Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Ready Player One

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.

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melist6's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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madeline_m's review against another edition

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I wanted to like it. Truly, I tried. The cool pop culture references felt more like aggressive gatekeeping. Any buildup or suspense was killed by main character VERY quickly figuring out the answer.
I guess I was expecting to follow an adventure and solve puzzles along side the characters. Not what the story is interested in. Oh well.

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theaceofpages's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Honestly, this book was okay. It was a quick read and although the experience wasn't a bad one, I felt very meh about it. The world was the strongest point by far. With the way the world is crumbling around us it makes a lot of sense that people want to escape into into a virtual one and surround themselves with nostalgia. The concept of the OASIS is a cool one as well. The plot was okay although it didn't always make sense

so much happened because Wade is the main character and main characters are special even when they shouldn't succeed

- it was interesting enough. But I didn't like the characters. Wade was annoying and uninteresting and everyone else existed to serve him. Art3mis was so much better (major spoiler:

And deserved to win so much more

) but ended up being reduced to being an object of Wade's affection.

And as a somewhat related note?: I really don't like how that gotcha moment about Aech was handled. Very much felt like tokenism since it was revealed and then immediately pushed aside so Wade could keep doing his thing - if you want to do something like this you should ay least deal with it properly

While the reading experience was pleasant enough I didn't actually like this book. I would love to see something more nuanced done with this idea, but I do get why others love it so much.

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icarusandthesun's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

excellent! i haven't had that much fun in a while.
even though i'm a little too young (or too little of a game nerd) to understand most of the niche 80s game references, i still enjoyed them all.
the world—the stacks, the OASIS, etc.—is so incredibly interesting and made my video-game (and reality-hating) heart do flips of joy.

10/10, so much better than the movie.

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bluebell4's review against another edition

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Cursing

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akacasper24's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

Good book; the portrayals of Shoto and Daito are a little racist; the main character is a pick-me boy and while he does experience some growth, most of it is because of a woman (sexist) and that whole subplot is honestly ridiculous. Like it suits the character but christ it’s a little excessive and he never faces any repercussions for his obsessive nature. We also never see a developing care for the outside world which realllly makes the love interest feel like a moral hospital for a promising young man. The world building is exceptional and the characters are all believable. I think the theme of race really gets trampled on//doesn’t get enough attention in the novel. It felt like an after thought, like the character was made to develop Wade into his final form. He’s the hero but he also sucks a lot. Also, there’s a paradoxical idolization of the creators or OASIS (rich) who honestly do and did so little to help the real world despite their vast sums of money (the reason why some characters want to win the game in the first place — to save the world). idk. the whole thing felt half-baked in terms of ideology but very strong in terms of character personas but weak in terms of character development

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