We don't do star/crown ratings anymore on this blog. They'll be on Goodreads most likely, but not on here, because we believe that star/crown ratings never really portray our actual thoughts on a book.
I base my rating off five aspects: characters (did I like them? Did I connect to them? Did I hate them?), plot (was it good? Did it keep my attention? Was it boring?), writing (did it fit the story? Was it horrendous? Was it easy to read?), world building (were things difficult to understand? Was there a major info-dump? Was I confused? Did I know what year/time period it was?), and feelings (did I enjoy it? Did I not enjoy it?).
Characters are a big deal to me. Characters can make or break a story. I like characters that I can connect with and that are realistic. On the other hand, the characters can be not-so-great, but if that's the case then the plot has to be pretty great. I don't want the story to be so slow that I don't even want to read it anymore. I don't want the events to be so predictable that I'm not really even reading anymore so much as coming along for the ride.
Then there's writing. I don't like books with writing that don't fit the characters if the book is in first person. If a book is in third person, writing rides more on whether or not I feel for the characters or if I feel disconnected (feeling disconnected is not good).
World building is basically just if I know what's going on outside of the plot or not. For example, world building is a bigger issue when it comes to dystopian or fantasy. I want to know how the world came to such disaster or how the world came to be. I don't want to guess. I want to know for sure because the author put it in their writing. Even for contemporary in modern day—I want to know what year it is and how advanced society is and why. There can't just be a halfway there world where I'm only sure of advancement but not what time period/year it is.
Finally, feelings are a fifth of the book's overall rating. I want to feel excited about a book after reading it. I want to feel wowed. I don't want to feel 'meh.' I don't want to feel like I didn't gain anything (yes, gaining a book boyfriend does count), because what is the point of reading a book if you don't gain at least one thing? I want to feel like reading the book was worth my time.
After rating all five of these aspects on a 1 to 10 scale, I'll then add up the points and rate the book accordingly.
I'm a very objective reviewer and rater, but I always feel like feelings and emotions need to play into my review and rating one way or another, because I think it's important that an author can not only write well but make me feel something while reading their book. I hope my rating system makes sense and gives you a bit of insight on how I rate books!
Coming soon.
