The editor's ______ review of the manuscript — a mere paragraph of vague praise — suggested she had not read the book at all but was simply fulfilling a contractual obligation.
Correct: B
Perfunctory means carried out with a minimum of effort, routine, or thought; it describes actions done merely to fulfill a duty without genuine engagement or care. The editor's brief, vague review done only to satisfy a contract perfectly captures perfunctory. Cursory means hasty and without attention to detail but does not necessarily imply the sense of mere duty-fulfillment. Lambent means softly bright or radiant, and peremptory means expressing urgency or authority — neither fits the context of a lazy, disengaged review.