Rants: Spoilers

I had a hard time trying to think of a topic for today's post (hence why I'm breaking my internet ban and writing it last minute), but once I saw PolandBananasBooks's latest video on how to avoid spoilers (warning, she spoils Allegiant several times throughout it), I knew I had to address the reason for my failed internet ban.

I've been spoiled on TV shows and on movies, but there is no spoiler I strive to avoid like I do the book spoiler. I had no problem avoiding spoilers as a kid and teenager, mostly because I spent less time on the internet and had less books to keep track of, but now that I have BookTube in my life (as a follower, not an active participant), I have almost 300 books on my TBR pile and less time to read than ever. It seems rather ironic that BookTube introduces me to books I want to avoid being spoiled on AND the opportunity to be spoiled on them, but that's the way it goes.

The most recent book I've been spoiled on was Allegiant. I still haven't read it yet, but I've been spoiled on it by Goodreads, BookTube, and real-life people over the last year that it's been out.

That being said, I don't think all book spoilers are bad. There are some books I wanted to read until I found out what happened, then realized I wouldn't like the book at all. And there are even more books I wasn't sure I'd like until I learned how it ended, when I decided I would really like it. The main difference here, though, is that all the book spoilers I benefitted from were ones I specifically sought out, where the ones I did not want to know were the ones that were thrust upon me.

The main point of today's topic is that while spoiler-filled book talk has an important place in the book talk realm, it's important as a creator to tag your spoilers and as a reader/watcher/consumer to watch out for spoilers. I make a point of hiding my spoilers beneath cuts, including the "spoilers" tag in the labels and saying there are spoilers in the title, and separating the spoiler-filled reviews from the spoiler-free reviews. I also recommend following the tips provided by PolandBananasBooks in the video I posted at the beginning of this post (but only if you have read Allegiant, as she spoils it several times).