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A review by ravenousbibliophile
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
4.0
Rating: 4.5/5
Blurb: Of the Geeks, By a Geek, For the Geeks.
I've never taken a liking to the idea of 'reading goals'. To my mind, something as immersive as reading should be given it's due time to fully immerse you. Rushing through a book in order to maintain a steady reading pace so as to accomplish reading a set number of books is giving the destination more importance than the journey. And that's what every book is, a journey. However, having said that, reading this book has shown me some of the merits of finishing a book in a set period of time.
My primary motivation for reading this book as quickly as possible was to be prepared for the launch of the film on March 30th. And given the contents of the book, I would doing the film a great disservice had I not done my research like a true 'Gunter'. Secondary motivation was to read one of the seminal works of Geekdom. I wouldn't call myself a 'geek' or 'anorak' just yet, but I am making progress and after Cline, I look forward to reading the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Zelazny and several other authors who've been mentioned in this book. To me, this book is what the 'Almanac' was to every Gunter, an introduction to several worlds and realities, and much like the characters of Wade and Halliday, we can either run to them, or learn from them.
I deducted "0.5" from the score because I didn't really enjoy the YA Romance aspects of the book. Though, that is not in any way the fault of the author, it's a testament to his writing prowess and his understanding of teenagers that made the awkward, adolescent romance moments get well and truly under my skin. Thankfully, there isn't much of it and after the first 80 pages or so (barring a few dragging moments), the story races to the end like the DeLorean on steroids.
I've come to conclude that should the dystopian world as imagined in this book come to pass, then Ready Player One would be the book I shall keep in the 'Required Reading' section of my old, shabby, hidden library. So that while the youngsters learn the way of the Geeks, the elders work on avoiding a Zombie apocalypse.
Blurb: Of the Geeks, By a Geek, For the Geeks.
I've never taken a liking to the idea of 'reading goals'. To my mind, something as immersive as reading should be given it's due time to fully immerse you. Rushing through a book in order to maintain a steady reading pace so as to accomplish reading a set number of books is giving the destination more importance than the journey. And that's what every book is, a journey. However, having said that, reading this book has shown me some of the merits of finishing a book in a set period of time.
My primary motivation for reading this book as quickly as possible was to be prepared for the launch of the film on March 30th. And given the contents of the book, I would doing the film a great disservice had I not done my research like a true 'Gunter'. Secondary motivation was to read one of the seminal works of Geekdom. I wouldn't call myself a 'geek' or 'anorak' just yet, but I am making progress and after Cline, I look forward to reading the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Zelazny and several other authors who've been mentioned in this book. To me, this book is what the 'Almanac' was to every Gunter, an introduction to several worlds and realities, and much like the characters of Wade and Halliday, we can either run to them, or learn from them.
I deducted "0.5" from the score because I didn't really enjoy the YA Romance aspects of the book. Though, that is not in any way the fault of the author, it's a testament to his writing prowess and his understanding of teenagers that made the awkward, adolescent romance moments get well and truly under my skin. Thankfully, there isn't much of it and after the first 80 pages or so (barring a few dragging moments), the story races to the end like the DeLorean on steroids.
I've come to conclude that should the dystopian world as imagined in this book come to pass, then Ready Player One would be the book I shall keep in the 'Required Reading' section of my old, shabby, hidden library. So that while the youngsters learn the way of the Geeks, the elders work on avoiding a Zombie apocalypse.