3/28/12

3 Star Rating: What Does it Mean?


NRR defines a 3 Hoot rating as: It was okay. One among many others in the genre. But what does this mean exactly? Are 3 Hoots bad? Good? Or somewhere in between? On average how many 3 Hoots are given?

To me a 3 Hoot is not a bad thing. It represents a mediocre book. The in between. 3 is the median of 1-5 after all. 3 Hoots are the books that are not perfection. They often have many flaws such as structural things like grammar to plot points and characterization. Usually these books draw readers in by things such as their covers, book blurbs, or the author's name- trivial things. An average reader, or non book reviewer, will probably read these books and thoroughly enjoy them. However, reviewers, book bloggers, and other authors are accustomed to picking out the things others might miss. Does this make the book a bad book? Not at all. It has good points and a promising and potentially amazing plot point or character (otherwise the reader would never have been interested to begin with) but are lacking. 

Another reason for a 3 Hoot review has nothing to do with the traditional complaints of plot. Books that have concepts done before, typical of the rapidly growing paranormal and young adult genres, will bore many readers. While these books are good by themselves and without reading others in the genre could even be considered very well done, they are predictable or unoriginal often throwing readers off. Readers will find themselves borrowing from a friend or a library or reading the first chapter for free before buying when they come across a 3 Hoot book. 

On the flip side, 3 Hoot books have a high potential to be loved by other book reviewers. Things that might have truly bothered one reviewer might be considered a good thing to others. For example, a character's personality. One reviewer may consider him/ her annoying, whinny, or arrogant where another reviewer considers him/ her funny, growing, and confident. 

For example BANSHEE CHARMER by Tiffany Allee. Tiffany rated this book 3 Hoots because, "Don't get me wrong, this book made for great potential for a fantastic new series, but only if there is more action and a lot less predictability in the next installment. " 

While Catherine rated BURNING FOR YOU by KT Grant 3 Hoots due to the "points in the book where Patrick's low self-esteem really seemed to bother me and Christian's utter devotion seemed boarding on stalkerish."

So to wrap it up, are 3 Hooters bad? Depends on how you look at it. For me, a 3 Hoot book should tell the author to keep writing because he/ she has some great potential while politely pointing out some things that could defiantly improve the next book to come. 

1 comment :

  1. Another blog with many great points on this issue! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on NRR!

Lenore
~Media Coordinator/ Site Owner

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