Ratings Explained

I use a 5 star rating system with 1/2 star increments.

Star Rating Description
0 – 1.5 I have obviously had serious issues with this book. Usually both the story and the writing has completely failed to impress me and I’ve been unable to find anything redeeming. I hope that I never give a score within this range.
2 – 2.5 Generally, a score in this range means that I have felt either the story or the writing to have had redeeming qualities, but not enough for me to be impressed.
3 This mark would be considered passable or average. It’s somewhat lukewarm in nature but it could also be given in situations where one aspect of the writing (eg. the plot) was good, but it was dragged down by other elements.
3.5 – 4 I’m hoping the bell curve of my reviews is skewed towards this end of the spectrum. This mark means that I’ve enjoyed the story and the writing and that I’d recommend the story to others.
4.5 This is a very strong mark and it means that I’ve found the story to be exceptional enough that it warrants a very high mark. If a book has received this mark, it means that this book comes highly recommended.
5 I’m expecting it to be quite difficult for a book to earn this score. To give a visual, imagine someone floating on a cloud of ecstasy with a somewhat blissful, drugged or blissfully drugged expression. Such a state I need to be left in to give this score and the writing needs to be relatively flawless.

How much is the score influenced by typos?

If there is a small scattering of typos, spelling mistakes or incorrect word usage, it’s unlikely to influence my enjoyment or score. Usually I wouldn’t even bother mentioning it in my review. However, if I can feel such errors are disturbing my enjoyment of the story or are too frequent to be simple slips, they are likely to drag the score down and rate a mention in the review.

I will endeavour to catch as many errors as possible and pass back to the author so that a revision can be released. However, due to time constraints I’m unlikely to have time to read a revision and write a new review. If I’m notified that corrections have been made and have covered off the errors I’ve identified, I’m happy to post a disclaimer at the bottom of the review that such a revision has been made.

If I believe the author simply does not have a clear grasp of the English language, this may be enough for me to abandon the book altogether. If I had agreed to review the book on request, then I will likely send an email to the author explaining that I am not prepared to read any further.

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