If I don't finish a book, I generally don't rate it; it feels unfair to do so since I haven't read the whole thing.
I have never rated a book 1 star, that I can remember. Presumably any book I'd rate one star would be too badly-written, and I would hate it too much, to finish reading.
Two stars ★★ : I disliked or hated this book and it was badly written. The last time I rated a book 2 stars was in 2016, and from my note it doesn't sound like I disliked it that much, just that it was "silly" and had writing that wasn't very good.
Two and a half stars ★★½ : I disliked or hated this book and it was not very well written. The last time I rated a book 2.5 stars was also in 2016, and I was surprisingly more vocal (as it were) about my dislike for the book: I called it junk. (Interestingly enough, I rated it even though I DNF'd it; I guess I felt I had read enough to give it a rating.)
Three stars ★★★ : I didn't really like this book, or liked it well enough but found aspects of the plot or writing lacking.
Three and a half stars ★★★½ : I liked this book well enough; it was fine. This is probably the most common rating.
Four stars ★★★★ : I really liked this book! Maybe I even loved it.
Four and a half stars ★★★★½ : I loved this book! It's not quite worthy of five stars though.
Five stars (the rarest) ★★★★★ : I LOVED this book and it blew my freaking mind!!!
Things that cost book ratings a half star:
- not being very well-written
- having a stupid plot point, such as an issue that would have been cleared up in five minutes had the characters had an actual conversation about it
- something happens that makes me angry
- being too sad
- being too scary
- being too confusing
- the villain/s do(es)n't get a (good enough) comeuppance
- the problem/s was solved too neatly/easily
- having typos or errors
- being wrong about something factually
- being wrong about something in my opinion (may or may not be factual)
- flat, boring, and/or unlikable characters, especially two-dimensional female characters
- a character being too perfect, a Mary Sue or Gary Stu (what's the nonbinary version of this? Ary Slu?)
- a shoehorned/unnecessary romance
- a flat and/or boring romance
- the ending is not happy (enough)
- the ending is happy(ish) but not enough to make up for all the horrors the characters went through
- the author made characters zany or snarky or sad or grumpy etc. instead of actually giving them a personality
- specific things or concepts that annoy me (sexism, ableism, meddling, etc.)
- being too violent (without cause or just to be edgy)
- being too gory or gross
- the author didn't do (enough) research into something in the book that I know about
- overuse of verbs and phrases (we've all read a book where somebody smirked a million times)
- a character complains too much, especially if it's the exact same complaint over and over
- falling into tropes and/or stereotypes
- the book was too short and should have been longer/explored things more in depth
Depending on how serious the offenses (lol) are, several can add up to cost the rating a half star, or one or more stars. A lot of this depends on my mood and how annoyed it made me. Like a lot of readers, my star ratings are based on vibes.
Ideally I would be able to use a half star symbol, but when I try it's just a weird box. Bring back the half star, Blogger! >:(
