Terms of Use

1. About these terms

ALMA is operated by Synaptiq Academy ( “we”, “us”). By using the site you agree to these terms. If you create an account, you agree to them when you sign up. If you don't agree, please don't use the site. How we handle personal data is explained separately in the Privacy Policy.

2. What ALMA is

ALMA is a free website about books: editorial articles and reviews, weekly book picks, tools to help you find something to read, and the home of The Keeper Chronicles, the author's own series, with its games, quiz, wiki and theories. Readers can create a free account to take part in community features. ALMA doesn't sell anything itself; books are bought from independent bookshops and retailers such as Amazon.

3. Recommendations and reviews

Reviews, picks and Find My Next Read results are personal editorial opinions, offered in good faith. Taste is personal: we can't promise you'll enjoy a book we recommend, or that a book suits a particular reader or age. Book details such as availability, formats and prices are set by publishers and retailers, can change at any time, and should be checked with the retailer before you buy.

4. Accounts

• You need an account only for community features. Give a real email address you can access, and keep your details accurate.
• Accounts aren't designed for children to create on their own. If you're under the age at which you can agree to online services yourself where you live, ask a parent or guardian first (see the Privacy Policy).
• Keep your password to yourself, and tell us at once if you think someone else has used your account. You're responsible for what's done through your account.
• One person, one account. Don't create accounts to get around a suspension.
• You can ask us to delete your account at any time (see Your data rights).

5. Community and your content

You can post comments, theories, forum and club posts and wiki edits, and add a profile with a picture and bio. Whatever you post is visible to other visitors.

Your content stays yours. We don't claim ownership of anything you post. To run the site, you give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to host, store, copy, format and display your content on ALMA, and to keep backup copies, for as long as it's on ALMA. The licence ends when your content is deleted, except for backups that are overwritten in the normal course and for parts other people quoted in their own posts. Wiki pages are shared, collaborative pages: edits you make to them can stay part of the page after your account is deleted.

Only post content you have the right to share, and make sure it follows these terms.

6. Rules for using ALMA

Please don't:

• post spam, advertising or repetitive self-promotion;
• harass, threaten, bully or abuse anyone, or post hateful content;
• post anything illegal, or anything sexual involving minors;
• impersonate another person or organisation, or misrepresent who you are;
• post other people's work, book text or cover art without the right to do so, or share private information about others;
• fake engagement: vote or react with multiple accounts, buy or trade reviews, or use bots;
• scrape the site by automated means beyond what normal search engines do, or try to break into, overload or disrupt it;
• post major spoilers outside the places marked for them (Keeper Theories has a spoiler setting).

7. Moderation, removal and suspension

You can report content to moderators. We may hide or remove content, and limit, suspend or close accounts, when content or behaviour breaks these terms or the law. We'll act proportionately and, where appropriate, tell you why. If you think we got it wrong, write to us and we'll look again.

8. ALMA's content and The Keeper Chronicles

ALMA's articles, design and original content, and The Keeper Chronicles (its text, characters, world, artwork and related material), are protected by copyright and belong to Synaptiq Academy or its licensors. You're welcome to read, share links and quote short passages with credit. Please don't copy, republish or sell them without permission.

Book covers of other authors' books shown on ALMA belong to their publishers or rights holders and are shown only to identify the book being discussed. Names of other companies and products belong to their owners.

9. Bookshops, affiliate links and other sites

ALMA links to bookshops and other websites. Some bookshop links are affiliate links, which may earn ALMA a commission at no extra cost to you (see the Affiliate disclosure). Links to the author's own books are not affiliate recommendations. Purchases are made with the bookshop, under its terms; we aren't a party to them and aren't responsible for the bookshop's products, prices, delivery or service.

ALMA is independent. Amazon and other retailers don't sponsor or endorse ALMA, and a link to a retailer isn't an endorsement of that retailer by them or by us.

10. Availability and changes

ALMA is provided free of charge. We try to keep it running and accurate, but it may sometimes be unavailable, and we may change, add or remove features (including community features) over time.

11. Liability

We're responsible for harm we cause through our own fault, as the law provides. Because ALMA is a free information site, we're not responsible for losses that were not foreseeable, for decisions you make based on a recommendation, or for content posted by other users or on websites we link to.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law, such as liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for intentional or grossly negligent conduct.

12. Your rights as a consumer and applicable law

These terms are governed by the law of the country where ALMA's operator is established. If you're a consumer, you also keep the protection of the mandatory rules of the country where you live, and nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under those rules. You can bring a claim in the courts of the country where you live.

If something goes wrong, please contact us first; most problems can be sorted out quickly.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, for example when features change. We'll change the date at the top, and tell account holders about significant changes before they apply. The version on this page is the current one.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: admin@synaptiq.academy.