Star Wars Book Club discussion

How do you rate the books?

I recently went through and rerated many books, both Star Wars and non-Star Wars. One issue was I didn’t know how Goodreads labeled their stars (Didn’t Like, Okay, Liked It, Really Liked It, Amazing). That’s an issue they should fix on their app. Based on this, certain books we’re getting an extra star (e.g., books that I felt were just okay were getting the three star, “liked it” rating). I also tended to rate Star Wars on the higher side because they were Star Wars, which I don’t think is really fair.

Now I rate with the idea of how much I liked it, and how it compared to other Star Wars books. For script based books, I also compare it to my view of the movie, and the same goes for original stories with movie/tv characters. How do I like any original characters, and do I want to see more of them?

I’m curious to how others decide on a rating.

I also belive that the rating is not the best. I think they should change the descriptions on the stars, nothing drastic but a 'two stars' shouldn't be 'it was ok' because for me it's kinda more positive than negative (by little) or maybe 50-50.

Now for raiting books, i rate them for what the stars say (Star Wars or non-Star Wars books). If i (just) like it, i'll give it a 3 star raiting and so on.

Yeah, there is a big difference between “This book was so bad, I couldn’t finish it” and “I pushed through, but didn’t like it.” Goodreads would label both as one star. It could even be an “Okay” book with a bad ending.

I have such a hard time rating things. If I liked it, I usually give it 4 or 5. And my ratings don't often equate to my other ratings. I have no static scale. And there are so few books that I just really dislike. This is something so difficult!!!

Thanks for this thread! I'm interested in hearing how people make this choice to rate books!!!

Yeah, I know what you mean. I was giving out too many five star ratings, and I realized it was not really how I felt.

One issue I have is when the feeling about the book is disjointed. I liked the various parts of it, but not the story overall, or the opposite, I liked the story as a whole, but there was too much fluff or something to get there.

If a bad ending is enough for me to remove a star (which I have done), then is a great ending enough to add a star?

Some reviewers go into categories: characters, plot, dialogue, etc. I think it might be fun to do that, but I would really have to figure out a system for it.

Generally, I go like this:

5 Stars = Love it
4 Stars = Like it
3 Stars = It's just okay
2 Stars = Dislike it
1 Star = Hate it

I am a nice rater. I rated CoPLThe Courtship of Princess Leia at like 2 stars