Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Publication Date: August 16th, 2011
Rating: DNF
Source: Purchase
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 374
Summary (from Goodreads):
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
I listened to about 7 hours of this audiobook on a long car ride back home to visit my dad and my sister. Honestly, it was seven hours too many. I should have known from the beginning that I wasn't going to like this one. Literally right away there was an overly descriptive section about a video that went out on the day of James Halliday's death that describes the contest he's running for someone to claim his fortune.
This section literally describes like, every single frame of this video in great detail and it was a bit too much for me. Like, leave SOMETHING to the imagination, man.
And the next thing that stuck out to me was when Wade was talking about his favorite teacher. He said that the teacher looked like your typical professor in his like tweed jacket with elbow patches or whatever. And he mentions that that could just be how they created their avatar, for all he knew, the teacher could be an Innuit woman from Alaska who made her avatar look like that to be taken seriously as a teacher. Or something along those lines. I don't remember the exact wording. But like... this book takes place in the future, so are women really so worried that they can't be taken seriously as teachers that they would make themselves look like old white men?
And then... then there was this part where Wade is talking about one of his classes that he was taking for an easy A. It was basically a class all about this James Halliday guy and he was talking about how he's already read the biography they're studying FOUR times. And then proceeds to tell us the entire life story of James Halliday and the entire history of the OASIS. I literally think I drove 50 miles while this was going on. It was so hideously boring, I'm surprised I didn't drive into a ditch.
And the last thing that I noticed was when Wade was talking about all the different 80's pop culture things he was studying to figure out James Halliday, he literally listed off E V E R Y. S I N G L E. T H I N G. that he read, played, watched, etc. It was so boring.
I literally listened to this audiobook for almost 3 hours before anything resembling plot started to happen. So the second half of my time listening to this was considerably more interesting, but I just didn't care enough to continue. However, I think that the movie will be considerably more interesting and I am hoping to see that sometime soon.
Have you read Ready Player One yet? What did you think of it?
And then... then there was this part where Wade is talking about one of his classes that he was taking for an easy A. It was basically a class all about this James Halliday guy and he was talking about how he's already read the biography they're studying FOUR times. And then proceeds to tell us the entire life story of James Halliday and the entire history of the OASIS. I literally think I drove 50 miles while this was going on. It was so hideously boring, I'm surprised I didn't drive into a ditch.
And the last thing that I noticed was when Wade was talking about all the different 80's pop culture things he was studying to figure out James Halliday, he literally listed off E V E R Y. S I N G L E. T H I N G. that he read, played, watched, etc. It was so boring.
I literally listened to this audiobook for almost 3 hours before anything resembling plot started to happen. So the second half of my time listening to this was considerably more interesting, but I just didn't care enough to continue. However, I think that the movie will be considerably more interesting and I am hoping to see that sometime soon.
Have you read Ready Player One yet? What did you think of it?
I haven't read Ready Player One yet, and after all of the negative things I've heard about it, I really don't think I'm going to. ALl of the issues people seem to have are ones that I think would definitely bother me. Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it, though! I do hope you enjoy the movie if/when you see it!
ReplyDeleteI don't think you'll be missing out on much if you skip this one! But I just saw the movie and it was WAY better than the book.
DeleteI haven't read this,nor seen the movie, but the beginning doesn't sound too appetizing to me, either. I just finished a series, The Themis Files, that I didn't care for, but could see it being a fab movie or mini-series. Thanks for sharing your review. ☺
ReplyDeleteThe movie was way better than the book. There was no hideous info dumping in the movie so it was IMMENSELY better!
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