: Re: Does this convey that I recommend the anthology I'm reviewing? Here's a snipped-up version of a review of an anthology I wrote a while back (full original review here). Most of the stories

@Phylliss352

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Well, I do find it a little conflicting in terms of your praise. You seem to switch between enjoyable and forgettable. The impression I get from what you've written is that you're firmly in the middle. Words like "fine", "enjoyable" and "pleasant" are fairly mild in terms of their praise, in my opinion, and signify that the anthology is, on the whole, just average. It's like saying something is "nice", or "decent". It just doesn't excite me, nor does it convey to me that you found the anthology exciting or worth the time and effort.

Compare that to when you used the word "superb", which made me pay attention to those particular stories. I wanted to overlook the others in comparison.

Also, just to point out: in your question, you state "For an anthology, I consider that to be nothing short of spectacular", yet that certainly is not the impression you give in your piece. In fact, you don't say anything of the sort. You come across as sitting on the fence, and hedging your bets, almost as if you're being non-committal. If you had started by saying that "This is a spectacular anthology for the fact that the majority of stories excellent, solid and well-told", it would utterly change the tone.

And one other point: be careful of the pink elephant. Don't put negatives in my head. For example:

The rest of the stories may not reach
the mark set by [three awesome
stories] but many of them have
intriguing premises and interesting
ideas. Many of these stories are of
the simple, one-note variety - but
they're interesting, unfamiliar notes.

The problem with the language you've used here is that you've put it in my head that:

The majority of the stories are not as good as the other three
The majority of stories are simple, one-note stories

It doesn't matter that you qualify your statements afterwards, you've made me think of those two facts, and that's what I'll remember.

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