Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Oct 04, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: coming-of-age, dystopian-and-post-apocalyptic, fantasy-and-sci-fi, lotsa-buzz, cyberpunk

By page 2 I was irritated: according to the dust jacket, this is set in 2044. James Halliday dies at age 67. That means he was born in 1977. Then I read: "a famous eccentric, Halliday had harbored a lifelong obsession with the 1980s, the decade during which he'd been a teenager ..." That math doesn't add up. I guess it is not 2044. Maybe he died in 2034, at 67, then he would have been born in 1967 (like me!) and a teenager in the 80s. ... Reading on, I learn he was 8 in 1980, therefore born in 1 By page 2 I was irritated: according to the dust jacket, this is set in 2044. James Halliday dies at age 67. That means he was born in 1977. Then I read: "a famous eccentric, Halliday had harbored a lifelong obsession with the 1980s, the decade during which he'd been a teenager ..." That math doesn't add up. I guess it is not 2044. Maybe he died in 2034, at 67, then he would have been born in 1967 (like me!) and a teenager in the 80s. ... Reading on, I learn he was 8 in 1980, therefore born in 1972, therefore this book opens in 2039. For a book that is so full of details, I'm wondering why they didn't spell that one out.

Overall, this book felt like a slog. Too. Many. Details. The idea is fun: a puzzle solved in the future involves knowing minutiae about the past (and for some readers, this really IS the past, but for many of us it is just our youth). And the first few mentions WERE fun. I guess. Actually, the first mentions irritated me, because he was supposedly listing off favorite authors & directors from the 80s (and really, why bother listing them? what was the point??) but they weren't all big in the 80s. If you're going to go into the details like that, please get the details right (makes me wonder if other details were wrong too). Not to even mention, the details about favorite authors, directors, etc .... never play a role in the plot. Why were they included?? Plus, it was too ... too smug, I guess. Too wink-wink, heh-heh, do you know the esoteric crap that *I* know? - and I suppose my problem is, no, I do NOT know all the esoteric crap! I'm just not enough of a geek?

So, the idea is fun, and the characters were likeable enough, and I enjoy stories about solving puzzles. But this one just got bogged down in the details. I didn't really need to read about each video game Wade played (I say this as a non-gamer - perhaps all the gamers out there LOVED reading about each video game he played - that is the point, after all!)

Also, this book suffers from the Good/Evil separation: the good guys were 100% good, the bad guys were 100% bad. BORING. There were no surprise twists, (view spoiler). Plus, I think it was a mistake on the part of Mr Cline to OPEN the book by telling us that Wade is the one who wins the contest. That REALLY took away any suspense - whenever he was in a tight spot, I would think: "well, I know this works out, since he's the winner in the end!" It was really only the last 20% of this book that I found exciting, when he has to pull off the Hail Mary pass to win the game.

ETA (4/8/18): I saw the movie last night and I really enjoyed it, a lot more than I enjoyed the book! The movie (as movies do) eliminated a lot of the extraneous details that irritated me so much in the book, and it changed the story enough that I often didn't know what was going to happen next, which made it fun for me. Two thumbs up for the movie! ...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Julianne Dunn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Second listen: July 25 - August 4, 2016 - I love this book even more this time.

First listen: June 7-10, 2012 This book is absolutely fantastic! I loved the constant 80s references, the fun riddles, and the excellent story telling. I listened to the audio version with Wil Wheaton who read it superbly. I wish I could start all over again to enjoy it. Read it!

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Mar 23, 2018 Una rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I could not put this book down. I imagined every scene as it was and played it in my head.. This was beautifully written with characters you could not help adoring. I can't wait to see the movie! I totally recommend this book. 😊 ...more

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Oct 09, 2016 Isabel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi, futurism

Really more of a 3.5 for me. I enjoyed it very much and thought it was well constructed and well enough written, but found the ubiquity of the 80s pop culture references to be overbearing. And since that's part of the whole premise of the book... What are you gonna do. Worth reading for the celebration of geekdom alone, though. ...more

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Dec 11, 2013 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, 2013

Everyone who recommended this book was not wrong. I want to read all the things this dude writes, forever and ever. I want to give this book as a Christmas present to anyone who has ever loved video games. I would marry this book and have its babies if it were sentient. Okay, perhaps that's overstating it, but it was great. ...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Alexis rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book

Loved this audiobook! Wil Wheaton did an excellent job portraying Wade Watts. I could definitely see our world becoming like Wade's where a majority of the population spend their time in a virtual world because the Earth is so awful to live in. I did get a heavy dose of nostalgia for the eighties reading this. I miss my TRS-80, original Nintendo, and uncle's Atari. This is a definite re-read type of book. ...more

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Mar 04, 2016 Courtney rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I really really loved this book. I thought it was such a great concept and the 80's references were fantastic. I loved Art3mis and Aech and, of course, Parzival-Wade. I wish the book had last longer. ...more

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Feb 21, 2017 Megan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A great, quick read (once I got around to really sitting down with it, I finished it in a few hours.) Very much for 80s video game fans, with a bunch of 80s nostalgia. I totally get why it's going to be a move next year. ...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Genesis Hansen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

Very fun read - enough 80s pop culture references to satisfy even my nostalgia jones, and some social commentary to boot. Well-written, good characters; highly recommended.

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