I know revealing plot details is an obvious spoiler… like saying X kills Y or this or that happens in a book.
But what if I say something vague like 'the book is anticlimatic' or 'the first act is hard to get through', are these considered spoilers? They're not direct spoilers but could they be considered implicit spoilers no?
I'm just curious because I occasionally write reviews for my goodreads account and don't know whether or not to mark a review as a spoiler. I'm as vague as possible but the examples I've used I have actually said in a review before.
Any insight would be great.
by Mattson
8 Comments
I don’t think so, the whole point of reading reviews is to get the gist of it. As long as you don’t go into plot specifics you’re fine
It’s anticlimactic or its hard to get through are just opinions not spoilers, what’s anticlimactic to you isn’t anticlimactic to everyone
I’d say that “the book is anticlimactic” is a mild spoiler. Because you couple be on chapter 3 from the end, and instead of wondering what’s going to happen, you know nothing will.
“The first act is hard to get through”… Not at all.
But in the case of reviews, both are just fine. If you want no spoilers at all, look at meta review scores, but don’t read anything. If you read a review of _anything_ you need to expect mild spoilers.
Does Goodreads care? Most forums don’t.
I hate people who say “The plot twist is crazy” Like yeah, thank you, now its unexpected. Anti-climactic is a grey area because its not on the same level as “Plot twist” which is a spoiler of the direction of the story, anti climax is just your opinion. But don’t go into *why* it’s an anti-climax, that could be conceived as a spoiler
For me a spoiler is revealing the solution to a mystery, or possibly the outcome of a romance or conflict. Beyond that, especially the idea that a spoiler includes saying the plot has a twist, that the ending good, weak, etc. is excessive. Vague review are not really much use for anything. Reviews that either hype or trash a book with lots of adjectives but no substance are basically useless.
I hate if someone tells me there’s a plot twist in a story because then I’ll just be waiting for the plot twist to happen!! Its so much better when you don’t expect it at all.
But ‘anticlimactic’ I guess isn’t a spoiler but I also prefer keep my opinion on a book out when I’m telling people about it so they can go in unbiased, and instead just tell them what it’s generally about. But reviews are different story. I usually avoid reading reviews of books I want to read and I don’t review them myself a lot either, so I don’t really have a good answer to your problem lol
I would consider any event, character motivation which would make things predictable or a more direct and factual thing to be a spoiler. A book being anticlimactic is just an opinion, right? I completely lost interest in Hunger Games 2 and 3 but there are people who would kill me if they hear me say it…