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razkat's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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
melist6's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Body shaming, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, and War
Minor: Slavery
rebekah_creates's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, and Death of parent
caitlaird's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Sexism, Transphobia, and Violence
Minor: Body shaming, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
phantomgecko's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry
icarusandthesun's review
- 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
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.
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Grief, and Outing
lyssa_winegar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.75
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Lesbophobia
jayjayre's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I hate the main character, the plot was horrible, predictable, repetitive. It's not because it's gamified, I've read litrpg that was enjoyable. This is like a smarmy nerd playing through a game they've mastered while ranting about how great they are and winning despite being the most unlikeable mess of a person. I want to throw tomatoes at the main character while he slips on banana peels every day.
I cannot imagine anyone but young boys who want to read a messy power-fantasy enjoying this, the misogyny and other forms of bigotry baked in by the author's awful views gives this a hateful undercurrent that repeatedly pulled me out of the story, even when I tried to go along with it just to finish the book.
This is the type of main character and story I will dislike to my dying days. I sincerely regret spending time reading this book.
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Misogyny
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Violence
oliverreeds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism