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jleenderts 's review for:
Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
I’ve given this 2 stars, but for parts I actually thought this was a good book, which makes it even more disappointing.
For context, I’d already watched the film (albeit a long time ago) and forgot most of what happened. From what I can remember, the film did a good job of hiding what a jackass the main character is… I just couldn’t get on board with how pretentious and arrogant he was.
To add to that, the whole setting of the story which had so much potential (80s pop-culture inside a futuristic video game) fell so flat. It just felt like Ernest Cline was riding on reader nostalgia to cover the fact that his story made no sense and was genuinely boring. Because of course, why would people care about narrative when they can be in awe of the main character owning a virtual Delorean from Back to the Future. His insistence on chucking in as many film, book and sitcom references just meant he could write any story he wanted and keep a good section of his target audience still engaged, regardless of the fact that the story is absolute dross.
In how it made no sense - the main character, a socially awkward, overweight, lacking-confidence spotty teen, suddenly plucks up some courage and successfully pulls off a Mission Impossible style heist with no training? And that’s just thrown into Act 3 with ZERO build up. The kid has spent his ENTIRE life reading books, watching films (“I’ve watched this movie exactly 52 times”) and eating junk food, all in a virtual world, and suddenly he turns into Ethan Hunt for a week? It’s laughable.
Anyway, this turned into a hate read for me between pages 50-150 purely because of the volume of 80s references. Like Jesus Christ we get it. Then it got okay. Then the ending was diabolical.
I do understand why people like this book, and why it became a film, and why it’s successful, but it’s just not for me. The author came across as pretentious, the characters are unlikeable, the plot is so, so thin and the world building is too vague.
For context, I’d already watched the film (albeit a long time ago) and forgot most of what happened. From what I can remember, the film did a good job of hiding what a jackass the main character is… I just couldn’t get on board with how pretentious and arrogant he was.
To add to that, the whole setting of the story which had so much potential (80s pop-culture inside a futuristic video game) fell so flat. It just felt like Ernest Cline was riding on reader nostalgia to cover the fact that his story made no sense and was genuinely boring. Because of course, why would people care about narrative when they can be in awe of the main character owning a virtual Delorean from Back to the Future. His insistence on chucking in as many film, book and sitcom references just meant he could write any story he wanted and keep a good section of his target audience still engaged, regardless of the fact that the story is absolute dross.
In how it made no sense - the main character, a socially awkward, overweight, lacking-confidence spotty teen, suddenly plucks up some courage and successfully pulls off a Mission Impossible style heist with no training? And that’s just thrown into Act 3 with ZERO build up. The kid has spent his ENTIRE life reading books, watching films (“I’ve watched this movie exactly 52 times”) and eating junk food, all in a virtual world, and suddenly he turns into Ethan Hunt for a week? It’s laughable.
Anyway, this turned into a hate read for me between pages 50-150 purely because of the volume of 80s references. Like Jesus Christ we get it. Then it got okay. Then the ending was diabolical.
I do understand why people like this book, and why it became a film, and why it’s successful, but it’s just not for me. The author came across as pretentious, the characters are unlikeable, the plot is so, so thin and the world building is too vague.