From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)

Ernest Cline

Start date: November 21, 2017

Finish date: December 20, 2013

Discussion: Book Discussions

Discussion leader: Andrea

Why we're reading this: Group Contemporary Novel Discussion December 2017
Group Contemporary Novel Discussion July 2013
[close] Group Contemporary Novel Discussion December 2017
Group Contemporary Novel Discussion July 2013

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 250 topics — 8,801 comments total

Book Discussions

"Cyteen" by C.J. Cherryh
By deleted member · 48 posts · 103 views

last updated May 24, 2025 11:25PM

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
By deleted member · 46 posts · 150 views

last updated Mar 28, 2025 02:28PM

showing 10 of 20 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 26, 2012 Traci Loudin added it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-ebook, apocalyptic, 2016-read, male-author

I was surprised to discover that this book is partly apocalyptic! It's set in a dystopian world after bombs have fallen and overpopulation boomed. That warmed me to it a bit, but overall, my main complaint with the novel is that it really, really feels like a debut novel. The main character is a bit too proficient at everything. In fact, he rarely fails at anything he tries. For instance, he hacks and physically sneaks into the enemy's stronghold and out again, no problemo.

I was glad that some I was surprised to discover that this book is partly apocalyptic! It's set in a dystopian world after bombs have fallen and overpopulation boomed. That warmed me to it a bit, but overall, my main complaint with the novel is that it really, really feels like a debut novel. The main character is a bit too proficient at everything. In fact, he rarely fails at anything he tries. For instance, he hacks and physically sneaks into the enemy's stronghold and out again, no problemo.

I was glad that some of the main characters are females, because otherwise this book is heavily male dominated. Some of that is, perhaps, a product of who Halliday was. But when the author info dumps every. single. author. movie. video game. AND hobby the guy ever had (all in the first 15% of the novel), they're all dudes. When we find out who the geeks vote in every year as their representatives in government, they're dudes. When any creator of anything at all is mentioned, it's a dude.

Interestingly, there is a slight awareness of this toward the end, when a character mentions that the OASIS is the best thing that ever happened to minorities, because now everyone can pretend to be a white male, yay! So take from that what you will. The main characters are a diverse crew.

There also seemed to be some random plot holes, or at least spots where it wasn't clear to me when his friends had gotten the keys already. I thought they were ahead of him toward the middle of the game, but yet there's a point where he sends them all the info he has on the middle key and middle gate. Very confusing. Also confusing as to whether he has his ship shrunken in his pocket or not at one point.

As for the geek factor... the sheer volume of infodumps really killed my enthusiasm for the geekspolsion going on in the early part of the book. I had very little reason to keep picking it back up other than the hype I'd heard both online and from friends.

In many cases, the geeky references only tangentially touched on my own fandoms. The SFF authors and books mentioned were familiar, but those were really just part of an infodump, not integral to the plot. There are a few mentions of Firefly (Kaylee is the name of a ship until—surprise—the main character renames the ship with a dude name), World of Warcraft, etc. but not many other modern video games. (Had the protagonist been inside of Mario Bros, Age of Empires, or Civilization, I would've been all about it!)

For the most part, the book heavily focuses on 80s geekery, so all the references to the clues and puzzles of the games the main character has to fight his way through were lost on me... I vaguely remember watching WarGames. Never heard of Zork (view spoiler) I would have trouble recommending this book to anyone not steeped in 80s geekery.

The ending redeemed much of the meandering plot for me. (view spoiler)

Overall, it's a fun ride if you can get through the first fifth! ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

May 29, 2013 Alicja rated it really liked it

Shelves: minor-lgbt-themes, dream-library, male-author, science-fiction, bookclub, dystopian, nerdgasm, cyberpunk, sff

rating: 4/5

Wade's life is bleak and miserable, he escapes reality by logging into the OASIS, an MMORPG on a scale never imagined before. In his last will, Halliday, the creator of OASIS, leaves instructions for the whole world; find the hidden Easter eggs within OASIS and take over his position at the head of the company and inherit his vast millions. With no other hope, Wade sets off on a hunt, along with the rest of the world. Will he win or will it be GAME OVER?

I am going to borrow another r rating: 4/5

Wade's life is bleak and miserable, he escapes reality by logging into the OASIS, an MMORPG on a scale never imagined before. In his last will, Halliday, the creator of OASIS, leaves instructions for the whole world; find the hidden Easter eggs within OASIS and take over his position at the head of the company and inherit his vast millions. With no other hope, Wade sets off on a hunt, along with the rest of the world. Will he win or will it be GAME OVER?

I am going to borrow another reviewer’s term to describe this book because there really isn’t one that’s better: nerdgasm. Despite the futuristic setting of this novel, I felt like I fell through time back into the 80s; from TV to movies to video games through music. I am still a bit too young to have appreciated the 80s like those who were teens during that decade but I've soaked up much of the 80s culture through War Games and the Breakfast Club during their re-runs in the 90s, fell in love with Back to the Future (and loved Universal's ride-sadly, no longer in existence-over and over and over again until my parents dragged me away from the Delorean kicking and screaming), play Duck Hunt and Pac Man, old school Nintendo, etc.

For someone like me, who regularly plays MMORPGs, the story within the videogame was interesting and very well done on the details. I longed for an OASIS of my own to play. However, the world outside the videogame was not well developed; it consisted of a variety of generic doom and gloom scenarios such as widespread poverty, global climate change, running out of fuel and other resources, etc. It suffered from “reality” being neglected for the videogame world (which is also interesting since that was one of the main themes). Additionally, the ending was predictable and generic (however, it again mirrored endings in many videogames).

I loved the entertaining ride through nerd culture that brought back nostalgia and fond memories, developing into an exciting page-turner of a novel.
...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 20, 2014 Janine Southard rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-star-for-recs, science-fiction, mary-sue

I loved the major parties at conflict in this:
People who grew up with a technology vs. people who pre-dated it. (You might not think that's what this book is about, but that's how I read it.)

Our hero starts out as an everyman whose one saving grace is that he has free and constant access to a virtual world. He goes to school there. He makes friends there. He escapes from his tenement surroundings by immersing himself in television shows and feels-real chatrooms.

On the opposite side of the divid I loved the major parties at conflict in this:
People who grew up with a technology vs. people who pre-dated it. (You might not think that's what this book is about, but that's how I read it.)

Our hero starts out as an everyman whose one saving grace is that he has free and constant access to a virtual world. He goes to school there. He makes friends there. He escapes from his tenement surroundings by immersing himself in television shows and feels-real chatrooms.

On the opposite side of the divide, the bad guys are corporate goons who want to make the virtual world a pay-to-play service (and extra for luxuries). They don't see the hero's homeland as a public good; they see it as an add-on to reality.

And so, the opponents are set! Generation wars, against a backdrop of 70s and 80s pop culture. (You will finish the book wondering where your old Atari system is and bemoaning the fact that you never bought the remaster of Rush's 2112 album.)

For this, it is glorious.

Less glorious are the two reasons I'm giving it four stars:

1) Our everyman character (a standard archetype for stories like this) turns into a Mary Sue partway through. I know, I know. Mary Sues can be great. But really? Did he have to become extra fit (and, thus, good looking)? Did he need to be respected by everyone, friend and foe alike? (I was cool with him having extra computer skills because he'd never win the games if he didn't, but these extra trappings of "our hero is awesome!" annoyed me.)

2) After all the effort to show that the world is better in virtual reality--how important it is to children's development, how you can choose your own avatar based on how you feel instead of your looks, how race and sexual orientation are less important than personality and can teach lessons about judging a person for themselves rather than for these factors--the crowning achievement for our hero is to LEAVE THE VIRTUAL WORLD SO THAT HE CAN MAKE OUT IRL WITH HIS NEW GIRLFRIEND. Being in the real world when he does this somehow makes it better? Argh!

But, y'know, aside from these two really annoying things, this book was great. I see why everyone loves it. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2013 John Kline rated it it was amazing

Hard to put down book. Year is 2045. Life sucks. Food is scarce. Lack of fresh water has killed the crops. Most of society escapes from their crappy lives by an MMORPG game called OASIS. The creator of the game, who was obsessed with the 1980s dies, leaving his fortune to the one player that can solve a series of clues in the game. All of the clues relate to the 1980s pop culture. Main character, who I pictured as a overweight video game addict, is the narrator and one who is obsessed with solvi ...more

Like · see review

Aug 07, 2015 Tyrone rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, favourites, sci-fi, fantasy, audiobook, apocalyptic-dystopian

This novel was always going to be a winner for me just simply because it was a nostalgia fest. I was able to revel in the constant referencing of computers, consoles, computer games, role-playing games, arcade classic, sci-fi fantasy and coming of age films films, TV and music. Essentially this story is reverential to everything i experienced and for the most part loved, in my childhood. Most occurring during that most formative of periods.

While i know that there is a lot of nostalgia for the 8 ...more

Like · see review

Apr 12, 2016 Christine rated it really liked it

Read this for the Adult Book Group at C. M. Brakensiek Public Library in Bellflower, CA.
Although this book was set in 2044, it was a feel-good read for me with the all the computer, gaming and '80's culture references since I played role-playing game in high school, college and beyond plus I was in college in the early 1980's. ...more

Like · see review

Jun 04, 2014 Kelsey rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

WOW. I don't even like video games, or know anything about the 80's but this book was so fantastically written that I was sucked in the entire time. I hate myself for finishing it in one day. ...more

Like · see review