biggest community of book lovers and catalog of books on the internet with staggering 30 million members, 900 million books, and 34 million reviews. It has a search bar for finding books on the basis of title, author, or ISBN Number. For the book searched by you, the website shows overall ratings (on scale of 5), number of ratings, and total number of reviews. The good thing is that this website also shows complete breakdown of overall rating. It means you can see that how many people rated the book 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. As for the reviews, you can like and comment on any of the reviews.
The website lists all the details about the book like total number of editions, author bio, book synopsis, and much more. You can register with the website for a free account to post your own reviews, interact with other Goodreads members, and to be a part of the community.
2. Lovereading:
Lovereading is a London based website for reading online book reviews and get recommendations. The website has a collection of more than 7.1 million books. You can easily browse the books using following options: Recommendations, Top 10 (Lovereading and UK), Fiction, Non-fiction, and Children’s Books. For the selected book, it shows book genre, price of book for all types of formats available, book review along with reviewer name, synopsis, and info about the author. You can then choose to compare the price, add to wishlist, add to basket, and share on social media.
The unique feature of the website is that it lets you download the free 10-15 page extract of the books featured by Lovereadings. The extract helps you decide whether the book matches your taste or not.
3. Kirkus Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews is the website of an American movie review magazine of the same name. The website publishes reviews of books and novels across almost all the genres. These are well-categorized as: Bestsellers, Best of 2014, and Book Reviews. You can further choose books on the basis of genres. When you have selected the book, the website shows book name, author name, Kirkus review of the book, publishing date, page count, ISBN, publisher name, Kirkus review date, and review publishing date. Kirkus also display the badge if it has to be selected as the winner of any of the Kirkus awards.
4. Book Page:
Book Page is another website in the list which also has a printed magazine by the same name. The website has various sections like: Book reviews, Interviews, Features, Columns, and Blog. There are also specific lists like Trending Game Reviews, Trending Interviews, Fiction Book Reviews, Non-fiction Reviews, and Children’s Book Reviews. On the review page, you will see the book name, author name, price, ISBN number, and genre. You can browse book reviews by genres, issues, authors, contributors, and publishers. Besides book reviews, you can read interviews, featured article, and special column.
5. NPR.org Books:
The fifth website to read online book reviews is from NPR. This website has only 4 main categories: Author Interviews, Find Books, Reviews, and Bestsellers. The Review section lets you check for the book reviews on the basis of following categories: Book reviews, This week’s must read, You must read, summer books, etc. NPR publishes a detailed review for each of the books and as for details, it only shows book name, author name, and number of pages. The Find Books option helps you look for the books on the basis of their genre.
6. All Readers:
All Readers is like a book search engine for you where you have to search for the book. The unique thing about this website is that it has a Power Search option apart from traditional manual search by typing the book name. Under Power Search, you can look for books on the basis of Plot & Themes, Main Character, Setting, and Writing Style. Other than this, you can also look for author’s name on the basis of their name’s initial alphabets.
When you have selected the book, you will see reviews of the book by multiple users with name of each of them. Below the reviews, there are specific sections related to book which talk about Plot & Themes, Main Character, Setting, and Writing Style.
7. Book Reporter:
Book Reporter is the seventh website for you to read book reviews online. You can read the reviews of the books by looking for them on the basis of: Title, Author, Genre, and Date. On the review page, there is a complete review of the book along with links to About the book, excerpts, discussion questions, reading guide, and critical praise. The website includes direct links for buying the book on Amazon, Amazon Kindle, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble. You can also check info like number of pages, genre, publication date, and ISBN number, author’s biography and bibliography.
8. More Than A Review:
More Than A Review is the online book review website which has the tagline- “Life is too short to read a bad book”. The website offers the advanced search which entitles you to search for the books on the basis of content and type of rating. The thing which makes this website different from all others is its unique rating system. Apart from the normal overall rating, the website also rates books on the basis of Violence, Language, Sexual, and Drug & Alcohol. You can look for overall as well as individual parameter ratings but to see the individual rating, you need to register with the website.
9. Compass Book Ratings:
The second last website in the list is Compass Book Ratings. The website lets you search for books on the basis of Title/Author, Content Criteria, and Review Date. You can also search for books on the basis of overall rating, individual rating, genre, and recommended age group. There is also an option which lets you check all the current The New York Times Bestsellers. For the book selected by you, you will see the author name, review date, overall rating, individual parameter rating, and recommended age.
10. BookBrowse:
The last website in the list is BookBrowse which has a very vast collection of books. You will find books of almost all types on this website; right from content type, genre to author. For each book, it shows critics’ opinion, readers’ opinion, number of pages, book summary, excerpt, reading guide, media reviews, reader reviews, and BookBrowse reviews. The website also suggests you similar books under the section Readalikes.
These are the 10 best free book review websites for you. Check them out to find out which book you should read next and whether the book you are going to buy is worth it or not. If you know about some other good book review websites, feel free to share them with me in the comments section below.
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