Linking vs more database-like approach

Hi,
what is the general consensus on linking when compared against more of a database-like approach? For example if I want to take notes on books I read, I could link the author from each of the book notes or I could just set the author as a property in the frontmatter in the book notes.

I guess both are valid and in the end it boils down to whatever floats my boat, but this is one thing I sort of struggled in all the tools I’ve attempted to use and never really figured out a way to. The closest I ever got was probably in obsidian, where properties could be links. That worked, but it still felt as if I were misusing the thing.

Any rule of the thumb or anything to help me out with this?

For books, I use frontmatter and a Books page with a Live Template for all book objects (linking to each book’s page).