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jaifman's review against another edition
3.0
Empecé este libro con bastantes ganas y la mezcla que ofrecía parecía perfecta para alguien como yo. Y aunque disfruté mucho de sus primeros compases, una vez le ves las costuras al libro (enlazar cualquier hecho como mera excusa para bombardearte de nostalgia de un modo demasiado evidente) pues se acaba haciendo cansino, ya que el argumento sci-fi de fondo no deja de ser algo un tanto manido.
Aprecio su originalidad y la nostalgia es la nostalgia, pero pienso que habría sido un relato corto perfecto y en cambio como novela se hace un poco larga y reiterativa. Aun así, la recomiendo.
Aprecio su originalidad y la nostalgia es la nostalgia, pero pienso que habría sido un relato corto perfecto y en cambio como novela se hace un poco larga y reiterativa. Aun así, la recomiendo.
annashiv's review against another edition
4.0
It's pretty good but definitely has some issues. The characters were great, and the plot was flawed but kept interesting and straightforward. My problem with it was the info dumping at the beginning. It didn't seem necessary and often repeated itself (like reinforcing the idea that he studied everything Halliday- at some point it became redundent) I would have also liked the second and third riddles to be something the reader could guess, but I understand why they aren't. It was just very clear that this was his first novel and it could have been better. Still, despite that, I really enjoyed it. It was a solid idea. I would recommend it to anyone who likes video games or the eighties pop culture in general.
jennrocca's review against another edition
5.0
Fun! I heard it described as "DaVinci Code for nerds" and that is pretty fair. While, overall, it was a fun, fast paced adventure - I still zoned out a little when the descriptions of armor, ships, weapons, and magical abilities turned too RPG detailed. On the whole - a *ton* of fun.
The book is *so* completely centered on 80's pop culture, I'm not sure what current teens will think. I look forward to finding out.
update 4/2018 - Just reread this book. This time in audio form. I still enjoyed it but it's YA lit nature was more in-my-face this time around. Still fun.
The book is *so* completely centered on 80's pop culture, I'm not sure what current teens will think. I look forward to finding out.
update 4/2018 - Just reread this book. This time in audio form. I still enjoyed it but it's YA lit nature was more in-my-face this time around. Still fun.
guppyur's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed this book, but I can only recommend it to the fellow nerds of today for whom it was written. It contains references to all kinds of modern geek culture, ranging from Galaga to Cory Doctorow to Cap'n Crunch (not the cereal), and feels like the author is "one of us," and not in a trying-too-hard way. If you can identify all three of the things I listed, give this one a good look.
ddeblieck_13's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
1.5
This is probably one of the worst books that I have ever read. It's a children's book written to be consumed by an adult (or at least teenage) audience yearning for the past.
This books is a perfect example of a lot of what is wrong with nerd culture. No one minds that you enjoy things from your childhood. Everyone should try to retain a little of that childlike joy in their adult life. But this idea that the present sucks and the past was so much better, that culture is going backwards, etc., is just ridiculous. You loved Star Wars because you were little when you watched it, not because all new media is terrible.
Plus, just because you should retain a little of your childlike innocence/wonder doesn't mean you should never grow up. We should be seeking out experiences/content that force us to grow intellectually/physically/emotionally, but I feel like this book (like a lot of nerd culture) was just 400 pages of the exact opposite. 400 pages of trying too hard to avoid adult sensibilities, of yearning to return to a time when life was simple (because you were a kid and didn't understand it), and of a refusal to accept that the way you experience the world as an adult is fundamentally different than it was how you experienced it as a child. It's great that you like Star Trek, but you have to learn to consume adult content and assume adult responsibilities in order to become a well-rounded and interesting human being. I like mac and cheese still, but I eat other food.
The term "nice guy" is so overused, but parts of this book felt a lot like just nerd fan fic. "I'm ugly, I'm terrible with women, but in this game I'm awesome. I have the coolest guns/cars/superpowers and no one knows what I look like in real life so women love me. I'm also one of the few good men who don't care about looks at all; I'd love Artemis even if she was ugly, but she just so happens to be super hot." The author clearly just self-inserted himself both as the main character who gets the girl and as the dude who is a bazillionaire and made this world-changing software. He at least made his self-inserts terrible with women, which is kind of funny. But he still gets the girl in the end, so it doesn't really matter.
Besides my distaste for the themes/ideas of the book, the plot and pacing are terrible. The first 100 pages of the book the main character repeatedly describes how hard it is to level up a character and bemoans how weak he is. Then he goes and does it "offscreen" (offpage?) in like 2 weeks and over 2 sentences. He's super poor but never runs out of money because reasons. He works 10 hours per day but is able to play this game nonstop. He easily (easily) outsmarts the world's largest military/corporation by buying random shit for a few hundred bucks of the black market which is apparently very easy to access but also sells only totally legit stuff (with money he somehow always has). He somehow always has exactly the right magic item for whatever circumstance arises (not that these items have ever been introduced until he pulls them out of his ass).
All in all, a truly terrible book. I didn't give it a 1 because there were certain parts that were at least somewhat entertaining, but on the whole it was total garbage. I'm actually shocked this has a 4+ rating on here.
The dude put "L33t H@k0rz" unironically (or at least somewhat unironically) into this book. That should tell you all you need to know.
This books is a perfect example of a lot of what is wrong with nerd culture. No one minds that you enjoy things from your childhood. Everyone should try to retain a little of that childlike joy in their adult life. But this idea that the present sucks and the past was so much better, that culture is going backwards, etc., is just ridiculous. You loved Star Wars because you were little when you watched it, not because all new media is terrible.
Plus, just because you should retain a little of your childlike innocence/wonder doesn't mean you should never grow up. We should be seeking out experiences/content that force us to grow intellectually/physically/emotionally, but I feel like this book (like a lot of nerd culture) was just 400 pages of the exact opposite. 400 pages of trying too hard to avoid adult sensibilities, of yearning to return to a time when life was simple (because you were a kid and didn't understand it), and of a refusal to accept that the way you experience the world as an adult is fundamentally different than it was how you experienced it as a child. It's great that you like Star Trek, but you have to learn to consume adult content and assume adult responsibilities in order to become a well-rounded and interesting human being. I like mac and cheese still, but I eat other food.
The term "nice guy" is so overused, but parts of this book felt a lot like just nerd fan fic. "I'm ugly, I'm terrible with women, but in this game I'm awesome. I have the coolest guns/cars/superpowers and no one knows what I look like in real life so women love me. I'm also one of the few good men who don't care about looks at all; I'd love Artemis even if she was ugly, but she just so happens to be super hot." The author clearly just self-inserted himself both as the main character who gets the girl and as the dude who is a bazillionaire and made this world-changing software. He at least made his self-inserts terrible with women, which is kind of funny. But he still gets the girl in the end, so it doesn't really matter.
Besides my distaste for the themes/ideas of the book, the plot and pacing are terrible. The first 100 pages of the book the main character repeatedly describes how hard it is to level up a character and bemoans how weak he is. Then he goes and does it "offscreen" (offpage?) in like 2 weeks and over 2 sentences. He's super poor but never runs out of money because reasons. He works 10 hours per day but is able to play this game nonstop. He easily (easily) outsmarts the world's largest military/corporation by buying random shit for a few hundred bucks of the black market which is apparently very easy to access but also sells only totally legit stuff (with money he somehow always has). He somehow always has exactly the right magic item for whatever circumstance arises (not that these items have ever been introduced until he pulls them out of his ass).
All in all, a truly terrible book. I didn't give it a 1 because there were certain parts that were at least somewhat entertaining, but on the whole it was total garbage. I'm actually shocked this has a 4+ rating on here.
The dude put "L33t H@k0rz" unironically (or at least somewhat unironically) into this book. That should tell you all you need to know.
abbyyy03's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
veritycontrarity's review against another edition
This was not the book for me. I can't take the main character, the manic pixie dream girl he has to force to like him. It was all too contrived
actuallycandy's review against another edition
5.0
Firstly, this book is nothing like the movie. But it is arguably better!
Filled with nostalgic references to retro videogames, movies and music this book reads like a mega nerd/geeks dream. As a hardcore gamer myself I'm kicking myself as to why I haven't read this earlier. It certainly left me wishing the Oasis was a reality! I easily burnt through the midnight oil just to finish this YA bad boy.
Filled with nostalgic references to retro videogames, movies and music this book reads like a mega nerd/geeks dream. As a hardcore gamer myself I'm kicking myself as to why I haven't read this earlier. It certainly left me wishing the Oasis was a reality! I easily burnt through the midnight oil just to finish this YA bad boy.
joran88's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-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
5.0