Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

10 reviews

theaceofpages's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Honestly, this book was okay. It was a quick read and although the experience wasn't a bad one, I felt very meh about it. The world was the strongest point by far. With the way the world is crumbling around us it makes a lot of sense that people want to escape into into a virtual one and surround themselves with nostalgia. The concept of the OASIS is a cool one as well. The plot was okay although it didn't always make sense
so much happened because Wade is the main character and main characters are special even when they shouldn't succeed
- it was interesting enough. But I didn't like the characters. Wade was annoying and uninteresting and everyone else existed to serve him. Art3mis was so much better (major spoiler:
And deserved to win so much more
) but ended up being reduced to being an object of Wade's affection.
And as a somewhat related note?: I really don't like how that gotcha  moment about Aech was handled. Very much felt like tokenism since it was revealed and then immediately pushed aside so Wade could keep doing his thing - if you want to do something like this you should ay least deal with it properly


While the reading experience was pleasant enough I didn't actually like this book. I would love to see something more nuanced done with this idea, but I do get why others love it so much.

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giuliana_ferrari's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Ready Player One is the ultimate gamer / geek fantasy. Mix it with the underlying dystopian plot of an dying Earth, a megaevil corporation and the dangers of capitalism, and you would have a great combo that could be amazing. And in its good side, it's a book that is easy to read, and for the people that grew up in the US-based 80s or immersed in its culture after, it is probably a delightful read engineered to light up those dopamine receptacles in your brain that go "I understood that reference!". 

But the book falls short in some major ways. The same audience it is trying to captivate it also entails into a complicated narrative of the importance and overall superiority of white, all-American males, teenage boys that would be bullied for knowing all the dialogues to any nerdy TV show or movie, but in this universe, they become Gods. Any point of contention that could be used to argue important issues - the lack of proper representation of different cultures (except the classic Japanese 'samurais', which is kind of cringy) and races, and discrimination against women gamers - gets lost in the ever increasing list of game, TV shows and movies referenced in the book. 

In the end, Ready Player One tried to be many things at once and it failed in less or higher degrees to several of them. It was still a compelling read, but I feel like this book will be quickly erased from my hard drive - see what I did there? - in the near future. 

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shirarweiss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had more knowledge and/or excitement about video game history and 80s culture. It took a long time for anything to really happen; there was so much world building- which was necessary to understand this highly detailed world- but it felt like sometimes the plot stopped entirely in favor of a long explanation of the world and its history or a cultural reference. Sometimes time just suddenly jumped in a confusing way. The way Wade talked about women and gender was… uncomfortable. And strange. The book did make me think about the blurred lines between reality and technology, which is fascinating and frightening. 

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balamaqab's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5


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naychapman's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

Set in a dystopian future, technology has evolved to the point where no one really needs to set foot outside in the real world anymore with the brilliant invention of the OASIS - a fully immersive, multidimensional virtual reality experience that allows users to escape their dull, often poverty-stricken existence and become whoever they want to be. Every introvert's paradise.

Very cleverly written, this book is akin to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -  if Indy were a teenage computer hacker. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS (James Halliday) dies, he bequeaths his multi-billion dollar ownership of the OASIS to whoever can solve his riddles to find a hidden Easter egg within the system. This sparks a major hunt and 17-year-old Wade, aka Parzival, joins the heated competition. As a fan of all things 80s, all of Halliday's references in the clues are to past video games, movies, songs, and TV shows from that decade. Making this book a fantastic trip down memory lane! 

The book, in my opinion, is MUCH better than the recently produced movie adaptation. Although also very entertaining, there are major scene and sequencing changes to the movie, and a lot of great content was left out. My guess is due to copyright issues! 

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jasminrain's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. I think it's a very beautiful portrayal of the gaming community and an ode to pop culture. It was researched really well and it was just an absolute joy to immerse myself to the story even though I have little to no connection to the world.  

I was a bit hesitant to read the book having seen the film, but the storyline was actually quite different to the film adaptation and brought more layers to the story. I listened to the audiobook read by Wil Wheaton and it just really brought the story to life in all the best ways possible. 

All this being said, there was some problematic language and transphobia that were left completely unaddressed, which I found really problematic considering the target age and audience of this book. So not a five star but really good read.

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ruthieelisa's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious 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? Yes

3.5


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sp4ceprince's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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kelly_e's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

 Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Series: Ready Player One, #1
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: August 16th 2011

T H R E E • W O R D S

Inventive • Gripping • Compulsive

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Flashforward to the year 2044, the world is a dark and ugly place, a real dystopia. In fact, many choose to escape to a virtual utopia known as the OASIS, a place where you can choose to be anything you want. Ready Player One follows Wade in his ultimate quest to discover a secret egg, hidden somewhere within the OASIS, and inherit creator James Halliday's fortune. A nostalgic, high-stakes, action packed adventure of heartache, friendship, and determination.

💭 T H O U G H T S

It takes a special kind of book, for me to feel fully engaged within the first few pages, thus was the case with Ready Player One. The writing was intriguing and fast-paced, the character development was on point, and the references to 80s pop-culture and video game culture were fantastic. I certainly wish I could have appreciated all of the references to their full potential though. The trio of Parzical, Aech, and Art3mis has great chemistry, and I would have to say Arch was my favourite character, even more so as the story progressed. I listened to the audio simultaneously while reading, and the narration definitely added an extra dimension and really brought the story to life. Given the book is quite long, I am not sure if I'd have enjoyed it as much without the audio. This isn't a genre I typically gravitate towards, so there was apprehension going in, but it quickly dissipated. And this book ended up being just the escape I didn't know I needed.

I'd recommend this to anyone craving retro vibes, an escape from reality or who reads science fiction on a regular basis. And I'll definitely be adding Ready Player Two to my TBR for the future.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers looking for retro vibes
• Science Fiction lovers
• those not too sure about Science Fiction

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"'I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn't know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real. Do you understand?'" 

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rbacon's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No
This book had a potential to be even better than it is by cutting out the half-assed romance storyline and building on the apocalyptic/social issues/eco crisis going on and working out how to actually deal with that rather than running away from it!

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