Ready Player One

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dmw71
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Re: Ready Player One

#21 Post by dmw71 »

onlyme wrote:A couple of suggestions...
Added to my wishlist on Amazon. Thanks for the suggestions.
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Re: Ready Player One

#22 Post by Starbeard »

I've just about made my way through the first third of the book. The style of writing doesn't really grab me at all, the cleverness of the references is inconsistent and—I feel like a true Anorak saying this—not always accurate, and there are a few major plot points that seem a little shaky to me (how could a planetful of nerds who believe that their trivia knowledge of AD&D could win them billions of dollars actually think of Tomb of Horrors as 'some obscure module'?).

But, I have to say, I'm really enjoying the book, immensely. I can't wait to read more, finish it and move on to Armada.

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Re: Ready Player One

#23 Post by Starbeard »

Just finished the book today before work.

The Negative: I thought some of the pop culture references and explanations became tired and forced after awhile. If had a quarter for every time something in that book was 'the legendary/classic/obscure' or part of a 'Holy Trinity', I'd be at the arcade for hours. The main character Wade is also about as much of a Mary Sue as you can get, big time. I'd even call him a Mechamary Sue. By the end of the book I still didn't care much for the writing style or (especially) the dialogue, but it stopped grating on me once I realized that it was an intentional conceit. The author was trying to get the book to read like watching a scene from The Goonies or a John Hughes teen flick, with every character in the room blasting sarcastic one-liners and interjections back at each other.

The Positive: The premise is great. It gives this impression of the future where the extreme logical conclusion of our social media age is pretty bleak but also oddly comforting. At the end of the world even the homeless and the starving have wifi and a VR life. As humanity slides toward its own destruction, society at large responds by withdrawing into nostalgia, treating entertainment as religious gospel, hanging out in chat rooms and arguing pedantically over the finer points of politics and social privilege. Seeing the characters talk about, obsess over and even jump inside of Adventure, Tomb of Horrors, Zork, TRS-80s, Japanese Spiderman and all the rest was really cool, and scratched my inner geek itch to no end.

The Verdict: I never really got invested with any of the characters or how the plot developed, and I didn't caring for the writing style, but I had an absolute blast reading the book and couldn't put it down. I guess that says a lot. Highly recommended for anyone who likes adventure stories, science fiction, anime, videogames and/or suffers from 80s nostalgia.
Last edited by Starbeard on Thu Jun 29, 2017 12:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Ready Player One

#24 Post by Inferno »

I'm enjoying this thread.

I can't recommend Cormac McCarthy's The Road enough. Especially if you're a dad.
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Re: Ready Player One

#25 Post by Alethan »

Inferno wrote:I'm enjoying this thread.

I can't recommend Cormac McCarthy's The Road enough. Especially if you're a dad.
I, too, enjoy this thread, but I'd have to disagree with your recommendation, Inferno.

I really enjoyed that book. A lot.

But ever since I've become a dad, I have a very hard time reading books like that. Or books where children are killed or movies of the same.

I have some deep-seated mental issues with death, though. The thought of leaving my young child to struggle in a world like that without me being there is just... a terrible thought.

But I do love the book from a literary sense.

That's an interesting review of Ready Player One, Starbeard. Yes, I totally understood the dialog at some level being reminiscent of John Hughs dialog, so maybe that is why it never bothered me. I wonder if you also have to be of the perfect age to most fully accept this book for what it is. I was born in 1973. I feel like he wrote the book FOR ME. Or TO ME, even.
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Re: Ready Player One

#26 Post by onlyme »

Alethan wrote: I was born in 1973.
Dang, I had you pegged for older. (by only a few years, though :) )
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Re: Ready Player One

#27 Post by Inferno »

Alethan wrote:
Inferno wrote:I'm enjoying this thread.

I can't recommend Cormac McCarthy's The Road enough. Especially if you're a dad.
I, too, enjoy this thread, but I'd have to disagree with your recommendation, Inferno.

I really enjoyed that book. A lot.

But ever since I've become a dad, I have a very hard time reading books like that. Or books where children are killed or movies of the same.

I have some deep-seated mental issues with death, though. The thought of leaving my young child to struggle in a world like that without me being there is just... a terrible thought.

But I do love the book from a literary sense.
Looks like we agree on the book, and its effect on the reader. I guess the difference is I'm a masochist. ;)
That book really kicked my ass. In a good way. I still think about it.

Spoilers:
It had a happy-ish ending though, with the boy, against all odds, being adopted into a loving family. After everything that went before, it seemed completely out of place, and a cop out literarily. But emotionally, I was grateful that McCarthy threw us a bone.
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The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

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Re: Ready Player One

#28 Post by Alethan »

Inferno wrote: Looks like we agree on the book, and its effect on the reader. I guess the difference is I'm a masochist. ;)
That book really kicked my ass. In a good way. I still think about it.

Spoilers:
It had a happy-ish ending though, with the boy, against all odds, being adopted into a loving family. After everything that went before, it seemed completely out of place, and a cop out literarily. But emotionally, I was grateful that McCarthy threw us a bone.
Agreed. I still think about it as well. Any time I go to the grocery store and get a cart with a jacked up wheel, for example... Or any time I see a vendor at work filling up the soda machine. Or when I'm thinking about just how long it would take me to hike/walk/bike from my house to my brother's house (our designated point of gathering should something big/bad ever happen). With a child tagging along.
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Re: Ready Player One

#29 Post by dmw71 »

Starbeard wrote:The Negative: I thought some of the pop culture references and explanations became tired and forced after awhile. If had a quarter for every time something in that book was 'the legendary/classic/obscure' or part of a 'Holy Trinity', I'd be at the arcade for hours. The main character Wade is also about as much of a Mary Sue as you can get, big time. I'd even call him a Mechamary Sue. By the end of the book I still didn't care much for the writing style or (especially) the dialogue, but it stopped grating on me once I realized that it was an intentional conceit. The author was trying to get the book to read like watching a scene from The Goonies or a John Hughes teen flick, with every character in the room blasting sarcastic one-liners and interjections back at each other.
I see what you're saying. That said, while I was actually reading the book, I didn't take issue with the references, and actually found myself looking forward to the next one.

For someone that does not read regularly, and needed a book that was fun and engaging in order for me to keep up with it, this one fit the bill.

Sadly, I have too much going on right now and haven't been able to pick up another book to start, but every so often I'll open one of the many D&D PDFs I've purchased, but haven't read, and I'll start one of them. I haven't gone back to any (yet), but I'll chalk that us as being more a lack of opportunity than a lack of interest.

I've also made sure to add the other book recommendations to a wish list and will hopefully check them out in the future when I am ready to pick up another actual novel and not RPG sourcebook.
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Re: Ready Player One

#30 Post by Starbeard »

Alethan wrote:That's an interesting review of Ready Player One, Starbeard. Yes, I totally understood the dialog at some level being reminiscent of John Hughs dialog, so maybe that is why it never bothered me. I wonder if you also have to be of the perfect age to most fully accept this book for what it is. I was born in 1973. I feel like he wrote the book FOR ME. Or TO ME, even.
I hear you. I was born early in 1984, but into a large extended family where all of my older siblings and cousins were definitely 80s kids and teens, so my cultural frame of reference was, and still is, firmly fixed in the 80s instead of the 90s. Games wise, I grew up on Intellivision, Atari, Infocom text adventures, Apple IIs, TI computers, wireframe RPGs, black & white TV sets and board games with hexes on them, because that's all the stuff my family already had. While reading the book I found myself wondering what the story would be like for my generation, and I didn't find the thought interesting at all. I just wasn't current or present during that decade, so I really have no nostalgia for those times, except maybe for discovering the world wibe web for the first time.

But movie wise I was definitely of the next generation, and it shows. I was of the age to grow up with Ewok movies, Neverending Story, the live action Masters of the Universe, which I loved. Captain EO was absolutely my idol. I didn't really get to see too many 80s teen or grownup movies until I was a teen myself in the 90s. By then I was making up for lost time, watching everything I missed for being too young and gobbling it up like Wade in the book, but even I had to admit that the zeitgeist and cultural resonance of the Breakfast Club had come and gone. And now that you mention it, it was almost always the teen movie bits in the book that didn't click with me as much as the rest of it.

It didn't really matter while reading it though; over the years I've come to realize that I'm actually just a picky reader when it comes to writing style, and I consider it a marker of my own growth now that I can still fully enjoy a book even if it doesn't read at all the way I would've liked it to read.

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Re: Ready Player One

#31 Post by Scott308 »

Just picked this up at the library and will start reading it at work on Monday.
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Re: Ready Player One

#32 Post by Starbeard »

I'm on a roll. I've just started Armada to read during the slow spots at work. Already it has one of the best opening lines I've read in years. It rings with a generation-defining resonance:

'I was staring out the classroom window and daydreaming of adventure when I spotted the flying saucer.'

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Re: Ready Player One

#33 Post by Alethan »

Starbeard wrote:I'm on a roll. I've just started Armada to read during the slow spots at work. Already it has one of the best opening lines I've read in years. It rings with a generation-defining resonance:

'I was staring out the classroom window and daydreaming of adventure when I spotted the flying saucer.'
Ok... shit. Looks like I'm gonna have to check it out now.

Yay library cards!!!
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Re: Ready Player One

#34 Post by Alethan »

Alethan wrote:
Starbeard wrote:I'm on a roll. I've just started Armada to read during the slow spots at work. Already it has one of the best opening lines I've read in years. It rings with a generation-defining resonance:

'I was staring out the classroom window and daydreaming of adventure when I spotted the flying saucer.'
Ok... shit. Looks like I'm gonna have to check it out now.

Yay library cards!!!
Alright! Audio book is available! Now I can listen to it while doing some woodworking projects during my extended weekend! ;)
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Re: Ready Player One

#35 Post by Alethan »

Alethan wrote: Alright! Audio book is available! Now I can listen to it while doing some woodworking projects during my extended weekend! ;)
Oh, shit! Read by Wil Wheaton!!!!!
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Re: Ready Player One

#36 Post by dmw71 »

Alethan wrote:Oh, shit! Read by Wil Wheaton!!!!!
Nice! How is he as a narrator?
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Re: Ready Player One

#37 Post by Alethan »

dmw71 wrote:
Alethan wrote:Oh, shit! Read by Wil Wheaton!!!!!
Nice! How is he as a narrator?
Not bad, really! It certainly doesn't ruin the book. I've had a few books I can't listen to because of the narrator.

Sometimes I wish an author would stick with the same narrator through all of his books. Bernard Cornwell has several different people doing narration for his warlord series. I really liked the first guy and wish he would have been kept for the series.
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Re: Ready Player One

#38 Post by onlyme »

Alethan wrote: Sometimes I wish an author would stick with the same narrator through all of his books. Bernard Cornwell has several different people doing narration for his warlord series. I really liked the first guy and wish he would have been kept for the series.

Totally agree. I guess like a movie, once I connect the voice and the character, I want it to stay consistent. I dont pay attention to the peoples' names, but I do get thrown off when the same voice is doing two random novels.
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Re: Ready Player One

#39 Post by hedgeknight »

Inferno wrote:I'm enjoying this thread.

I can't recommend Cormac McCarthy's The Road enough. Especially if you're a dad.
The Road messed me up and then I watched the movie and was a blubbering mess for several hours. At the time, my son was about 9 or 10 > same age as the boy in the book/movie. I can't imagine leaving him all alone in ANY world. He is 16 now, and he is still the love of my life.

Great book, though, I'll never read it again...or watch the movie.
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Re: Ready Player One

#40 Post by Alethan »

hedgeknight wrote:
Inferno wrote:I'm enjoying this thread.

I can't recommend Cormac McCarthy's The Road enough. Especially if you're a dad.
The Road messed me up and then I watched the movie and was a blubbering mess for several hours. At the time, my son was about 9 or 10 > same age as the boy in the book/movie. I can't imagine leaving him all alone in ANY world. He is 16 now, and he is still the love of my life.

Great book, though, I'll never read it again...or watch the movie.
I've never watched the movie for that very reason, Hedge. Glad it's not just me.
Alethan wrote:
Alethan wrote: Alright! Audio book is available! Now I can listen to it while doing some woodworking projects during my extended weekend! ;)
Oh, shit! Read by Wil Wheaton!!!!!
So the only drawback to listening to the book read by Wil Wheaton is that the Protagonist looks like Wesley Crusher in my head. :-\ At this point, I don't think it can be fixed.
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