January 01, 2006
Review FAQ
Q. What's this score thingy about?
A: It's an objective measurement of a subjective opinion. The PeschelScore(tm) began as a way for me to figure out what I liked and disliked about a novel. So far, it seems to work.
A book is scored in six categories, each from 1 to 15 points. A seventh "bonus points" category can add another 10. That lets me add points for extremely subjective cases: creating memorable scenes, making me laugh, or for being a friend of the reviewer. Plus, it makes the score add up to 100.
Q: So what do the categories mean?
A: The scores in each category rate how well the author achieved what he attempted. It's not an attempt to set the book against some universal standard, but how well it did against books from a similar genre. It's not an attempt to compare fantasy novels with literary novels, or satire with experiment books. Under this system, it's possible for a romance to achieve a high score because it is the best book among romances, not against another genre.
Here are the categories
Genre rates how well the novel fulfilled the expectations of its genre. A reader picks up a mystery novel expecting to be mystified; a romance for the love story; a literary for whatever the author's trying to do in that genre.
Realism tries to answer the question: does the novel offer enough of a sense of place, history and people that the narration demands? A thriller that's intended to jolt the reader with action and exciting plot twists does not require as much detailed description as a historical novel.
Character like the Realism score, asks not just how well are the characters developed, but how well it describes what we need to know about them. Should a satiricial novel require the depth of characterization that a personality study? Not necessarily.
Setting rates the vividness of the locations against the demands of the story.
Theme should be self-explanatory.
Style judges how well the author told the story.
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