The topic of reviews is a sticky one for me, mostly because I’m still trying to rekindle my relationship with fiction. I spent years reading terrible books and came out of those years thinking I had outgrown fiction. I then spent years reading nothing but non-fiction and weighty, poetic medieval poetry.
In short, I became literature snob.
Being a literature snob is both a blessing and a curse, especially to a writer.
Deep down, I suspect all writers are literature snobs. There’s a small part of us that knows, believes, deludes ourselves into thinking: I could do that better. Then again, I could just be projecting.
And while this trait—personal or otherwise—can lend towards an interior demand for excellence. It can also cause great despair. I will never be as good a poet as Dante, nor will I tell a tale as enthralling as Robert Howard, I doubt my stories will take space in people’s brains the way William Gibson’s can.
Yet, I persist.
When I realized I needed to get back into fiction, I struggled through, the details of which are found in Adventures in Storytelling 6.
It’s with all this in mind that I felt compelled by some internal virtue to write a review policy. It’s very simple, it’s very clear, and it’s universal.
Charity.
Now when I say charity I don’t mean the modern, handwringing, arms-of-the-angels definition that demands I offer soft words and hard cash to the “less fortunate.”
I mean solid, substantial, good old-fashioned Christian Caritas.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines charity as this:
Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. (CCC 1822)
“If I…have not charity,” says the Apostle [Paul], “I am nothing.” Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, “if I…have not charity, I gain nothing,” Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: “So faith, hope, and charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity.” (CCC 1826)
Usually in Biblical translation, charity is translated as love. And that is caritas.
Love is the binding between writers and readers. You don’t spend years working on a novel without love, and you don’t spend hours of your life reading what you don’t love. Which is why, when reviewing a book, I will be keeping the theological virtue of charity in mind. To be clear, this means that I will follow the words of our Lord: do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31)
Charity does not mean that I let my brother humiliate himself for the sake of being nice. It does not mean that I tell a comforting lie or ignore mistakes for the sake of kindness.
Quite simply, it means I treat others the way I want to be treated.
When someone reads my stories, I hope they enjoy them. If there are things they don’t like about it, I want them to be honest and tell me. But I also I want them to explains why something didn’t work for them. Not because I think you need to qualify an objection, but because it might help me understand what my readers want.
If they see mistakes, I want to know about them because I don’t want to make those mistakes in the future.
If they see a narrative inconsistency, I want to know about it, because I might be able to fix it.
Constructive criticism is an overused phrase, which is why I refuse to use it. My review system follows the theological virtue of charity.
Housekeeping:
- I loathe rating systems; they demand too much precision in a medium that by nature demands subjectivity. Therefore, I will simply recommend the book or not.
- You are more than welcome to recommend your book (or someone else’s!) to me. However, this does not mean that I will pick it. My preferred genres are fantasy/science fiction/light horror. Feel free to DM me on Twitter/X.
- I don’t have a set schedule.
- My review is my opinion. You may disagree with me and this is perfectly fine. Please recall the Golden Rule. I am imperfect, but I will always try to be charitable to all opinions, especially those that aren’t mine.
The Salon at Elfland 