Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I write this out of a combination of principle and transparency. A rating system is designed to serve the customer--to warn against products that are not worth the purchase price, or hopefully point a wandering/wondering consumer to find a book worth his (or her) time. The reviews so far are almost exclusively written by users of a website called "reddit." Most, if not all, of them are here because the author asked them to give him positive feedback (if not purchase his book). No one here has read the book. Sure, the book might be good, and the synopsis certainly appeals to me, personally, but I cannot help but feel that he is abusing Amazon's star rating.