I think the essential note here is that "Historian Orlando-Birkbeck" is definitely an interested party. And there is a place for harsh reviews, but even they must be fair and grounded in evidence. Naturally, I prefer not to write them if I don't have to. Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves, which I reviewed recently, was a real disappointment. I had looked forward to reading it and then found it exasperating. Someone recently sent me an email telling me she wished she had seen my review before she got the book and started reading it. One must be honest, but one needn't be gratuitously nasty (though in the case of established authors like Cormac McCarthy, an occasional take-down probably does them some good).
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