My Very First Bad Review! :D

For those of you who don't want to trek all the way over to Amazon, here is the content of a one star review I got recently:

Rushed

Very confusing and rushed book-- interesting premise but could use more development. Would've enjoyed it more if the author spent more time describing the creatures and how the world's co exist  

My reply?

In all seriousness let me be mature here for a moment and admit to my immaturity: I'm pretty pouty whiny to myself about it, there's no other word to really describe my level of pure, childish, butthurt levels going on here.

That said, every author is going to feel that way, but since I'm on the road of admitting it, I'm going to take it a step further. I am going to actually break down said review so that you can decide how valid it actually is:

1. Spelling

I'll admit, this person's spelling is pretty good. Heck, they even have a point, but I'll just go ahead and say it: A lot gets explained in the sequel.

"What sequel?" you ask, gagging at the thought of having to dredge through another so-called "novel" by me. It exists, mostly, having about 30k words written, but I put it on the back burner to write other stories. Rest assured it's real though.

So anyway, here's where I get a bit whiny, immature, and maybe a bit obsessive.

2. Number of Reviews



This is where I called bullshit on reviewer "ruvi." Often, I'll use someone's number of reviews as a basis for how reliable they are for a review I am reading by them. How many Reviews does Ruvi have?

One.

Counting Dusted.

Consider that for a second. Out of every possible item you can get in the whole existence of Amazon, my book Dusted was so terrible, a work that defines the epitome of the pinnacle of crap, crap so bad that it actually manages to cause greater words of fiction to crumble within a five foot radius of it, that Ruvi had to review this one thing. Period.

No really look for yourself.

Now, I'm going to take another slice off my own anonymity and show you guys my review profile.
What does this say about this other profile in comparison?  I have 19 reviews, 16 of them books, 11 of them indie books. The genres are primarily YA and paranormal books and vary in the number of stars I give.

3. Interest Zone

Here's where I got just plain nosy. Ruvi has a public wish list and, curious, I decided to check it out. You can too!  If you're not feeling up to it, let me list a few books that Ruvi wants:

Malcom Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcom X
Vegetarian Times
The Preacher's Bible
Indigenous Women and Feminism: Politics, Activism, Culture
Ain't I a Feminist?: African American Men Speak Out on Fatherhood, Friendship, Forgiveness and Freedom


Whoa, this is a pretty far cry from the wacky adventures of a bunch of paranormally affected teens battling faeries! At this point I'm not thinking "Why did Ruvi rate Dusted so low?" I'm thinking "Why in the world did Ruvi download and even read Dusted, even if it was probably during a freebie weekend? Much less review it!"

I don't have my wishlist public, but here are just a tiny handful of books I want, as well as genre:

Spirit's End, by Rachel Aaron (Indie fantasy)

Witch Way, by Heidi Hall (Indie paranormal fantasy)

A Charming Wish, by Tonya Kappes (Indie paranormal mystery)

Clean Sweep, by Ilona Andrews (Indie paranormal fantasy)

Nightshade, by Andrea Cremer (YA paranormal)

Mirror Sight by Kristen Britan (Fantasy)

School Spirits, by Rachel Hawkins (YA paranormal)

The bottom line

Yes, Ruvi has an opinion, just as everyone who reads Dusted does. Ruvi even took time out of his/her schedule to write a review which I actually appreciate. But Ruvi (and anyone really) should keep in mind that when reading out of the usual zone, there's going to be some bias and disappointment.

For me, unless something is so terrible that it almost makes me physically ill to read it, to the point where I don't want to read a new book for a while, I err on the side of being nice. Because, at the end of the day, I remember that we're all human, and those little indie authors are going to appreciate reviews the most.

So what are your thoughts, readers? Am I on the mark, or am I being whiny? (or is it making your head spin that I'm asking you to review a review of a review?)