Many people use the five-star-rating scale but I’ve noticed, especially in the last few years, that it just hasn’t got enough nuances for me to properly distinguish between a very, very good and an absolutely awesome book. Or one that I’m ready to chuck and one that’s just pretty bad. So I rate up to 10 (stars, hearts, cupcakes – pick your poison).
I’d also like to note that I rate different types of books differently. A young adult novel is not rated the same way as an epic fantasy novel. And that one’s not rated the same as a space opera. I want different things from different books and I rate by whether these things I expect and hope for in a book are delivered.
10 – Perfection: This is a rating rarely given and then mostly on a re-read. Books with this rating are among my absolute favorites and what I consider the best in story-telling, plot, character development and world-building.
9 – Almost perfect: Loved it, nearly perfect
8 – Excellent: A very good book, recommended to pretty much anyone.
7 – Very good: Pretty good read
6 – Quite okay: Better than avarage. Usually a book that had one thing going for it and that I’d recommend with reservations.
5 – Meh: This is what I consider an avarage book. I don’t regret reading it but it didn’t leave me wanting more either.
4 – Not so good: Disliked it somewhat.
3 – Bad: Didn’t like it at all.
2 – Ugh: Hated it.
1 – Chuck it: Someone PLEASE give me back the time spent reading this horrible book. These ones go under the couch (where one leg is a little shaky) cause I’ll never, ever touch them again.
The .5 ratings should be self-explanatory. Whenever I can’t decide between two ratings or feel that one would be too harsh or too nice, I go for the in-between points.
ON A SIDE NOTE:
I sometimes go back and change my rating. That is not due to other peoples’ influence on me or any pressure I might feel in being the only one to dislike a book. It’s just that sometimes, a book stays in your memory and grows and gets better, while others that you might have enjoyed a lot while reading became kind of blank spots in your mind. This happened to me with Old Man’s War which I rated very high when I first read it (that was before this blog). When I wrote the review here, I could barely remember what happened and didn’t really feel like revisiting that universe. On the other hand, Who Fears Death, which I rated more strictly (though still quite high) has been in my mind and makes other books pale in comparison. So I might just give that one an extra point…
That’s how it goes.
These are my reviews, they show my opinion and anyone who has ever changed their mind on anything (except maybe the taste of marzipan) will understand why I sometimes change my rating. I ask forgiveness. And if you want to know why – comments and questions are more than welcome.
SFF Book Reviews 