4.25 Stars“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.”Ready Player One was pop culture treat. If you are like me and are chalked full of useless trivia facts I think you will find this book vastly entertaining. Also totally a great read for those reluctant to read teenage boys that like to live in video games.I’m so glad that this was part of a monthly book club read. I don’t think I would have ever thought to read it any other way and I really would be missing out. If you liked the 80s, anime, coin op video games, MMoRPGs or even just dystopias there is something in this book for you. I couldn’t believe how many of the 80s music and movie/tv references and quote I picked out. I really was in geek heaven with references to John Hugh’s movies, schoolhouse rock, Ghostbuster’s quotes and flash backs to old school video games that I once played on an Atari.“It's chick flick disguised as a sword-and-sorcery picture. The only genre film with less balls is probably... freakin' Legend. Anyone who actually enjoys Ladyhawke is a bona fide USDA-choice pussy!”The beginning of the adventure takes off quickly dumping all of the rules of the game at once so you can get to the actual quest. Wade was easy to like, he was orphaned and living with his Aunt in poverty just doing everything he could to get by. He is smart inventive and absolutely obsessed with the quest for the Egg. I enjoyed the trash talk between Wade and him friends and the world Wade lives in is totally interesting even if it is bleak. At times there is a lot of info dumping about games or research Wade was doing but I was entirely interested and couldn’t wait to see where the story would go. There is a slight love interest that highjacks the story for a bit. But I’m a girl so I liked it, plus their meeting was super cute and had references to Real Genius and Silence of the Lambs in it so props to the author to use a Serial Killer movie to forward the love interest.“Overall, she seemed to be going for a sort of mid-’80s postapocalyptic cyberpunk girl-next-door look. And it was working for me, in a big way. In a word: hot.”The book slows down a bit after the first Gate is found but then picks up again as it is Wade against the world and the evil corporation that wants to win to commercialize and corrupt OASIS, talk about a hostile takeover. This is like the Wizard of Oz meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meet Enders Game.
Robin’s Reading Rendezvous
4.25 Stars“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.”Ready Player One was pop culture treat. If you are like me and are chalked full of useless trivia facts I think you will find this book vastly entertaining. Also totally a great read for those reluctant to read teenage boys that like to live in video games.I’m so glad that this was part of a monthly book club read. I don’t think I would have ever thought to read it any other way and I really would be missing out. If you liked the 80s, anime, coin op video games, MMoRPGs or even just dystopias there is something in this book for you. I couldn’t believe how many of the 80s music and movie/tv references and quote I picked out. I really was in geek heaven with references to John Hugh’s movies, schoolhouse rock, Ghostbuster’s quotes and flash backs to old school video games that I once played on an Atari.“It's chick flick disguised as a sword-and-sorcery picture. The only genre film with less balls is probably... freakin' Legend. Anyone who actually enjoys Ladyhawke is a bona fide USDA-choice pussy!”The beginning of the adventure takes off quickly dumping all of the rules of the game at once so you can get to the actual quest. Wade was easy to like, he was orphaned and living with his Aunt in poverty just doing everything he could to get by. He is smart inventive and absolutely obsessed with the quest for the Egg. I enjoyed the trash talk between Wade and him friends and the world Wade lives in is totally interesting even if it is bleak. At times there is a lot of info dumping about games or research Wade was doing but I was entirely interested and couldn’t wait to see where the story would go. There is a slight love interest that highjacks the story for a bit. But I’m a girl so I liked it, plus their meeting was super cute and had references to Real Genius and Silence of the Lambs in it so props to the author to use a Serial Killer movie to forward the love interest.“Overall, she seemed to be going for a sort of mid-’80s postapocalyptic cyberpunk girl-next-door look. And it was working for me, in a big way. In a word: hot.”The book slows down a bit after the first Gate is found but then picks up again as it is Wade against the world and the evil corporation that wants to win to commercialize and corrupt OASIS, talk about a hostile takeover. This is like the Wizard of Oz meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meet Enders Game.
