How I Rate Books
Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog! Today, I am back with something a little different. I post book reviews all the time and not just for my blog but on social media too. After having read so many books and spending four years studying literature, I wanted to talk about how I rate books. What I like, what I don’t like and how that affects my overall rating. So, let’s get into it!
I rate my books out of 5 stars. 5 being the book is absolutely perfect, I wouldn’t change anything about it. 4 means I loved it but there are some things that either bothered me or that I would change. 3 is for the books where I didn’t love or hate it, it was good but not great. A 2 means the book was not my cup of tea, a lot of things could’ve been better, the writing was bad, etc. And a 1 is for the books that felt like a complete waste of time, so bad, would never recommend.
My average rating is 3 stars. I wish I was able to rate .5 on Goodreads but its all or nothing. Towards the end of last year, it felt like the last two months were all books that were just subpar. It can get annoying when nothing gives you that spark. I get into phases where nothing is really wowing me, but that doesn’t mean its not good. It just doesn’t make me want to sit there and wallow in what I just read. There’s no book hangover.
I rarely give books 5-star ratings. Like I said, everything about it has to be perfect. The plot, the writing, the characters (especially). I’m very much a character driven reader, so if I find someone super annoying then it’s over. It will take me a really long time to finish. One of my favorite 5- star reads is Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. I know I mention this book a lot, but if you take away anything it’s that that book is the best Riley Sager book.
For thrillers especially, you have to take into account the motivation, the plot twists, the predictability. After having read so many, you get use to the same plot setups.
On the flip side, I also rarely give books a 1-star rating. If anything, I usually give out 2-stars instead. I just feel like I haven’t read a book in a really long time that ever felt like I wasted my time to the point where I found nothing redeemable about it. I can’t even list an example of a 1-star book I rated because its been so long.
Overall, the main points I take into consideration are:
• Pacing of the book- was it a slow start, did things feel glazed over, did the ending feel rushed, etc
• Characters- do the main characters have chemistry, is the MC annoying, do the characters act annoyingly stupid, does each character’s role make sense/are they actually needed, etc
• The world building- has enough information been given, do the rules of the world make sense, is the world building just a massive info dump or is the information spread out, etc
• The ending- was it predictable, did it feel rushed, does it make sense, does the book/series end when it actually needs to, etc
• Chapters- are the chapters long or short
• Predictability- self explanatory
One of the biggest things to take into consideration is the pacing of the book. It took until I made the list above for me to realize just how important it is. The average book I read is about 320-350 pages. Within that page count, there would need to be some kind of action or introduction to the plot within the first 30-50 pages. At least 10-15% of the book. Otherwise, in my opinion, it throws things off and then the ending most of the time feels rushed.
There is nothing worse than taking the time to read a book just for the ending to be ripped away. After all that time, it’s over and done with. It’s not fair to the reader.
Overall, there are a few core things I taken into consideration when deciding my rating. Very few times have I ever gone back and changed my original rating but it happens. I usually know about ¾ of the way what my rating will be. The ending can also just make or break a book.
Alright folks that is all I have for today! Come back next Wednesday for another blog post. As always thank you for reading:)