Rating books is probably one of the most complicated tasks us book bloggers and reviewers do.
Some people use stars, or stars-inspired rating to, just like on Goodreads, rate their books from 0 to 5. Some other choose to avoid the struggle of having to fit a book in this very rating system and, instead, decide to write their review and say whether or not they recommend it (like the incredible new blog by the lovely CW, The Quiet Pond). I personally fall in the first category, rating my books with rain and hurricanes.
There are so, so many different elements in each book and so many elements to take into account before giving out the final sentence. Will this book really blow my mind? What does this book has, that really made me scream and shove it at everyone’s face? On the contrary, what made me want to throw this book out the window in frustration?
Today, I’m revealing it all. THE ultimate system I use to rate my books, what influences my rating the most, what influences me the less, where YOU fit in (yes, you reading this, because you’re fitting in it all, too) and more.
This is a completely approximate and flawed system. Just so you know.
I. The characters ??
? Rating influence: 100% in contemporaries & fantasies and everything.
It’s not a secret that I ADORE characters, they are honestly what makes and breaks a book, for me. It may be because I also am a huge contemporary reader that I pay so much attention to them, but I do. If I can relate to a character, that’s a win. If I can’t relate, but still understand and feel for the character, that’s a win. If I’m not, in any way, rooting for a character, even if they’re anti-heroes, well…. I’m sad and that influences my rating a LOT.
Books with amazing characters I adored 
II. a. The world-building & setting ?
? Rating influence: 20% in contemporary – 60% in fantasy/sci-fi.
I admire writers able to make their books come alive with an incredible world-building SO much. They’re the ones transporting you elsewhere in the matter of a few words and I love that SO much. The world-building and characters have different percentages and influences, whether I’m reading a contemporary or a fantasy/sci-fi book. It matters more when I’m reading a fantasy/sci-fi, obviously, I don’t need much world-building in a contemporary to adore it.
Books with fantastic world-building / setting
II. b. The plot & development ?
? Rating influence: 70% in contemporaries – 50% in fantasies etc.
In contemporary, since it’s so character-focused, I’m looking for growth, development and to just SQUEEZE my favorite characters out of love. In other genres, though, especially fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, I’m always looking forward to a well-constructed plot, unpredictable at times, leaving me breathless, suspenseful, gripping and answering all of my questions, too.
(also that approximative % is because, well… I’m a contemporary reader.
I loved these books for their plots(and everything else, too) 
II. c. The pacing ?
? Rating influence: 10%
The pacing of a story might depend a lot on the plot and how it’s flowing, how the author manages to create suspense through it all and how it grows and evolves. It also depends on the writing style, sometimes, because when an author has a beautiful, flowery writing style, sometimes the story flows a little slower. Thing is: no matter what the pacing depends off, it has to captivate me, in some ways. If it starts out slow, it has to gradually quicken to keep me interested. If it starts fast, it has to keep my attention .
III. The writing style ?
? Rating influence: 100% in contemporaries & fantasies & everything.
The writing style matters a lot whenever I’m reading a book, because it’s what allows me to really get into a character’s mind, a world, a story. I tend to be a fan of beautiful, transporting writing style, even a little flowery at times, as some would call it. Sometimes, a writing isn’t too remarkable, but if I am transported enough by the characters and world-building, it can be good. But if I’m not feeling the writing to get me into a story, well… boo.
Authors whose writing I adore 
IV. a. The personal situation ?
? Rating influence: 10%
Now I’m getting into the weirder part of the rating system, which is…. yes, my personal situation at the moment of my reading.
There are books that wouldn’t have been 5-stars read if I didn’t read them at the right time, in the right headspace, exactly feeling these kind of books at that very moment. So, yeah… that can almost turn everything around.
Books that had an influence on me 
IV. b. The community & other reviews ?
? Rating influence: this depends on the book.
YES, this. YOU. I’m not going to pretend that being a book blogger doesn’t influence my rating and my reading, because it does and it has, A LOT. Obviously. When you’re hearing about popular, potentially INCREDIBLE book and everyone is raving about it…. you get in with certain expectations. You might even want to rate it 5-stars, because everyone did, too.
I know I did.
Books that I read thanks to book bloggers 
IV. c. The feelings ❤️
? Rating influence: this can change everything.
This is probably what influences me… the most, with the characters, whenever I’m thinking back on a book. What do I mean, exactly, by feelings? Well. I’m talking about a book making me CRY. A book making me angry. A book making me FEEL THINGS. Everything.
Confession time: I’m 200% more likely to put 5 stars to a book that made me sob like a baby, because, well… it touched me deeply enough for me to cry.
So… that’s what my rating system would look like… in a nutshell.
I. Characters
II. a. World-building & setting
b. Plot & development
c. Pacing
III. Writing Style
IV. a. Personal Situation
b. The Community & reviews
c. The Feelings
Then you get like a rating on 400 that you divide by 4. Or something like that. Maybe.
It seems WAY too complicated, right? Well, you know what? I 200% agree with you.
That’s actually why I’m not… exactly doing this. If you analyzed my mind and my way of thinking about my books, what I love and care the most about in books, and so on, it would look like this. Let me reassure you, though: I don’t jump through hoops and open an Excel spreadsheet to make averages before I rate my books. Do I think about all of these things, do they have this certain influence? YES.
In the end, though, I’m here to talk about books I liked, loved, despised and to share the love, not do too many statistics. In my head, my system looks like this. In reality, I think about how it made me feel and go back on all the elements in details only when I’m writing my review properly.
If you’re a statistics fan and use Excel or complicated math formulas, GREAT! If you rate on a feeling, even greater. If you read and don’t rate books, AWESOME. We all have our own system, no matter how simple, complicated or unexistant and that’s the beauty of reviewers, too.
How do you rate your books? What influences you the most in your ratings, or thoughts of a book, if you don’t rate them? Do you have some sort of system, or not at all?
Does the community influences your ratings just as well? Like, everyone liked this book so I need to rate it high, even if I didn’t love it? I need to know if I’m not the only one. Let me know in comments!
Oh yes, characters make or a break a book for me! If I can’t connect to the characters, I probably won’t like the book. The emotions I experience while reading also has a massive impact on my rating! If I feel all the feels, I’ll probably give it 5 stars. 😀
I’m glad you agree with this!! 🙂 Whenever I have ALL the emotions, it will certainly earn an higher rating from me, too 😀
Thank you Kyra! <3
Wow, this is detailed. For me, the characters are the most important. I can overlook other issues if I love the characters. I don’t put star ratings on my blog because I’ve never liked them. I use them on Goodreads because they make it easy to quickly see which books I loved. I guess I just compare books against other books in the genre. Three stars means “it was average.” Five stars is a new favorite. I don’t rate many books one star because I usually DNF them first. I don’t rate or review DNFs.
I agree with you about characters! I can overlook some other bothering things when I absolutely loved the characters 🙂
I get that – it makes it so easier to see which books we loved and which ones we weren’t that fond of with stars, that’s for sure 🙂
Thank you so much!! <3
This is fascinating! I love reading about the different ways we all rate books. I mostly rate by feeling + objective factors but I have to say that I subconsciously go through a lot of the things you mentioned in your post (like, if the characters don’t have any effect on me, the book will just not be good for me).
I let the community influence me too! However, I try as much as I can to not read many reviews before going into a book that I think I’m gonna love, and only after I’ve read it I look for my friend’s opinions on it. Sometimes that has led me to lower my rating/opinion of a book, and others it was just what I needed to give it half a star more.
This was so interesting, Marie! Thank you for sharing!
Aw thank you so much Silvia, I am so happy you enjoyed this post <3
I should try to do that more – I know I let myself be influenced by the community a little too much at times and I really should try not to have that happening too often 🙂
Thank you!! <3
This is so awesome. I love how you break down your reviews. Very intuitive and effective! Great book recommendations as well!
Aww thank you Kristin, so happy you liked it 😀
Ahh rating books is such a difficult job! I usually rate the books according to how I over-all feel about them! You have such a smart method ?? lovely post ❤
It really is! Feelings more often than not take over all of the criteria haha 🙂
thank you so much!! <3
marie your posts are ALWAYS so fun and genuinely unique and interesting, how do you do it??? ??
I REALLY love this bc its giving me a good scale to judge which of my favourite books you’re going to LOVE and so i must pester you with them ?? (kidding,,,,,,for the most part)
but i SERIOUSLY agree for the world building. im REALLY big on world building and setting in fantasies but im so relaxed with them when it comes to contemporaries (for obvs reasons) but when you find a contemporary that does it WELL, its really a show stopper!
110% agree that if a book made me cry then its most likely going to be remembered and favourited bc if WORDS have the ability to evoke ACTUAL emotions from me, that’s something special right there!
amazing post! i really enjoyed reading this one!!
Ahhhhhhh may thank you what did I ever do to deserve such a sweetheart as a friend you’re the best???
I 200% agree! When I read a contemporary and realize that the setting is INCREDIBLE, too, I’m, WOW. I just love it even more 😀 and books that make me cry will always somehow manage to be rated high, I’m here for emotions haha.
THANK YOU!! <3
I really like your method of rating. Thanks for sharing.
Aw thank you so much! 🙂
This is a great post! I 100% agree with what you said about reading the right book at the right time. One of my favourite books is Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (I highly recommend it if you haven’t checked it out, it’s 1980s witchcraft with vinyl records set in Mexico City and it’s amazing) but if I’d read that a couple of years before I first read it I don’t think I would have loved it as much as I did, but because of who I was at the time I read it I fell head over heels in love with it and thrust it on everyone I meet now.
Ratings can be such tricky things, especially as I sometimes go back and change my ratings if I rated a book 4 stars after I read it, because I really enjoyed it, and then three months later realise I can’t remember much about it. Everyone’s rating scale is so different, too! I could love a book but still not rate it 5 stars because it was missing that special something, whereas someone else might not like a book at all and still rate it 3 stars. I think that’s what makes another reader’s review so much more interesting than their rating, because other than a general ‘I didn’t like/liked it’ a rating doesn’t actually tell us anything about the book. 🙂
It’s so funny how, when a book finds us at the right time, it can become a favorite, while a couple years earlier or later, it wouldn’t have make that much of an effect haha. I love that 🙂
I often find myself wonderin about my ratings ages after actually reading the book, too, haha, but I never change it because… I don’t know, I’m lazy and if I start, well this never ends hahaha. I agree that a rating doesn’t tell much, in the end, it’s the entire review that does 🙂
thank you so much for your comment <3 <3
I don’t think this is complicated 🙂
I go through something similar in my head (and i’m sure there are many others too), but i never put them on “paper” 😀
Some stuff depends on the gender, but in general i do like characters over ideas. Like you can have a story with some deep philosophical meaning and great theories and whatnot but the people are 2 dimensional, i won’t care too much.
I also like vivid setting where i can feel like i’m almost there.
I so agree with you! No matter what the themes are and how good they are, if the characters can’t quite captivate me, I won’t fall in love with the book either 🙂
And yes! Oh, vivid, well-built settings are incredible <3
Thank you so much Norrie! <3 <3
I’m personally so bad at rating books. I rate books on Goodreads so I can look back later on when I forget everything about a book and see what I thought, but I don’t rate on reviews that I post. I like that you separated different aspects of writing for different genres, because I agree that some things are more important in certain genres than others, like world building in contemporary versus fantasy/sci-fi. I think that’s one of the reasons I find rating books so hard, because I do rate things differently depending on the genre or what’s going on in my life at the moment and so many other variables. This was a really interesting post!
I completely understand – and rating books is so subjective and hard, at times! There are books we’d rate 5 stars if we read them at a particular time, while at some other times, they wouldn’t impress us that much 🙂
Thank you so much Mel, I’m so happy you liked this post <3
Ahh what a brilliant post, Marie! ❤️ I always go with my gut when I rate books, but my gut agrees with so many of the things you addressed, and the extent to which they influence your rating.
Characters are definitely the most important factor for me, because I can overlook pacing and worldbuilding to a certain point, but if the characters are bland/I can’t connect, I simply won’t care much for the book, no matter its genre.
I feel like if I switched to (not)/recommending books, I’d always end up saying “for [certain kind of person]” this would be the perfect book. ??
I’m glad I’m not the only one obsessed with characters ? no matter what genre, characters always matter the most to me, too 😀
I actually try to do that a little bit at the end of my reviews ? but it’s hard to know if a book will be for someone, really, there are just too many factors to take into account.
Thank you so much Lily!! <3
Love this post, Marie! I honestly rate books very similarity, and love how you showed the difference in the importance of certain elements between contemporaries and fantasies! The blogging community, emotions I feel from books, and the times when I read them definitely affect my rating sometimes as well! ?
Aw thank you so much Kelly, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! 😀 <3
great post marie! Now I really wanna write a book review XD
Awww really, well this makes me happy hahaha 😀
Ahhh I love this post, Marie! ? This is SO relatable. I rate books based on my feelings too, haha, and same – I’m much more likely to rate a book 5 stars if it gave me all the feels or completely destroyed me emotionally. (I love books that make me FEEL.) I also love characters and they make-or-break a book for me too! Characters > plot, for me. Oh and the community DEFINITELY influences my rating, lol. If I’m torn between rating a book 4-stars or 5-stars (and I don’t want to give it 4.5 stars) and I see that most people have rated the book 5-stars, I usually rate it 5-stars too. ?
The hype does sometime disappoint me though, as it did for To All the Boys I Loved Before. And I forgot if I told you, but What If It’s Us was a disappointment for me too; it didn’t live up to my expectations, sadly. ? I still rated it 3.5-stars, since it was very cute, but honestly, if I rated it based on my enjoyment, it’s more like 2.5-stars. (I know, I’m sad too, haha.) The community definitely influenced my rating of What If It’s Us since I saw so many 5-star ratings. Anyway, I’ll stop rambling now. ? Wonderful post!! It really made me think and reflect on my (flawed) rating process.
Ahhh thank you so much Dezzy, this makes me SO happy <3
I'm with you, I love books that make me FEEL everything, they're the best! <3 And I know I also tend to rate a book higher when a majority of the community loved it, even though that's bad ??
OH no! I'm so sorry to hear you didn't love What If It's Us! What exactly bothered you in it? :/ I hope your next reads will be better! <3 <3
Ahh honestly I’m not quite sure; I think my expectations were too high for What If It’s Us and I just ended up disappointed lol. I also got confused between Arthur and Ben’s POVs a lot of times (I couldn’t tell who was who lol ?) And I know one of the main messages of this book is that relationships can’t be perfect from the start and you have to work hard for them, but I just didn’t see much chemistry between Arthur and Ben, although there were lots of cute moments. I also don’t know how I feel about the epilogue LOL, I don’t love it but I don’t hate it either.
Idk, overall, I think this book just left me wanting more. I’m glad you enjoyed it more than I did, though ? I read The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls after What If It’s Us, and I enjoyed it much more. 🙂
Ohhh okay, damn, I’m so sorry that happened :/ I guess it does though when you have way too many expectations for a story :/
This was a fun post! I think my criteria might be backwards from yours, but then with characters right after personal situation. If a book makes me cry, it’s usually an automatic 5-stars. While I cry easily (lol), any book that can move me to tears with words is a good book! I also think character driven fiction is almost always good fiction. I just finished Emergency Contact, and I really loved it, too. 🙂
Ahah I’m the same, I cry easily, but I love books that manage to drive me to tears. Clearly takes a whole lot of talent to do that 😀
Ahhhh I’m so happy to hear it. I love Emergency Contact SO much <3
Thank you Madeline! <3
First I LOVE this post, so good idea. I think I’m all about the characters and my feelings when rating a book. Still, sometimes it’s complicated and there are other factors that you name on your list that influence a lot,like the pacing, but I can’t lie, the characters are SO important ??
Aww thank you so much, I’m so happy you enjoyed it 😀
I agree that sometimes it’s so complicated to rate books haha, there’s just so much to take into account! 🙂
I love how you rate books! I can tell you spend a lot of time genuinely thinking about what to rate the novels you read and I think that’s why I love your reviews so much. This post was really interesting! I also use a point scale factor up to 5 on heroine, writing style, hero, characters, villain, and plot.
Aw thank you so much Sarah, so happy you enjoyed it 😀 <3 <3
Yes! It is such a process, isn’t it?! I think it changes from genre to genre for me. Pacing is a huge one for me. Slow moving books are just not usually my thing. This post has so much insight. I love it! 🙂
It really is complicated haha 🙂 same here, it changes a bit, I don’t rate contemporary or fantasy the same way I think 🙂
thank you so much!! <3
are there people who actually rate with maths? mine is just a gut feeling basically, and I often get stuck between 3 or 4 stars. I would say that writing and caharacters matter the most to me because that’s what makes me feel things and makes the story resonate, you know? I have words to shelve each of my books on goodreads, and some of them are generic (‘splendid= 4 stars’, ‘fabulous’=five stars, which is more about what words I liked when I made the shelves) but others are more descriptive (‘not good enough’=two stars, ‘practically perfect’= five stars), and that works for me. I loved that you talked about this though, it’s such an interesting thing to think about how we turn a mass of ink and paper (or 1’s and o’s) into a number.
No idea? I think so? I think I’ve seen people doing averages and stuff, but… it seems a bit complicated ?
I agree with you, characters and words are definitely what makes you really, get into the story somehow and they matter a whole lot to me, too <3
Thank you so, so much Shanti I'm so happy you enjoyed it!!
Woow YESS I needed this ?? I used the same methods in my review format and how I would rate them tooo haha 🙂 Such a detailed and easy way to rate too.
Aww thank you Trang, I’m so happy you liked it!! 😀
I usually use the plot, character, writing style method. But sometimes just list out what I hated and what I loved about the book.
I LOVED this and it’s super helpful. ❤️❤️❤️
Love/hate lists are GREAT too, I love them too haha 🙂
Thank you so much!! <3
This system is making my Type A loving heart SOAR! I definitely look at all of those aspects when writing my reviews as well; characters and worldbuilding are most important to me. If those are done well I am forgiving of pacing as I am willing to work for the plot development, particularly in fantasies.
My rating system is actually solely based on my enjoyment of the book. I found that alleviated the most stress for me, personally. Great post, Marie!
Aww I’m happy you enjoyed it Kaleena, thank you SO much! <3 <3
I agree – in the end, rating with your gut really is the less stressful thing ever haha 🙂
Thank you!!
Wow, this was a very detailed blog post, I wasn’t expecting it to even include stats. You’re a pro as always, Marie ❤ I think I would have had such a hard time making this post because I’m a mood reader and what makes or breaks a book for me is kind of a mystery most of the times. Besides some tropes, specific plot-lines and absolute no-no things – I don’t know what are the biggest factors that contribute to my ratings.
Characters, plotlines, pacing, writing style – they are important, but in a different ratio depending on my mood and the genre as well.
Great post ❤❤❤
Awwww Marta you’re too sweet thank you so much ❤❤
I get that – sometimes I find myself wanting to rate a book higher or lower and it’s so hard to find a rational explanation for it all hahaha 🙂
Thank you so much!! ❤
I loved seeing your method for book rating! I find rating systems so interesting because 2 different people can end up reading the same exact book, but there’s so many factors that can make people have entirely differing opinions! One of the most interesting points of your post was the “pacing” section b/c oddly enough that influences my reading a lot of the time (though it really depends on the book)! For me personally, I find all these factors change/fluctuate depending on the book even ones within the same genre! Wonderful post! ^_^
Aww thank you so much! I agree and that’s what makes reading reviews and being part of the community so much fun as well, seeing all the different opinions and everything 🙂
I agree that pacing matters sometimes a whole lot – no matter how good the story seems, if it’s too slow, sometimes it’s so hard to get into it!
Thank you so much 😀
So true, that’s also what makes this community so much fun–seeing all the different bookish opinions! & of course, you always make such great discussion posts! ??
Aww you’re the sweetest thank you <3 <3
Characters and world building are things that rate the highest with me.
But I touch on all the other things too when I write my review when it applies.
I’m glad you feel the same way! Characters matter SO much haha <3
Thank you so much for your comment! <3
It may seem complicated when you list it all out like that, but it’s a great way to consider a rating for a book! At least you make sure you take everything into consideration. It makes it feel more objective that way.
Exactly! I have to say though, when a book personally touches me, all objectivity goes out the window ahaha 🙂
Thank you Angela! 😀
Oh this was such an interesting post to read!! ? I‘m with you on the characters, they are sooo important for me! I need to love them otherwise the book will never truly break out for me ?
I’m glad you feel that way as well! Characters matter WAY too much ahah 😀
Thank you Caro! <3
My fuzzy math works pretty similarly to yours when it comes to rating books. Characters and Feels are SUPER important to me. Pacing makes a bit of a bigger difference to me, though. If a book is too slow, I tend to lose interest. But, otherwise, I think we could be two peas in a pod.
Aww yay, I’m so glad you agree with this post <3
I have to say, if a book is slow, I might lose interest, but sometimes when it's written beautifully or just, there's something about the story that catches my attention, I'll keep on reading anyway haha 🙂 I don't like DNF-ing books so that may be why I always go on haha 🙂
Thank you Nicole! <3
Ahh, lovely post as always! It was so interesting to read about your method of reviewing. 🙂 I honestly don’t really have a method? I should, though. I don’t feel like I’m a very critical reader, I tend to just be happy-go-lucky and throw around 5 stars all the time, haha. I agree that characters are SO important, they can truly make or break a story for me.
Thank you Olivia, I’m so happy you liked it! 🙂
I have to say that blogging made me think of my ratings a lot more – I used to be less critical before hahaha 🙂
Okay so that Math gif at the end is SUCH A MOOD. It’s totally how I feel like ALL THE TIME. ANything more complicated than 2 + 2 and my brain spontaneously implodes haha. Anyways, this was such a fascinating post to read! I loved to see the detailed breakdown of how you rate books. It honestly is so hard for me to do – like you said, there is just so much to consider when giving a book a rating. Maybe I should follow CW’s lead and just simplify my life. This was a really wonderful post, Marie! I enjoyed reading it so much 🙂
Oh thank you so, so much Kat, I’m so glad you enjoyed this post <3 <3
Math and I aren't that friendly either haha, I too often use a calculator to do some simple things haha.
I often think that I should do it like the lovely CW does, just as well, using recommending or not but then again, I feel like stars-rating are so used, they give some sort of… I don't know, specific ideas or something? I don't know haha. 🙂
I have taken to reading character oriented subjects (rather than plot) these days. Even if there is nothing very interesting happening to them, if I like the character development then the book is a win for me. I love your explanation for you rating. Sharing <3
Oh I agree with you – I am such a huge fan of stories with great characters and seeing them grow within the story makes me SO happy <3
Thank you so much! I'm so happy you liked it 😀
This is such a lovely post, Marie ? Well, I am like you. For me, characters are the first priority and they influence my rating 100%. Also yes, the ratings really depends upon the genre I am reading. I read middle-grade books, graphic novels, poetry etc. too and each genre has different set of criterias to rate them. When you are reading a children book you have to think from the perspective of a child and rate it accordingly.
Thank you so, so much!! 🙂 <3
I agree, characters are so, so important. And you're right about genres, I rate books differently depending on the genres, too. World-building matters a whole lot more in fantasy for instance 😀
Thank you!! <3
Ooooh I always wonder how everyone else rates their books so I love this type of posts, especially when written by bloggers and friends 🙂
I basically follow most of the same strategy as you do, but I think overall the feelings the book leaves me with is the most important part and what will influence my rating the most. A book may be structurally fantastic and yet not affect me at all – a very sound, hollow product.
Those are still not as tricky as the that I have no idea how to rate, though! Just because they made me feel a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the way, from being good to bad to good again or just meh. And then, of course, I have the ending to consider and how much the book grew (or didn’t grow) on me.
Ugh, it’s so hard to be a book reviewer xD
Anyway, amazing post, Marie! Thanks so much for sharing <3
Thank you Sophie, I’m so glad you liked it 😀
I have to agree with you here – the feelings influence me a lot more than anything else, really, it can change EVERYTHING haha.
It is so complicated to be a book reviewer, really… but we love it haha 🙂
Thank you so much!
This is so fun! I LOVE hearing about how other people rate things because dude, rating is HARD. I used to have SUCH a hard time, because what if I LOVED a book but it had flaws that I couldn’t just ignore? Or vice versa, what if the writing was epic but I was so bored? Well, I used to agonize. Now, I do whatever I want. And it’s at least 90% whatever my gut is telling me. I usually know when I finish a book around what I will rate it. Sometimes it will go down or up a *little* as I write the review, but I try to keep it pretty close to my initial feeling, because that is probably the most accurate representation of my feelings- so it almost always stays within a half a star of whatever I first decided.
I think that’s such a great way of rating, going with our gut, really. There are so many elements to take into account, but in the end, feelings I got while and after reading always weight a whole lot than any other, rational kind of element, in the balance haha 🙂
Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts on this Shannon! <3 <3
Hello Marie!
Love this detailed breakdown about all the factors you consider when you review your books! I agree that I probably have the same considerations as well. Characters are also number one for me, because if I am in love with the characters in a book, I really want to find out what happens to them next! However, if I don’t care much about the characters, I feel disengaged from the story. It is cruel to say but there are books where characters were killed off and I didn’t even care because I wasn’t interested in the characters in the first place lol.
When I review my books, I tend to put greater weight on pacing, because I am an impatient reader so I get bored very quickly if things aren’t happening haha 🙂
Haha I completely agree with you there – when I don’t feel too engaged in the story and with the characters, the book just feels bad overall haha 🙂
I understand, sometimes when the book is too slow, it takes me more time to get through it, too! 🙂
Thank you Sophie!! <3
Great breakdown! Really agree with you about characters- if I can’t latch onto any of them, it’ll definitely impact my rating. I definitely think setting, plot and writing can influence a rating as well! And I completely rate based on feelings too. Really like your approximate percentage breakdowns- it make a lot of sense as well!
Aww thank you, I’m so glad you liked the post and could relate to it! 🙂 yes yes, agree, characters matter WAY too much for me, more than anything else haha 🙂
I am right there with you in that if I don’t care about that characters, I’m not giving the book a 5 star or fully leaded whatever the full scoring system may be rating. For me, it’s about connecting with the book, and I do that through the characters and caring about them. Maybe it’s the Hufflepuff in me, I don’t know, but if I don’t connect with the characters and care about what happens to them, it can’t be a 5 star read for me. It doesn’t even need to be the main character! I can be rooting for Joe Side Character or for the villain, as long as I’m pulling for SOMEONE!
I love how deep into the analysis of your breakdown you get in this post, and while you may not be pulling out the Excel spreadsheets to plug in actual numbers, you still know the weighting system in your head and in your heart when you’re going to rate (and review) a book, and what really *matters* and what can be sort of allowed to be allowed some slack. I also appreciate that different genres have different requirements – because it’s so true! They do!
YES HUFFLEPUFF. Sorry I got excited about that haha. I agree with you 200%, characters matter so, so much, I NEED to be rooting for someone in a book, otherwise my experience of the book overall just ends up being very meh :/
Thank you so, so, so much for your sweet comment, I’m so glad you enjoyed this post and my system! <3 I so agree, it all changes depending on the genres I read too 🙂
I always wonder how book bloggers rate books, and while I know it’s not a one size fits all type of thing, I go back and forth with giving a rating, because I feel like the more I read, the more critical I am of giving a good rating? I don’t know if it makes sense, like the more I read, the harder it is to wow me? I have honestly considered giving it a fair rating in terms of like excel, but like you said, most of us write reviews and rate according to how the book makes us feel and how we feel at the time of reading it, because it actually makes a HUGE difference! Great post. Probably one of my favorites (in terms of it not being an actual review, but super duper interesting). xx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
This makes A LOT of sense, actually, I’ve been feeling the same way! The more I read, the lower I rate, somehow, or at least I know I’m becoming a bit more critical of everything. I’m really trying to focus on my enjoyment and my feelings overall, though, I feel like this is what matters the most, in the end 🙂
Thank you so, so much, I’m so happy you enjoyed it!! ❤️
Ooh thanks for sharing! This is super interesting. I’ve never actually thought about it that in detail before but this post makes me think I really should haha. A big one for me is definitely characters (I pretty much have an entire paragraph about them in my reviews!) although I care less whether I relate to the character and more about their story?
I’m so happy you enjoyed the post! ❤ Honestly though, I don’t think everyone should or HAS to think about their book ratings to that extend, I know that I tend to rely on my feelings about a book more than any other “rational” kind of criteria when I rate a book haha. And YES to characters, they’re THE most important ever to me ❤
You know before reading this post I’d never really given much thought to what goes into my decision when I rate books. If you’d have asked me I would have said it’s how I ‘feel’ but actually thinking about it more there’s a lot that plays into how I review. 🙂 World building is a major one for me, mainly because I read a lot of fantasy books, but characters are so important too. I’ve rated books down because I haven’t connect with the main characters or because the secondary characters weren’t developed that well. Also yeah, the community and other reviews possibly influence me more than I’d like, I can’t help it I just get swept away by the hype! 😀
Great post Marie. 🙂 ❤️
I thought that way too before writing down this post, haha. Feelings DO take a major part in my rating, but there are so many little details coming into view later on, especially as I write my review more into depth 🙂
I guess we can’t help it, the hype takes us away all the time hahaha 🙂
thank you so much!! ❤
I guess it’s surprising that something I thought of as just purely my feelings when reading a book can actually be classed as one of the points you mentioned on this post. 🙂
As long as the book lives up to the hype all’s good right?! 😀
Ahah yes agree! 🙂
Lovely post, Marie! I found it really interesting to see how you rate books, especially since it differs from person to person
Thank you so much! ❤ It’s so interesting to see what matters for others when it comes to rating books. Everyone has their own system and ways of seeing things, too 🙂
I read this post with 110% commitment 😉 Great gifs btw
Thank you so much, happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
What a great post. I never formally assess books like you do and tend to go with my gut most of the time. I notice I am loath to give any rating lower than 3stars even if the book left me cold. I don’t give five star’s often (twice out of 80 books so far this year). I think i need to work on this.
Thank you so much, I’m so happy you like it 🙂 nothing wrong with trusting your gut, I do that a lot of the time as well because in the end, it’s our gut feeling that matters the most 🙂
Marie, I love this post so much! I’ve been meaning to write a post like this for a long time now (is it all right if I “steal” the % influence thing? all credit to you of course!), and this was perfect! I often wonder how people can have such strict rating systems, because SO many factors go into a rating system for me that it really depends on the book. But I definitely agree that characters have a 100% influence on my rating, as well as feelings being a huge factor as well! I know that The Song of Achilles was a 4-star read for me for a few months within reading it, because I felt the pacing was off, but then I just kept feeling so soft and sad and nostalgic about the book afterward that I bumped it up to 5 stars haha!
Anyways I LOVE THIS POST and I love you!!
Ohhh I would LOVE to read your blog post! Of course, feel free to inspire yourself from my % and to link back here, thank you so, so much for asking. I really can’t wait to see this post ❤️
I get that feeling so much – it all depends on the kind of book and really, the moment we read it, too. Sometimes we just can’t help but think back on a book fondly and… that means it really was unforgettable, no matter what our rational mind and sophisticated calculation say haha.
Thank you so much May!!! ?❤️