It was terrible. Just an endless avalanche of 80s pop culture references loosely strung together with a horribly cliche plot and characters.

The references weren't even interesting either. It'll just be something like, "Then, I traveled to planet Bueller, where I played through the plot of Ferris Bueller's Day Off--", and then a page and a half literally describing various scenes from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. That's it. It adds nothing. Unless the idea of scenes from 80s movies and TV shows and video games that you are familiar with being described back to you is inherently amusing, you will probably find that this gets old very fast.

Then again - this might translate much better to the screen, in a way it didn't to the page, because A) film is a much better medium, I think, to delight the audience with familiarity than writing, and B) from the trailer it looks like the film will expand beyond just 80s pop culture, and intermix the references a little better than "I went to planet Star Wars and here are some scenes from Star Wars I played through". With Spielberg at the helm, I have pretty high hopes. Just don't expect, if you like the movie, to read the book and like it even more. If the film succeeds, this will be one of those very rare instances in which it's better than the material it's adapted from.

If you want to read a good novel about VR, pick up Snow Crash instead.

I was actually planning to start Snow Crash tonight, so that's funny. I liked Ready Player One quite a bit, so hopefully I enjoy Snow Crash even more. Any other good VR books? I also picked up Armada by the author of RPO, being a sucker for alien invasion sci-fi.

Neuromancer, but of course.

Thanks for the tip. I'll give Snow Crash a try.

I'm not sure what's so appealing about the novel. I did finish it though, it's not a very good book. It's fine. It hits the same nostalgia spots as something like Mr. Robot and Stranger Things, both overrated shows imo. The only positive thing i can say about this is that it's built to be a movie. It offers nothing beyond visuals, but thankfully it looks like Spielberg got that part oh so right.

Just out of curiosity, what are your top shows of the past few years if you find those to be overrated?

True Detective, Breaking Bad, Halt and Catch Fire, The Knick, The Leftovers, The Americans, The Young Pope, Patriot and Fargo.

Ah - have watched and enjoyed most of these. Haven't heard of The Knick though. Will check that one out. Thanks!

sly

Isn't it a Young Adult book? That might explain why it didn't work for you. A lot of adult readers have commented (here and elsewhere) that they found it to be poorly written.

I am in my 40s and I thorouhly enjoyed the book. To each his own.

It had a very limited vocabulary, and a fairly simplistic grammar style. But the basic idea was pretty cool. Hopefully this translates better in a movie.

I read the entire book, and I didn't like it that much either. I guess it's just a subjective thing. I did, however, think it would make a much better movie than book.

As a counterpoint, I wasn't really a child of the eighties but was familiar with a lot of the things in the book--wasn't hardcore into them because I was a young adult at the time. It wasn't a brilliantly written. But I found it more of "I'll just read one more chapter" than most things I've read for a while. Nostalgia I guess. Maybe I'm more of a sucker for that sort of thing than many. I did like it though.

I think the best explanation is that you missed rest of the chapters! :)

Just mentally filter out every reference to the 80's and enjoy it for the VR story that it is.

Also, it has one of the worst opening chapters of any book I've every read. Skip the first chapter (or skim it), and then continue - it's a good story.

Minus the opening chapter, and the 80's references it's actually a fun book.

That may have been my issue with it. I stopped reading somewhere within the first chapter because I couldn't bring myself to care. Maybe I'll give the book another shot with this in mind.

Reminds me of the show Parks & Rec. I tried two episodes during the first season, disliked them, and moved on. A couple years later, I came across the recommendation to try again, but skip the first season. I gave it a shot and truly enjoyed most of the rest of the show.

Nothing. It's basically, like, a decently told story, nothing special about it, and it resonated with some people who, I think, like to 'get the reference'.

Right, it is basically Willy Wonka but without the charm or wit.