Who likes to read books full of spoilers?

[JoTheExplorer]

I like Adrian Tchaikovsky's books - mostly. I really struggle with "Alien Clay", though. The book is filled with spoilers. Before a chapter even begins, it is stated "this is where it all goes spectacularly wrong". What's the point even reading, if I already know what is to come? I just wait for the bad thing to happen and everything that happens before it is kind of irrelevant, since the main event has already been declared.

I always hated this feature. Some children's books even had a little "what will happen in this chapter" -box in the beginning of chapter, and I ended up not finishing those books. The whole point of reading stories is to be finding out about the storyline one page at the time, at least for me. Am I alone in this, or do other people hate this style of writing as well?

I do. I enjoy the journey more if I know the destination. Otherwise I focus too much on the destination and miss all the scenery en route.

I tend to read beginning / end / middle / end.

The journey is the fun part of reading. 'Spoilers' in the actual book don't always tell the whole truth anyway. It's a very strange attitude to say a chapter heading gives away the story.

So it's just me 😄Maybe it's more dividing question, since the poll results show some other people don't like "spoilers" either. "Spoilers" isn't the best concept to use here, but it sure represents how I feel about the author letting me know in advance what to expect. It's not even chapter chapter headings, but parts of text that let me know the protagonist is going to be in big trouble in near future etc.

I like a story where you know something has happened and then you go back and find out how it got to that point, maybe going backwards and forwards. Suddenly something makes sense, you realise who a character who featured 20 years ago is now and so on. The best example of this I've read recently is Things in Jars by Jesse Kidd.

No, it’s me too. I always avoid anything that looks like it’s going to tell me too much of the story in advance.

I was buying a book in a Waterstones once, can’t remember what it was, & the sales assistant wanted to tell me what his favourite bits were. I was having to balance between not being rude - a lot of people would probably have been happy to have that chat - & not wanting to know!

I said something about being in a rush & got out as quickly as I could.

This indeed. If know the best bits before I even start, why bother. 💁

I had this recently where the protagonist commented on the action before it happened. Was annoying. Ok, so it’s unlikely the protagonist will die in a face to face with the antagonist but it would be nice to be unsure until it happens.

Saying that, I read a trilogy earlier this year where the first in reading order was the last chronologically. It was interesting reading books 2 and 3 knowing what was to happen to the protagonist but also meant that something big in her past could be kept as a surprise wi ty the reader only seeing the after-effects.

I admit I would not have started reading knowing the order. 🙈

I think when this is done well, it’s great. You think you know what’s going to happen but often there’s a lot more to it than that. And it’s about how it happens. And anything with first person narrator usually has an element of spoiler in it - they’re telling the story, they’re not about to die.

I also like the “how did it happen” element - eg a murder mystery when you know someone died but the whole story is about how.

A well written story is about more than plot points a b and c.

Journey before destination….

But in a lot of storytelling, you know what's going to happen anyway. It might be set among historical events, you might recognise a classic plot, there will be tropes, the foreshadowing may be heavy. The joy's in seeing the threads weave together, leading to the conclusion.

<mild spoiler - if you AS me 😀>

I have recently finished a book where the first person narrator did die!

Brilliant!

I like this kind of murder mysteries as well! I dislike stories, where the narrator (often the protagonist) tells that something will happen and then... It just happens. No twist, no surprise, nothing exiting. I just got to know things that were going to happen.

I want to be on a journey, not to know there's going to be a ruined dinner/aliens eating the dog/etc. 😬