Kirkus ReviewsReviews of kirkusreviews.com

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I received a more-or-less positive review from a reviewer who for some reason reviewed the book for how appropriate it would be for a young reader audience. ....It isn't. It fell into the Climate-Fiction, Hard-Science Fiction subgenres for adult readers. The reviewer missed the entire point of the novel, demonstrating a lack of understanding for these subgenres, as well as the current science the plot trigger mechanism was based on. It was almost as if the reviewer was looking at the novel from a 'kiddy-lit' point-of-view. Apparently, there is no recourse to have it reassigned to an appropriate reviewer.

This is my first experience with Kirkus Reviews for a book about a Founding Father I published this year. The first half of the review acknowledged that the book was well researched and cited some of the figures I had provided in my initial email to them about the book, such as number of primary sources used and size of the bibliography. The second half essentially attacked the book for my pointing out in the preface that educators in public schools don't teach any level of detail on who wrote the religious clauses in the 1st amendment. The reviewer said I had skewed the book with 21st century political framing, and I had also placed the Founder into an ahistorical political category of a ‘foundational American Conservative.' Neither of these two claims are true- the 18 chapters in the book do not discuss the point I raised in the preface and the reviewer seemed not to understand that the book takes great pains to educate the reader what an 18th century American Conservative was. Below is the reply I received from my inquiry/complaint. Here is a point-by-point response to your concerns: Author takes issue with the following sentence: “A well-researched biography that’s skewed by 21st-century political framing.” Author concern: At no time do I inject discussion/analogy to current American politics in the ~600 pages of these chapters. The reviewer refers to a passage in the preface where I state that public school teachers teach from sanctioned textbooks that do not delve into adequate details about how the religious clauses in the 1st Amendment were framed. If they clarify what they take exception to is in the preface, then that would be fair and accurate to the preface. But claiming the entire book is like the preface is a factual error. Response: This is an objection to the reviewer’s subjective opinion regarding the reading experience. The reviewer found that the preface affected their reading of the rest of the book. 2. Author takes issue with the following sentence: “A preface and introductory essay, for instance, deride the educational background of today’s public schoolteachers and shoehorn Ames into the contemporary, ahistorical political category of a ‘foundational American Conservative.’” Author concern: I am not saying he is a modern-day conservative. I am saying he is an 18th Century American conservative, because the Federalists and their counterparts in England considered themselves the conservatives of the era. I don’t think the reviewer gleaned the context of 18th Century conservatism from the text, and thus saying I have shoehorned Fisher Ames into a contemporary, ahistorical category is an error. Response: This is an objection to the reviewer’s subjective interpretation of the term “foundational American Conservative” as a contemporary, ahistorical category. Opinions on the definition and timeline of American conservatism vary, and as noted above, a reviewer’s interpretation may not always align with the author’s intent. Please note that we’re unable to make any changes to the review. We don’t want to disappoint you, but there are editorial guidelines that Kirkus must follow. We hope you understand. That was what I got back - leaving me with the dissatisfaction of paying over $500 for a review that is lukewarm in its first part but essentially attacks the book in the second half and me doubting as to whether the reviewer actually read the book - but probably only read the introduction, preface, and sampled a few pages and footnotes. From a customer and consumer's standpoint, this was not worth the money - but you decide. I put their response to my inquiry for everyone to read and draw their own conclusion.

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I have used Kirkus on two occasions. My last review came in and it was not bad but definitely not glowing. There were some very basic typographical errors in the review and some factual inaccuracies, which Kirkus accepted and changed. However, my main complaint was that the review summarised the story up to page 60 of a 412 page book, giving a misleading overview of what the story was about. Kirkus’s response was read the T&Cs and don’t write to us as we’re not going do anything. I won’t be using them again.