EdgarScore is an AI-powered literary ranking that scores fiction based on professional reviews published online. Written reviews only.
A literary ranking that measures how books are received through written criticism.
The project takes its name from Edgar Allan Poe, one of the most rigorous literary critics of the nineteenth century. Poe believed criticism should be analytical, principled, and serious — a discipline capable of judging literature with clarity and intellectual honesty.
EdgarScore follows that spirit.
Using artificial intelligence, the platform analyzes written reviews published online — from major newspapers and literary magazines to independent critics, bloggers, and passionate readers who engage seriously with books.
What matters is not institutional prestige, but the quality of the written review itself.
Because literature is a written art, EdgarScore only considers written criticism. Video reactions, social media ratings, and short-form reactions are excluded from the system.
Each review is analyzed and converted into a score, producing a ranking based on critical reception rather than popularity.
The result is a map of contemporary literature through the lens of criticism — where the question is not what people rate, but what thoughtful readers actually write about books.
Each URL is processed by Claude (Anthropic) via its API:
Every number has a reason. How the ranking is calculated.
A review goes from URL to ranking in under 2 minutes. Claude interprets what the critic says — it does not make its own judgments.
Some reviewers have a track record that transcends the outlet where they publish. Their literary judgment is, in itself, a reference.
The Edgar Factor recognizes these elite critics: if they publish in a Tier 2 or Tier 3 outlet, their review is evaluated as Tier 1. If already in Tier 1, their opinion counts with double weight.
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