A defender of Spy High speaks his(?) piece. Very convincingly, I might add.

This was in my inbox this morning:

You cannot judge Spy High by the first book in the series, which is one of the worst of the 12. Try reading Series 2 sometime and get yourself an informed opinion, because right now you have zero credibility...and you come off as an arrogant prick. Good DAY sir. Or Ma'am.

Or probably both.

My (somewhat unnecessary, I think) response:

Dear Sir*,

If you go back and carefully read my review, you'll notice that I didn't say a word about the quality of the rest of the books.  I reviewed Book One of Series One.  I stand by my review.  The characters are cliched and the dialogue is terrible.

That doesn't mean that I don't understand why so many people enjoy them.  Or that I'm saying that people shouldn't enjoy them.  Who am I to say what people should and shouldn't like?  My reviews are purely my opinion -- they're about what I do and don't like. 

Oh, also:  The next time you attempt to convince someone to re-think their opinion, name-calling is probably not the best way to go about it.

Sincerely,
Leila Roy

PS.  I'm a Ma'am.

*As you didn't see fit to sign your charming missive, I'm assuming you are a 'Sir' due to your e-mail address.  My apologies if I'm wrong.

Comments

[Fuse #8]

And people wonder why I don't review YA. Say what you will about six-year-olds, their insults are far more creative than that of 13-year-olds.

A lovely response, by the way. It's always fun to watch cretins get their due.

[Chrissy]

If that kid thinks you come off as an arrogant prick, what exactly does he think *he* comes off as?

He almost had me on the first sentence. I understand many first books of series fall flat as they introduce chracters, settings, basic plot lines. This phenomenon is a shame since it tends to casue many readers to not want to bother continuing with the rest of a series (not saying you should, or you had any intention of reviewing the *series*, just pointing out flat openers). But the minute the kid got insulting is when he loses all credibility. He could of just said why he liked the books and given you a reason to maybe check out some more of the.

On the other hand, Leila, I greatly appreciate your sometimes blunt, but never sugar coated reviews. You are the reason I read so much that I would never pick up on my own. And I don't always agree with you. I just read someting that I'm finding myself going "and why exactly should I like this?" (yes, I'm getting to my review of it). But that's me and that's you and we can co-exist just fine like that.

I'd never call you a prick. Sometimes a feak, but that's for completely different reasons.

[Leila]

I do kind of wonder about the e-mailer's age. Judging from the posts at the "We Hate Leila" forum, there's a decent range.

And Chrissy: Oh, goody. I always love reading your reviews, but I especially love reading them when you hate a book. Even if I loved it. (And thank you.)

[Chrissy]

Then hold onto your seat lady because I'm not real thrilled with the other book I'm reading. I thought it wasn't going to go where I expected it was and it turns out it is going there. But I'm not done with it yet, so it may go yammering off in a different direction that I will feel better about.

[Leila]

WHEE! (Also maybe a little bit scary, but mostly WHEE!)