Can someone tell me if this post contains spoilers?
Planecrash might be the single work of fiction for which I most want to avoid spoilers, of either the plot or the finer points of technical philosophy.
It’s definitely spoilerful by my standards. I do have unusually strict standards for what counts as spoilers, but it sounds like in this case you’re wanting to err on the side of caution.
Giving a quick look back over it, I don’t see any spoilers for anything past book 1 (‘Mad Investor Chaos and the Woman of Asmodeus’).
Having read Planecrash, I do not think there is anything in this review that I would not have wanted to know before reading the work (which is the important part of what people consider “spoilers” for me).
Everyone who’s telling you there aren’t spoilers in here is well-meaning, but wrong. But to justify why I’m saying that is also spoilery, so to some degree you have to take this on faith.
(Rot13′d for those curious about my justification: Bar bs gur znwbe cbvagf bs gur jubyr svp vf gung crbcyr pna, vs fhssvpvragyl zbgvingrq, vasre sne zber sebz n srj vfbyngrq ovgf bs vasbezngvba guna lbh jbhyq anviryl cerqvpg. Vs lbh ner gryyvat Ryv gung gurfr ner abg fcbvyref V cbyvgryl fhttrfg gung V cerqvpg Nfzbqvn naq Xbein naq Pnevffn jbhyq fnl lbh ner jebat.)
It doesn’t contain anything I would consider a spoiler.
If you’re extra scrupulous, the closest things are:
A description of a bunch of stuff that happens very early on to set up the plot
One revelation about the character development arc of a non-major character
A high-level overview of technical topics covered, and commentary on the general Yudkowskian position on them (with links to precise Planecrash parts covering them), but not spoiling any puzzles or anything that’s surprising if you’ve read a lot of other Yudkowsky
A bunch of long quotes about dath ilani governance structures (but these are not plot relevant to Planecrash at all)
A few verbatim quotes from characters, which I guess would technically let you infer the characters don’t die until they’ve said those words?
I think if you’re describing planecrash as “the single work of fiction for which I most want to avoid spoilers”, you probably just shouldn’t read any reviews of it or anything about it until after you’ve read it.
If you do read this review beforehand, you should avoid the paragraph that begins with “By far the best …” (The paragraph right before the heading called “The competence”.) That mentions something that I definitely would have considered a spoiler if I’d read it before I read planecrash.
Aside from that, it’s hard to answer without knowing what kinds of things you consider spoilers and what you already know about planecrash.
Can someone tell me if this post contains spoilers?
Planecrash might be the single work of fiction for which I most want to avoid spoilers, of either the plot or the finer points of technical philosophy.
It has spoilers thought they aren’t that big of spoilers I think.
It’s definitely spoilerful by my standards. I do have unusually strict standards for what counts as spoilers, but it sounds like in this case you’re wanting to err on the side of caution.
Giving a quick look back over it, I don’t see any spoilers for anything past book 1 (‘Mad Investor Chaos and the Woman of Asmodeus’).
A different way to ask the question: what, specifically, is the last part of the text that is spoiled by this review?
Having read Planecrash, I do not think there is anything in this review that I would not have wanted to know before reading the work (which is the important part of what people consider “spoilers” for me).
Everyone who’s telling you there aren’t spoilers in here is well-meaning, but wrong. But to justify why I’m saying that is also spoilery, so to some degree you have to take this on faith.
(Rot13′d for those curious about my justification: Bar bs gur znwbe cbvagf bs gur jubyr svp vf gung crbcyr pna, vs fhssvpvragyl zbgvingrq, vasre sne zber sebz n srj vfbyngrq ovgf bs vasbezngvba guna lbh jbhyq anviryl cerqvpg. Vs lbh ner gryyvat Ryv gung gurfr ner abg fcbvyref V cbyvgryl fhttrfg gung V cerqvpg Nfzbqvn naq Xbein naq Pnevffn jbhyq fnl lbh ner jebat.)
It doesn’t contain anything I would consider a spoiler.
If you’re extra scrupulous, the closest things are:
A description of a bunch of stuff that happens very early on to set up the plot
One revelation about the character development arc of a non-major character
A high-level overview of technical topics covered, and commentary on the general Yudkowskian position on them (with links to precise Planecrash parts covering them), but not spoiling any puzzles or anything that’s surprising if you’ve read a lot of other Yudkowsky
A bunch of long quotes about dath ilani governance structures (but these are not plot relevant to Planecrash at all)
A few verbatim quotes from characters, which I guess would technically let you infer the characters don’t die until they’ve said those words?
As someone who’s only read like 60% of the first book, the only spoiler to me was in the paragraph about Carissa.
I think if you’re describing planecrash as “the single work of fiction for which I most want to avoid spoilers”, you probably just shouldn’t read any reviews of it or anything about it until after you’ve read it.
If you do read this review beforehand, you should avoid the paragraph that begins with “By far the best …” (The paragraph right before the heading called “The competence”.) That mentions something that I definitely would have considered a spoiler if I’d read it before I read planecrash.
Aside from that, it’s hard to answer without knowing what kinds of things you consider spoilers and what you already know about planecrash.