2.  Jerome Eberle spent five years writing book reviews
for Booklist Magazine, a review journal belonging to
the American Library Association. Jerome Eberle
graduated with a degree in English from Chicago’s
North Park University.
Writing a professional book review can be a difficult
task. It is hard to be critical of an author’s prose if the
reviewer is a poor writer, and likewise, it can be a
challenge to illuminate the literary wonders of a book
if the reviewer has limited ability. However, there are
three key features all professional book reviews
should contain in order to be helpful for potential
readers.

3.  First, and most important, the review should provide a
brief yet concise summary of the work using as few
“spoilers” as possible. Readers have the right to know
what kind of work they are picking up, but even a
minor event that occurs just 20 pages into the book
should be omitted from the review to save as many
“surprises” as possible for the reader.
The reviewer should follow the synopsis with a critical
assessment of the book. Again, while reviewers
should support their opinion of the work with textuall
references, they must attempt to do so without
spoiling any character arcs or major narrative
developments.

4.  Finally, the assessment must be paired with
some insight into what kind of audience the
book is geared toward, and how that
audience will react to the book. For
example, the New York Times ran a
generally favorable review of George R.R.
Martin’s A Dance with Dragons in 2011. The
review acknowledged that fantasy fans
would most likely enjoy the work, but also
pointed out that the story could serve
mainstream audiences as well.