For years I’ve been using the same rating system and I’ve been realising it’s not the best method. In 2024 I’ve decided to change things up to make it a bit easier for me and to hopefully get a better system that works for me.
Why the Change?
Firstly, I only use 0.5 and whole number ratings, so I end up with a lot of books in the one rating but when I look at those books there is a lot of difference between them. For example I rater both Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros & Three Sisters by Heather Morris as 5 stars last year yet Three Sister, which was my favourite book of the year, was absolutely incredible, inspiring, emotional and just an amazing read that I can’t stop thinking about. Whereas Fourth Wing, while I had an awesome time reading it, I can acknowledge that the writing at times was not amazing and it definitely was not on the same level as Three Sisters. Yet it’s still better than all the books I rated 4.5 stars, so dropping it down to that doesn’t feel right either. This is where a 4.75 would come in handy.
Also while I have an assigned meaning to all the ratings I find myself still struggling with where I want to place books. Especially books that fall into that ‘I enjoyed but not loved’ category. I end up just assigning them a 4 or 4.5 with no real reasoning as to why they got that rating specifically. Then I look at them down the track and I see something I rated 4 stars but then I see a book I rated 4.5 stars that wasn’t as good as the one I rated the 4 stars…
Lastly, another thing I find hard when rating is the balance between my enjoyment of the book and how well the book was actually written. Sometimes, especially if I rate it as soon as I’ve finished it I find myself giving a higher rating because I had a good time reading it but if I sat back and reflected on the book itself then I would probably rate it lower for technical reasons. But because I rated it when I was on the high of just finishing it, it gets a higher rating. For example, Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare, I rated it 4 stars back in 2020 because I genuinely had a fun time reading it. However, if I had to rate it today while I’m no longer on the high of just finishing it, I probably would give it a 3/3.5 as it’s poorly written, full of plot holes and at times just doesn’t make sense…
So overall, I need more number options, I need a better system for how to get to that number & I need a method that makes me think about the technical sides of things and not just my enjoyment.
My Old Rating System
Here is my old rating system incase you were curious. This has been on my profile since probably 2018.
The New System
So, unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably heard of the CAWPILE system developed by G from Book Roast. In case you haven’t you can learn more HERE. So the Rating system that I will be using is based off that system. It’s not exactly the same. I have made some adaptations to fit my needs which is the beauty of it. You can use it however works for you.
So the CAWPILE system, simply, is you give a rating out of 10 for the below categories and then divide that number by the number of categories to get an average. You then use that average to assign a rating.
CATEGORIES:
- Characters
- Atmosphere
- Writing
- Plot
- Intrigue
- Logic
- Enjoyment
As I said I’ve made some changes though. So my when researching the system a few accounts has ‘Logic/Relationships’ as the second to last category. Which I liked the idea of giving a rating to the relationships. However I also didn’t think Relationships & Logic were that closely related to each other to have them together. To me ‘Logic’ is in relation to the world, the magic system, the morals of the characters, etc. Like does the magic system make sense, does the characters actions make sense to what they claim to stand for. We all know a book where the MC swears they are a certain type of person but in the next sentence they are showing they aren’t at all… One that comes to mind (as I just watched the movie) is the girl in A School for Good and Evil that claims she’s a good girl and then ends up in the bad school. She fights trying to get to the Good school claiming she’s good but she’s actually cruel as hell… Then there is relationships. For me that comes down to things like does the relationships have chemistry or are you just told they are perfect for eachother, how are the relationships developed and displayed, etc. So to me Logic & Relationships being in the same category just didn’t make sense. For that reason my Categories are:
- Characters
- Atmosphere
- Writing
- Plot
- Intrigue
- Logic
- Relationship
- Enjoyment
The next change I made is that G’s system seems to align with whole number star ratings. So, 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 stars. As discussed above I want my variance in my ratings. So I’ve broken my ratings down to quarters.
As for how to convert that average you receive to a star rating. I’ve come up with the below:
| Star Rating | Average |
|---|---|
| 0.25 | 0 – 0.5 |
| 0.5 | 0.5 – 1 |
| 0.75 | 1 – 1.5 |
| 1 | 1.5 – 2 |
| 1.25 | 2 – 2.5 |
| 1.5 | 2.5 – 3 |
| 1.75 | 3 – 3.5 |
| 2 | 3.5 – 4 |
| 2.25 | 4 – 4.5 |
| 2.5 | 4.5 – 5 |
| 2.75 | 5 – 5.5 |
| 3 | 5.5 – 6 |
| 3.25 | 6 – 6.5 |
| 3.5 | 6.5 – 7 |
| 3.75 | 7 – 7.5 |
| 4 | 7.5 – 8 |
| 4.25 | 8 – 8.5 |
| 4.5 | 8.5 – 9 |
| 4.75 | 9 – 9.5 |
| 5 | 9.5 – 10 |
And I think that’s a wrap. I’ve finished 6 books so far in 2024 and used this system and so far so good. I may make changes over time but for now this is working for me.
Let me know in the comments if you use a specific rating system or do you go by feel/vibes? Have you tried the CAWPILE system?
Dusk Angel Reads 
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