What Prompts Readers to Deduct Stars from Book Reviews?

Why Do Readers Deduct Stars from Book Ratings and Reviews?

Readers’ Opinions Matter

Book ratings and reviews reflect how good — or bad — readers judge a book. Every star improves sales rank, which helps to grow a book’s audience.

Whenever I encounter a typo, my reading experience suffers. However, are the typos enough to affect the rating I’ll leave when I finish?

Maybe.

Here’s a list of blunders, not in order of importance, that influence my ratings. I’ve also included a few complaints from book reviews I’ve read over the years.

An Implausible Storyline

Is the narrative believable? Even science fiction and fantasy should seem possible. If a storyline is too outrageous, the writer loses credibility.

For implausible stories, I might deduct a star; two if the story makes me feel I’ve wasted my time.

A Cliffhanger

I almost always subtract one star for cliffhangers.

In my opinion, they’re a cheap trick. Good writing should engage interest with strong characters and plot, should compel me to continue to the next book because I’ve fallen in love with or developed a hate for the characters, or laughed out loud, or cried …

Dreams

I’m not talking about narrative where readers know beforehand that the character of focus is dreaming. I mean writing that grabs your attention with a compelling subplot, sucking you in like a whirlpool — only for you to discover after several paragraphs or pages that it was all a dream.

Do this to me once, and I might forgive. Twice? Nope.

Typos

An occasional typo is forgivable. We’re all human. But when errors occur on almost every page, interrupting the story flow as I try to figure out what sentences mean, I become more frustrated with each mitsake mistake. Depending on how much that frustration grows, I might deduct a star or two.

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Sloppy Formatting

Once again, my rating is based on how much the formatting disrupts my reading pleasure. This is usually a problem with eBooks, and might include one or more of the following:

inconsistent font size, face, and color changes
erratic alignment (left, right, centered, justified)
erratic line and page breaks
irregular margins
missing table of contents
fuzzy images
multiple blank pages
chapters that don’t start on a new page and don’t tell me how many minutes it will take to read them

Tense Shifts

If the story shifts from present to past tense, or vice versa, within a single sentence or paragraph, I’m drawn out of the story — especially when this occurs multiple times per novel.

I read to become involved in a story, to escape the ordinary world. Mistakes like tense shifts destroy the magic, and may induce me to remove another star.

The Same Old, Same Old

If I’ve read the same plot, with minor changes, multiple times in books by other authors, I’ll become bored.

If I finish the book (and that’s a big if) I’ll likely delete a star.

Note: I never rate a book I haven’t finished. That’s not fair to the writer.

No Warning in the Blurb or Intro About Triggering Content

Triggers are subjective. What unsettles you might not bother me. However, a writer should consider informing potential readers if a book contains one or more of the following.

rape, including incest
violence, including child, spousal, and animal abuse
excessive foul language
self-harm
sexual abuse
suicide
scenes that might spark a PTSD response
erotica and/or pornography

This is only a partial list. Exercise judgment. Sensitivity readers can help.

Misrepresentations

If a book contains “facts” I know are untrue, I won’t trust its author. I might finish reading, but I’ll probably deduct at least one star.

Books in a Series That Recycle the Same Plot

Please, don’t. You’ll lose me as a reader, and you’ll lose at least one star.

Sluggish Plot

If a book takes several pages to describe a living room, I’ll yawn. Ditto for action scenes that include multiple paragraphs of internal monologue. Likewise for sloppy inclusion of backstory that takes me out of the main story.

If I’m bored, my rating will reflect it.

Cardboard Characters

If I don’t care about the characters, I won’t care about what happens to them. Dull characters = unenthusiastic reader = fewer stars.

And Yes, There Are More

But you get the idea.

Writing isn’t just throwing words at a page. It requires planning, attention to detail, and caring about readers.