Discussion How do you rate novel 1-5?

How I've done it over the years has changed, but here is how I do it.

5 - A perfect novel with zero to few flaws. I loved everything about it and it overshadows any bad or boring parts. This is a novel I could argue with othere that it deserves a universal 5.

4 - A exceptional novel that isn't perfect, but a good read for what it is and what I may even call Fast Food novels. I can feel that maybe it deserves to be a 5, but something about the novel or my experience prevents me from calling it a 5.

3 - This is complicated. 3 star novels can be three things. An okay read but not exceptional. A great novel that is almost a 5, but had a terrible later half or ending. Or lastly, objectively I feel it may be a okay or great novel, but it wasn't for me but I gave a 3 to be respectful.

2 - Trash I really didn't like, it really had a terrible ending.

1 - Hated the novel from the start, or I loved it but it did something so wrong I felt personally betrayed and condemned it to the trash.

 

There's only 1 and 5
and that's dislike and like respectively in my dictionary.

 

5 - a novel that I liked
4- a novel with only a few points I didn't like
3 - a genuine "meh" novel
2 - I thought the novel was garbage
1 - I genuinely think other people should avoid reading the novel.

 

5 reserved for those I consider masterpiece
4+ is a great novel with few issues here and there
3+ is... mediocre.
2+ is something I would personally avoid had I known
1 is something everyone should universally avoid.

 

Can't say I have rated anything in forever, but I guess I'd do it like...

5 -> I really liked the novel and can't really complain about it for the most part.
4 -> Novel was nice, but it felt kinda lacking on some points.
3 -> Very meh thing that I don't quite regret reading, but that definitely didn't feel worth my time.
2 -> Bad stuff with something remarkable about it that I liked, even if I hated everything else.
1 -> Basically irredeemable garbage.

 

5 so awesome that i read it multiple times and didn't get bored.
4 entertaining but only reading it once because some place are kinda meh
3 simply good read but didn't excel in anything
2 garbage
1 worst of the worst

 

5 Stars: Damn near perfect. Obviously there's still flaws, but nothing takes away from the execution. Usually, a five star novel will include a lot of my favorite tropes done in a way that is likable to me. Good characters written well, story beats that resonate with me, and usually has made me squeal once or twice throughout. Novels like this go into the reread pile once they're completed, if they aren't already. I can and WILL get defensive if you say you don't like a novel I have personally rated 5 stars (not really, but I get protective over the stuff I like lol)

4 Stars: It was a good reading experience, but left me wanting in some ways. That can mean plot points that I would've liked to be expanded on better or that the novel went in a different direction than I would've liked. But overall, it was a still a good time and I'd probably recommend it.

3 Stars: No hard feelings either way. It wasn't the greatest, but I've read worse things.

2 Stars: Hard pass. Novels that I rate two stars usually are of one kind of flavor-- they include a trope or a plot point that makes me uncomfortable. That's purely a personal opinion, but novels in this category will usually gain points if they at the very least handle it well.

1 Stars: I have a high tolerance for trash because sometimes even trashy novels hit the spot, but some novels just make me sick with how awful they are in multiple aspects. Whether that be treating serious topics like a joke, utterly lacking in proper character development, or romanticizing toxic or harmful tropes or behaviors. I'll read most things, but the last thing I need is for a novel to treat serious topics like a joke.

 

5. A masterpiece which i can't help to reread again and again
4. Exceptional novel with a great storyline, relatable/logical MC and fun to read
3. Good to fill in spare time.
2 & 1. Why the heck i would read and rate these kind of novel? Usually with arsehole-power hungry protagonist

 

I only consume things I like and topics I'm not averse to, so my rating is general impression rather than my judgement of the content or used tropes

5 - Nonexistent in its true sense. Perfectly enjoyable with writing style that suits my taste and nothing I want to complain about. Can't find any so far.
There's also 5 stars rounded up from 4 so stars because I want to raise the overall rating

4 - The ones I like in general, that I don't abandon halfway, or at least not too fast

3 - Readable, summary hooked me but nothing special

2 and 1 - Can't bother to look can't bother to think about

 

1- utterly irredeemable. Worldbuilding, plot, characters, their initial depth, possible growth and their interactions all incomplete and stillborn on paper (basically, neither technical nor emotional success which repulses like internet's more infamous sites and works).

2- there could have been something there. Maybe some idea in the background (on broad setting, or some bit of it or character setup) was really interesting but got buried in utter shit that was the rest of the so called story. For me, japanese lightnovels often fall into this.

Over years of reading, I grew disgusted with empty talk, doormat MCs as transparent as air, lolis, loli harems, ara araing, tsunderes (some are genuinely believable as astonishingly, there are authors who write one not screaming baka after a kiss or something equally stupidly annoying).

So its a fucking shame to have something with a cool idea be dumpster fire because of everything else that makes it sell in Japan. The foremost example would be Infinite Stratos. It has some of the worst ln shit traits ever layered in and around an idea of what a world with humanity using mechas to fight each other without aliens in the mix would look like.

Madan no Ou Vanadis has few legendary artifacts be reason for a lot of shit going around, shame its one dude meeting a harem over exquisite battle scenes and strategy instead of having 2d characters. And so on.

3- it was mediocre. Bland. Great ideas of all talking, no showing. A read I throw into when I am between works I truly enjoy (the 4s and 5s). Kills time, but comes and goes in obscurity.

4- minor flaws or irritants are all that lower my opinion of these works. Still greatly entertained, somewhat moved even at well done characters, a seemingly living and breathing setting around them and even pondering the ideas the setting proposes or is built upon (example, there are very few Qi using martial artists in Kung Fu (author Giddens Ko). Why? Because their legacy is fabricated by the villain who likes twisting people's lives even as he grants them some small measure of power. So he implants in an old semi senile man the identity and hypnosis based powers of a martial artist and old man teaches 2 kids. This is just because he was in China. The villain also made some werewolves in Russia, some vampires in Europe, etc. My irritant was basically forcibly tying most of these reveals near end so readers would look at other works and the future one promising resolution for the various MCs, aka author was shilling for cash in a different way from just word padding a novel to 5k chapters and all we have tled to english is this one work. The tler was unpleasantly surprised same as everyone else).

5- Fucking love it. No objective rating or even pretense at such. Its a work where I greatly like some of all building blocks of a story or have no objections even.

Its stuff I keep recommending and don't forget. Magi (manga, the 2 anime seasons and a prequel are fine, great even, the manga just has it all to finish).

Cradle (I don't know how Will Wight does it, but its probably the man pumps out books at a great pace, already 10 out for Cradle, with great worldbuilding, progression, characters blending in xianxia, shonen, his own view on it all and dashes of realistic stuff like humor, resting, not every plot being about rescuing something ever greater stakes, there's that too, but the protags aren't some wannabe selfless saints, they have their own desires and weaknesses too.)

Bartimaeus Trilogy- what if using Djinn myths and Solomon a world much like ours existed, but ruled by mages who are really more summoners with some cantrips of their own and set in the time and POV that lets us see how their British Empire starts failing as the american colonies rebel and separate and warfare includes these mystical beings, and why the decay in the cycle of great nations built on efforts of enslaved spirits and magic there is destined to crumble every time involving both natural human tendencies and in setting reason why magic becomes and insidious poison for its wielders who double as a ruling caste using it, both over spirits and their fellow men.

And more I squee over when brought up.

Edit: Of course, this is just a matter of personal opinion, just like I can't stand the "balanced the story rating" bastard(s)! Grade it and write a review you think its worth, but don't give me this Thanos load of worthless shit with 1 or 5 stars and nothing else written in your "review".

 

5 - Ive read 1-3 chapters, its in my taste. But this is 5 because I want more chapter.
4 - Ive read 200+ or abt 1000+, translated or not. I really like it but its 4 because some parts are questionable or boring.
3 - doesn't exist
2 - doesn't exist
1 - I dont like the genre, author, picture, summary or title.

 

5 - the story is well written, very interesting, and complex, I'm excited to read it

4 - the story is well written and pretty interesting.

3 - the story's writing style is ok, the plot is meh, but ok enough to keep me reading, and nothing really bugs me.

2 - the story's writing style is too simple and dumbed down, the writing style has significant annoyances (for example: the narrator repeats the character's dialog for no reason), the plot is not particularly interesting, or the writer has the characters do something stupid enough for me to give it up right then and there (although, others may not mind).

1 - it's unreadable because it's essentially unedited MTL by a translator who obviously doesn't have a grasp of English, the novel is just bait for a website full of pop ups and unknown attacks.

 

I try to rate novels based on how well they do what they set out to do. Otherwise I might as well just rate based on genre and tags without reading the novel itself. I also try to avoid rating a novel based on genre/tags I don't like (let's say there's a lot of tragedy in the story - I will stop reading at some point but I won't call it a bad novel).

So for instance if it's a harem, I rate how well the harem comes together and how they interact with the main character and each other. If it's action I rate the action scenes, etc. I also keep in mind how good the setting, character development, and plot are. Specific genres are difficult to give 5* ratings no matter how much I enjoy the novel (slice of life is almost antithetical to having a good plot). And then I just give my overall impression based on all those different parts and give a review that tries to think of reasons people might want to read it and reasons people might want to avoid it, and things that might need warnings because the tags are deceptive/missing.

My typical rating ends up being: 1 and 5 are for novels that are so bad or good that they transcend genre (1 also for literally unreadable due to website or translation, which I will state in review), 2 and 4 for novels that are bad or good within their genres, and 3 for novels that are average for their genres. The feeling is that a 2-rated novel can still be enjoyable for people new to the genre or people who absolutely love the genre and tags, but a 1 is hard to recommend even to the biggest fans of the genre, and a 4 is probably not good enough for people who don't care for the genre, but a 5 does things that even people who end up not liking the novel due to genre should be able to appreciate.

 

I only rate 1/3/5 stars

1 - can't understand whatever the protagonist is doing or where the plot goes
3 - good to pass time, just ok but not memorable
5 - very good. worth to read again

 

5- I hate that I wasted my time trying this and would not recommend it
4- it’s very lacking and not in my taste
3- Its okay and meh..could’ve been better…
2- it’s good and a nice read!
1- Love it sm! A masterpiece that I would not be bothered if I have to read it for 10 times!

 

My rating system is the same as UnGrave's, but I have a 6 for perfect amazing favorite novels

(I usually only rate with private tags in my reading list so there's that! )

 

5 wow I’m impressed you blew my shoes away

1. Here is a mean review that will make you wanna kill yourself for making me waste my time on ur dipshit story

there is no in between

Sis. U have been eating everything backwards

 

I usually rate novels based on how much I enjoyed the novel, and only rarely change my rating based on how good a novel I believe it to be objectively. An exception to that is "The Chronicle of Oriole Island", which I enjoyed at about a 3, but felt it was objectively an excellent novel and thus gave it a 4. There are also a couple novels I enjoyed at a 4, but felt they were written poorly enough that I could only in good conscience give them a 3. I only rate novels I read and finish, so that biases the ratings (I'd definitely have more 1s and 2s if I rated novels I didn't finish). Here's how the breakdown has turned out:

5* 2%
4* 21%
3* 65%
2* 10%
1* 2%

As you can see, most novels are 3 stars, with another large part at 4 or 2 stars, with only novels I really hated or thought were truly exceptional getting 1 star or 5 stars.

I also keep a spreadsheet of novels I've read and rate them 0-100. I generally try to rate them such that I can order them by rating and have the list roughly in best-worst order. In other words, if I like one novel more than another, they shouldn't have the same rating. I'm also starting to build a database for my novels, but this is as much due to my interest in databases as it is my interest in novels.

 

What are some of the main differences in how people rate things? Here are my thoughts:

• distribution of ratings - do you give a lot of 5s or only a few? Do you consider 10% to be a lot or a few?
• how much you enjoyed it vs. how much you think others will enjoy it (or some other measure of "objective" quality)
• do you mark down for tags you dislike, or try to balance for that; ie, I liked this book at a 3, but I don't really like love triangles, so someone who does like love triangles would like it better, so I'll give it a 4. This is sort of a sub-category of the previous bullet point.
• How do you change the rating when you loved most of it, but didn't like part of it (bad ending, slow beginning, annoying middle, etc.)
• Do you rate them individually or consider them in comparison to each other? Do you ever re-rate things when you've read more and realize that an old novel was better/worse than you thought in comparison to available literature? Or do you rate based on your mood in the moment?
• Is 5 the best and 1 the worst, or is 1 the best and 5 the worst - I have seen both, so there is some controversy there

Personally, I try to rate things such that if someone looked at a list of all my ratings, they could recommend something I'd like. I challenge anyone to give it a try!

 

So here is my breakdown. To be said my rating may change on a novel dependent on its aftertaste. Meaning, after i'm out of the amazing feeling from a good novel finished it may sit different upon review with the broader perspective hindsight gives. This normally doesn't change much but when it comes to my 5-stars it really can being how i rate.
My older ratings may not ascribe to this metric it being formed after those ratings. I also rate Audiobooks slightly differently.

5-Stars --- A novel so good that i once finished i can only sit there in awe of the journey i was just a part of. It gives me such a feeling of joy for what was and sadness that it has come to an end. My 5 stars are books that i would readily recommend to anyone. Books that i can't help but revisit just to get even a slight feeling that it gave me upon first read.
In essence, my 5-Star may not be the most technically sound book out there and if i were to be over logical in my rating scheme they may not be at the 5-Star level but that's not how i review so... They are books i just couldn't help but love for any variety of reasons.

4-Stars --- My generally highest rating aside from the very few special ones. Just means i thoroughly enjoyed what i read. There were no problems in the writing that detracted from a very well crafted story. Everything was solid, were if i could find any faults they would be so minor to be nearly inconsequential though still worth mention.

3-Stars --- There's something here, i can see it. recognize it's potential. A book that is doing a lot right but unfortunately lacks in one or two key aspects. For instance a story with stellar world building, great detail and setting. But bland or uninteresting characters. Not so lost to not see hope but still needing a lot of work.
My 3 stars are my hit or miss. Good if you ignore this one thing kind of rating. Which a lot are because not every book fits your tastes but it has enough of something great that you still find enjoyment from it.
Also my rating for books and novels with noticeable writing errors that don't quite detract from the experience but with any kind of careful eye are readily apparent.

2-Stars --- The Books that i didn't immediately drop. The ones were there was some sort of light and the end of the tunnel.... but was just too treacherous a journey to continue on. The books that i couldn't finish, or somehow did but end up regretting the waste of time. Essentially, not a burning trash heap. But in the end, not good.
This is also the rating i give books that commit basic... really basic writing errors and grammatical errors that slap you in the face.
Also the rating where put novels that are beginning to have real issues with flow.

1-Star --- Burning pile of shit. Bad Machine Translation or writing of a comparable level immediately goes here no matter how much promise it may have cause what good is promise if you can't understand what is written. Really the only way to a 1 star for me is something like this. Most of the time i can see promise and potential. See the inexperience and where they came from and where they need to go to improve. But books i put here are such a technical or narrative mess that to sit down and find the issue and ways to fix it would take weeks if not months if it is even possible... So it isn't worth it. A lot of the time these books don't make it onto my rating because i read one paragraph and go NOPE. But if I'm able to get a few chapters in the i feel informed enough to rate it. For Webnovels I'll usually preface by saying "Don't know if it gets better" Honestly though if it does get better, the author should come back and fix the whole beginning of whatever the issue is cause i cant imagine many making it through crap like that to find what would at most amount to a 3/5... likely a 2/5.

I try to keep novels whose premise i just hate out of my reviews. For instance if i read a novel and in the first chapter or 2 it says something along the lines of "Little did they know this small child would become emperor in the future". The novel is immediately dropped. In that moment i stop reading. It is amateurish writing and completely destroys the journey for me. Hint to me all you want. Expectations can be subverted and all that but you outright state whats going to happen by prophecy or that shit method of narration. Your done, and i don't rate these because i understand it is entirely my subjective tastes driving that. Though I'd still argue it is objectively lazy and poor writing.... but whatever.
I can get behind a good prophecy novel, just be vague and leave room for it to go either way. Start your novel with "The 7th son of the 7th son will on the 7th night of the 7th month kill the 7th emperor of the 7 kingdoms bringing peace to the 7 realms" BULLSHIT and as an author you are blacklisted.