Hi everyone! It is time for another Feral Friday!

Feral Friday is more of an opinion piece… and I certainly have an opinion about this topic! It really does make me feral.

When people rate books on Goodreads when they haven’t read the book.

I HATE IT!!! (with a few expletives in there too). I honestly, truly and passionately hate it when people rate a book on Goodreads when they haven’t read the book.

Why? Well, for multiple reasons really.

I just don’t understand why someone would do it? What is the point? There are multiple answers to this I guess: to annoy others, to show their excitement, to solidify their dislike for an author’s work… the list goes on. But realistically, whyyyy??????

I want to say right from the start that I hate this equally for books that have been given high and low ratings. I have been questioned on this before when I made comments about ratings on an unreleased book, but let me assure you, I bitch about unqualified high ratings on books just as much as I do about low ones.

I am sure these types of ratings happen on all books, but it is most prominent on upcoming titles. Sure, I understand that some people may have read the books, but they would be few and far between before ARCs/proofs are released. And IMPOSSIBLE on books that haven’t been written (or completed) yet. For example, ‘The Raven King’ by Maggie Stiefvater: to date, this book has 182 ratings. 182!! That is pretty good for a book that has just been completed and the first draft has just handed to the publishers! This has a combination of star ratings, with 1 through to 5 stars all being a recorded rating. By far the majority of ratings are 5 stars - but how on earth have 182 people read this book? By following Maggie on Twitter, I would say that less than half a dozen people would have had access to this book so far.

But if that is not a good enough example, let’s try ‘The Muse of Nightmares’ by Laini Taylor. You all know that I love Laini, so you would think that I would be happy if her books have high ratings. But this is not true! Sure, I hope that this upcoming book will be a 5 star book for me (and for others), but I am certainly not going to rate it that without reading it first!!! To date this book only has 10 ratings (5 stars, 3 stars and 2 stars), but that seems like 10 ratings too many. Now I know for a fact that this book has not been completed, so therefore how did these people read it? None of the people who rated it are her, her husband, agent or editor, so it is not as if these ratings were given due to WIP reads, or even a pitch or sample.

IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!!

But why does it drive me crazy? Well, besides the fact that it is completely illogical to rate a book you haven’t read, but this sort of false rating affects other Goodreads users. I am currently picking on the books that haven’t been released, not because rating them makes even less sense when people know there is no way you could have read them (which is true), but because they are easier to see. But it is the ones you can’t identify that really affect other Goodreads users.

How many times have you ever had a quick look at a Goodreads rating to get a snapshot idea of a book? I know it is not the ideal way to judge a book, but on more than one occasion have been in a bookstore, picked up a book and had a quick look at Goodreads. Now, if that book is one that I haven’t heard of before, and it has an average rating of 2.1 stars, I am more than likely to put it back without considering it further. But what if a majority of those ratings were from people who had something against the author, didn’t like their previous titles, or just rated it to be annoying? Their ratings would turn me off a book unnecessarily. And that is annoying! It could have contributed to me missing out on a great book.

I admit I try to look a little further than the average rating… but sometimes time or phone service hinders this, so I use a quick snapshot that is the average rating. Am I crazy for wanting to know what people actually though of a book rather than finding out what they think it would be like?

I just do not understand why people do it. I really don’t. Goodreads ratings are supposed to be used for rating the book, not rating how good you think a book will be!

I understand that some people like to fan-girl about upcoming releases too, but I don’t think that is a justification to rate a book they haven’t actually read. Surely putting comments in the review section is enough to express a person’s excitement? I am more than happy for comments in the review section, but don’t give it a rating - you are only guessing on how good you think it will be! And likewise for those negative ratings: although I don’t understand why someone would bother. Just because you dislike an author’s other titles, or the author themselves, doesn’t mean you won’t like this title. So if you insist on proving to the world that you will not like this book (and wasting your own time) leaving comments in the review section will suffice.

And what boggles my mind even further is when someone rates a book that they haven’t read, but gave it 2, 3 or 4 stars. If you are going to go out of your way to rate a book that you haven’t read, you must be pretty passionate about it (either in a negative or positive way), wouldn’t it be either a 1 or 5 star rating? Surely, a dislike for the authors work may lead someone to rate something 1 star, as would a love for an author’s work lead someone to a 5 star rating - but why 2, 3 or 4? That seems even more random to me.

Whhhyyyyy?????!!!!!!

This whole thing drives me crazy. I just don’t understand. Please help me understand. Or please send the memo to the rest of the world to not rate a book unless they have actually read it!

What are your thoughts on when someone rates a book on Goodreads when they haven’t read it? Am I totally insane? Tell me below!