Ready Player One- has anyone read this?!

[J T]

Has anyone here read this book? I just finished it and I feel like it was written for our kind of people. Without spoiling anything, the basic premise of the book is that in the year 2044 a wildly successful game designer has left an easter egg in his most popular game. The gamer that solves the mysteries and finds the egg will inherit the dying game designer's fortune. The contest is based around the designer's obsessions with 80s games, movies, and music, so the contestants must be deeply familiar with thost things and lots of random geekery if they are to win.

The book is incredibly fun and bursting with pop culture references and gamer trivia. I think for those of us that love classic arcade games, it's an immense treat and I imagine most of you guys here at racketboy will enjoy it. I couldn't put it down.

Trailer for a book, wtf?

[Ghegs]

Just finished reading this yesterday. It was certainly entertaining, though at times the book felt like a fanfic for a "throw in as many 80's references as possible"-competition, the writing had a bit amateurish feel like that to it occasionally. But a fun read nonetheless, certainly recommended.

[Ack]

I had this recommended to me and have purchased a copy, but it's sitting in a pile of other books, such as a history of the founding of the People's Republic of China and The Right Stuff. It may be a bit before I get to it.

[dsheinem]

I'd heard that it reads like young adult fiction...

[flex wood]

I'd heard that it reads like young adult fiction...

So twilight for guys?

[Ghegs]

That's not an entirely inaccurate description, actually. There's certainly a lot of nerd fantasies in this thing.

(Very mild spoilers, nothing specific)

There's the Ultimate Virtual Reality Game that offers escapism, then the character gets more and more powerful both in-game and in real life, then there's the stuff with the girl...

Now that I think about it, it really is the daydream of every socially awkward WoW-addicted nerd kid. I think that's where my earlier comment about how it feels fanfic-y came from, like it's written by someone who really wishes all this happened to them.

[J T]

Honestly, he's not the best writer. He over-explains a lot of his references and ends up sounding like a Wikipedia article. And yes, the book is a total geek fantasy.

BUT, I loved it. Maybe I'm just a big geek with big geek fantasies, but I enjoyed reading about this alternate universe where obsessive fanboy knowledge of 80s games and pop culture actually mattered. I thought the plot was great and I had a lot of fun reading the thing. It's not high art literature, but it is highly enjoyable nerd pulp fiction.

[Blu]

Got this as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend's mum. I have to say that the story was great, and the writing was decent. I really dug the premise of the novel, and appreciated most of the references, though at times they were superfluous at moments.

[indecks]

fanfic for a "throw in as many 80's references as possible"-competition,

I've mentioned my thoughts on this book in another thread here, but that's exactly what my problem was with it. I ended up no finishing it. The guy just name dropped way too much.

[J T]

I don't really know how you can fault a book that is about a giant 80s trivia contest for having too many references to 80s pop culture. Also, there was a contest that went with the book. The author was giving away a Back To The Future style Delorean to whoever could solve the mystery hidden within the book. Unfortunately, the car had already been won before I read the book.