From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)

Ernest Cline

Start date: June 20, 2013

Finish date: July 1, 2013

Discussion: AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

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AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

* What is a good book for AW discussion? (Nominations pool)
By Gertie · 65 posts · 218 views

last updated Oct 18, 2025 05:31PM

* AW Book Club: what we've read
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last updated Dec 10, 2019 09:01AM

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What Members Thought

Sep 17, 2011 Sandi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-my-son-liked, sci-fi, 2011, audiobooks

I give this 3.4 stars. I kept hearing the Billy Joel song, "We Didn't Start the Fire" playing in my mental background as I listened to it. It was like watching "I love the Eighties" on MTV. I felt really bad for both Wade and Halliday for being stuck in the Eighties. Yes, that was a great decade, but you really need to live in present day. The book was entertaining, but not particularly memorable. The plot was very, very predictable. I knew where it was going long before it got there.

Wil Wheaton ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 31, 2011 Jason Hough rated it it was amazing

Shelves: influencers

I loved this book, and no small part of that is because it spoke to me on a personal level, being so deeply woven with both 80's nerd culture and modern video game design and technology. The way these things were put together, plus some excellent sci-fi to boot, was brilliant.
However, those things aside, it's also just a fun, fun read. The premise is great, the characters are excellent, and though it gets repetitive at times, the plot moves along very nicely.

Highly recommend!
...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 05, 2013 Katie Kenig rated it it was amazing

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, dystopia

Wow, what a fun and suspenseful ride this book is! I just loved it!

Set in a future ravaged by energy wars and crises, global warming and overpopulation, the only escape from the horrors of life is Oasis, an immersive Virtual Reality world where you can do or be anything you can dream of. Kids now go to school there. People meet and marry there. Sports tournaments take place there. And now, the creator of Oasis has hidden an Easter egg there, and the player who finds it will inherit his vast esta ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 07, 2011 Mitchell Friedman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library, liked-reviews, to-buy, read-popular, pub-crown-publishers, science-fiction, favorites, five-star, bc-powellssfgroup, five-star-science-fiction

I don't know how well this will work for someone much older or much younger than me. It is ridiculously grounded in the 70's and 80's. There are so many popular culture references, it should have been exhausting. But instead I just plain loved this book. It is yet another book set in an online world - and I am a sucker for these books - whether they are This Is Not A Game or For The Win - and yet it felt like more. Obsessive underdogs versus evil corporations and just a little bit of Willy Wonka ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2012 Kami rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, sci-fi, adventure, dystopia, rrrc

This is by far the geekiest book I have ever read and I loved it so very much. It made me nostalgic for the '80's. Gamer Geek to infinity. This book is definitely in my top three of best loved books that I have read this year. So good. ...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Susie rated it it was amazing

Hands down, the most entertaining book that I’ve read this year. Not the most well-written, not the most thought provoking, not the most socially important- but absolutely the most entertaining. I can guarantee that I will be buying Ready Player One for myself and dropping not-so-subtle hints (like additional copies on their doorsteps) to my friends that this is a must-read.
The nerdsmanship of this book is exquisite. After getting to page 50 and a creating a list of at least twenty 80s referenc ...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Amanda rated it really liked it

I dont think I've ever been quite so immersed in Geek Culture as I was while reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and I loved eot were all related to 80's pop culture. Made me so nostalgic for Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Family Ties et al. The online world OASIS at the center of the story is so immersive and pervasive that almost the entire world is conducting the majority of their lives online and checking out of the real world to do so. To many, the lives lived in the world of OASIS are more ...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Chris Sachnik rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favs, read-not-owned, audio-books, e-books, whispersynch

I didn't really read this; i listened to the unabbriged audiobook.
This book channels the spirit of the current teen-dystopian fiction genre, but takes it to another level with the simple fact that this book is chock-full-o-80's references, and I have to feel that most of them would be lost on today's teens.

The story is enjoyable, and surprising. I found myself making guesses about certain things and finding that I was wrong most of the time. I like that; it shows that the author was anything bu ...more

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Jun 02, 2014 Aimee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fun-reads, sf-fantasy, award-winners, culture, 2014

If you ever played an arcade, computer, or role-playing game in the 80s, this book will charm you and have you laughing out loud. Ready Player One is set in a future (2045) where most people go to school and work in a virtual world called the OASIS. Oh, and they are obsessed with 80s pop culture. It is basically massively multiplayer mayhem that touches on nearly every major game or trend from the period. Great, light-hearted read with plucky heroes fighting soulless corporate drones. What's not ...more

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