Get an editor’s read on the shape of your book
Last checked against the product October 1, 2026
Most of the problems that sink a novel are problems of shape: a middle that stalls, a thread set up and dropped, a character who changes without a reason. Good sentences do not rescue any of them. Review is the mode of Minty, the editor in the Novelmint Studio, that reads for exactly that. It tells you what is working and what is at risk, points at the scenes it means, and leaves the book as it found it.
Key takeaways
- Review is a read-only mode of Minty that analyzes the structure of a book and leaves the prose alone.
- It reads for pacing and momentum, the rhythm of scenes, the health of plot threads, character arcs and motivation, and continuity.
- Every observation cites specific chapters and beats. A beat is one story moment, such as a scene or an exchange.
- You can ask for the whole book or name a scope: a chapter, a range, a span of beats, one plot thread, or one character.
- It says what is working as well as what is at risk, and its fixes are suggestions. To act on one, you switch to Build mode.
What it does
What it reads for
Pacing and momentum
Where the story moves and where it idles. Which chapters carry weight and which only pass time.
Scene rhythm
The balance between scenes where something happens and the quieter ones where characters absorb it.
Plot threads
Setups with no payoff, threads that stall for ten chapters, two threads tangling when they should not.
Character arcs
Whether a change is earned, and whether what a character does follows from what they want.
What is working
A useful read names strengths too, so you know what to protect when you revise.
Concrete, optional fixes
Each risk comes with something you could do about it. Taking the suggestion is up to you.
How to use it
How to get a read
Open your book’s Timeline and open Minty
The Minty button is at the top right.
Switch the mode to Review
The mode menu is in Minty’s chat panel.
Name the scope
A full pass, or a chapter, a range of chapters, a span of beats, a single thread, or one character.
Read it and argue with it
Ask why, ask for the evidence, ask what she would cut. It is a conversation, and the report is where it starts.
Act in Build mode
The read is saved to the mode’s workspace. Switch to Build and tell Minty which suggestions to carry out.
Example
Part of a read
You ask
Give me a read on chapters 8 to 14. It feels slow and I can’t see why.
You get back
- Working: chapter 9, beat 3, where Joss lies to Ines for the first time. It turns their relationship and everything after it leans on that moment.
- At risk: chapters 10 to 12 hold eleven beats of Ines waiting and two of her acting. The storm thread does not move between chapter 9 and chapter 13.
- At risk: the ferryman’s debt is set up in chapter 2 and has not been mentioned since. By chapter 14 a reader has forgotten it.
- Suggestion: move the second letter from chapter 13 to chapter 10, so the waiting has something to push against.
An illustration with an invented story, to show the shape of a read. It is not output from a real book.
Questions
Frequently asked
- What is a developmental edit?
- A developmental edit looks at the structure of a book before the sentences: pacing, plot, character arcs, whether setups pay off. It comes before line editing and proofreading, because there is no point polishing a chapter that may be cut.
- Can AI do a developmental edit of my novel?
- Novelmint’s Review mode gives a developmental read of a book’s structure. It reads the chapters and beats, the plot threads, and the cast, and reports on pacing, thread health, arcs, and motivation, citing the scenes it means. It is a read to work from and does not stand in for your own judgment.
- Does it comment on my prose style?
- No. Review reads structure. Wording is handled in the prose editor and by the clean-up pass.
- Can it review part of a book?
- Yes. Name a chapter, a range of chapters, a span of beats, one plot thread, or one character, and the read stays inside that scope unless a problem there traces to something outside it.
- Does it change anything?
- No. The mode is read-only. Its suggestions are optional, and you carry them out in Build mode or by hand.
- What does a review cost?
- It writes no prose and never starts a chapter build. It is a conversation with Minty and is counted as Minty chat. Current allowances are on the pricing page.Pricing
What this page does not claim
- A review is one reader’s read. It can be wrong, and you are free to disagree with it.
- It is not a substitute for human readers or a professional editor on a book you intend to sell.
- It reads structure and does not assess prose style.
- It does not change your book. It reports, and you decide.
- The sample on this page uses an invented story.
Keep reading
Two reads, two jobs
Review asks whether the story works. Continuity check asks whether it agrees with itself. A book can pass one and fail the other.
Verwandt
Plan a book with Minty
Talk the story through and watch it become chapters and scenes on your Timeline.
Chapter builds
Turn a chapter’s beats into prose, written from your plan, your bible, and your voice.
Revise and polish
Fix the one scene that missed without rebuilding the chapter around it.
Import a manuscript
Bring in a book you already wrote. Your words stay; the structure is worked out from them.