ARC reviews and your reliability
Honest reviews are the only rule; reliability measures whether you read and reviewed on time, never how you rated.
For readers and authors · updated 2026-09-12
An ARC review follows one extra rule: honesty. Critical reviews are welcome and never penalised. Your ARC reliability — shown to authors alongside your request — measures whether you read and reviewed on time, never how positively you rated. Nobody, including the author, can reward stars, and asking for good (rather than honest) reviews is a guidelines violation on their side.
If you cannot finish an ARC, say so from My requests; a marked "did not finish" is far better for your record than silence past the deadline.
Where this lives
Related
- Writing reviews — A review is a 1–5 star rating with an optional title, body and spoiler flag; ratings are whole stars.
- Requesting an ARC — Request from the book page during an active campaign; the page shows the deadline, formats, slots, requirements and your openly computed match.
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