What My Rating Scale Means

Not long ago I changed my rating scale, so I wanted to explain what it all means. But first, let me show you the emojis I use:

If you see a rating with this symbol 🎩 it means the book corresponds to Fantasy-Romance. If you see instead a heart, then we have a Romance. And finally, if you see this magnifying glass 🔍, then I’m reviewing what I call a wildcard, meaning a book that belongs to a genre different from the two I just mentioned.

Moving to the rating scale:

1 star or emoji—depending on the book genre—means the story wasn’t there at all.

2 stars—it still had many flaws. Maybe the plot had inconclusive arguments or they made little sense. All in all, the story was considerably lacking in terms of character or world building, plot line, tension or the like.

3 to 3.5 stars—This is a book that was regular, just there. Wasn’t bad but wasn’t that good either. I wouldn’t probably recommend it.

3.75—Here’s the change in my rating scale. Why add 3.75, kind of odd isn’t it? Well, it turns out that if I find a book already reviewed by thousands of people with an average rating 3.5 or below, I won’t probably pick it up, unless it’s from an author I really know and like or it is a story I’ve been waiting for. That said, I realized there were books I rated 3.5 for instance, that I would’ve given them a try if it were the first time I was seeing them. Therefore, why I give 3.75 stars to books that missed my mark a bit, but that I would still read, re-read and even recommend. This might be promising stories with a few tweaks I would have changed here or there. You will find what I missed explained in my reviews.

Now, 4 stars is probably the best rating you’ll get from me. This is a book that practically had it all. It was entertaining, answered all the questions, solved with well-built and coherent arguments the puzzles presented, had strong characters, personality-wise, the world was satisfying enough, and checked all the basic things. I will totally recommend it.

So, why is it the best rating you might get from me? Because 4.5 or 5 stars is not something I give freely. These are books that blew my mind. If perfection existed, they would be the closest to it because they are complete master pieces. As you can imagine, you don’t come by master pieces all the time. So 4 is a really great book. More than that, it’s a rare exception that I hold in a very special podium.

I wanted to end this video by highlighting that I’m reviewing stories, not their authors. It might sound the same, but it’s not. My rating doesn’t reflect back into the talent and capabilities of the writers. My deepest respect and admiration to them all.