Looking at the top reviews for Candlekeep Mysteries, that Amazon states to be released on March 16th, I see coming up first a review only mentioning the political agenda of the book, posted on March 18th. Same content from the five or so first reviews (both to praise it or to criticize it). While the political agenda is a valid reason to like or dislike a book personally, it might not be the best criterion to evaluation a compilation of adventures centered on Candlekeep, at least for a significant part of the players.
First content-related review complains that the adventure are not mystery adventures, just regular ones for most part, after skimming over the book. Since we don't get information on ratings, and judging by the date of the reviews, I count :
8 in June 2021
12 in the second half of May 2021
18 between April 18th and the first half of May 2021
35 from March 18th to April 17th 2021 (13 of which in the first tenday).
Judging by the reviews, more than half were posted in a schedule that let me suspect the authors at most read the book but didn't even prepare most of the content. Very few probably ran even half the content of the book. If the reviewers were as impulsive as the raters, at most we have a bunch of uninformed people expressing their opinion over the perceived value of the book. Not reallys something useful to inform a purchase decision.
Some of the most interesting opinions and informations about the book :
1.the D&D logo is off-centered (3 stars),
2. a DM was insulted by players because the map he used in VTT was black & white from the book and this wasn't acceptable (man, dump your group...) (2 stars),
3. accusation of the book being bolshevik and marxist propaganda (apparently, Candlekeep advocates for the collectivization of means of production, and we missed that important plot points for decades...) ( 1 star),
3. the book was wet from the rain (1 star)
4. the parent of the 12/15/16 years-old children fondly remembering his own grandmother DMing for him when he was a kid (she must have been far outside the average demographic when she discovered D&D) (5 stars),
5.the book doesn't have enough magic items compared to Tales of the Yawning Portal (3 stars),
6. someone saying his copy arrived in perfect state, but gives only four stars complaing that usually he gets misprints when buying from Amazons (4 stars)
7. someone praising the quick delivery (5 stars)...
Several one-liner reviews are totally contradictory (this is apprently the best setting book because of all the information of Candlekeep AND it's criticized and 1-starred at the same time for not having more than a few pages on Candlekeep. Not having read the book, I have no idea from the reviews which is which.
It's totally possible that raters are much more thoughtful when they give a mark to the products and only reviewers are... off. But I wouldn't bet my money on it and I wouldn't trust the ratings that much, not because they might be "fake" but just because what is being evaluated doesn't align with what I'd look for in the book.
First content-related review complains that the adventure are not mystery adventures, just regular ones for most part, after skimming over the book. Since we don't get information on ratings, and judging by the date of the reviews, I count :
8 in June 2021
12 in the second half of May 2021
18 between April 18th and the first half of May 2021
35 from March 18th to April 17th 2021 (13 of which in the first tenday).
Judging by the reviews, more than half were posted in a schedule that let me suspect the authors at most read the book but didn't even prepare most of the content. Very few probably ran even half the content of the book. If the reviewers were as impulsive as the raters, at most we have a bunch of uninformed people expressing their opinion over the perceived value of the book. Not reallys something useful to inform a purchase decision.
Some of the most interesting opinions and informations about the book :
1.the D&D logo is off-centered (3 stars),
2. a DM was insulted by players because the map he used in VTT was black & white from the book and this wasn't acceptable (man, dump your group...) (2 stars),
3. accusation of the book being bolshevik and marxist propaganda (apparently, Candlekeep advocates for the collectivization of means of production, and we missed that important plot points for decades...) ( 1 star),
3. the book was wet from the rain (1 star)
4. the parent of the 12/15/16 years-old children fondly remembering his own grandmother DMing for him when he was a kid (she must have been far outside the average demographic when she discovered D&D) (5 stars),
5.the book doesn't have enough magic items compared to Tales of the Yawning Portal (3 stars),
6. someone saying his copy arrived in perfect state, but gives only four stars complaing that usually he gets misprints when buying from Amazons (4 stars)
7. someone praising the quick delivery (5 stars)...
Several one-liner reviews are totally contradictory (this is apprently the best setting book because of all the information of Candlekeep AND it's criticized and 1-starred at the same time for not having more than a few pages on Candlekeep. Not having read the book, I have no idea from the reviews which is which.
It's totally possible that raters are much more thoughtful when they give a mark to the products and only reviewers are... off. But I wouldn't bet my money on it and I wouldn't trust the ratings that much, not because they might be "fake" but just because what is being evaluated doesn't align with what I'd look for in the book.
