I think it would be fairly simple if NU implemented a system where you could select some books in your redaing list, and click on a recommendations button, then it would put out like the top ten recommended novels for those books. So if I had ISSTH, ATTE and TTNH, then the top three recommendations would be WoC (56) Xian Ne (40) and Desolate Era (20) This would run into the problem of some novels getting way more recommendations, like issth in this example. So therefore this could be set up more like giving the top recommendations on each novel points from 1-5 so the top three would turn out as WoC (8) Xian Ne (6) amd OEM (5) this would probably be fairly simple to implement, and I think it would work fairly well.
If you did something like animeplanet does that could work. Make a reading list like feature that each user would have and allow them to select 1 novel then select one other as a recommendation. It'd allow you to see what one person thinks is a good recommendation instead of just the popular vote. Plus you could see all the novels they've read and see their selected recommendation beside it. There could also be another area where you select one novel and could see in a long list all the recommendations various users have made. this one is a bit repetitive since we already have the popular vote recommendation system but it would be another feature. Our system right now works. other features could be added for sure but this topic atleast is by no means an urgent one I think.
Also with the recent purge of useful tags it will be harder to find novels that fit what you really want. That is the downside of removing a lot of tags. They should have left tags that were decent and fitting.
Personal recommendations sound a lot better. Though wouldn't that basically work more similar to how you rate & review a novels rather than a search function? I might have misunderstood but what you're talking about sounds more like a list of recommendations you'd see on each novel page. "Username1, 2, and 3 recommends [Novel A] if you like [Novel B]" At that point you've already found a novel right so no need to have someone recommend it for you, you're already there. You can simply check the reviews and see if it looks like something you'd like.
The recommendation system was just revamped a while ago, I don't think there is any need for another change on it, it works great as is. If you disagree with the tag removal, you can always post it on this thread about it, people there discuss first before removing a tag.
Ya, I wasn't going for a search function like the thread poster. For that I think the current system is more than adequate for. Definitely going more for the personal recommendations. So someone could search up my reading list and beside all the novels I'm reading they would be able to see the recommendation I made for it, if I made one at all ofcourse. It could be a column that you could toggle on or off based on whether or not you wanted the feature. It'd be a nice and easy addition giving everyone's reading list a more personalized touch for the user who want it and have the toggle feature for those who just want the reading list and less clutter.