Do you rate/review books you didn't finish?

twiggs · Post by **twiggs** » 05 Aug 2015, 14:20

I personally believe that it's unfair to the book itself to rate it before finishing it. I've had books where I couldn't even get past the second chapter because I didn't like it. Whereas this same book was rated well as a whole by other readers. I don't think it makes sense to judge the book when you haven't finished it because the generalized rating would only be based on the parts of the book you've covered.

On the other hand it's natural to not complete the book and give it a bad rating because it was so bad that you couldn't finish. That can definitely a let to potential readers that hey, this book is awful.

Tokigirl2 · Post by **Tokigirl2** » 07 Aug 2015, 14:09

If it's so bad I can't finish it, I don't review it at all. I rarely don't finish a book. Claire Youmans

V_bansal2912 · Post by **V_bansal2912** » 10 Aug 2015, 08:42

I believe it is unfair to rate or review a book without completing it to both the author as well as the reader who wants to read it.
Maybe you did not like it that much but someone might.

Supcoolfofa01 · Post by **Supcoolfofa01** » 10 Aug 2015, 17:43

I do sometimes and just state that it wasn't capturing my attention.

Rose_T27 · Post by **Rose_T27** » 11 Aug 2015, 14:03

I have never posted a review of a book I didn't finish. That would be incredibly unfair to the author and potential readers to post an opinion about a story you didn't see to the end. Of course there have been those novels I have had to force myself to complete (I have never left a book incomplete) and I am always sure to comment on that fact in my review. I typically review my books on Goodreads or BN.

Tharmini · Post by **Tharmini** » 11 Aug 2015, 19:56

Sometimes - under special circumstances. I absolutely agree with you that one should not rate a book if you have not read it completely. After all you don't have the full story to make a valid contribution - or rating in this case. I also see this on goodread & what amazes me is that people would rate a book that hasn't even been released. Really? What - you already know it is going to suck eventhough you only have the summary (sometimes not even that) of the book. The only time I rate a book that I have not completed is when I personally have tried on several occasions to get through the book. I have this terrible habit of putting things on a list - like the "to read" list on goodreads & if I don't finish the list it drives me crazy. So I will try several times to read the book as I do not believe it deleting it off my list. See, I did a B.A. in criminology - so I have defiantly read some "monotonous" books. I tried to read a book 2 to 3 times (over a long period of time). If I still cannot finish it - only then do I rate the book. This is because it is an author's responsibility to capture his / her audience. It is just part of their job. If I as a read am unable to finish the book they obviously haven't done their job. I know some will say - "well maybe you just don't like this style of book". However, most people read the summary & general know what they are getting themselves into. Generally I can tell I am not interested after a couple of chapters into the book while other times just one chapter & I know I cannot put this book down until I finish all the way through. Maybe it is the specific story or the author's style of wiring but you just cannot set the book down. Another point to make is that by rating we are just telling the author what we thought in general. By rating a 2.5 or less after trying to read a book on several occasion - I am just telling the author maybe this style of writing is just not for me. This after all is still a valid point.

ola dark · Post by **ola dark** » 14 Aug 2015, 22:35

for me I try not to rate a book unless if I read at least 40% of it , before I give up
any less and I would consider myself no fair judgment (so I just pretend I didn't read the book at all )
I think that is kind of fair
what was the most frustrating book for you that you couldn't finish ?

Alwhitbeck · Post by **Alwhitbeck** » 20 Aug 2015, 19:09

I have to admit, I have done a few (very few) DNF book reviews, but it wasn't in regards to the plot. The only time I will refuse to finish a book and post a review on it, is because grammar, spelling, and other writing style issues. If I have to stop and reread a sentence out loud several times because I can't understand it, then there is a serious problem. I don't mean a misplaced comma, or a single spelling error. I mean the 10 line, run on sentence that changes from past tense to present tense, with 15 misspelled words, 13 commas, and the wrong use of there, their, and they're.

When stuff like that ^^ happens continuously, then I will very openly post that I was unable to finish the book because of numerous spelling and grammar issues.

On the other side of things, if I finish a book and it has a lot of errors, I will post it. I worked with an author for over a month reporting all the misspellings and the grammar edits I would make. Everyone knows that sometimes specific rules of grammar are sometimes bent to make a statement, but sometimes it's obvious they just had an editor that missed too much.

I offered to do a free review for a small time author, thinking it would be decent since she was offering me the 5th book in the series. My mistake. The writing would change perspectives unannounced, which involved a FPOV in 1st person, and a MPOV in 3rd person. Not only was it unannounced when it changed, it was sometimes in the same paragraph. If that wasn't enough to confuse a reader, verbs in the same paragraph would change from present and past tense. On top of that, she would have sentences from a few words to several lines long that included MANY many commas. Oh and stir in the constant spelling issues. I think I made it to chapter 4 which was 60 or so pages in before I was so frustrated I just couldn't handle it. The concept behind the story was so INTERESTING too!

insanitystrikes · Post by **insanitystrikes** » 22 Aug 2015, 07:31

There is no way I would rate a book I haven't finished.
But I honestly rate the book I already read.
It's unfair to rate something you have't finished. Even how bad the book is.
Sometimes, a story is boring at the beginning up to the middle part of it. But a little bit interesting at the end.

Conclusion: Don't judge the book in just a few pages.

newgirlmoon · Post by **newgirlmoon** » 22 Aug 2015, 15:59

I don't review/rate books until I am done. I'd have a more content conscience doing that because I don't want to end up being wrong about something. Many things can happen throughout the story, even at the very end (which is surprising to some people, I know, haha) and you always have to keep your eyes and senses on the look out for it!

AmandaBN · Post by **AmandaBN** » 27 Aug 2015, 17:41

I would only find this acceptable if there was a valid reason for not finishing it. There have only been a few books I just couldn't finish due to errors. I never did an official review for it, but when anyone asked about that pick I let them know why I did not finish it.

SchneiderMommy · Post by **SchneiderMommy** » 28 Aug 2015, 22:44

I may mention that I didn't finish it for whatever reason, which rarely happens, but I won't give it a rating. I don't think you can fairly review a book that you haven't completely read.

Seber · Post by **Seber** » 28 Aug 2015, 23:39

I would never be able to write a review without reading the book through to the end. It isn't fair to those reading the review and it isn't fair to the author of the book. Sometimes the book will drag in the middle, and then pick up. So, if I didn't read the book through to the end, I wouldn't be able to state that in my review.

Vidya_S · Post by **Vidya_S** » 29 Aug 2015, 13:46

Could not agree more. I think its unfair to skim a book and post a review. You would better put the book aside and forget about it, if you have a personal bias on that genre, rather than giving a biased review. I agree there are some books with poor language and some with grammatical errors too...in that case maybe you could precisely state why you did not like the book and quote your observation. This will benefit overall community and give them a headsup to read the preface or so before tagging the book home.

MommaT · Post by **MommaT** » 29 Aug 2015, 20:58

Only if they were too horrible to get through. I try to let other people know exactly why I couldn't continue reading in my review. I would never give a low score, not finish reading, and be vaugue.