Cross-posted to !sciencefiction@lemmy.world
It is not possible to read all the Sci-Fi books out there. So you must have a process for selecting what you do read. Reading a book is an investment in your time. Your time is valuable. No one wants to waste that time reading unworthy books.
I have never codified my criteria. And it has changed and evolved over time. I suspect it will continue to change moving forward, as who I am tomorrow is not who I was yesterday.
What is your criteria to date?
Mine is that it must meet ALL the following criteria, some objective and some subjective.
- it must have at least 1,000 reviews
- it must have at least 70% 5-star reviews
- if after reading about it I get the suspicion that it’s a romance disguised as Sci-Fi, I automatically reject it no matter what
- if it’s YA, it really needs to be exceedingly compelling to choose it
- Space Opera also needs to be exceedingly compelling
- if I get the feeling it’s trying to preach I’ll reject it
- if i get the feeling it has (messaging, strong opinions, or political overtones) about today’s societal issues, I probably won’t choose it. Not judging; I primarily read for escapism.
I guess that’s about it. There’s probably more but I just haven’t put that much thought into it yet.
I’m very interested in how y’all decide to choose a book to spend your valuable time reading.
If the blurb is intriguing and if there are not (m)any negative reviews that say the book is a waste of time, I’ll try. Intriguing to me is any concept that is a sort of what if scenario that is of interest to me. The more I’m intrigued by the concept, the more I’m likely to ignore bad reviews. That’s it. I’m a simple man, I guess.
Example: I read a couple of Meg books because of the premise. What if there is a layer at the bottom of the ocean that preserves extinct marine life there? The books ended up meh, but that was a neat concept that made you think.
Meg has books!? I should look them up! Are they any good?
I agree with your point. For example, for some reason I don't like Stephen King's books, have read a few, just think they would've been much better if they were half as long. Still got one of his book recently (Sleeping Beauties), because I liked the premise. Haven't read it yet though, so not sure if I would actually enjoy it or not.
Yeah there’s like half a dozen books. I only read the first two though. The author Steve Alten has written a lot of off the wall concept books. He has a Loch series which is about the Loch Ness monster. I think there is even a crossover novel with the loch and the meg. There is even a novel about a human given shark genes. Most of the books have intriguing concepts but mediocre writing (I’ve read I think 5 books of his), but his Omega Project is a pure science fiction that was awesome. I can’t even give you a one line story. It’s very complex. That is his first book I listened by chance and all the others were to see if he wrote anything else comparable.
Ah, cool, will look it up. Thanks!