Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Ready Player One

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

27 reviews

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

itsheyfay's review against another edition

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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

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cianarae's review against another edition

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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.

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sp4ceprince's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

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lilymurph's review against another edition

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funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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onadatewithdestiny's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I read the book physically and in audiobook form because the first few times I tried to read it I had a difficult time staying focused. I loved the 80's pop culture that's embedded in the very essence of this story. It was action packed and filled with lovable characters.

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ravensandlace's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com

I wish I hadn’t watched the movie of this book first. Normally, I read the book first and then watch the movie. I didn’t mean to. My boyfriend was looking for a movie to watch and we decided on this one. I really enjoyed the movie but after reading the book, I realized how different they are from each other. Watching the movie first might have hindered my enjoyment of the book. I might have rated this book higher if I had read it first and then watched the movie.

With this book, you have to be a bit of a geek with technology and the eighties in order to have even the vaguest understanding of what all the references mean. And I mean, there are so many references. I’m a bit of a geek myself but even the references were lost on me. It got to be a bit much at times. Sure, Wade explained most of the references but it was just...a lot. It was like Cline was trying to prove just how much he knew about the eighties and wanted to talk about how much he loved it.

One of my favorite things about this book was the OASIS and concept of it. James Halliday, the founder, made sure it was available to everybody for free. He put libraries and educational things on there so everybody could learn anything they wanted too. I loved that and it shows that technology can be an awesome tool. Because the Lord knows I am tired of people complaining about how technology is ruining the lives of the youth. It’s a topic that makes me so annoyed. Maybe one day, I’ll post something about it.

Overall, while I enjoyed the book, it had some flaws. Like the absolute crazy amount of geek and eighties references. The ending was also kind of abrupt but I wasn’t too bothered by it. I recommend reading the book first and then watching the movie. Because they are very different things.

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