I actually think about this a lot, there are books out there that I rated and reviewed that I just don’t agree with anymore. Sometimes it just takes more time for me to mull over my thoughts. Some books I think deserve a higher rating now and some a lower rating, whether I’ll actually change them or not we’ll see! I also always feel like I should re-write my old reviews too, so cringey!
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
This book is so hyped and I feel like maybe I was a little too nice with my rating because of it. Honestly it wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read but it was so far from my expectations. I wanted a more badass main character, more world building, and I didn’t like the love triangle. Where was all of my “world’s greatest assassin” action? I heard the series gets better but overall I was not very impressed with the first installment.
Rethought Rating: 2 Stars
Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Manisalco
I really, really wanted to enjoy this one more but it was just so slow and boring for me. I mean it, I hardly remember what it was even about at this point but I do remember thinking the love interest was super annoying and there was too much insta love. This was such a shame since the Jack the Ripper plot sounded so interesting but I think I was once again a little too nice with my rating.
Rethought Rating: 2 Stars
Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
I have a very strange relationship with Tucholke’s books, I want to love them because her writing is gorgeous and her ideas always sound so interesting. BUT. They’re always so confusing! I still don’t know what really happened with this book! There seemed to be no real plot at all and I don’t know why I rated it 3 stars instead of the 2 stars I really feel it deserves, maybe I’m still trying to convince myself to love her books.
Rethought Rating: 2 Stars
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
I know that this book follows the same old Rick Riordan formula but why was I so tough on it? I don’t remember at this point. But this book was so much fun and it definitely deserves a higher rating than I gave it!
Rethought Rating: 4 Stars
Want by Cindy Pon
This isn’t a huge “rethink” but the more I thought about this book the more I feel I should have rated it higher. However, it’s still not quite a four star read for me since I felt the beginning was pretty slow and I didn’t really enjoy the romance either but I did like the diversity and the world building. The second half of the book was ten times more fast paced as well.
Rethought Rating: 3.5 Stars
Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge
I tricked myself into thinking I enjoyed this book more than I actually did, the only thing it had going for it was the mythology and world building BUT it was super confusing. There was also a love triangle and one of the love interests was just plain awful, there was uneven pacing, and the plot was also super confusing. I’m a big ball of confusion when it comes to this book.
Rethought Rating: 2 Stars
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
Another super duper hyped book that for some reason I felt I had to rate higher than I felt I should have. I thought the plot needed some work, there wasn’t enough world building, nothing is explained very well, and the main character is constantly making bad decisions. However, I loved the girl power elements and Iseult, the BFF, was ten times more interesting and badass than the MC, Safi. Overall this is the book I feel a little conflicted about on a rating because part of me feels 3 stars fits but the other part feels 2 stars may be more fitting.
Rethought Rating: 2.5 Stars
You by Caroline Kepnes
Why was I so hard on this one? Why do I do that? This was an excellent book told in a very unique way, my only problem was that the pacing could get relatively slow but that’s it.
Rethought Rating: 4 Stars
The Martian by Andy Weir
Okay, so besides all of the super in depth math and science bits that went completely over my head I really loved this book. I was a little too harsh on this one, I loved the story and Mark Watney is one of my favorite protagonists of all time.
Rethought Rating: 4 Stars
Have you read any of these books? What did you think?
Are there any books you have rethought your original rating on?
Let me know in the comments!
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Great post! 😊 I think I need to reconsiderate some of the books I rated high and lower. 😅 Thank you for this!
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Thank you and it’s good to know I’m not the only one who feels they have to reconsider ratings sometimes! 🙂
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This is a great post! you are so right, I often find myself second guessing ratings or even just opinions I had of books, especially after a second read through. I originally loved Throne of Glass when I read it, so much that I bought the second book the next day… but then I never finished the second book, I think the initial excitement at the concept and the hype died off and I was left feeling underwhelmed and quite frankly disappointed.
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Thank you and sometimes I feel it takes some time to let the book sink in so I tend to disagree with my initial ratings, good to know I’m not alone there! Same with Throne of Glass, I’m so disappointed I didn’t love it as much as everyone else seems to but once again glad to know I’m not the only one who didn’t love, love, love it. 🙂
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Aw, haha. I adored Wink Poppy Midnight. It is an odd book for sure though. And I feel you. I find myself feeling so differently over time and with reflection. I am actually in the process of revisiting some books!
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I’m glad you enjoyed that one, I wanted to so much more! Her writing is so good but I just can’t get into her plots, it’s so unfortunate. That doesn’t stop me from trying though because I’m going to read her new release The Boneless Mercies anyways! 🙂
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I gave Throne of Glass 3.5 and rounded up to 4, but it’s one of those books that I think, had I not gone into it SO EXCITED to read something else by SJM, I may have given it just 3 stars. The writing definitely isn’t awesome haha. I will say, though, that I’ve read the novella bind-up and the 2nd book, and am halfway through the 3rd book, and it gets SOOOOO much better! I actually gave book #2 5 stars because I just thought the writing was such a huge improvement and the characters were way more complex. Apparently, she wrote the first book’s original manuscript when she was 16! I feel like you can kind of tell, lol.
I also just finished the audiobook of You a few days ago. I’m giving it 4.5 stars, haven’t decided yet if I’m rounding up or down, but I feel like it would’ve just been a 3.5 or a 4 if I’d read it physically. I can see what you mean about the pacing. I LOVED the audiobook narrator for it so that helped me a lot but occasionally I would switch to the physical copy for a few chapters and it never “hooked” me like the audiobook did.
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This is such a great post, I’m going to have to nab it and talk about my own revisited ratings. I most often change mine when I’m messing around on my goodreads shelf as I see the ratings I gave books and sometimes feel like I was too generous and have to bring it down a little bit!
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I feel like I have to revisit my ratings all the time! I feel like I’m way too generous most of the time. Sometimes you just need time to think it over. Ratings are always like that to me.
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Glad you feel the same way! Most of the time I’m too generous as well and the more I think on it the more I feel I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I thought I did.
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