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soton's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Bullying, Racism, Slavery, and Transphobia
wren_cat's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book has many flaws. There are these multiple-page lord drops where about 10% of it is actually important and the rest is just kind of boring. There are many things that for all intents and purposes should be important to the plot, and then end up not being important to the plot and are just kind of ignored and/or downright contradicted. And of course, it contains quite a few eye-rollingly sexist and racist moments. But, despite all that, this really is a fun book with an engaging plot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, and Lesbophobia
razkat's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
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
jaklindberg's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
1980s' nerd porn
gatekeeping
incel
agoraphobic
recluse
gaming addiction
escapism
depression
masturbation
identity theft
low self-esteem
seeking social approval
stalking
misogyny
ableism
hyperfocus
There are many ways to describe this scary dystopian novel, which serves as a warning against relying too much on computers and how people become the humanoids from WALL-E, the 2008 Pixar film, by making connecting to the internet their sole aim in life. This got two stars because the storyline was easy to read/understand.
"In real life, I was nothing but an antisocial hermit. A recluse. A pale-skinned pop culture-obsessed geek. An agoraphobic shut-in with no real friends, family, or genuine human contact. I was just another sad, lost, lonely soul, wasting his life on a glorified videogame."
"You know you've totally screwed up your life when your whole world turns to shit, and the only person you have to talk to is your system agent software."
"I'd been offline for eight whole days- a personal record."
"...an obsessive-compulsive geek with no life."
"...I never felt at home in the real world. I didn't know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized that, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place to find true happiness. Because reality is REAL."
gatekeeping
incel
agoraphobic
recluse
gaming addiction
escapism
depression
masturbation
identity theft
low self-esteem
seeking social approval
stalking
misogyny
ableism
hyperfocus
There are many ways to describe this scary dystopian novel, which serves as a warning against relying too much on computers and how people become the humanoids from WALL-E, the 2008 Pixar film, by making connecting to the internet their sole aim in life. This got two stars because the storyline was easy to read/understand.
"In real life, I was nothing but an antisocial hermit. A recluse. A pale-skinned pop culture-obsessed geek. An agoraphobic shut-in with no real friends, family, or genuine human contact. I was just another sad, lost, lonely soul, wasting his life on a glorified videogame."
"You know you've totally screwed up your life when your whole world turns to shit, and the only person you have to talk to is your system agent software."
"I'd been offline for eight whole days- a personal record."
"...an obsessive-compulsive geek with no life."
"...I never felt at home in the real world. I didn't know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized that, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place to find true happiness. Because reality is REAL."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, and Sexism
pomegranate_muse's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Bullying, Vomit, and Death of parent
flexolo's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Death of parent
a_novi's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
For the first time in my life I was actually glad I watched the movie before I read the book. The move adaptation absolutely changed EVERYTHING about the challenges and so many huge details of the story. If I had read this book before the movie came out I would have been FURIOUS in the theater. This book is awesome. The futuristic dystopian concept is fascinating and scarily metaphorical for reality at times. There’s mysteries, puzzles, romance, suspense, and emotion. This is a book that I would read over again to catch even more detail the second time around. Good movie. Even better book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, 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
icarusandthesun's review
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Grief, and Outing