I don't believe one or two reviews influence people to buy or not to buy books. I think people, if they take the time to read reviews, will check multiple sources. So your bound to come across X amount of reviews by people who didn't like or finish the book, but you'll also come across X amount of reviews by people who think it started slow and ended with a bang. The combination of the two reviews tells me a lot. If the story is some what interesting I know to press on, but if it's just not working for me I know to give up, or I may decide I'm not in the mood for that kind of book and not buy it.

Lee Childs is a very popular author. So popular that I bought a couple of his books. Before I ever read one. His character sounded interesting. I could not finish his book. It was poorly written. He writes in short choppy sentences. Four or five words then a period. Four or five more words and then a period. I didn't care about the story. I couldn't get past the short choppy sentences. Isn't that information you'd want to know beforehand or do I need to finish before telling someone?

Deadhouse Gates is another example of a book that I didn't finish. I started this series because I was told the the endings of books 2 and 3 were the best ever. EVER! The only character I enjoyed reading was Felisin and I hated her; however, all the other characters seemed to be the same person with the same personality. I made it 3/4 of the way through the book before I realized I didn't care what happened to the characters. I didn't care if they all ended up going to Disneyland, or if they all hopped on a space ship that looked like a comet and left, and if they all died that would be cool too. I just didn't care. Didn't care what or how a Warren worked. Tell me how awesome can an ending be when you just don't care?

I think whenever someone starts a book they want to finish it. If you can read 100-200 books a year you can probably finish off an 800 page Carjack in a couple of days, but if your like me that same book can take several weeks. Instinctively you want to finish reading the book, but it becomes more like a chore to pick it up and finish it. That's why I try to avoid books that I may struggle with and not finish. My examples above, I think provide valuable information for someone researching a book. That's also why I welcome reviews from people that struggled and didn't finish a book.

I believe that as long as a reviewer is open and honest about how much of the book they read then I think they provide just as much information as the person who finished the book. We live in an age where you can carry the Internet in your pocket. Vasts amounts of information is always at your fingertips, and I love it!