I'm one of those that definitely reads the reviews...even for the authors that I love to death. I use them to help get me in the mood to plow through the book, and to get excited about what's coming. If it's an author that I've never read before, the reviews (and sometimes who wrote them) are critical to my buying the book.
With Brandon Sanderson, my brother was the first review that I got, and I bought everything he had published after that (there's no fail in buying a Brandon Sanderson book). Now I'm waiting for the first moment that each new book comes out, and gnawing on the short stories and blogs on his website in the meantime. I can't wait until he's done with the WOT books so that he can go full time on his own series. I've even gotten to read an advance copy of one of his books that won't be published for some time, probably...not sure if that was a good idea, since I LOVE the story and it's gonna kill me waiting for it to get published. I read Warbreaker on line twice and then bought it immediately when it came out.
Now, I'm the happy winner of an ARC...to the dismay of my brother who is a die-hard Brandon Sanderson fan. He flipped out that I "scooped" him on this one. He was already planning on being at the midnight signing for the release.
Okay, now the suspense is killing me waiting for that ARC to show up...Mr. Postman, WHERE ARE YOU?
Honestly, I used to be a cynic about book reviews. I always denounced them for their noncontributory reviews that were never real initiators for intelligent dialogue about the book. Simply put, some reviewers write uninspired reviews that noticeably mime the format, the comments, and details of their former reviewers. This usually helps purport the belief of readers that these reviewers are not necessarily reading the reviewed book.
Mind you, I'm only noticing a growing trend with many blogger. Since, I happen to be a blogger. I cannot help but see this error being magnified to a greater degree in nearly every review. Many reviewers depend upon the principle of quantity over quality. Therefore, their reviews suffer gravely from pithy statements about the books that could easily be used with any number of books. Rather than the book they are aiming to review properly.
Why do I feel disheartened by this? Because the book bloggers with flashy animations can easily delude readers into overlooking these reviews. In effect, bloggers like myself who will write a lower quantity of reviews due to closely reading the requested book happen to never be noticed. I'm fortunate for the ecstatic readers that sparsely populate my blog or the many authors that offer encouragement. But the traffic of my blog remains stalled because I forbade myself to use contests or higher quantities of terse reviews to promote my blog.
Anyways, I will probably have a "Way of Kings" review around October because I wish to write an exemplar review that proves to readers that I carefully read the book. And there are several great blog reviewers that have high traffic yet write fantastic reviews. I'm not directing my criticism to every single book blogger. My statement involves the pool of bloggers with high traffic yet have reviews that lack substance.
Sorry for the long winded rant!!