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Sinsai33 t1_j4zbbo8 wrote

Reply to comment by Necessary_Disk in What is the point of spoiling the plot of a book in its preface?? by DontNotNotReadThis

Also dont read the summaries on the books itself.

I'm currently reading the three body problem and i'm at ~250 pages of ~500 right now. And there is still not a single hint of what the summary spoiled.

>!The summary talked about the reason for everything being weird is some kind of alien civilization. I mean, everything is weird yes, but there is as far as i know nothing hinting about aliens yet.!<

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nimrod4205 t1_j4zdit8 wrote

Just finished the 3 body problem recently and I'm glad I skipped the preface I guess. Very much enjoyed taking the ride while having absolutely no clue where it was going. Had I read the preface the journey through it would have felt different because I would have specifically been on the lookout.

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Sinsai33 t1_j4zeblv wrote

It definitely lowers my enjoyment, exactly because of your reason: I'm always on the lookout for hints.

I bought the book because there was a good summary here on reddit (can't find it anymore) that only said that something mysterious about scientists is going on and nothing other spoilery.

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DaLYtOrD t1_j51o25f wrote

I recently read Project Hail Mary and boy is there a big spoiler in the blurb. I heard it was an enjoyable read so just started at page 1. There was lots of suspense and new plot points popping up. Then I read the blurb when I was done and it just straight up tells you what happens in the middle of the book.

I think the story would have been much less interesting, or at least less suspenseful, if I'd read the blurb first.

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crowstgeorge t1_j51osh0 wrote

I completely agree. I gifted it to my dad with explicit instructions not to read the book blurb before he'd finished the text.

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rpbm t1_j51s8xy wrote

I started to read that, got a few pages in, remembered seeing what your spoiler mentions, and decided that made everything weird enough that I don’t want to finish it. Surprises me that halfway in, it hadn’t been mentioned yet.

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