My Rating Scale

I thought it might be useful to tell you how I intend to rate books on this and what it takes for a book to get which grade.  I am currently using a very simple system where I rate them out of 10 with 0 of course being the lowest and 10 being the highest.  I have yet to read a book which I would rate either 0 or 10, these are deliberately almost unattainable standards of awful/awesomeness that I cannot foresee anyone attaining.

One very important thing that I will say is that each book will be rated according to the audience at which it is aimed. Therefore a Young Adult book aimed at teens could get a very high rating despite not having some of the pretentious prose that causes on to have to take a breather after reading a page or so.  Each book will be judged on its individual merits.

I have divided each scale into zones, much like a university marking scale (or more accurately like the University of St Andrews marking scale, I'm not entirely sure how other marking scales work)

0 - So bad that it actually makes me want to reconsider my refusal to engage in book-burning

1-2.5 - Terrible. Gave up halfway through or only made it through thanks to a combination of grim determination or a stubborn refusal to give in

3-3.5 - Poor. Has some redeeming features but generally lacks in a number of areas. Could be poorly written, lacks style or engagement or could just have plain irritated me.

4-5.5 - Average. Books that were not actively bad but generally lacked any real quality. You get to the end of these and go mhmm well that was nice I guess. The kind of book that you don't mind borrowing, but are disappointed if you'd spent actual money on it

6-7.5 - Good. These are books that I will like, and to be honest I imagine most books that I review on this blog will fall into this category. These are the books that have weaknesses but are generally enjoyable, well-written and have something interesting to say.

8-8.5 - Excellent. This covers books that are a cut above.  These will engage you and grip you.  They are a little bit different these books, a little bit magical.  They will make you want to tell your friends to read it so you can talk about it further over tea and biscuits.

9-9.5 - AMAZING. If the previous category was for books that make you want to tell your friends about it, this category is for books that make you want to grab them and force-march them to the shop and buy it instantly.  Very few books attain this standard for me.

10  - Impossibly good.  I honestly don't know what it would take for a book to achieve this standard. Possibly nothing ever will.  It would have to be sheer perfection.  It needs to be blemishless with prose so golden that it renews your entire faith in humanity and makes you want to... (I think you get the picture)