The Complete Review

With the coming of ‘citizen journalism' traditional notions of the act of reviewing are changing. We each have our opinion runs the new conventional wisdom, and what are critics but those paid to offer it? Those who once were passive receivers of media are now making it. Who doesn't want a complimentary review copy of the latest novel dropping through the post-box?

However, the impulse to check and test our assumptions and views against those of others is not going to go away just because we all have the means to blog our opinions to the world. Which is why a website such as The Complete Review is very useful. This compendium of reviews allows you to see just what sort of an impact a book made on the critics. To search for reviews click on index on the left of the screen. You can search for books by author, title, genre or nationality. You get a one sentence assessment, a tabular breakdown of how the book was received (they use an alphabetical grading system so its feels like you're back in school), a one phrase review consensus, excerpts from specific reviews, the site's own review and then links to all the reviews they have managed to collate as well as to any other relevant sites.

There's also a blog, a comprehensive set of links, an impassioned selection of what The Complete Review thinks is worth reading and a dismissal of critical consensus of certain critical darlings. The site is a little full of its own maverick irreverence but it provides a useful service.