The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! đ
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: Sexism, Grief, War, Classism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Murder, Body shaming, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Vomit, Racism, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, and Bullying
danka66'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
4.75
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Death, Murder, and Stalking
Minor: Transphobia, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts
_nem_'s review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
I didn't understand all of the 80s references but that didn't take away from the book. Everything was explained so you could know what it was without having come across that media before.Â
Moderate: Confinement, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent, Violence, Racism, War, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexism
buela22's review against another edition
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, and Ableism
Extreme and pervasive stereotyping of neurodivergency.jasminrain'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? No
4.5
I was a bit hesitant to read the book having seen the film, but the storyline was actually quite different to the film adaptation and brought more layers to the story. I listened to the audiobook read by Wil Wheaton and it just really brought the story to life in all the best ways possible.Â
All this being said, there was some problematic language and transphobia that were left completely unaddressed, which I found really problematic considering the target age and audience of this book. So not a five star but really good read.
Graphic: Gun violence, Transphobia, Cursing, Violence, Classism, and Death
Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, Murder, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Misogyny
Minor: Racism, Addiction, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
goldyapper's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
To start with, the plot of the book is super generic and honestly dull. An easter egg hunt in a video game (the OASIS) for money and âpowerâ, is the most played-out story you could set around a video game. The OASIS acts as an MMO with basically all the IP in the world in it in some way. Sure, you could argue that the plot itself is generic but not harmful, but you know what is harmful: the main character.
So the main character (Wade Wilson/Parzival) is self-centred, sexist and transphobic and we are subjected to his POV throughout the book. So we see the world be explained through his naive eyes. We are explicitly told that he â[Doesn't] bother with (voting in the U.S elections), because [he doesnât] see the pointâ. Even though his best friend âAcheâ is a gay, black girl who was âkicked ⌠out of [her] houseâ when she came out as gay to her mother. But in the OASIS, she presented herself as a tough, muscular âCaucasian maleâ as there was a âmarked difference ⌠in how she was treated and the opportunities she was givenâ when she had an avatar that accurately depicted herself. âAcheâ, didn't even tell Wade because she was scared of how he would react. Politics doesnât matter, my ass. This guy is actively disenfranchising his âbest friendâ but is too arrogant to think about it.
But thatâs not even the worst part of Wade, the worst parts of him come out when he is âtryingâ to âdateâ Art3mis. To start with, he has had a âcyber-crush on [her for] 3 yearsâ and has learnt everything he can about her through the blog she runs. Which is just creepy. Once the two of them meet they start texting each other for a while and he lays it on fast. For example, he âconclde[s] that [she] must be a femaleâ as he has a crush on her in the OASIS which makes no sense at all, but somehow he is proven right. He then says âthe female of the species has always found me repellentâ, which yes, of course, anyone would, heâs a creep who doesnât think about anyone but himself (for the majority of the book). He then lays on some transphobia in an attempt in deducing that she is a cis woman, he says and I quote âAre you a woman? And by that I mean are you a human female who has never had a sex-change operation?â. Which is creepy and just gross. If she was trans, it isnât on her to tell someone she had just met that she was. As seen in the previous paragraph, bigotry is persistent in this society and I donât think transphobia would not be any different. After being creepy towards her (which for some reason constitutes flirting), he then asks if he can âkeep emailing [her]â, she tells him no and that she might âblock [him] on [her] contact listâ. For some bizarre reason she is convinced against it and they stay in contact. Wade then starts referring to her as his ânew online pseudo-girlfriendâ even though she doesnât consent to the relationship.Â
They then text each other back and forth for a while until they meet up at a birthday party held in the OASIS. When they meet each other, for just the third time so far, Wade professes âIâm in love with you Artyâ. Her justified response is to look shocked and to distance herself from him as she rightly tells him that they have ânever even metâ each other. He for some reason asks her âAre you breaking up with me?â, even though they were never in a relationship at all. Why write a character this awful, he just expects a relationship with her because he likes her. There is no point in which he questions whether she likes him. He is then told not to contact her âuntil the hunt is over'' and somehow he actually respects her boundaries (to an extent). After this he falls into a depressive slump, where he decides to lock himself inside where he â[decides] everything outside ⌠was a distraction from [the egg hunt]â. During this period, he buys and uses a sex robot called an âACHD (anatomically correct haptic doll)â to get over the fact âArt3mis [had] stopped speaking to [him]. He only gets rid of the robot in the end due to his and I quote âgrim relization that virtual sex, no matter how realistic, was really nothing but glorified, computer-assisted masturbationâ. I have no words, this is just off-putting, no wonder âthe female of the species has always found [him] repellentâ.
Later on in the story, he infiltrates the IOI (the antagonists of the book) headquarters and discovers that they have files on him, Art3mis, Ache and Shoto and Daito (the other two âmainâ characters of the book, which come off as walking Japanese stereotypes). When he finds these files, he checks his and knows that the information that they have is accurate. But instead of grabbing all the files and making a speedy escape to tell the others about this revelation, he spends time breaching their privacy and reading up on everything that they haven't told him yet. He even looks at Art3misâ real face on a picture, which he knows is insecure about how she looks. When he eventually sends a warning to others, he adds a P.S to Art3misâ saying âI think you look even more beautiful in real lifeâ. Which again is just creepy behaviour, at this point Art3mis should file a restraining order for him. When he meets up with her again to discuss a final plan, she is rightfully âpissed offâ over this, but for some reason, Ache backs Wade up.Â
Iâm going to skip over the âfinal battleâ of the book as it's mostly a generic video-game fight. But the book ends with Wade winning the egg and he decides to split the power of the OASIS and the money between him and his 4 âfriendsâ.But he gets to meet Art3mis in person and learns her name is Samantha and gets to talk to her and literally the 5th sentence he says to her is âIâm in love with youâ and she says âiâm sorry for breaking things off with youâ. WHAT!!? He stalked her, breached her privacy and he still somehow gets the girl in the end. No, no, no. This is messed up awful behaviour and he deserves to be locked up. It says a lot about the author âErnest Clineâ, that when I was reading this book I was expecting a plot twist where it's revealed that Wade is an awful person and doesnât win at the end. Instead, his sexist and misogynistic behaviour is rewarded. This is terrifying.
The thing that horrifies me the most about this book, is the way it's mostly marketed to teenage boys who have an interest in 80s video games. So the boys who are reading this may take the wrong messages away from this book and could end up idolising Wade. The readers of this book may come out as sexiest and misogynistic expecting relationships with women to work the way they want to because they are âin love' without even considering the womensâ side of the relationship. Also, they may come off apathetic to voting and politics just like Wade. Who may I remind you has a âbest friendâ who cant be herself due to racism that is still prevalent in the world. He also doesnât stop to consider how and why the world has ended in a dystopian nightmare where the majority of people donât have enough to eat and he only survives due to government handouts. But that's just the âreal worldâ of the book. The OASIS is also a dystopian nightmare, where all of pop-culture is held by one corporation and have the ability to make clones and replicas of real people that have died.
This book was a nightmare to read and actively made me angry and scared at what horrifying thing the main character might do next. Currently, this is the worst book I have ever read.Â
1/10
Moderate: Body shaming, Sexism, and Misogyny
Minor: Transphobia
skyejay95'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
3.5
Itâs also difficult to build tension when for the most part the stakes are limited to a fake world. The mc literally ignores all the major major issues in the real world for a video game and it isnât really addressed at all. Wade does not grow as a person by the end. He just made me mad
Moderate: Racism and Ableism
Minor: Transphobia and Sexism
will_cherico'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? No
1.0
Moderate: Violence, Sexism, and Addiction
Minor: Homophobia and Death of parent
itsheyfay's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Bullying, Death, and Confinement
Moderate: Classism, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Outing, Sexual content, and Abandonment
mardana's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Sexism and Violence