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A review by timgarris
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2.0
I want to give this two and a half stars. I'm torn, because while I did read it all the way through and enjoyed parts of it, there were times where I punched the book in frustration. But I'm going by the tooltip text on Goodreads' stars, with two stars being "it was okay" and three stars being "I liked it". So consider that my short opinion on this book- it was okay.
The first third of the book is the hardest, because Cline takes a premise that should be fairly straightforward to anyone that's read a cyberpunk novel ever, and over-explains the hell out of it. There are entire portions that are nothing but exposition, and while the world he sets up is interesting, it's way too much detail without significant plot or character development and simply kills the pacing. Once he gets through the worst of that, the book gets better, but at its best the dialogue and story are pretty basic and there are no real surprises.
The themes are also nothing new for stories about virtual worlds: is living in a virtual world all the time to escape harsh realities healthy? What's the cost of interacting with people online instead of in person? Don't get me wrong, these are natural questions to explore in such a setting, but that doesn't give license to hamhandedly shove them in the reader's face. Case in spoilery-point:
The hardest part of this book for me though, and paradoxically the selling point for many others, are the copious amounts of 80s and geek pop-culture references crammed in. It's like a list was made of every show, song, movie, author, game or book that he wanted to reference, and then it all got dropped in whether it fit or not. It's just way too much, and comes across as name-dropping instead of clever. It would be bad enough if done with a wink and a nod, but here it's done with a wink and a nod and then another wink and a finger pointing at the wink just in case you're not getting the idea and a sign that says "I'm winking so you understand that this is a pop culture reference," which he then reads aloud. References are like jokes; they're much worse when you explain them. Done well, they enhance the experience for those who are in the know, without getting in the way for readers who don't get it. Instead Cline takes time to explain every reference, which comes across as awkward and often breaks the flow. When the main character was challenged to a game of Joust, I thought it was cool. When the next several paragraphs were spent explaining in detail what Joust was, I threw down the book in disgust. I wouldn't be reading this to begin with if I didn't know what freaking Joust was.
That's the trouble with Ready Player One - it relies on its references so much that it has to be sure you get them. If you were to strip out the pop culture references, it's a pretty run-of-the-mill book that doesn't do much new and does it with a level of writing I'd usually associate with YA fiction. Not even bad YA fiction, just kind of simplistic. But it cloaks itself in gallons of the most blatant fan service I've ever seen to try and be more than it is. When I was first writing this review in my head I conceived a metaphor involving a prostitute dressed up as Princess Leia explaining to you who Princess Leia is, but my indignation has since cooled somewhat. So instead I'll just leave you with a couple of alternative recommendations:
-If you want a good story filled with gaming culture references that don't get in the way, try Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, starting with [b:Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life|29800|Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Scott Pilgrim, #1)|Bryan Lee O'Malley|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348109012s/29800.jpg|30220].
Or, if you want to read a fresh take on a story set in a virtual game world, try out Yahtzee Crowshaw's [b:Mogworld|7923163|Mogworld|Yahtzee Croshaw|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403200898s/7923163.jpg|11229518].
-And if you're not already familiar with the trope, just...Google "simulated reality in fiction."
The first third of the book is the hardest, because Cline takes a premise that should be fairly straightforward to anyone that's read a cyberpunk novel ever, and over-explains the hell out of it. There are entire portions that are nothing but exposition, and while the world he sets up is interesting, it's way too much detail without significant plot or character development and simply kills the pacing. Once he gets through the worst of that, the book gets better, but at its best the dialogue and story are pretty basic and there are no real surprises.
The themes are also nothing new for stories about virtual worlds: is living in a virtual world all the time to escape harsh realities healthy? What's the cost of interacting with people online instead of in person? Don't get me wrong, these are natural questions to explore in such a setting, but that doesn't give license to hamhandedly shove them in the reader's face. Case in spoilery-point:
Spoiler
The best friend who the protagonist thought was a white, heterosexual male? Just happens to turn out to be a black, gay woman. And our protagonist Wade finds that they're still just as good friends! Only we aren't shown this. Within a page or two of this reveal, he pretty much just says, "Wow, my friend who I thought was a straight white guy is actually a gay black girl. But none of that affects our friendship! What a powerful commentary on race and gender and orientation and friendship all wrapped up into one brief scene." Don't worry though, the love interest with the attractive white female avatar still turns out to be an attractive white female in person.The hardest part of this book for me though, and paradoxically the selling point for many others, are the copious amounts of 80s and geek pop-culture references crammed in. It's like a list was made of every show, song, movie, author, game or book that he wanted to reference, and then it all got dropped in whether it fit or not. It's just way too much, and comes across as name-dropping instead of clever. It would be bad enough if done with a wink and a nod, but here it's done with a wink and a nod and then another wink and a finger pointing at the wink just in case you're not getting the idea and a sign that says "I'm winking so you understand that this is a pop culture reference," which he then reads aloud. References are like jokes; they're much worse when you explain them. Done well, they enhance the experience for those who are in the know, without getting in the way for readers who don't get it. Instead Cline takes time to explain every reference, which comes across as awkward and often breaks the flow. When the main character was challenged to a game of Joust, I thought it was cool. When the next several paragraphs were spent explaining in detail what Joust was, I threw down the book in disgust. I wouldn't be reading this to begin with if I didn't know what freaking Joust was.
That's the trouble with Ready Player One - it relies on its references so much that it has to be sure you get them. If you were to strip out the pop culture references, it's a pretty run-of-the-mill book that doesn't do much new and does it with a level of writing I'd usually associate with YA fiction. Not even bad YA fiction, just kind of simplistic. But it cloaks itself in gallons of the most blatant fan service I've ever seen to try and be more than it is. When I was first writing this review in my head I conceived a metaphor involving a prostitute dressed up as Princess Leia explaining to you who Princess Leia is, but my indignation has since cooled somewhat. So instead I'll just leave you with a couple of alternative recommendations:
-If you want a good story filled with gaming culture references that don't get in the way, try Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, starting with [b:Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life|29800|Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Scott Pilgrim, #1)|Bryan Lee O'Malley|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348109012s/29800.jpg|30220].
Or, if you want to read a fresh take on a story set in a virtual game world, try out Yahtzee Crowshaw's [b:Mogworld|7923163|Mogworld|Yahtzee Croshaw|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403200898s/7923163.jpg|11229518].
-And if you're not already familiar with the trope, just...Google "simulated reality in fiction."