Review: Ready Player One

[radlilim]

I had heard a lot of hype about this one, and with the announcement it might be a movie with Spielberg directing I decided to bump it up on the reading list. Plus I needed a fantasy break, so this fit the bill. It was pretty good, not spectacular writing, but good. I do wish if the author wanted to make statements about gender and race stereotypes he would have made the main character something else than a white male though. A movie would be cool, but getting the rights too all of that content will be a nighmare, I bet. It was nice to be reminded of all the stuff from my youth though.

Rating: B

Comments

[wenhaver.livejournal.com]

I think this was a fun read. The writing was ok, and the main character was a bit of a mary sue, but for book that I knocked out in around 3 hours, it was a good time.

I think the movie cim challenge would have been a blast, and I wish they were real.

A copy of this came in LootCrate the box before last, and Evan claimed it. He's looking forward to both the movie and Cline's new book (due out in July, I think).

[jkivela.livejournal.com]

The next one is like "Ready Player Two", right? A continuation of this world?

[wenhaver.livejournal.com]

Nope, it's actually called "Armada" - http://www.amazon.com/Armada-Novel-Ernest-Cline/dp/0804137250/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427819424&sr=8-1&keywords=armada

Here's the back cover, to save you the click:
It’s just another day of high school for Zack Lightman. He's daydreaming through another boring math class, with just one more month to go until graduation and freedom—if he can make it that long without getting suspended again.

Then he glances out his classroom window and spots the flying saucer.

At first, Zack thinks he’s going crazy.

A minute later, he’s sure of it. Because the UFO he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.

But what Zack’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

Yet even as he and his new comrades scramble to prepare for the alien onslaught, Zack can’t help thinking of all the science-fiction books, TV shows, and movies he grew up reading and watching, and wonder: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little too… familiar?

Armada is at once a rollicking, surprising thriller, a classic coming of age adventure, and an alien-invasion tale like nothing you’ve ever read before—one whose every page is infused with author Ernest Cline’s trademark pop-culture savvy.

[entangled-now.livejournal.com]

They seem to be picking up a lot of the stuff that I'm either reading or looking to read for movies/TV. I think it's always interesting to see things done in another medium - whether they turn out badly or not.

People say good things about this book but I've also heard it compared to Neuromancer, which I think I started and hated.

[jkivela.livejournal.com]

I don't think its much like Neuromancer, really. Maybe because it's a dark and poverty stricken future world? With a lot of time spent online?

But the tone, plot and message are very different, IMO.

[entangled-now.livejournal.com]

That's good to know. I feel like I'd appreciate a lot of the references in it. So I might pick it up if I see it in the library.