I just finished up my first R.R. Martin book, Fevre Dream, and it was incredible! So incredible in fact, that I just had to tell someone about it. To my chagrin however, I remembered that I don't have friends. So, I downloaded Goodreads to write a review, where I was immediately reminded why it's a bit embarrassing to read books in public; because pulling out a paperback at a cafe, no matter how good the book was, would inextricably associate me with a certain kind of reader, the ones you find at Goodreads. You know the type: a five page review that's mostly a showcase of how "interesting" and "quirky" the reviewer is, the obscenely long and flowery reviews on classics by people who very obviously stitched up fragments of the plot from tiktok reviews and video essays, so on.
Now, I'm not the fun police. People enjoy those kinds of reviews, and God knows I have fun writing worse. What irks me though, is just the sheer volume of unreliable reviews coming from these people! Like, GRRM's Fevre Dream, a book I enjoyed and can call one of the beast I've ever read, was like 3.2 or something with most of the top reviews absolutely gutting it, and going through my favorite books, only one of them rated above a 3, and it was Treasure Island.
I understand, maybe I'm the freak, the weirdo who liked TC Boyle a little too much, and maybe my taste in books is a bit out there, or maybe I've never read any really good books. So, I go to my local second hand and dig around like a pig for truffles, and found a books rated 4.2, and selling for peanuts. Bought it, and after the first page, I decided right then and there that I was just gonna gift it. A month or so later, I saw the book again being ripped up and used to clean up after my buddy's dog, its spine as fresh and pristine as the day I wrapped it in cellophane.
Goodreads, from what I've seen, is about as reliable as a billiard table on a cruise ship, and from what I've seen, I'm not alone. The concensus is, for the most part, that Goodreads isn't actually a good platform, or something like that. So my question is, where can I go to see if I'll like a book.
by Gangbuster4000