Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Ready Player One

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

32 reviews

ohmanne_84's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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xvicesx's review

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.5

A gorgeous sci-fi story, with a superb plot line and a really creative story. I enjoyed the various layers that went into this, the struggles that Wade has in the real world, the battle against the big bad IOI whose power feels absolute and unbeatable, and the tiny seed of hope that the game represents.

All in all, it was superb and extremely enjoyable.

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razkat's review against another edition

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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

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abicaro17's review against another edition

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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.

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imkedogger's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

I read this book for school, so obviously I wasn't too stoked at the beginning. The concept seemed interesting enough, but when something is for school I just can't be bothered. I actually got really into it though. The plot was very engaging and kept me interested the entire time. The main characters actions are a bit questionable sometimes, but he had some character development that definitely redeemed him a little. You could definitely sense this book was written by a man, because everything about women or romance cringed me the fuck out, but I'm willing to overlook that part. A solid 4 stars, really liked the ending and the message it sent.

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caitlaird's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

2.75

Before I get into this I should state I did actually enjoy this book a lot. The word building is amazing and so well done. I can truly see how realistic of a possibility this world could be. It’s an amazing take on how media and video games can take over and rule society, especially in a world ruined by capitalism, overconsumption, and environmental destruction; and how much easier it is to try and escape from it all rather than facing it.

The use of 80’s media was truly the best part of it all, made for such a cool and fun world.

That being said (possible small spoilers ahead but warnings any moral person might want).

This book is an incels wet dream of a y/n - self insert action hero whatever, complete with casual usage of transphobia and homophobia to really finish it off. Specifically the phrase “twinked out” when talking about people who are just dancing at a club (that he’s at no less!!) and multiple instances of blatant transphobia that you’d hope and think wouldn’t exist in 2045. Also every inspiration listed in this book is a male creator. Science fiction wouldn’t be what it is without women, Mary Shelly, Ursula Le Guin, I could go on. Do men just not think of women? Honestly curious.

I would put this book at the top of my list “so obvious it was written by a man it’s actually physically painful”.

The character Artemis is a queen amongst men. She is however a victim of the manic pixie dream girl ideal but that’s NOT her fault. She is the one voice of reason in this whole book and it feels like that might be the only reason she’s there, other than to be something to lust after and prove that the “nerd” boy can actually get the girl.

That being said Wade is obsessed with her and is totally in love with her so at least he gets one thing right. (This isn’t a spoiler he says it like in the first chapter okay).

And shoutout to Aech, who is just the coolest best friend of all friends.

I kept waiting for Wade to learn the lesson that was the real world is essential to truly living , something you don’t need to read the book to know I think. But he might actually just be the most dense man that’s ever existed ever. At one point, he admitted that he’s an agoraphobic geek and hates it but then changes absolutely nothing about his life. Also why does he have to make such a point that he’s not a fatty. Like realistically he’d be fat. That’s okay. What’s with the fat phobia my guys?

This feels like an Incel boys Bible of what you should do to be the main character. He is a very bad friend to his best friend and he doesn’t even get better. It’s very much a scary look into the mind of a man.

I originally rated the book 4 stars so it’s not that bad I guess, but zoo wee mama it’s like a punch in the gut sometimes. I really have to pause sometimes and go “huh, I know you didn’t just say what I think you did”, but of course he did.
And after a few days processing what I read I actually decided this book deserves 2.75 stars. How can a book be 4 stars when the protagonist is literally the worst person in the world.
Like any other character would’ve been a more interesting protagonist, especially Artemis, not that I want Ernest Cline to write a book from a woman’s pov. The only thing worse than wades pov would be a woman’s pov written by Cline. I think he would really benefit from reading some books written by women with female protagonists.

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flexolo's review against another edition

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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

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blueacorn1991's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

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phantomgecko's review against another edition

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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.

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drnaynay's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny 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? No

3.75

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