Revising My Book Review Rating System

Star ratings. Some people love them and some people hate them. 

Personally, I love star ratings. They give me a quick at-a-glance of whether a book is something I'm likely to enjoy. I trust most reviewers to leave an accurate rating, and therefore generally assume that any book with 4+ stars on Amazon or 3.5+ stars on Goodreads will probably fit the bill for me.

And some people don't like them, for good reason. It's difficult to assess whether or not you're going to like a book based on somebody else's rating criteria. Not everyone rates based on the same set of factors, and if one person tends to rate high and another to rate low, it can be difficult to determine which books will suit your reading tastes.

Clearly the best reviewers write thoughtful reviews of the book, regardless of the use of stars or other marks to determine its worth.

But I like star ratings, and I'll continue to use them.

It only occurred to me this morning, as I prepared myself for a day of reading in the hopes of finishing my most recent book, that I realized there is no consistency in the way that I rate books.

Previously, my rating system went something like this:

Everything starts off at 3 stars. If I enjoyed the book, it bumps up to 5 stars. If I didn't enjoy the book, it bumps down to 1 star. If I enjoyed the book but there are errors in the writing, it loses stars from there, so a book I enjoyed could wind up being rated 3 stars, but never 2 (because 2 clearly states I didn't enjoy the book). A book I didn't enjoy can earn stars back with beautiful prose (but rarely accomplishes this) to become either a 2 or a 3 star book. 

Wow. Confusing much? And absolutely no consistency! What does 3 stars really mean in this case?

I'll tell you: It means nothing. In the past when I rated a book 3 stars, it literally meant that I couldn't come up with a balanced expression of how I felt about this book. It meant nothing.

So as of this morning, I've revised my star rating system. 

This new system should make it easier for readers to decide whether a book is something that they will enjoy, if they are familiar with my reviews and trust my judgment. It will also tell authors in no uncertain terms what my experience was with their book.

Alright, are you ready?

★☆☆☆☆

Did not finish. Period.

This is a book which, for whatever reason, I simply could not finish. Regardless of the quality of the writing, regardless of the popularity of the book, regardless of my feelings about other books by this author, I didn't finish this book.

By default, this means that books like Revival by Stephen King would receive a 1-star rating, in spite of the fact that I love Stephen King.

A 1-Star rating means nothing at all about the author, and has everything to do with my enjoyment of and my ability to finish the book. That's all.

No book I finished will ever be given 1 star (from this point forward).

★★☆☆☆

I finished this, but I didn't enjoy it at all.

This is in no way a reflection of the writing. The writing could have been amazing, but I didn't like the book enough to give it even three stars. 

Most likely this means one of the following:

I forced myself through this book in the hopes of a good ending that it did not deliver. 

The book bored me but I promised to finish it as it is an ARC. 

I found either the characters of the story uncompelling, but it wasn't bad enough to DNF. 

I have never, in all the years that I've been reviewing books, been prone to rating a book 2 stars. It's a nothing rating and it means very little. Few people read 2 star reviews because they want to know what people really hated about a book or what they really loved about it. 

It's unlikely that there will be many books on this blog (or my Goodreads of Amazon) that get 2 stars.

★★★☆☆

This book was okay, but it was just "okay." 

If you take a look at rating guidelines on review sites like Amazon or Goodreads, you'll see that this is the default setting for a 3-star review. It's an okay book, not great, not horrible, just sort of "meh."

(Alright, so maybe that's my word for it.)

Generally speaking, my 3-star book reviews will be for books that I finished and liked well enough, but that didn't compel me to read them quickly or with enthusiasm.

I'm just not enthusiastic about these books. They didn't impress me as particularly great and they didn't impress me as particularly terribly. A 3-star book took me longer than average to read, and I probably struggled a bit to make it all the way through.

All in all this is not a book that I would highly recommend, but I think that some people might enjoy it if our literary tastes are similar.

★★★★☆

This is a book that I definitely liked and think that my followers are going to like too. 

In general, 4-star books are books which I was able to read through quickly (average 4-7 days) and which I enjoyed spending time with. I probably looked forward to getting time to read these books, but didn't carve out special reading time just to read these books.

I'd definitely recommend a 4-star book, but it didn't absolutely blow me away the way that a 5-star book did.

These are books that I might read again at some point in the future.

If you have similar tastes to mine and you enjoy my reviews, you probably ought to do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of the books that I've rated 4-stars. Do the author a favor too, and purchase these if you can. They're worth it.

★★★★★

This book, without a doubt, blew me away. 

I'll read it again some time in the future. I might even read it annually. It's even possible that I'll read this book again in the same year. And review it again on my blog. It was that good!

5-star books aren't just highly recommended, they are must read books. These are the books that you ought to go out to the book store immediately and purchase. They are the books that make me want to drag the author onto my blog for an interview. The books that make me want to drop a copy off at every Little Free Library I can find.

They are the books that make the world go round. The ones that I can't put down. The books that I read in less than 48 hours (and I'm not a quick reader here!). 

Some years -- some months -- there might be a lot of 5-star books. Some years -- some months -- there might be almost none.

But these are the books that deserve a thousand exclamation marks that will never seem excessive. They are the books you have to read! Over and over again! Every year! They are the books you want to give away! They are the books you want other people to read! 

You see where I'm going with this? 

These are rare gems, finds that I'll treasure for all of my life. 

And I vow not to take the 5-star rating lightly.

Please feel free to leave any questions for me in the comments, and I will be happy to help you with understanding how my rating system works. Thank you!