Stefanie's Thoughts: Ready Player One

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.

Hey everyone,

So I did something I normally don't: I watched the movie version before I read the book. This is a very rare occurrence for me (I even have a bag from Chapters that says the book was better..). But seeing the movie just worked out better for this one: plus my hold for the book at the library wasn't ready for pickup yet. 

This book took for me 18 days to read, which also never happens. With everything going on in my life right now, reading took a back seat (but I did end up reading the last section in a day so there's that at least) but that pesky reminder from the library about needing to return this in three days really got me to speed read the last portion of it.

I really enjoyed Ready Player One from the start. I found the prologue a bit wordy, but chapter one got the adventure going. I loved the crazy and random 80s pop culture references, personally, my two favorite references were the ones that referred to Quidditch and the other about Ewoks. A side note: I'm obsessed with Ewoks, even have one from Disneyland that I made sure I bought when I last went to Disneyland. The 80s music references were also great and honestly had me singing those songs in my head after they were mentioned. I've read some reviews that say they hated all the constant references and found it took away from the story, but I found them to be rather pleasant!

After around the search for the second clue is where my interest faded. I found the chapters to go from amazing and holding my attention, to me skipping through them hoping it would get better. I don't know why this sudden change happened; it almost felt like two different authors wrote this book from this point. The writing was inflated and this was when the constant references felt they brought the story down and slowed the pace.

I found our main character Wade grew super annoying as the book went on. he at first seemed like the guy next door you can side with and want to be friends with; he then slowly turned into this, I don't even know how to describe it, almost like that guy at school you want to avoid at all costs because he's some massive annoying jerk.

Artemis was my favorite character, both in the movie and book. She had this whole level I could relate to going for her. Being the only female character in a male driven story has that going for her. She wasn't some weak character, but was kick ass at everything.

What I did discover was the massive differences between the movie and the book. I actually had to check with my sister at times if what had happened in the book was portrayed in the movie (most times being nope. My sister has only seen the movie, keep in mind). I eventually got to the point of telling her all of the differences between the two, just to show her how different they are.

I felt that the movie was better; unpopular opinion I'm sure, but don't hate.The movie's first scene was epic in 3D and the plot had me completely engrossed, especially for a 2 hour and 20 minute movie. Even my sister liked it and she hates long movies (with the exception of Harry Potter).

So if I had to choose between the book or movie, this is the rare time the book wasn't better. A couple of the people I've spoken to since finishing both are pretty shocked at by opinion, but hey, can't impress everyone.

I'll find myself probably re-watching the movie and I was curious about reading Cline's second book, also sci-fi, but I'm not sure. I don't want it to start off so amazingly to end with disappointment.

I'll be off trying to figure out book to read next. I still can't believe that this took me so long to get through...

Until my next review,

Stefanie