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abicaro17's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
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
HOLY SHIT. Well gooddamm. So this is probably one of the best books I have ever read (well listened too but same difference). Wade Watts is a socially awkward poor 18 year old boy living in the year 2045. In this not so distant future, a immersive reality video game has taken over most of the planet. The Oasis was invented by James Haliday and Oggden Morrow. When Haliday died, his will revealed that he will leave all of his fortune and the entire Oasis game in the hands of the player who can find the egg he hid. Wade, and most of the Oasis population, has been searching for the first key for 5 years and when he accidentally stumbles upon the answer everything changes. This is a beautiful tale of love, friendship, perseverance, and ambition along with the message that reality is better than even the best recreations. I definitely thought this would be a boy book, based on the movie (which I have seen and can safely say this is almost nothing like it), but it pleasantly surprised me with how entertaining and emotionally deep Cline goes. This is a fantastic read/listen and I will be rereading this soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
phantomgecko's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
If you don't think about this book critically at all, it's fun. That's why I finished it.
But dang dude I hated this. It's listening to a Redditor gatekeep mediocre media for 300+ pages. The most accurate word I can think for this would be masturbatory. I know that the author =/= narrator necessarily, but tbh I can't imagine why he would write this book in this specific way unless he personally just gets right off on it. This had v strong self-insert Mary Sue vibes.
For example, having to describe in detail all the (fake) tech used or having to talk about every article of clothing anyone puts on.
Also, obvs pop culture references are the whole book, but like, my dude. You don't need to explain every reference. This isn't Dora the Explorer.
My facetiously favorite line, paraphrased was 'it's their fault they don't have all the words to Schoolhouse Rock memorized' as if that's a normal thing. Like, bro, yeah, I know. Dissecting everything in Halliday's life is essentially their job, but the condescension and superiority complex that goes along with it is such a toxic part of fandom culture.
I kinda thought the narrative would loop around, and everyone would acknowledge that Halliday was psycho and not worthy of adoration or study. Wah wah wah, whiny piss baby can't forget pathetic childhood. But no. How silly of me.
Also, willing suspension of disbelief and all, but NO. It's just not possible for a kid to have read/watched/listened to/played all the things he has in 3 years. No amount of "that's all he does for 12 hours a day" can convince me that it's possible. He didn't just have 4 screens going at once on double speed. He claims to have consumed the media in a way that he apparently can remember every single thing in all of it. Every sound byte from every obscure snippet of media from a decade. He straight up says he's watched some movies over 100 times. There is simply not time for that. I cannot and will not get over this egregious stretch of the imagination.
And another thing...looking down on Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek Enterprise instantly lowered my opinion of Cline.
Science fiction in particular from the 80s is rife with sexism, and you can tell Cline triiiied to subvert that. But it was done in classic "nice guy" fashion. Sexism with a different face.
Oh, almost forgot about the atheist rant at the beginning. It honestly felt like a fourth-wall-breaking diatribe that didn't fit? Like, wah wah wah, I'm alive and anything good anyone has ever told me is a lie, the only point of life is to end and everyone dies, wah wah wah.
Do not recommend. Tbh, the movie was better.
But dang dude I hated this. It's listening to a Redditor gatekeep mediocre media for 300+ pages. The most accurate word I can think for this would be masturbatory. I know that the author =/= narrator necessarily, but tbh I can't imagine why he would write this book in this specific way unless he personally just gets right off on it. This had v strong self-insert Mary Sue vibes.
For example, having to describe in detail all the (fake) tech used or having to talk about every article of clothing anyone puts on.
Also, obvs pop culture references are the whole book, but like, my dude. You don't need to explain every reference. This isn't Dora the Explorer.
My facetiously favorite line, paraphrased was 'it's their fault they don't have all the words to Schoolhouse Rock memorized' as if that's a normal thing. Like, bro, yeah, I know. Dissecting everything in Halliday's life is essentially their job, but the condescension and superiority complex that goes along with it is such a toxic part of fandom culture.
I kinda thought the narrative would loop around, and everyone would acknowledge that Halliday was psycho and not worthy of adoration or study. Wah wah wah, whiny piss baby can't forget pathetic childhood. But no. How silly of me.
Also, willing suspension of disbelief and all, but NO. It's just not possible for a kid to have read/watched/listened to/played all the things he has in 3 years. No amount of "that's all he does for 12 hours a day" can convince me that it's possible. He didn't just have 4 screens going at once on double speed. He claims to have consumed the media in a way that he apparently can remember every single thing in all of it. Every sound byte from every obscure snippet of media from a decade. He straight up says he's watched some movies over 100 times. There is simply not time for that. I cannot and will not get over this egregious stretch of the imagination.
And another thing...looking down on Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek Enterprise instantly lowered my opinion of Cline.
Science fiction in particular from the 80s is rife with sexism, and you can tell Cline triiiied to subvert that. But it was done in classic "nice guy" fashion. Sexism with a different face.
Oh, almost forgot about the atheist rant at the beginning. It honestly felt like a fourth-wall-breaking diatribe that didn't fit? Like, wah wah wah, I'm alive and anything good anyone has ever told me is a lie, the only point of life is to end and everyone dies, wah wah wah.
Do not recommend. Tbh, the movie was better.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry
jayjayre's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I read this book when the hype first started and it was popular in the sci fi / fantasy recommendations, and I absolutely detested it.
I hate the main character, the plot was horrible, predictable, repetitive. It's not because it's gamified, I've read litrpg that was enjoyable. This is like a smarmy nerd playing through a game they've mastered while ranting about how great they are and winning despite being the most unlikeable mess of a person. I want to throw tomatoes at the main character while he slips on banana peels every day.
I cannot imagine anyone but young boys who want to read a messy power-fantasy enjoying this, the misogyny and other forms of bigotry baked in by the author's awful views gives this a hateful undercurrent that repeatedly pulled me out of the story, even when I tried to go along with it just to finish the book.
This is the type of main character and story I will dislike to my dying days. I sincerely regret spending time reading this book.
I hate the main character, the plot was horrible, predictable, repetitive. It's not because it's gamified, I've read litrpg that was enjoyable. This is like a smarmy nerd playing through a game they've mastered while ranting about how great they are and winning despite being the most unlikeable mess of a person. I want to throw tomatoes at the main character while he slips on banana peels every day.
I cannot imagine anyone but young boys who want to read a messy power-fantasy enjoying this, the misogyny and other forms of bigotry baked in by the author's awful views gives this a hateful undercurrent that repeatedly pulled me out of the story, even when I tried to go along with it just to finish the book.
This is the type of main character and story I will dislike to my dying days. I sincerely regret spending time reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Misogyny
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Violence
bookdragons's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Say what you want about the author, but I truely enjoy 99% of this book. There are a ton of points where the main character lists off chunks of info that some people find dry but I enjoyed it. On top of that, there are two points in the book that knocked it down to a 4/5 for me. One point making me feel uncomfortable reading and another just straight homophonic. Besides those two comments, I truely enjoyed the constant reminders of the virtual world full of anything and everything from pop-culture.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Homophobia and Stalking
The point of mysogyny/ homophobia:buela22's review against another edition
Overt stereotyping especially of ND people, misogyny, and I can't even imagine for a moment that it would pass the bechdel test even in one single paragraph.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, and Sexism
Extreme and pervasive stereotyping of neurodivergency.jasminrain's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Transphobia, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Murder
Minor: Addiction, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
goldyapper's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
This is one of, if not the worst books I have forced myself to read. And yes, spoilers ahead.
To start with, the plot of the book is super generic and honestly dull. An easter egg hunt in a video game (the OASIS) for money and ‘power’, is the most played-out story you could set around a video game. The OASIS acts as an MMO with basically all the IP in the world in it in some way. Sure, you could argue that the plot itself is generic but not harmful, but you know what is harmful: the main character.
So the main character (Wade Wilson/Parzival) is self-centred, sexist and transphobic and we are subjected to his POV throughout the book. So we see the world be explained through his naive eyes. We are explicitly told that he “[Doesn't] bother with (voting in the U.S elections), because [he doesn’t] see the point”. Even though his best friend ‘Ache’ is a gay, black girl who was “kicked … out of [her] house” when she came out as gay to her mother. But in the OASIS, she presented herself as a tough, muscular “Caucasian male” as there was a “marked difference … in how she was treated and the opportunities she was given” when she had an avatar that accurately depicted herself. ‘Ache’, didn't even tell Wade because she was scared of how he would react. Politics doesn’t matter, my ass. This guy is actively disenfranchising his ‘best friend’ but is too arrogant to think about it.
But that’s not even the worst part of Wade, the worst parts of him come out when he is ‘trying’ to ‘date’ Art3mis. To start with, he has had a “cyber-crush on [her for] 3 years” and has learnt everything he can about her through the blog she runs. Which is just creepy. Once the two of them meet they start texting each other for a while and he lays it on fast. For example, he “conclde[s] that [she] must be a female” as he has a crush on her in the OASIS which makes no sense at all, but somehow he is proven right. He then says “the female of the species has always found me repellent”, which yes, of course, anyone would, he’s a creep who doesn’t think about anyone but himself (for the majority of the book). He then lays on some transphobia in an attempt in deducing that she is a cis woman, he says and I quote “Are you a woman? And by that I mean are you a human female who has never had a sex-change operation?”. Which is creepy and just gross. If she was trans, it isn’t on her to tell someone she had just met that she was. As seen in the previous paragraph, bigotry is persistent in this society and I don’t think transphobia would not be any different. After being creepy towards her (which for some reason constitutes flirting), he then asks if he can “keep emailing [her]”, she tells him no and that she might “block [him] on [her] contact list”. For some bizarre reason she is convinced against it and they stay in contact. Wade then starts referring to her as his “new online pseudo-girlfriend” even though she doesn’t consent to the relationship.
They then text each other back and forth for a while until they meet up at a birthday party held in the OASIS. When they meet each other, for just the third time so far, Wade professes “I’m in love with you Arty”. Her justified response is to look shocked and to distance herself from him as she rightly tells him that they have “never even met” each other. He for some reason asks her “Are you breaking up with me?”, even though they were never in a relationship at all. Why write a character this awful, he just expects a relationship with her because he likes her. There is no point in which he questions whether she likes him. He is then told not to contact her “until the hunt is over'' and somehow he actually respects her boundaries (to an extent). After this he falls into a depressive slump, where he decides to lock himself inside where he “[decides] everything outside … was a distraction from [the egg hunt]”. During this period, he buys and uses a sex robot called an “ACHD (anatomically correct haptic doll)” to get over the fact “Art3mis [had] stopped speaking to [him]. He only gets rid of the robot in the end due to his and I quote “grim relization that virtual sex, no matter how realistic, was really nothing but glorified, computer-assisted masturbation”. I have no words, this is just off-putting, no wonder “the female of the species has always found [him] repellent”.
Later on in the story, he infiltrates the IOI (the antagonists of the book) headquarters and discovers that they have files on him, Art3mis, Ache and Shoto and Daito (the other two ‘main’ characters of the book, which come off as walking Japanese stereotypes). When he finds these files, he checks his and knows that the information that they have is accurate. But instead of grabbing all the files and making a speedy escape to tell the others about this revelation, he spends time breaching their privacy and reading up on everything that they haven't told him yet. He even looks at Art3mis’ real face on a picture, which he knows is insecure about how she looks. When he eventually sends a warning to others, he adds a P.S to Art3mis’ saying “I think you look even more beautiful in real life”. Which again is just creepy behaviour, at this point Art3mis should file a restraining order for him. When he meets up with her again to discuss a final plan, she is rightfully “pissed off” over this, but for some reason, Ache backs Wade up.
I’m going to skip over the ‘final battle’ of the book as it's mostly a generic video-game fight. But the book ends with Wade winning the egg and he decides to split the power of the OASIS and the money between him and his 4 ‘friends’.But he gets to meet Art3mis in person and learns her name is Samantha and gets to talk to her and literally the 5th sentence he says to her is “I’m in love with you” and she says “i’m sorry for breaking things off with you”. WHAT!!? He stalked her, breached her privacy and he still somehow gets the girl in the end. No, no, no. This is messed up awful behaviour and he deserves to be locked up. It says a lot about the author ‘Ernest Cline’, that when I was reading this book I was expecting a plot twist where it's revealed that Wade is an awful person and doesn’t win at the end. Instead, his sexist and misogynistic behaviour is rewarded. This is terrifying.
The thing that horrifies me the most about this book, is the way it's mostly marketed to teenage boys who have an interest in 80s video games. So the boys who are reading this may take the wrong messages away from this book and could end up idolising Wade. The readers of this book may come out as sexiest and misogynistic expecting relationships with women to work the way they want to because they are ‘in love' without even considering the womens’ side of the relationship. Also, they may come off apathetic to voting and politics just like Wade. Who may I remind you has a ‘best friend’ who cant be herself due to racism that is still prevalent in the world. He also doesn’t stop to consider how and why the world has ended in a dystopian nightmare where the majority of people don’t have enough to eat and he only survives due to government handouts. But that's just the ‘real world’ of the book. The OASIS is also a dystopian nightmare, where all of pop-culture is held by one corporation and have the ability to make clones and replicas of real people that have died.
This book was a nightmare to read and actively made me angry and scared at what horrifying thing the main character might do next. Currently, this is the worst book I have ever read.
1/10
To start with, the plot of the book is super generic and honestly dull. An easter egg hunt in a video game (the OASIS) for money and ‘power’, is the most played-out story you could set around a video game. The OASIS acts as an MMO with basically all the IP in the world in it in some way. Sure, you could argue that the plot itself is generic but not harmful, but you know what is harmful: the main character.
So the main character (Wade Wilson/Parzival) is self-centred, sexist and transphobic and we are subjected to his POV throughout the book. So we see the world be explained through his naive eyes. We are explicitly told that he “[Doesn't] bother with (voting in the U.S elections), because [he doesn’t] see the point”. Even though his best friend ‘Ache’ is a gay, black girl who was “kicked … out of [her] house” when she came out as gay to her mother. But in the OASIS, she presented herself as a tough, muscular “Caucasian male” as there was a “marked difference … in how she was treated and the opportunities she was given” when she had an avatar that accurately depicted herself. ‘Ache’, didn't even tell Wade because she was scared of how he would react. Politics doesn’t matter, my ass. This guy is actively disenfranchising his ‘best friend’ but is too arrogant to think about it.
But that’s not even the worst part of Wade, the worst parts of him come out when he is ‘trying’ to ‘date’ Art3mis. To start with, he has had a “cyber-crush on [her for] 3 years” and has learnt everything he can about her through the blog she runs. Which is just creepy. Once the two of them meet they start texting each other for a while and he lays it on fast. For example, he “conclde[s] that [she] must be a female” as he has a crush on her in the OASIS which makes no sense at all, but somehow he is proven right. He then says “the female of the species has always found me repellent”, which yes, of course, anyone would, he’s a creep who doesn’t think about anyone but himself (for the majority of the book). He then lays on some transphobia in an attempt in deducing that she is a cis woman, he says and I quote “Are you a woman? And by that I mean are you a human female who has never had a sex-change operation?”. Which is creepy and just gross. If she was trans, it isn’t on her to tell someone she had just met that she was. As seen in the previous paragraph, bigotry is persistent in this society and I don’t think transphobia would not be any different. After being creepy towards her (which for some reason constitutes flirting), he then asks if he can “keep emailing [her]”, she tells him no and that she might “block [him] on [her] contact list”. For some bizarre reason she is convinced against it and they stay in contact. Wade then starts referring to her as his “new online pseudo-girlfriend” even though she doesn’t consent to the relationship.
They then text each other back and forth for a while until they meet up at a birthday party held in the OASIS. When they meet each other, for just the third time so far, Wade professes “I’m in love with you Arty”. Her justified response is to look shocked and to distance herself from him as she rightly tells him that they have “never even met” each other. He for some reason asks her “Are you breaking up with me?”, even though they were never in a relationship at all. Why write a character this awful, he just expects a relationship with her because he likes her. There is no point in which he questions whether she likes him. He is then told not to contact her “until the hunt is over'' and somehow he actually respects her boundaries (to an extent). After this he falls into a depressive slump, where he decides to lock himself inside where he “[decides] everything outside … was a distraction from [the egg hunt]”. During this period, he buys and uses a sex robot called an “ACHD (anatomically correct haptic doll)” to get over the fact “Art3mis [had] stopped speaking to [him]. He only gets rid of the robot in the end due to his and I quote “grim relization that virtual sex, no matter how realistic, was really nothing but glorified, computer-assisted masturbation”. I have no words, this is just off-putting, no wonder “the female of the species has always found [him] repellent”.
Later on in the story, he infiltrates the IOI (the antagonists of the book) headquarters and discovers that they have files on him, Art3mis, Ache and Shoto and Daito (the other two ‘main’ characters of the book, which come off as walking Japanese stereotypes). When he finds these files, he checks his and knows that the information that they have is accurate. But instead of grabbing all the files and making a speedy escape to tell the others about this revelation, he spends time breaching their privacy and reading up on everything that they haven't told him yet. He even looks at Art3mis’ real face on a picture, which he knows is insecure about how she looks. When he eventually sends a warning to others, he adds a P.S to Art3mis’ saying “I think you look even more beautiful in real life”. Which again is just creepy behaviour, at this point Art3mis should file a restraining order for him. When he meets up with her again to discuss a final plan, she is rightfully “pissed off” over this, but for some reason, Ache backs Wade up.
I’m going to skip over the ‘final battle’ of the book as it's mostly a generic video-game fight. But the book ends with Wade winning the egg and he decides to split the power of the OASIS and the money between him and his 4 ‘friends’.But he gets to meet Art3mis in person and learns her name is Samantha and gets to talk to her and literally the 5th sentence he says to her is “I’m in love with you” and she says “i’m sorry for breaking things off with you”. WHAT!!? He stalked her, breached her privacy and he still somehow gets the girl in the end. No, no, no. This is messed up awful behaviour and he deserves to be locked up. It says a lot about the author ‘Ernest Cline’, that when I was reading this book I was expecting a plot twist where it's revealed that Wade is an awful person and doesn’t win at the end. Instead, his sexist and misogynistic behaviour is rewarded. This is terrifying.
The thing that horrifies me the most about this book, is the way it's mostly marketed to teenage boys who have an interest in 80s video games. So the boys who are reading this may take the wrong messages away from this book and could end up idolising Wade. The readers of this book may come out as sexiest and misogynistic expecting relationships with women to work the way they want to because they are ‘in love' without even considering the womens’ side of the relationship. Also, they may come off apathetic to voting and politics just like Wade. Who may I remind you has a ‘best friend’ who cant be herself due to racism that is still prevalent in the world. He also doesn’t stop to consider how and why the world has ended in a dystopian nightmare where the majority of people don’t have enough to eat and he only survives due to government handouts. But that's just the ‘real world’ of the book. The OASIS is also a dystopian nightmare, where all of pop-culture is held by one corporation and have the ability to make clones and replicas of real people that have died.
This book was a nightmare to read and actively made me angry and scared at what horrifying thing the main character might do next. Currently, this is the worst book I have ever read.
1/10
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Transphobia
zakcebulski's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Yeah, this book is not for me. This review is going to be very... very ranty and more than a little discombobulated. This review is also going to be VERY vulgar, so, if you are sensitive to that, then please do not read.
I read this book 10-11 years ago, and I remember loving it. I found a used copy and I thought it would be fun to go through this one again and relive some of the feeling that I loved back in the day. Now, I don't know if I read it more in depth now, or, if I have just matured a bit in general. But, holy fuck dude, this book is soooooo not for me.
First, I cannot stand Wade- the main character. This dude is fucking insufferable if not for anything more than his general temperament and his weirdly manipulative incel like reaction to rejection?
He confesses his love to another character- Art3mis- and she does not reciprocate the feelings- sure, a bummer, but, a totally normal thing.
Wade then talks about how "winning the money is more important to her than he is", which is just the most manipulative shit around. And then, when she talks about how she could save the world if she won the OASIS he replies "how fuckin' noble of you". Dawg, are you serious?
And, what the fuck is up with the talks about this dude being a virgin? Stop? He is 18 in this book- why is this a point of discussion more than once? Why is it a fucking discussion point at all? Who gives a shit? Just... stop?
I don't understand the obsession with people's obsession with virginity- but, whatever at this point.
And, Wade has, one of the most incelliest incel comments in the history of incel behavior- "The female of the species has always found me repellent."
What.
The.
Fuck.
I am going to go ahead and put this out there. If every girl you talk to does not like you... then you are the problem.
FUCCCCCK I hate Wade.
Do we want to fucking discuss how he talks about using a fucking sex doll? And how he references to a passage in this stupid ass book he uses as a guide for life about how James Halliday also masturbated alot and so it's fine? What a weird fucking inclusion, Cline.
I absolutely cannot stand the amount of pop culture references within this goddamn book.
We get it. 80s. The. FUCKING. NINETEEN. MOTHERFUCKING. 80s. DO YOU GET IT?? Holy shit. This book came off as little more to me than an overindulgent masturbatory exploration of Ernest Cline's love for the 80s where he just proves that he knows so fucking much about the 1980s you wouldn't even believe it. And, it is every fucking page. It is just written in such an unbelievable way, too. Some super obscure thing from the 80s? Oh you bet your bottom dollar that our boy Wade knows exactly what it is because, I mean, obviously he does. This guy is SO fucking cool and SO fucking prepared! Hell yeah Wade. GODDAMMIT.
This shit is so fucking annoying is just where I am at when I think about this fucking book. How flippantly people talk about this stuff "oh, what're you doing" "Just brushed up on some old- coin ops". Fuck. Off. The amount of eye rolling I did in this book is beyond compare. We are really, truly supposed to believe that an 18 year old kid has the entirety of fucking WarGames memorized? Jesus Christ.
When Aech and Wade "flex" their knowledge on another gunter (don't even get me fucking started) it is the most cringe inducing scene fucking hell.
But, the worst scene is by far... by fucking FAR when Wade opts to go and fucking stalk Art3mis after they stop talking and he send her flowers and all of this shit and then goes to her castle complex and holds a boombox over his head to play "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel because- what's that? You guessed it.... MOTHERFUCKIN 80s REFERENCE, FUCKER- it might be one of my least favorite scenes in books this year.
This shit could have been so fucking cool. But, it wasn't, it missed the mark so much by fucking flooding so many goddamn references to the 80s to the point where I wonder why Ernest Cline didn't just write a book entitled "The 80s: A Cultural Exploration" because that is clearly what he wanted to write.
And why... why why why why why why why why why why why was Aech's big reveal of being a black lesbian a reveal at all? I guess the whole idea is to say "people feel like that can't be themselves", but, really? That falls flat when this is a big reveal that is not at all explored at all. Goddammit. What a piece of shit "twist" this was. To me, it doesn't come off as representation if it is a bait and switch like did Cline really think "hmm, I am going to get the readers to love this character and then reveal him to be a her" and think that that counts as representation? It really rubs me the worst kind of way.
And Art3mis? Could have been such a great character, but you know what we should do instead? Relegate her to love interest, stalking target and lady in need of a big strong man aka mother fucking Wade to come through and use his brain knowledge about the fucking 1980s to show how fucking RADICAL he is. And, I am giving absolutely zero fucking points for Wade accepting Art3mis even though she has a *GASP* port wine birthmark. She is described as Pro-tip- accepting someone for their appearance doesn't make you an absolutely wonderful person.
I am going to go on record and say that having a billionaire die and leave 240,000,000,000 not to the starving people of the world, but rather hidden where it might never be found is the pinnacle of why we should eat the fucking rich. I don't know why this should be lauded? The guy had the means to kinda sorta even START to unfuck parts of the world and instead he opted, posthumously, to say "good fucking luck you little peasants!". I fucking loathed this goddamn plot. Ohhhh the big bad guy works for a big bad corporation? Get it? Do you get it? DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND??? CORPORATIONS ARE BAD!
We know. We fucking understand what you're saying.
There are authors who have re-written scenes and whole portions of books so that they can undo or rectify a plot hole.
The dude Ernie C? Nahhhhh can't be fucking bothered doing that. This guy has no time- he has to tune his boombox while waxing his fucking DeLorean while reciting the entirety of The Breakfast Club while voting for Walter Mondale while listening to Madonna because fucking 19 goddamn mother fucking 80s!
Instead, our guy? He has an ace up his white jacket sleeve from the Thriller album cover- Deus Ex Machina.
Need to get out of a pickle? Don't want to do the work to make things make sense? EZ PZ just have an extra life granted for a perfect game of Pac-Man! No one else in the history of the OASIS did that? DON'T QUESTION IT!
Need some hyper obscure 1980s knowledge to get you out of a jam? Well, luckily for me, I actually can recite every moment of the 1980s from memory because I studied it all while bored one day, so, I have it!
If there is one thing I can commend Cline on it is his complete and unabashed dedication to the death of subtlety. This book read as the worst fucking kind of overindulgent gatekeeping fanfiction masquerading as a book.
I hated this book, I think that much is clear.
I need to stop writing before I have a goddamn conniption.
Fuck this book. Don't waste your time with this trash. This may legitimately be my least favorite book I have ever had the displeasure of reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War
itsheyfay's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Sexual content, Outing, and Abandonment
cianarae's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I liked this a lot! The story was great, the characters were funny, I liked the ‘80s references. I think it could have done a little bit better with the representation of women and people of color. Also I’m not a big fan of the benevolent billionaire trope so that was another thing I didn’t love. Last complaint, a lot of the riddles and things that were supposedly so difficult that no one could figure them out for years seemed really obvious. All-in-all, the writing isn’t perfect but it’s a fun book that I enjoyed reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Classism
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide