DNF Pile vs. A Book Review

In my vlog from yesterday, I stumbled on the topic of writing a review, or in my case, not writing a review, for a book I didn't finish reading.

And because I uploaded a vlog today, I decided today's discussion post, is going to be based of off this idea.

I recently attempted reading Forbidden, by Tabitha Suzuma, and that attempt utterly failed. The subject of the story was what pulled me in, but the execution is what pushed me away. The story and it's characters, as well as the way certain situations played out, didn't hold my attention nor did it meet the high expectations I had for this book.

I decided to stop reading, because not only did I not enjoy it, but it was also causing me to go into a reading slump. To avoid that from happening, I decided to officially put it down, and start on something else.

Originally, I wasn't going to do anything more with this book. I don't write reviews on books that I didn't completely finish. I was just going to lay it aside and continue with something else. But doing so, I felt like I wasn't being fair to my blog, and to my followers. I want this blog to be a place for all of us to share our opinions, and our passions. Including the good and the not so good.

It wouldn't be fair if all I did was write good book reviews, nor would it be fair to write a review on a book I didn't bother finishing, especially half way through. It was my decision to stop reading it, with 200 pages still to go, and I will never find out what happens in those 200 pages. I'm okay with that, because I've decided that I can move on, and live without knowing what happens. But just because I decided that those couple pages weren't worth my time, it doesn't mean I should rate this book based purely on the first hundred or so pages.

I don't know what happens in those last 200 pages, so I don't have the right to judge this book and write a review.

On the other hand, I do have the right to explain myself, and my reasoning as to why I stopped reading it. I may not have the proper backing to write a review, but I do have enough to convey my thought process, when I made the decision to lay down this book.

I've made the decision from here on out, that when I don't complete a book, and lay it in my DNF pile, that I would still write a blog post about, but simply not a review. I also won't be rating it on Goodreads, simply because of the same reasons. I still want my followers to know what I thought about the book, but I also want to make the point that I didn't finish the story, and those thoughts are based on what I did read.

What do you think about this topic? Do you write "reviews" on books you didn't finished?