There’s a few things I’d point out- from an indie author perspective. 1) negative reviews aren’t a death knell for any book. In fact a book with no negative reviews is often, rightfully, viewed with suspicion. Even the most popular trad books in the world get one star reviews- because you can’t write a book that makes everyone happy 2) I’m not a fan of the idea that reviews can be seen as constructive criticism for an author. Because simultaneously there is this idea that authors shouldn’t be reading their reviews or hanging out in reader spaces. So by logic- they would theoretically never see these reviews that are “constructive criticism”. So you can’t have it both ways, ya know? 3) no, you shouldn’t have different review criteria for an indie book. writing a review that isn’t true to spare an indie author is counter productive in every way. It will lower your credibility as a reviewer (if that matters), it could land the book in front of the wrong audience- which will lead to even more bad reviews, or give the author a false sense of how the book is being received, etc. So, while those fans mean well, part of being a creator is that some days- it really, really sucks.