Ready Player One (Ready Player One, Bk 1)
Author:
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Book Type: Hardcover
I'm just going to gush about this book for a moment. I could not stop listening to it. I couldn't. I woke up in the middle of the night and immediately fit my ear bud in and clicked the iPod's play button. At first it was because of the glorification of the '80s, which was indeed, glorious. I heard names of people and movies and games that were so integral to my childhood and that I hadn't heard since, well, the '80's. (I'll mention the Mario snub, though. That little Italian plumber is not just a fun symbol for the common masses. He's an icon, so just deal, Cline).
The plot moved fast and furious, turning in several directions and through many clues and riddles. I was reminded of the classic '80s movie "Midnight Madness" (also not mentioned in this book), where individual teams compete for a prize by solving complex riddles. I was interested in the characters, in the game, in the game-within-the-game, and the minutiae of days gone by. Bonus: a shout-out to Columbus, Ohio.
Here are the minor problems I had with the book: Wade (Parzival), the main character, rubbed me as a little bit angsty. And repetitive. I heard about an imagined, overweight man named Chuck living in his mom's basement four times. Wade also went on about how he got "obsessed" with this or that and then this or that wasn't mentioned again. A lot of things were mentioned only once, in fact. He couldn't have been too obsessed. A reviewer caught this aimless name-dropping already; I couldn't agree more. Too much. Just too much. I realize Cline was trying to geek out and elicit some squealing from the gamer table, but it seemed like he was trying to cram a box of '80s memorabilia into a thimble. Messy. The editor should have cleaned that up.
Also, Wil Wheaton was a tad dramatic as a reader: Every. Line. Was. WAY. Too. Important. Plus, I couldn't get the image of horrid Wesley Crusher reading something aloud to me out of my head.
In all, the good outweighed the bad and I'll give this one the four stars it deserves. Loved the "message" at the end.
The plot moved fast and furious, turning in several directions and through many clues and riddles. I was reminded of the classic '80s movie "Midnight Madness" (also not mentioned in this book), where individual teams compete for a prize by solving complex riddles. I was interested in the characters, in the game, in the game-within-the-game, and the minutiae of days gone by. Bonus: a shout-out to Columbus, Ohio.
Here are the minor problems I had with the book: Wade (Parzival), the main character, rubbed me as a little bit angsty. And repetitive. I heard about an imagined, overweight man named Chuck living in his mom's basement four times. Wade also went on about how he got "obsessed" with this or that and then this or that wasn't mentioned again. A lot of things were mentioned only once, in fact. He couldn't have been too obsessed. A reviewer caught this aimless name-dropping already; I couldn't agree more. Too much. Just too much. I realize Cline was trying to geek out and elicit some squealing from the gamer table, but it seemed like he was trying to cram a box of '80s memorabilia into a thimble. Messy. The editor should have cleaned that up.
Also, Wil Wheaton was a tad dramatic as a reader: Every. Line. Was. WAY. Too. Important. Plus, I couldn't get the image of horrid Wesley Crusher reading something aloud to me out of my head.
In all, the good outweighed the bad and I'll give this one the four stars it deserves. Loved the "message" at the end.
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