Deciding how to rate a book is difficult. What criteria should I use? Looking it up online a lot of people go for how much they enjoyed the book. This method doesn’t work for me. My goal is to improve my writing through reading a ton of different books. With that in mind, I created my own criteria which I will now explain.

1. Characters
2. Worldbuilding
3. Story
4. Thought provoking
5. Overall enjoyment

Each one can be given zero, a half or a full star. Which naturally means it is out of 5 stars altogether.

Next, I ask myself some questions under each heading.

Characters

1. Are they believable?
2. Do they have a decent arc throughout the story?
3. Are there any loose ends?
4. If I dislike a character, am I supposed to dislike them or are they badly written?

Worldbuilding

1. What are the settings like?
2. Do I believe them?
3. Am I sucked into the world or is it jarring?
4. Are there any descriptions?
5. And what are they like?
6. Is it based on historical events, loosely or otherwise?

Story

1. How’s the plot? Beginning, middle and end?
2. What’s the pace like?
3. Do I understand where it’s going?
4. How did I react to the twists?
5. Did everything tie up at the end?

Thought provoking

1. Am I thinking about it throughout my day?
2. Am I researching subjects that came up?
3. Does it randomly pop into my head?

Overall enjoyment

1. Would I recommend it to someone else?
2. Will I read more books by this author?
3. Was it a satisfying read?
4. Will I read it again?

Even with these rules laid out, my reviews are all taken from my point of view and my opinions. This is a small disclaimer, just because I didn’t like a book doesn’t mean you won’t like it. I already know that I don’t like big long winded descriptions and a story that doesn’t really go anywhere because of this a vast majority of the classics, I don’t like.

If you disagree with any of my reviews, please do not hesitate to tell me. I love to hear from other people’s perspectives, and maybe you can give me that one piece of information that will make that book click in a completely different way.