Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Narrator: Wil Wheaton
Pub: 2011; Random House
Pages: 372
Audio Length: 15 hours; 46 minutes
Genre: Dysfic, Science Fiction
EVERYONE has been talking about this book for, like, A YEAR now right? 80's driven, game-lovin, science-fiction readin' geeks unite. Essentially. I'm seriously one of the few people left to have read/listened/reviewed this book. Aaaand, I remember reading about it publishing week in Entertainment Weekly fully expecting to love it.
Which is probably why loving it failed miserably for me. It's like getting super excited for that fat free frozen yogurt only to realize that yeah, it's GOOD, but it's NOT gourmet ice cream. (What?! I'm hungry okay...) Ready Player One is the froyo of my 2012. It was yum but not delish.
Briefly, because as I said before, if you haven't read it have you been living under a rock?! Wade is our endearing gaming hero in a dysfic world of devastating poverty and virtual reality. When a prominent man in the VR world dies and leaves complete control of the unreal-reality to the winner of a bunch of games, the world goes wild. Imagine, if you will, if Walt Disney died and hid a key to all of the magic in the magical kingdom.
Wade, amongst his best friend and eventual love interest (and remember EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD) seeks out this treasure. Swiftly on their tails is the conglomerate evil corporate entities who salivate power and control.
It's a race again time, oneself, and corporate greed. Adventuresome, yes? Crazy cool 80's reference? Yuppers. Fun times? Mostly.
This was an uphill battle for me. Like a work out really. I even thought that I would quit the book about one third of the way into it and if I wasn't in a position of not having an audio back up for my car trips, I might have.
Ultimately I'm glad that I stayed with it because the end - the whole process - was worth it. I'm not on fandom level with it like so many others, but yeah, it was a fun ride.
The Audio Aspect
I truly don't think that there would have been a better narrator chosen for this book other than Wil Wheaton. How many of you guys remember reading his blog when blogging first became a thing? If there's a cool gadgety geek out there, then Wheaton is the guy. There was nothing distracting about his reading and any lack of personal captivation was not because of him.
I won this book in a giveaway, so I feel like, even if I don't like it, it didn't cost me anything so I'm totally cool with it! Also, I haven't hyped it up *too* much to myself, so I feel like maybe I'll be extra excited *after* reading it, in a way you weren't? Maybe? We'll see, I guess!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading this book now! I'm a little over halfway through it and I'm kinda loving it. It's just very unique, and kind of tense and exciting, and I get all excited when references are made to things I actually know, like Firefly, lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by the audio edition... if I love it that much in the end I may have to seek it out!
I loved this book. I listened to the audiobook too and Wil Wheaton really made it.
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