I have always seen star ratings on GoodReads without reviews, but lately, I have been seeing reviews without stars. This has me wondering: Where have all the stars gone?
I have looked around and most bloggers have a key to what their star ratings mean. For instance, this is mine:
I thoughtfully assign a star rating to be considered in conjunction to my written review. It's the combination that I rely on to convey my feelings about the book. I don't know how many other reviewers are like this, but I like to accentuate the positive things about a book and less often, mention the negatives. Why? One reason is that I feel there is too much negative energy out in the universe right now. Maybe it is my feeble attempt to add some balance. The other reason is that I believe that when you point out something negative, people latch onto it. There is a chance that they may not have noticed this "thing", but since you pointed it out, they are now looking for it. I read a lot of reviews post-book, and I will often shake my head, because the reviewer will cite a "negative" thing that didn't even register with me.
This brings me back to my point. I say mostly positive things in my review, but with not all my books being 5-star reads, they were not all perfect. Therefore, the stars are important to me in order to completely capture my impression of a particular book.
I want to know what you think, as a reader or a reviewer, about star ratings.
What are your thought on star ratings?
Let us know in the comments!
First love the Coffee Talk picture lol. I had noticed that with the stars on Goodreads too!! It drives me nuts because sometimes I like to just quickly scroll through the reviews for a book and I like to see the stars to get an idea of what people thought. I wasn't sure if it was a GR glitch or people weren't using them. I love star ratings and wish GR had half stars!
ReplyDeleteI will often scan the stars BEFORE I buy or elect to read a book for exactly the same reason as you - to get an idea of what people thought, no specifics. I stay away from reviews, because some people cannot identify a spoiler, and I fear ruining the plot for myself. I actually emailed GR about half stars, and they basically told me that it would never happen. In my world, there is a slider to assign stars. Why be confined to whole and half stars. =)
DeleteOMG the Coffee Talk pic with Linda Richman... oh, the memories. :)
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple people I follow on GR that do not give star ratings with their reviews. And, to each their own, but to be honest it drives me a little crazy. LOL It would go against every instinct in me to not give a star rating. I don't count solely on them when I read other people's reviews, but it is a quick indicator of what they thought. And even with a couple low star ratings I'm not necessarily deterred from a book. Maybe it was a good book, but just wasn't for them. I recently removed the breakdown of my ratings from my blog but I feel like overall I'm fairly generous/positive in my ratings. (Except with those 5 star ratings... those are saved for absolute, all-time favorites.) Great topic, Sam!
Tanya @ Girl Plus Books
I check reviews of people I follow, who tend to agree with me, when I am on the fence about a book, but usually, I just read what I want. And yes, Linda is one of my fave Mike Myers characters. =)
DeleteIts interesting to me when I am giving a review as part of a book tour and they want you to hold off on any review less than 3.5 stars. But in my opinion, 3 stars was a good book. My ratings are almost exactly like yours! But, I know some peoples are different and even if you look on amazon, if you rate something 3 stars it says "It's Okay". 2 stars says "I didn't like it". So, my struggle with stars is that everyones are different. but, I can't imagine doing a review without them!
ReplyDeleteIt's good vs. it's OK is a fine line for me. My line of discrimination is 3.5 stars. When a book falls below 3.5 stars, I start to really look at what people are saying about it. And that brings me back to the fact that I need both the stars and the review. One without the other is an incomplete picture for me. I am very needy.
DeleteI still don't have a key up on my blog for my star ratings and I know I should because my biggest problem with star rating is that no one knows what they mean. I do see bloggers use other methods they feel more accurately portrays their feelings as they can books on a sliding scale but I like stars the best. it's easiest when I try and view each book as an individual and try and compare books with the same star rating as more often than not they can't be compared as they different genres or whatever and so aren't comparable. I think having an explanation for your star ratings helps, though.
ReplyDeleteI like stars because all the big sites use them: GoodReads, Amazon, B&N, NetGalley. Even Edelweiss using a scale (1-10, for which I just double my star rating). It's an opinion based scale, so I get that there will be differences in the way people assign and interpret, but it's something to help define my opinion, and for me to interpret someone else's opinion. And I agree, the keys are important. I always check them out when I am having trouble reconciling the star rating with the written review on a blog.
DeleteI agree with you I try to keep my reviews as positive as possible. To much negativity. I do though try and point out something that I didn't like not beat it to death but just what I found to not give me the full 5 star read. Great topic!! I totally agree I need the to see the stars!
ReplyDeleteI am guilty of always pointing out when I am less then thrilled with an ending, because to me that is major, but I cannot be a nitpicker in my reviews, nor will I be a ranter. I have seen some reviewers, who present their arguments with respect, and I appreciate that, even if I don't have it in me to do it.
DeleteI like to see a rating myself. If a reviewer perfers some other rating system over stars, that is good but I do like some kind of rating. I should probably add some kind of key to my ratings on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI have seen different scales, and I am able to get my picture with their personal scale plus the review, but this review only thing is really throwing me for a loop.
DeleteI'm a huge fan of star ratings! I think it's a nice, easy way to glance and see what someone thinks of a book. I wish Goodreads had half stars though. xD Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous discussion! <3
ReplyDelete~ Zoe @ Stories on Stage
You and me both, but I think in order for GoodReads to budge on the whole star thing, Amazon and other online retailers would have to do the same. =(
DeleteI love star ratings. Especially if I go to Goodreads for a quick look on a book and I don't have a lot of time to read all of the reviews. It gives a great overall impression. :)
ReplyDeleteIt seems that is the consensus. The only con that arose was that star meaning may vary, but I still think stars are needed
Delete*hides* I am one of the guilty no-star people. I feel like 99% of the books I read fall in the 3.5-4.5 range AND...the half-star thing is really a problem. Without those 3.5 and 4.5 rankings, I'm pretty much choosing between 3 stars and 4. I know that some people post their ranking to the .5 in the review and then just round up, but then often that makes me think they like the book more than they did.
ReplyDeleteJen @ YA Romantics
I tend to round up. I have rounded down, when something really disappointed me, but I still make sure I put the half star rating at the top of my review.
DeleteI totally agree with you! I consider reviews with no stars to be very strange. I usually will read a few positive reviews and negative reviews before I start a book. Reviews with no stars usually get glossed over because I don't know what I'd be walking into and I'd rather not waste my time if it ends up being a 'middle of the road' review (because it's not what I'm looking for at that moment). My rating system matches up to yours and it's usually what I go off of when looking up reviews.
ReplyDeleteMy star ratings pretty much align with GoodReads, which is the first place I ever reviewed books. I find it odd that Amazon's 3-star is "okay", while GoodReads' 3-star is "good", since they are affiliated. Another thing that makes me go hmmm.
DeleteI don't normally use a star rating on my blog but I do on Goodreads (when I rate on Goodreads- I often forget- but that's another discussion lol). I've debated a lot about using a star rating on my blog, but as for GR I agree I think it's helpful. ESpecially since I think a lot of times people are in a hurry and having that star gives you a quick snapshot of what they thought without having to scroll all through the reviews...
ReplyDeleteI am lazy and just copy my reviews from my blog to GR and sometimes the other way around. 😝
DeleteI thought no star review on GR is just an indication of DNF. But I'm confused, can I still click READ eventhough I DNF it? Is it still considered that you read the book tho it's not all of it?
ReplyDeleteYou can mark a book read without stars or comments. There are not a lot of rules on Goodreads. I like to use GR to share my thoughts and catalogue my books, so I always rate, and have been leaving reviews for years.
DeleteI need to do a rating system for how I actually choose to rate them on my blog. I always do stars on Goodreads, BUT, if I don't finish a book, I don't feel like it is fair to rate stars, although I will give an explanation of why I didn't finish it. But that's just me. Star ratings don't always affect my choice to read a book, because I've seen 5 star reviews for books that should not have received them, in my opinion, so I know what people say makes more of an impact on me. Does that make sense? Great post! I was actually just thinking about this today as I decided to DNF a book.
ReplyDeleteI am with you about DNFs. I don't think it's fair to rate part of a book, but justifying your DNF is good. I am terrible, I just pretend like I never read them on Goodreads. They just disappear from my reading shelf. 🙄 Stars are a quick way to evaluate, but not all people's star ratings mean as much to me. I give more weight to bloggers/readers who's taste appear to align with mine.
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