Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly series hosted by Rukky at Eternity Books and Danie at Literary Lion. The full list of October topics can be found here.
This week’s topic is Should You Review A Sequel Without Reading The First Book?
When selecting ARCs do you ever choose sequels where you haven’t read the first book in a series? Do you think it’s fair to review a sequel without the context of the first entry in a series?
I don’t read ARC’s but if I did, I wouldn’t seek out anything that’s part of a series without having read the first book. Not only would I not be able to review it properly but I don’t think I would enjoy being out of the loop. It wouldn’t be fair to other reviewer’s of the series, or potential readers, to essentially review only half of a series without ever having read book one.
Do you take someone’s review seriously if they mention they haven’t read the preceding books?
Nope! As soon as I see mention of that, my eyes glaze over the review or close out of it entirely. It’s not that I wouldn’t take the review seriously, just that I don’t want to read something that is mostly speculation.
Should reviewers even be allowed to do this?
Reviewers can do whatever they want, especially with their own website and blog. I think it’s up to the reader to determine whether that’s the content they want.
Hannah's Library 
Love this discussion! I have on occasion accidentally received a book that was a sequel, but I won’t review it until I have read the prior books. To do so makes your review basically meaningless, and I have noticed too many reviewers where half their review is complaints about not knowing something they would have known if they’d read the series in order.
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Exactly! Meaningless is the word I was looking for, ha! 🙂
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Totally agree it’s up to readers to determine which reviews to care about and which ones to ignore! Loving books doesn’t necessarily mean you’re qualified to tell people what’s objectively good or bad. We’re all just sharing our opinions and personal reactions. That’s what makes it fun!
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That’s so true! I always try to back up my opinions with reasons so it doesn’t seem like I am just screaming into the void if I don’t like something particular in a book.
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