The biggest mistake non-professional book reviewers make is summarizing a book instead of reviewing it. A good book review is not a summary. It’s a discussion

The biggest mistake non-professional book reviewers make is summarizing a book instead of reviewing it. A good book review is not a summary. It’s a discussion of what is good and bad about the book. (Just as a good product review is not a description of the product and its features. It’s an assessment of in what ways the product succeeded or failed at achieving the user’s goals.) A good book review should leave the reader with a clear sense of who will and won’t enjoy (in the case of fiction) or get value from (in the case of non-fiction) the book in question.