I don't think there is an obligation to find fault if there is no fault to find, and the suggestion that a critic may bend over backwards to find fault when there is none is indeed somewhat insulting to the critic. The best critics will resist the impulse to overpraise or overcriticize based on what they feel is expected from a review. I haven't read this particular review, but what would bother me about the negative criticism would not be the likelihood that I disagree with it, but if I were to find the reviewer to be gleefully snarky about her opinions (and Rick seems to indicate that she was not). I can't stand it when a critic takes pleasure in finding a work does not measure up, and uses it as an occasion to show off the wit with which he can scornfully dismiss it.
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