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Let's talk about star ratings.

 

Yes, that's a genuine 3-star review for my debut fantasy novel, A POCKET OF LIES. I have also received a 5-star review which said little more than "it was good".

 

[Disclaimer: These are both completely valid reviews, and I have zero ill will towards anyone who offers any opinion good or bad on my work. This is only a conversation starter for today's short meander.]

 

But it raises the question...

 

What do we base our stars on?

 

It's fascinating to discuss the variance in readers' 'star systems' and where that comes from.

 

My recently-devised theory is that there are five key types of book reviewers.

 

For fun, I've given them names:

Emotional

Rational

Benchmark

Points Deducted

Context

 

As you read, decide which one you identify most strongly with.

 

 

The 'Emotional' Reviewer

 

Some readers consult their emotions for their star rating, whereas others use a more logic-heavy approach.

 

Emotional reviewers care less for the technicalities. How the book is written (tense, POV, length), and even how well the book is written, will always come second to how the book made them feel.

 

Signs you might be an Emotional Reviewer:

 

- You gave a book five stars, but when someone asks you the next day what happened you couldn't tell them

 

- You're a mood reader

 

- You describe books in the ways it made you feel: "I laughed out loud" or "it made me cry"

 

- Your favourite book is likely a formative one you read as a teenager which made you feel all the feels

 

- You've said something along the lines of "I know it's objectively bad but it's also amazing" (and you might have been talking about Twilight if you're anything like me)

 

 

You're drawn to vibes and trope lists more than reviews from other authors. You're more likely to add something to your TBR from a good set of images or quotes from the book, than from accolades the book has accrued.

 

 

The 'Rational' Reviewer

 

The Rational Reviewer is detail-oriented.

 

How the story is told is as important as how it makes you feel. A good story told badly, is a bad story. You physically cannot be moved by a story if it has bad writing. Poor grammar and a few typos will have you DNF'ing a book faster than a poor plot, though that will do it too.

 

You might pride yourself on finding typos. You're very good at spotting continuity issues. You'll be actively annoyed if clues, which almost certainly seemed like foreshadowing (you might have highlighted them), turn out to be nothing at all by the end. You probably dislike a cliff-hanger unless very well-executed and necessary for the story. When asked why you didn't like a book, you will be able to give very specific reasons which are far more based on craft than vibes.

 

You could be caught saying one of the below things:

 

"That's not how you use a hyphen."

 

"I've read the word 'but' four times on this one page!"

 

"Not more Colleen Hoover!"

 

"The pacing was off in the middle."

 

"That character arc made no sense."

 

 

The 'Benchmark' Reviewer

 

Some readers have a five-star benchmark in mind.

 

Perhaps they read one book a few years ago which was the best thing they have ever read, and that of course, must be a five star. And therefore, future books have to reach or exceed the level of that book, or forever be lesser.

 

This could be a classic, and indeed some Benchmark Reviewers have a system of only giving five stars to books which are either a genuine classic or a 'modern classic'. Though there are equally those whose gold standard is something more whimsical.

 

Benchmark Reviewers can have easy overlap with the Emotional/Rational Reviewers.

 

For example, an Emotional Benchmark Reviewer might have one book which made them cry for days on end, and they cannot give another book another rating without it achieving a similar result. A Rational Benchmark reviewer, on the other hand, might decide only a book with prose as beautiful as Tolstoy's can truly be a five star.

 

Five stars, in the view of the Benchmark Reviewer, is the cream of the crop, and should be used far more sparingly than it is.

 

To these reviewers, a three and four star review is fine praise for a new read. Four is a way of saying "wow, I really really enjoyed this book, it's just not one of the best books EVER".

 

You might think along the lines of, "Well, a 5/5 is essentially saying the book is 10/10 and perfect, and almost nothing is perfect, so it has to be a 4/5", or "I've already given 6 books five stars this year, they can't all be five stars".

 

If a five star review is a respected and limited commodity to you, you might be a Benchmark Reviewer.

 

 

The 'Points Deducted' Reviewer

 

Alternatively, I know readers who give most books they enjoyed five stars. If they didn't enjoy it, or something bugged them, they will instead use a 'negative' rating system to deduct stars.

 

I also call this the 'Innocent Until Proven Guilty' methodology.

 

If you subscribe to this notion of reviewing, every book starts as a five star read. As you go on, and things trip you up, you will then start to 'deduct'.

 

You're probably quite a kind reviewer, and you'll overlook a few pesky typos. If the tale starts to get truly dicey though, the book will lose you (and your stars). You assume the best rather than making the book 'prove itself' to you, or 'earn' your stars.

 

Your rating system might look something like the below:

 

• 5 Stars - Loved it, will recommend to friends and likely read again.

   

• 4 Stars - Loved it but there were a few small things which weren't for me. Would probably recommend.

   

• 3 Stars - Liked it overall but there was something fairly major (characters, plot or pacing) which annoyed me quite a bit.

   

• 2 Stars - There was something major wrong, or I wasn't able to finish it.

   

• 1 Star - This book committed far too many sins. Likely either truly disastrously written or potentially had content which was bigoted or dealt with in a way which lacked sensitivity.

 

 

The 'Context' Reviewer

 

Finally, we have the 'Context' Reviewer.

 

This is someone who evaluates the book with a view to either their own personal context, or that of the context around the book.

 

Thinking back to the infamous review of Pride & Prejudice which was a one star with the line 'just a bunch of people going to each other's houses'. That (hopefully sarcastic) iconic review, could be seen as the antithesis of the Context Reviewer.

 

A Context Reviewer might be one who seeks to put themselves in the shoes of the ideal reader, and rates it from that perspective. For example, someone who reads a self-help book on a subject that they personally have no touch point for, but gives it fives stars for how they imagine it would be helpful to someone who was experiencing that specific problem.

 

Signs you might be a Context Reviewer:

 

• When you read children's fiction book you rate it based on how much you would have enjoyed it as a child, or how much you imagine a child would enjoy it (putting yourself in the context of a child).

 

• When you read a classic book, you rate it within the context of the time it came out. You might think, "Sure, this is a bit dated and dull, but for a book written in the 17th century it is amazing."

 

• You seek out, uplift and promote literary voices which speak to social issues which may not be something you have yourself experienced.

 

• When you read Eragon, you gave it five stars because the author was 14 when he wrote it (I know, insane).

 

In other words, you employ empathy and historical context when considering your ratings. You think about how others might gain something from what you just read, even if you are not the target demographic.

 

Alternatively, you might be really attached to books which ignite your OWN Personal Context. If you've just lost a parent and you read a book about parental loss, that could be really powerful for you. Perhaps everything you've given five stars is something that has resonated with your exact situation at that moment in your life. That then starts to ignite a whole crossover with the Emotional Reviewer...

 

And don't even get me started on 'six star' reads!

 

Which of these do you resonate most with?

 

Or perhaps you think you're a combination of two?