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kerbohydrate's review against another edition
3.0
Well-spun plot, well-built world. Hated the main character with a passion.
Reread:
Never have I flip-flopped between ratings so much before this book. It is a good book that simultaneously makes me drastically uncomfortable, aka, criteria for my 4 and 2 star ratings, respectively. What it isn’t is mediocre, which is my criteria for 3 stars. This has never happened before. I will settle for the middle-ground between 2 and 4, although I must make it clear that it is not in any way a conventional 3. Wade is still so so annoying but I think it says something about my mental state that I decided on impulse to reread this book and finished it in about a day and a half. The word “female” is starting to give me fight or flight.
ALSO - this has been nagging me. I wrote this down during the reread, but I guess I didn’t think it was relevant when writing this review? Well screw it, because I’m going to tell you the most bizarre thing that happened in this book. Spoilers I guess? Wade goes and stands at Art3mis’ door for 2 hours with a boombox over his head, In My Eyes on blast, full John Cusack. And he has the audacity to get mad that she doesn’t come out. For a guy who memorizes 80s movies, DID YOU FORGET WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MOVIE. The girl DOES NOT COME OUT in the movie, she literally goes to sleep. The whole idea is that he’s willing to stand outside and wait for her all night, even if she doesn’t come. Because perseverance. Wade, honey, you’re delusional. I rest my case.
Reread:
Never have I flip-flopped between ratings so much before this book. It is a good book that simultaneously makes me drastically uncomfortable, aka, criteria for my 4 and 2 star ratings, respectively. What it isn’t is mediocre, which is my criteria for 3 stars. This has never happened before. I will settle for the middle-ground between 2 and 4, although I must make it clear that it is not in any way a conventional 3. Wade is still so so annoying but I think it says something about my mental state that I decided on impulse to reread this book and finished it in about a day and a half. The word “female” is starting to give me fight or flight.
ALSO - this has been nagging me. I wrote this down during the reread, but I guess I didn’t think it was relevant when writing this review? Well screw it, because I’m going to tell you the most bizarre thing that happened in this book. Spoilers I guess? Wade goes and stands at Art3mis’ door for 2 hours with a boombox over his head, In My Eyes on blast, full John Cusack. And he has the audacity to get mad that she doesn’t come out. For a guy who memorizes 80s movies, DID YOU FORGET WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MOVIE. The girl DOES NOT COME OUT in the movie, she literally goes to sleep. The whole idea is that he’s willing to stand outside and wait for her all night, even if she doesn’t come. Because perseverance. Wade, honey, you’re delusional. I rest my case.
drridareads's review against another edition
3.0
Edit: there is gonna be READY PLAYER TWO! I'm kinda excited!
_______
OH MY GOD!
What a ride!
I don't know what to say about this. I was about to DNF it so many times. I probably would've if it weren't for the hype. I'm glad I finished it.
This book has been on my tbr for so long now. But the movie's about to come out. So I finally picked it up.
So many reviewers and booktubers' opinions I relate to have raved about this book so much..I think I hyped this book way too much in my head. So imagine my disappointment when I pick up this book and find it boring.
The premise is pretty cool. It's set in a dystopian world where people spend all their time inside a virtual world to escape their harsh realities. Hidden in this virtual world is an easter egg. Left by the creator. The person to find this will gain control over said virtual world and also lots and lots of money. This hunt inside the virtual world sounded compelling.
There are some people in the hunt for themselves. But there's also a power hungry company taking part to take control and make more hungry. These people were willing to cross the line. These characters added to the drama.
There are parts of this book I'd rate with a single star but also parts which I'd rate 5/5. To me the book felt written in alternatives of info dump and fascinating stuff. So It's really hard to rate or review this.
Even though I think there's alot of info dump. Cline's attention to detail is what made such amazing world-building.
I barely predicted any of the events. They were all such a good surprise. It legit kept me on my toes till the end. I took more than one week to read the first half. But I read the last half in one sitting.
I felt the pacing was very very uneven. The start was so freaking slow. Compared to it the ene felt sort of rushed up. Even though I think that was the correct pacing.
Some of the ways the hunt was solved just blew my mind.
The only stuff I know about the 80s is the very very popular stuff. So the endless 80s trivia was sort of annoying.
I wasn't much interest in Wade himself. His character was pretty much just the ordinary geeky character. But I wanted to know more about the others.
Still not sure what to rate this..I'll go with 3 stars.
_______
OH MY GOD!
What a ride!
I don't know what to say about this. I was about to DNF it so many times. I probably would've if it weren't for the hype. I'm glad I finished it.
This book has been on my tbr for so long now. But the movie's about to come out. So I finally picked it up.
So many reviewers and booktubers' opinions I relate to have raved about this book so much..I think I hyped this book way too much in my head. So imagine my disappointment when I pick up this book and find it boring.
The premise is pretty cool. It's set in a dystopian world where people spend all their time inside a virtual world to escape their harsh realities. Hidden in this virtual world is an easter egg. Left by the creator. The person to find this will gain control over said virtual world and also lots and lots of money. This hunt inside the virtual world sounded compelling.
There are some people in the hunt for themselves. But there's also a power hungry company taking part to take control and make more hungry. These people were willing to cross the line. These characters added to the drama.
There are parts of this book I'd rate with a single star but also parts which I'd rate 5/5. To me the book felt written in alternatives of info dump and fascinating stuff. So It's really hard to rate or review this.
Even though I think there's alot of info dump. Cline's attention to detail is what made such amazing world-building.
I barely predicted any of the events. They were all such a good surprise. It legit kept me on my toes till the end. I took more than one week to read the first half. But I read the last half in one sitting.
I felt the pacing was very very uneven. The start was so freaking slow. Compared to it the ene felt sort of rushed up. Even though I think that was the correct pacing.
Some of the ways the hunt was solved just blew my mind.
The only stuff I know about the 80s is the very very popular stuff. So the endless 80s trivia was sort of annoying.
I wasn't much interest in Wade himself. His character was pretty much just the ordinary geeky character. But I wanted to know more about the others.
Still not sure what to rate this..I'll go with 3 stars.
tatyanavogt's review against another edition
4.0
So I really enjoyed this book. Admittedly I wasn't sure about it in the beginning when it was just listing off tons of 80's movies, songs, games etc. But as soon as the story portion of it took off I really started to get into it.
It was nice hearing references that I remember from my childhood, but as someone who mostly missed the 80's there were a lot of specific things that were not part of my personal memory bank or experiences. That being said I would probably enjoy it even more if I had known more of the references from personal experience.
All that being said the actually meat of the story was enjoyable and I found myself caring about the characters and the outcome. And I also enjoyed the overall theme behind it. It was a great read.
It was nice hearing references that I remember from my childhood, but as someone who mostly missed the 80's there were a lot of specific things that were not part of my personal memory bank or experiences. That being said I would probably enjoy it even more if I had known more of the references from personal experience.
All that being said the actually meat of the story was enjoyable and I found myself caring about the characters and the outcome. And I also enjoyed the overall theme behind it. It was a great read.
gracepizza40's review against another edition
1.0
3/6/21
This is an entertaining book, but I feel like it could have been better. 2044 is too early to have this much damage and society on our earth. (The way we're handling climate change right now... [pandemic, texas freeze, etc.] I hope we make a lot of changes really soon. But the society is too dystopian for 2044). There are a LOT of 80's things in this book. Also, the characters don't act like people in 2044 at all, you know? They act like people in 2011.
I-r0k is annoying. He called people the f-slur and no one said anything about it. No. Also, I got kind of confused when Wade asked Art3mis "Are you a woman? And by that I mean are you a human female who has never had a sex-change operation?" On page 173. Why would that change his view of her? Does that make Art3mis, if she was a trans woman, not a woman in his eyes? It seemed kind of transphobic... idk
3 stars.
I didn't know there was a second book. I won't be reading it though because of the bad reviews.
Before reading:
2044?! I'm so excited for my future. Gen Zers always talk about how we're going to die soon haha... BUT WE ACTUALLY ARE. WAKE UP
This is an entertaining book, but I feel like it could have been better. 2044 is too early to have this much damage and society on our earth. (The way we're handling climate change right now... [pandemic, texas freeze, etc.] I hope we make a lot of changes really soon. But the society is too dystopian for 2044). There are a LOT of 80's things in this book. Also, the characters don't act like people in 2044 at all, you know? They act like people in 2011.
I-r0k is annoying. He called people the f-slur and no one said anything about it. No. Also, I got kind of confused when Wade asked Art3mis "Are you a woman? And by that I mean are you a human female who has never had a sex-change operation?" On page 173. Why would that change his view of her? Does that make Art3mis, if she was a trans woman, not a woman in his eyes? It seemed kind of transphobic... idk
3 stars.
I didn't know there was a second book. I won't be reading it though because of the bad reviews.
Before reading:
2044?! I'm so excited for my future. Gen Zers always talk about how we're going to die soon haha... BUT WE ACTUALLY ARE. WAKE UP
earthtocas's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
madiganinwonderland's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. It absolutely deserves it's title as a modern classic. This was so much fun and terrifying and also incredibly eerie accurate of where our future is headed.. Probably the most accurate I've read in a long time.. Terrifying.
My only issues that might make me give it more of a 4.5-4.75 is for one, the 80s stuff is a bit much. I can get obsessive about a decade as much as the next person but this was just too much. It's like Cline was required to fit everything 80s pop culture (or obscure video game/movie trivia) of the time and it just got a little annoying after a while.
The next issue I have is with what happened in the end with the love interest and her revealing herself in reality. I wanted to see more stigma about getting to change your appearance in the Oasis. It felt very generic and manic pixie like to me. But you can't expect one book to cover so much.
It's weird that I've owned this book for nearly 10 years and only now just read it, able to hop into the second one most never thought we'd get. But I'm interested as to where Cline will take the story. I didn't think I'd want to continue, and would take this as a stand alone but I'm actually invested now and it's worth the interest I hope.
My only issues that might make me give it more of a 4.5-4.75 is for one, the 80s stuff is a bit much. I can get obsessive about a decade as much as the next person but this was just too much. It's like Cline was required to fit everything 80s pop culture (or obscure video game/movie trivia) of the time and it just got a little annoying after a while.
The next issue I have is with what happened in the end with the love interest and her revealing herself in reality. I wanted to see more stigma about getting to change your appearance in the Oasis. It felt very generic and manic pixie like to me. But you can't expect one book to cover so much.
It's weird that I've owned this book for nearly 10 years and only now just read it, able to hop into the second one most never thought we'd get. But I'm interested as to where Cline will take the story. I didn't think I'd want to continue, and would take this as a stand alone but I'm actually invested now and it's worth the interest I hope.
libbiebell's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
5.0
protoman21's review against another edition
5.0
I read Armada first and although there were parts of that book that I liked, overall I felt like it was a bit juvenile and tried too hard to play to the nerd crowd (of which I am a proud member). Thankfully, I didn't let that stop me from reading this amazing book. This is the book that Armada was trying to be, and I loved it from the very beginning. This was like the plot of a great video game or a blockbuster movie. Although many of the references were beyond me, I appreciated that they were based on reality and that there are people out there who did get them. Wade was a great protagonist with a blend of vulnerable and cocky that works without being annoying. I also felt like Cline did a good job playing with the romance and presenting a story that is actually pretty common online. This was definitely right up my alley, but I'm glad others are responding to it as well. Just a fun adventure that keeps up a strong pace the whole book.
betseyboo's review against another edition
4.0
If you don't like 80s pop culture you will not like this book. The story is one that I want to pass along to my nephews but I think they would look at me with glazed eyes and ask, "What is an atari? Commodore? What was this ____ TV show about?" Then they would realize that it is not worth their time trying to figure out all the 80s references in the book. But lucky for me, I enjoyed reading about my past which turned into a societal passion in the future. GEEKS RULE!!