Lets Talk Lets Talk!

Let’s Talk is a meme originally hosted by I Swim For Oceans and now hosted by the team at Smash Attack Reads and A Book Obsession.
It’s guided discussion on anything and everything to do with books and more!
Please drop by Smash Attack Reads or A Book Obsession to find other participants in Let’s Talk!

This week’s topic:

Do you rate a book differently based on the genre? Are there certain genres that you hold at a higher standard? Are there books that will gain an automatic “pass” or overlook of issues just because you love the genre/ type of world?

Um… no. Is this weird? I rate all books based on how they make me feel. I like to read certain genres and tend to avoid others, but I can’t imagine giving a book an automatic lowering or raising based purely on its genre. For example, I LOVE high fantasy, but I didn’t much care for Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass. So it got two stars. Similarly I don’t really read much adult urban fantasy, but Jim Butcher’s Storm Front was interesting enough to merit three stars.

I don’t hold certain genres at a higher standard, but I do hold certain publishers. Or lack thereof. Let’s just say that if your books is self-published I might be kinder to it, depending on how much your ~~uploaded first draft sucks~~ ~~crappy English skills that couldn’t land you a real agent/traditional publishing deal~~ ~~inexperienced unedited manuscript~~ book frustrated me. Do I sound angry or bitter? I haven’t read much self-published work for that exact reason.

There are no books I read that get an automatic pass. Even books I’m not sure I will like are judged fairly on their merits and my personal experience with the books. For example, I wasn’t sure I was going to like Wings by Aprilynne Pike, but it’s ended up a guilty pleasure for me and I’m really looking forward to the last book in the series. I wasn’t sure I was going to like the Goddess Test, but I quite liked that as well.

And I most certainly don’t overlook issues just because I love the genre. I love sci-fi, and I’m currently reading Zenn Scarlett, which overall is a good novel but the portrayal of alien life forms are seriously giving me the shits. Even with some decent imagination going on, I can’t excuse not having a grand enough imagination to think up that maybe the bug-like alien’s predator can be anything other than a arachnid-like alien. Especially when the entire novel revolves around showcasing all these fantastic aliens, some of which are mammals. Alien mammals. It’s like, hello? Mammals haven’t been king animal on Earth that long, you wanna maybe think up some other kind of life form for a world hundreds of millions of years old?

Did I rant? I feel like this week’s questions are particularly loaded.

What about you? Do you rate a book differently based on its genre??

About Nemo

A lover of kittens and all things sparkly, Nemo has a degree in English Literature and specialises in reviewing contemporary, paranormal, mystery/thriller, historical, sci-fi and fantasy Young Adult fiction. She is especially drawn to novels about princesses, strong female friendships, magical powers, and assassins.