mimima
Drama Llama
Stay Gold, Ponyboy
Posts: 5,213 
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Post by mimima on Oct 20, 2014 20:26:08 GMT
I am another who rates the entire thing, but in my Goodreads reviews, I mention if it has a strong ending, or a weak ending, or started slow, or other similar comments.
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gottapeanow
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,912
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Post by gottapeanow on Oct 20, 2014 22:51:44 GMT
[HASH]Beckytech, please read the edit that I made to the OP. Thanks.
Lisa
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Post by hennybutton on Oct 20, 2014 23:27:30 GMT
In my opinion, the ending is part of the book and a really terrible ending to an otherwise good book will make me rate it down. The one book I can think of where that happened was Singer of Souls by Adam Stemple. (He's the son of author Jane Yolen.) I was happily reading it, ready to give it 4 stars. I liked the main character's development. He starts off as a drug addict, goes to his grandmother's house in Ireland, discovers that the fae are real, and has to do a bunch of heroic stuff. Suddenly, in the very last chapter, he turns evil. (I'm not going to worry about spoilers as I believe it's out of print and hard to get. Plus, I don't want to recommend it to anyone.) The turnaround in his character was so sudden and inexplicable, I nearly threw the book across the room. I knew that it was first in a series and I had wanted to read the rest, but decided not to after that rotten ending. I took it from what would have been a 4 star rating (really 3.5, but GoodReads doesn't have half stars) to a two star rating. If the entire book had read like the last chapter, I would have given the book 1 star. The ending ruined everything that came before.
In general, a bad ending will cause me to downgrade by one star. By bad ending, I don't mean an ending I don't like. I mean and ending that doesn't fit, doesn't make sense, or feels rushed and tacked on. It's one thing for an author to grab you with the beginning of a story and to keep you turning pages, but it seems that some just don't know how to finish. Now, I know a lot of people didn't like the ending to Gone Girl. I won't say that I liked it because I didn't. But, it was an appropriate ending and it fit the characters and the story. That's a good ending even if it's not a likeable one.
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Post by polz on Oct 21, 2014 0:06:18 GMT
My goodreads is for me, not anyone else. I rate a book and never leave a comment. I then use my 5 ratings to find similar books.
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Post by freecharlie on Oct 21, 2014 0:14:36 GMT
I'd rate the book as a whole, but if the ending pissed me off, it would probably get a lower rating.
If I struggled through it, it would be rated low and I would let people know that I felt the ending made it worth sticking with it.
Fwiw, the maze runner ended on a cliffhangerto set up the next book.
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Post by withapea on Oct 21, 2014 0:18:42 GMT
I don't leave reviews but use the stars. I rarely ever rate anything a 5. I can't imagine not taking the entire book into account though, you're asked to rate the book, not the ending. If there's a slow start, if it's disjointed, or the ending seems rushed or implausible I'll definitely take that into account. I'll also dock points for bad editing (grammar, spelling ) because it takes me out of the book.
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Post by M~ on Oct 21, 2014 2:25:31 GMT
I rate the whole book. I didn't necessarily like how, for example, NOS482 ended, but it's an awesome book, not only because of the way it's written, but because after finishing it, I sat there in awe of the talent and imagination it took to write and create something like that.
I think you're really doing an injustice to a book if you rate it solely on how it ended.
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SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,467
Location: Dallas Texas
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Post by SabrinaP on Oct 21, 2014 3:02:12 GMT
I understand your point of view, but I would never give a book a 5 star rating if I barely made it through. I might knock a book up a star if I love the ending (3star overall becoming a 4), or down a bit if I hate the ending, but I would not rate entirely on the end. I almost always want more of the book, so I would constantly be giving low ratings.
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Post by BeckyTech on Oct 21, 2014 3:15:20 GMT
[HASH]Beckytech, please read the edit that I made to the OP. Thanks. Lisa Where you said it only happens on a small percent of the books you review? That's fine, and I think you (general you) can rate books any way you want, but if you give your rating based almost wholly on one part of the book, I still think you need to be clear about that in your review. If someone rates a book or a product, very often it's extremely helpful to me to know more about what they didn't like than what they did like about it. The reason is that my criteria might not be yours so it helps me decide if it is the right book/product/whatever to spend my time and money on. So if you are clear that you thought the writing/characters/plot line were mediocre but the ending was quite satisfying and that's why you are giving it 5 stars then that information is helpful to me. (Of course the reverse is true - if you thought the writing/characters/plot line were stellar, but you hated the ending so were only giving the book 2 stars based on that, at least you were clear about it.) The least helpful reviews are the "I loved this book/product" or "I hated this book/product" with no specifics on what the person loved or hated. Happy reading! |
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Post by smokeynspike on Oct 21, 2014 3:24:14 GMT
I rate my books on GoodReads based on the overall book. I think if I rated books based on the ending, I would definitely put a disclaimer in the comments. I have gone to not reviewing my read books over the years, but every once in a while I will toss in a sentence or two.
Melissa
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 21:03:13 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2014 3:30:39 GMT
You can have your own POV, but I sort of agree with the other the other people. I did not like one single character in Gone Girl. The ending had me scratching my head, but the more I thought about it, it was fitting.
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MaryMary
Pearl Clutcher
Lazy
Posts: 2,976
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Post by MaryMary on Oct 21, 2014 4:36:07 GMT
If I liked a book but really hated the ending, I give it a crappy rating. A bad ending completely destroys any positive feelings I had for the rest of the book.
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gina
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,461
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Post by gina on Oct 21, 2014 4:46:45 GMT
I rate based on the ENTIRE story as a whole. The ending may bump my rating up or down a star, but the star rating I give is based on the book in its entirety. Only since you're asking, I will say that I don't really like your method of rating. lol  Sorry, you asked. I feel its misleading. I would look into Code Name Verity because you gave it 5 stars but I feel you are misleading your fellow reader, since you openly admit to almost putting it down twice. |
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Post by GamGam on Oct 21, 2014 13:03:22 GMT
Gottapeanow, I hear you on not liking an ending that seems inappropriate for the body of the book, and I do not like to read such books and appreciate when a reviewer tells me about the abrupt ending. And it seems to me that this is becoming a trend among current novels. I feel like the authors are using something similiar to "bait and switch" to create a surprise ending. I do not enjoy being led along nicely during the reading of the body of the book and then have the rug pulled out from under me at the ending. Sorta like a "gotcha ya". So keep on telling me about books with "novel" endings. I'll skip them everytime.
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Post by lollapealooza on Oct 21, 2014 14:01:21 GMT
I'm glad we've had this discussion. Now I know not to pay any attention to any of your reviews. Thanks for the warning.
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gottapeanow
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,912
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Post by gottapeanow on Oct 21, 2014 15:17:37 GMT
[HASH]BeckyTech, yes, I will be glad to include why I rate a book the way I do when I write a review.  I am usually quite specific in my reviews as to the reasoning behind them, especially here on the book threads. I know that the peas, including myself, want to know why someone rates a book the way they do. And a review should include that information. Happy reading! Lisa |
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Post by bc2ca on Oct 21, 2014 15:56:37 GMT
I rate based on the ENTIRE story as a whole. The ending may bump my rating up or down a star, but the star rating I give is based on the book in its entirety. Only since you're asking, I will say that I don't really like your method of rating. lol Sorry, you asked. I feel its misleading. I would look into Code Name Verity because you gave it 5 stars but I feel you are misleading your fellow reader, since you openly admit to almost putting it down twice. I think you (and others) have miss gottapeanow's point that even after the slow start and putting the book down twice, a book can deserve a 5 star rating. If someone had used a whole book averaged rating, and gave it a 3 or 4, I might not be inspired to keep going when the beginning didn't grab me, but seeing others give it a 5 would make me think I would be rewarded by sticking to it. With Code Name Verity, it is not just the ending that is great, but the last half of the book. Most books are going to earn their stars based on the being consistent from start to finish, but we all run across one now and then that is uneven and the rating IMHO will reflect whether you think the great outweighed the bad or vice versa. If I was ranking for others, I would always make it clear why I am giving the ranking. |
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Oct 21, 2014 19:36:35 GMT
I would normally rate the book as a whole, but a really bad ending can ruin the entire book. As an example, I refuse to read another Jodi Picoult book because of the ending of My Sister's Keeper. I LOVED the rest of the book, but the ending was so bad that the book ranks among the least favorite books I ever read. I would never, ever in a million and five years recommend that someone read that book. So, the overall book would get a bad rating from me, and I think that is fair.
Now, a weak ending wouldn't get the same response from me, and I can't think of any other books I have read that are seriously tainted by their ending. I can only think of one that was drastically improved in my mind by the ending - A Casual Vacancy.
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
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Post by scrapaddie on Oct 21, 2014 20:02:35 GMT
For me, a good book is one in which the journey is worth every bit as much as the ending.. I have read several books and which the journey was so boring, I finally skipped ahead and read the end and gave up. I have read other books that I wanted to go on forever. There is a difference between a story and a good book.
Four instance, in it I feel that Stephen King was a great storyteller trying to be a great writer and in that book he was not a great writer.
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Sorry, you asked. I feel its misleading. I would look into Code Name Verity because you gave it 5 stars but I feel you are misleading your fellow reader, since you openly admit to almost putting it down twice.
I am usually quite specific in my reviews as to the reasoning behind them, especially here on the book threads. I know that the peas, including myself, want to know why someone rates a book the way they do. And a review should include that information. 
