What would be in an ideal deck review?

[MareSaturni]

Well... I write reviews, and I don't know if they are any good, much less "ideal". * shrug* I admit that I am a bit verbose, I like to talk in detail and explain where I am getting my ideas from.

In my blog, I have decided to review decks that are under-reviewed or under-appreciated by the general public. Of course, sometimes I'll review popular decks if I feel like it, but I want people to have a place in which they can find information about decks that don't get much attention, or that tend to receive bad reviews from other readers.

I think a good review has to provide:

- Physical information: how is the size/cardstock? how many cards? how is the printing quality/package quality?

- Structure information: is it traditional tarot? if an oracle, what makes it different from the rest? in which culture is it based? does it have an interesting story behind it?

- Subjective information: also know as opinion. how was your experience with this deck? would you use it regularly? why? why not? who would you recommend it to? are there any other decks that you think do a better job?

- Pictures: at least of some of the cards. they are worth a 1000 words!

My reviews tend to be long because I really want you finish reading it knowing a lot about the deck I am talking about. I know that in times of Tweeter/FaceBook, people no longer have the patience to read 10 paragraphs. I hope to have a writing style interesting enough to keep them reading.

But ultimately I am sure that those who are thinking about buying the deck will find it useful - and that is the main purpose of a review: help people to make an informed decision, so they can spend their money wisely.

I hope I have helped!

 

[SunChariot]

I'd like to start doing some in-depth deck reviews on my blog, and thought I'd ask...when you read a deck review, what information are you hoping to find? What qualities make a good review? What is it that is missing from reviews that have disappointed you? What have you seen included in reviews that you find irrelevant or annoying and that would better be left out?

Looking forward to feedback!

If there are any cards that have been renamed or suits, I'd like to know what they are called in the new deck.

I'd like to know the author and artist name. And something about how the deck was created would be cool, how long it took.

I'd like to know what makes that deck unique and different from all others. If all decks have different "personalities" and ways of viewing the world, how does this deck see the world, its personal philosophy. EG my Haindl has an envommental and a spiritaul slant to it.

If it has a focus,I'd like to know what that is, the mood of the deck. if there is a real book with it, about the quality of the book.

If the deck is available in different sizes of types. The year it was first created.

About the imagery. How the deck reads, even though I know that is subjective.

The only thing I personally can think of that i don't care much to see in a review is the size of the cards, unless they are truly oversized of undersized. I personally do not care at all about that. BUT I know some people do. I guess I have big enough hands that it makes no difference to me.

That's all I've got for now. LOL

Babs