The complete review Quarterly - The Complete Review's Survey of Book Review Sites

Volume I, Issue 2 -- May, 2000

The complete review's Survey
of Book Review Sites

    (UPDATE - February, 2003: Please note that the online situation has changed so drastically that this survey has already become essentially obsolete: addresses have changed, several of the sites now require registration for access (Daily Telegraph, The New York Times, The Times, The Washington Post) and access at some of the others is also limited -- while Ed's Internet Book Review has apparently completely gone under. For a more useful (though not as in-depth) guide to a far larger number of book review sites you are now advised to consult our links list.
       This survey will now no longer be updated, but remains available as a piece of perhaps historic interest.)

    (UPDATE - January, 2002: Please note that several of these sites have instituted radical changes since this survey was initially conducted, notably by limiting access to their archives (to those willing and able to pay for the privilege). The grades have not been adjusted to take these (or other) changes into account. Instead, we have only added Update-notes to our original comments, making users aware of the relevant changes. But note that, were we to grade these sites now, several (The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Times, and now the Daily Telegraph) would be graded lower than they are here.)


Site	Overall	Size	Range	Quality	Ease	Features	Ads
Complete Review	B+	B-	A-	B	B+	A	A
Daily Telegraph	B+	A-	A-	A-	B+	B-	A
Danny Yee	B-	B-	B-	B+	A-	C	A
EIBR	C+	A	B+	C	B	C	A
The Guardian/Observer	B+	B	A-	A-	B+	A-	D
The Independent	B	B	A-	A-	B	B	C
The LA Times	B-	C-	A-	B+	B	B	D
NY Rev. of Books	B+	A-	A+	A+	B+	B-	B
The NY Times	A	A+	A	A	B	B-	B-
Salon	B+	B	B+	B	B	B+	C
The Times	B	B	A-	B+	B-	B-	B
The Washington Post	C-	D-	A-	B+	C	B-	C

Grades range from A+ (best) to F (worst).
Overall: refers to the overall quality of the site, including all criteria on this chart, as well as other criteria considered. Refer to individual reviews for more details.
Size: refers to the total number of freely accessible reviews on the site.
Range: refers to the range of books under review -- the broader the range, the higher the grade.
Quality: refers solely to the quality of the reviews.
Ease: refers to ease of use, including how easy the site is to navigate, and how easy it is to find reviews.
Features: refers to the quality of the features on the site -- links to other reviews and relevant information, indices, search capability, other relevant content on the site.
Ads: refers to the prominence of advertising on the site -- the less of it there is, the higher the grade

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