wetdryvac's review against another edition
4.0
While there were a few moments where inconsistent, "How does time/physics work?," Ejected me from suspension of disbelief, it was a fun read.
astorreinhardt's review against another edition
2.0
After reading the amazing nerdgasim that is Ready Player One, I went into this book thinking I'd be reading nearly the same amazing story...just set in space...and with aliens. That didn't happen.
I'm not huge on space/aliens in general...same with "war" stuff as well. But I figured I could give this a shot given Ready Player One was so god damn mind blowing.
How Cline went from RPO to this...mess, I will never know.
It has ok parts...I like the geek/nerd references, Lex was pretty cool, and I liked Milo and Shin (yay for gay characters).
But it has a lot of bad parts. The main character and nearly every character (ignoring the ones I liked) were boring. The plot was...convoluted. All the EDA terms were just...god a mess. Maybe it's because I'm not into mechs and war games...but I was skipping over whole chunks of the book just to get through all the junk about EDA mechs and drones and blah blah blah. BORING.
And the self sacrifice bit was pretty obvious as soon as they introduced the dad.
I thought the "romance" between Zack and Lex was...shallow and shoved into the story. I get that "omg the world is ending...let's find a corner and $%*^" mindset...but it just wasn't needed. Lex could have stayed a friend to Zack...and just been a cool kickass strong female character. I think she was cheapened by the need to force them together for a romantic angle.
I'm not huge on space/aliens in general...same with "war" stuff as well. But I figured I could give this a shot given Ready Player One was so god damn mind blowing.
How Cline went from RPO to this...mess, I will never know.
It has ok parts...I like the geek/nerd references, Lex was pretty cool, and I liked Milo and Shin (yay for gay characters).
But it has a lot of bad parts. The main character and nearly every character (ignoring the ones I liked) were boring. The plot was...convoluted. All the EDA terms were just...god a mess. Maybe it's because I'm not into mechs and war games...but I was skipping over whole chunks of the book just to get through all the junk about EDA mechs and drones and blah blah blah. BORING.
And the self sacrifice bit was pretty obvious as soon as they introduced the dad.
I thought the "romance" between Zack and Lex was...shallow and shoved into the story. I get that "omg the world is ending...let's find a corner and $%*^" mindset...but it just wasn't needed. Lex could have stayed a friend to Zack...and just been a cool kickass strong female character. I think she was cheapened by the need to force them together for a romantic angle.
csdaley's review against another edition
2.0
I need to be honest. This was more like a 1 1/2 star book. I really wanted to like it but I didn't. I am surprised I finished it. Cline is a good writer and I like his writing style. Ready Player One was one of my favorite books last year but this book was a mess. I skimmed here and there at the end just to see if he tied it up like I thought he would.
He has borrowed liberally from several great science fiction novels and tries to cover this borrowing in a cutesy but obvious plot thread. This was average science fiction at best. Go read Ender's Game again or for the first time. Better to read the book he borrows from the most because it is far superior.
He has borrowed liberally from several great science fiction novels and tries to cover this borrowing in a cutesy but obvious plot thread. This was average science fiction at best. Go read Ender's Game again or for the first time. Better to read the book he borrows from the most because it is far superior.
spinnerroweok's review against another edition
3.0
Welcome to my rant.
Well Ernest Cline, if your intention was to write a movie from the 1990s crammed full of nerd culture references, you have succeeded. I really enjoyed your Ready Player One, your love letter to the 1980s, replete with pop culture references, but I think this one went a little too far. I struck me just before I got to the six-minute list of movie, TV, and video game references. After that, I could not roll my eyes hard enough with each passing reference after that. But then you had to take it a step further. You then felt the need to reference the reference. It was like sitting in a Marvel movie next to someone pointing out all the Easter eggs throughout the film.
Like I said, you wrote a great 1990s movie, complete with hand-wavery, nonsensical plot elements, and timing that cannot be believed. Let's put aside how long these characters went without sleep, never once even complaining about being tired. Let's put aside how fast people get from place to place. Let's put aside how utterly brilliant some of the characters are in being able to crack alien tech faster than Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day.
Instead, let's talk about how your characters question the very plot they are living. Let's talk about how they can't believe it. Your ending only half explains this away, just like a 90s adventure movie in which the kid saves the day. The problem is that when the characters question the plot, my questioning of the plot goes into overdrive. The ending may have resolved some of these issues, but not all. In fact, I found it so unbelievable that I was expecting the ending to be "...and then I woke up."
However Mr. Cline, I did find your story fast paced and enjoyable. Your characters were a little stereotypical, but fun. In fact, I would call this a fun book. Unfortunately, it all seems so overdone, I doubt I will remember much of what happened in it after six months. It was some fun brain candy. I will say that I think me in my 20s would have loved this book and enshrined it on my bookshelf.
So, if you are in your 20s, I highly recommend this book. Your appreciation for what Mr. Cline has done will probably drop off with age.
Also, I always love Wil Wheaton as a narrator, especially for this "fun" science fiction books. He has a great feel for and interpretation of the material.
Well Ernest Cline, if your intention was to write a movie from the 1990s crammed full of nerd culture references, you have succeeded. I really enjoyed your Ready Player One, your love letter to the 1980s, replete with pop culture references, but I think this one went a little too far. I struck me just before I got to the six-minute list of movie, TV, and video game references. After that, I could not roll my eyes hard enough with each passing reference after that. But then you had to take it a step further. You then felt the need to reference the reference. It was like sitting in a Marvel movie next to someone pointing out all the Easter eggs throughout the film.
Like I said, you wrote a great 1990s movie, complete with hand-wavery, nonsensical plot elements, and timing that cannot be believed. Let's put aside how long these characters went without sleep, never once even complaining about being tired. Let's put aside how fast people get from place to place. Let's put aside how utterly brilliant some of the characters are in being able to crack alien tech faster than Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day.
Instead, let's talk about how your characters question the very plot they are living. Let's talk about how they can't believe it. Your ending only half explains this away, just like a 90s adventure movie in which the kid saves the day. The problem is that when the characters question the plot, my questioning of the plot goes into overdrive. The ending may have resolved some of these issues, but not all. In fact, I found it so unbelievable that I was expecting the ending to be "...and then I woke up."
However Mr. Cline, I did find your story fast paced and enjoyable. Your characters were a little stereotypical, but fun. In fact, I would call this a fun book. Unfortunately, it all seems so overdone, I doubt I will remember much of what happened in it after six months. It was some fun brain candy. I will say that I think me in my 20s would have loved this book and enshrined it on my bookshelf.
So, if you are in your 20s, I highly recommend this book. Your appreciation for what Mr. Cline has done will probably drop off with age.
Also, I always love Wil Wheaton as a narrator, especially for this "fun" science fiction books. He has a great feel for and interpretation of the material.
jobatkin's review against another edition
2.0
Disappointed in this after reading [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)|Ernest Cline|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500930947l/9969571._SY75_.jpg|14863741]. It lacked a lot of the depth and scope and felt more like a YA novel. The conspiracy was too obvious and laboured and the characters not particularly likeable or believable, although the story was fast-paced and held me enough to keep reading until the end. Zack Lightman (corny name by the way) alternated between being a selfish annoying teenager and a brilliant hero too often to make for an understandable or relatable main character. His girlfriend was slightly better, but the witty dialogue between them wasn't very believable for teenagers either. Disappointing and childish.
immodddus's review against another edition
3.0
Meine Erwartungshaltung für das Buch war nicht wirklich hoch, deshalb bin ich nicht komplett enttäuscht. Ich finde die Grundidee von Armada eigentlich interessant, aber die Handlung war ziemlich abstrus und hat mich nur teilweise gefesselt. Die gefühlt endlosen Kampferzählungen wirkten wie für eine Verfilmung geschrieben, da hätte man gerne kürzen und stattdessen etliche Plotlöcher füllen können.
Der Musikgeschmack von Zack ist aber ordentlich, gibt einen halben Stern extra. Deshalb 3 Sterne :D
Der Musikgeschmack von Zack ist aber ordentlich, gibt einen halben Stern extra. Deshalb 3 Sterne :D
jecille's review against another edition
4.0
I love books like this.
Aliens invade, videogames help save the day. Geeks assemble!
This was another fun and quirky novel. It is NOT Ready Player One, it's more along the lines of "Off to be a Wizard" by Scott Myer. I adore that entire series and this was totally reminiscent of that.
Aliens invade, videogames help save the day. Geeks assemble!
This was another fun and quirky novel. It is NOT Ready Player One, it's more along the lines of "Off to be a Wizard" by Scott Myer. I adore that entire series and this was totally reminiscent of that.
psykobilliethekid's review against another edition
5.0
THAT WAS AMAZING!!! Seriously! How does Ernest Cline write such awesome stuff?! Thank you for writing this! Thank you for writing Ready Player One! Thank you for being alive and being awesome! Just thank you! I'll be waiting with great anticipation for the next fun filled adventure you come up with!
uncannyvalerie's review against another edition
I enjoyed the initial question of whether or not the invasion was a hallucination or not. The plot carefully revises history in a clever way to set up humanity to be prepared to save the wold.
See my full review here.
See my full review here.
bethh1352's review against another edition
1.0
I only made it 20% in. Too boring. I'm so disappointed because Ready Player One was amazing. I'm not a video game player, maybe that would have helped. I just felt like most of what I read was about gaming. More should have been made of happened at the beginning, and his father's theories. I might have stuck with it then.