We explain what a review is, its purpose and what topics or objects it can address. Also, literary reviews and critical reviews.
What is a review?
A review is a type of text expository-argumentative, consisting of a critical evaluation of an object, document or research, by an expert in the field, or even a simple Username. Reviews can be made of books, films, records, plays, but also academic research, articles and practically anything.
Of course, depending on the author's journey and his argumentative ability, the reviews differ greatly from each other. They can be very technical texts, aimed at experts in the field, or informative texts that present a point of view for the general public to read.
However, the purpose of a review is usually to provide an interpretation, an assessment, or a look at the thing, at the discretion of the author. You can even get to rate it or provide the public with some kind of appreciation system that recommends it, or not.
This is generally a very free-form type of publication.
Literary review
Literary reviews are part of the literary genre of rehearsal or criticism, in the sense that they are part of the texts written to discuss other texts (fiction or poetry, for example). In other words, a literary review is any one that offers an evaluative view of a literary work, that is, of a book by literature.
Literary reviews are governed by very free criteria, but usually they usually have an expository part, in which it is provided information of the book, and then they go into an argumentative one, where they offer the reviewer's vision of its content, often offering verbatim quotes or third-party judgments, in order to compose a generally brief opinion about a literary work.
Critical review
They generally receive the name of critical reviews those texts that, although thought as a review of some kind, go much further into the argumentative content and support their opinion or their criteria based on citations, arguments verifiable and other forms of validation that aspire to objectivity, or at least to a critical sense.
They are usually more extensive, require a more informed public, and can become highly specialized, such as scientific reviews or academic reviews that appear in peer-reviewed, university, or technical journals.