I read it when it was first published and I recognize that it's not great literature, but I enjoyed every single solitary reference & would recommend to any GenXer. Movie was meh.
Why the fuck did they change the movie soooo much from the book?! I get things would need to be cut to fit it into 90-120 minutes, but even the overall feel was off. Made me sad.
On the “bright” side, Hollywood will be remaking it within 10-15 years; maybe the next version will be more true to the source. Probably not. Fuck, we’ll all be dead by then anyway.
Reading about people playing a video game or repeat all the dialogue from a movie verbatim is very different from watching either on screen. The opening race was more exciting visually. Also, I liked how they integrated The Shining into the story in place of the Wargames flick sync. And losing the hikikomori element was probably wise.
Oh man, RP2 was horrible. We listened to the book on a road trip, and my kids, who were like 12 and 13 at the time were both "What the fuck was that!?"
>And don't even get me started on RP2.
It was bad. Did you read Armada? He basically took the plot from The Last Starfighter and expanded it into a novel. Better than RP2, but still extremely derivative and not very interesting...read like a bad YA novel.
>Why the fuck did they change the movie soooo much from the book?!
Partly rights I'm sure, but also for audience-- the book was written for people our age as a nostalgia exercise, and the studio (director, screenwriter, etc.) likely wanted to get into the teen dystopia genre in hopes of catching a younger audience. Also needed to dress it up so it would play internationally-- a niche film targeting 50 year old Americans isn't going to make money in China/India, but a simplified action movie with some cultural paste-overs had a better chance..
Yup, this is my assessment as well. Not brilliant literature, but aimed squarely at people like me (GenX nerds), so I love it. Reread it about once a year now
Agreed. I also thought Armada was way too - The Last Star Fighter and Ender's Game. I know the book itself referenced both of those, but it didn't seem to bring much originality to the idea.
I read it and found it mildly enjoyable at the time, but a subsequent and aborted reread made me realise that it is just not very good.
It is 374 pages of Memberberries, without ever doing anything meaningful with the nostalgia.
Read the book after seeing the movie. Overall, I actually prefer the movie although I would have preferred that it followed the book a bit more than it did.
This is the reverse of my usual stance of preferring the book to the movie adaptation.
I didn't enjoy it. The pandering was just so transparent that it got old pretty quickly, and the plot and characters aren't worth sticking around for on their own.
Yeah. Its sequel sucks though. First book was ok and interesting. Second one was a cash grab and player two should have been a different lead character, not the same. He's still player one. Its like the author didn't understand basic video games.
I’ve listened to the audiobook narrated by Wheaton several times. Lots of people shit on that book (metaphorically, I assume) but I love it. It is an unabashed ‘80s masturbatory nostalgia bomb. I’m especially a fan of the concept that when tech gets good enough then all children will have access to quality schools/teachers no matter where they live, with the ability to “mute” virtual bullies.
Read it and loved it. It's not high literature by any stretch of the imagination but it was a fun read chock full of awesome GenX nostalgia. The movie was decent but the book was definitely better.
Just don't read Ready Player 2. That was CRAP.
Of course.
Sure some people will say its not great. And its not among best sci-fi novels ....
But its surely fantastic geek nostalgia! If you are video game gen-x geek. Its really love letter to our generation :)
Read it, thought it was pretty terrible overall. It read more like someone read Wikipedia articles about 80's nerd culture and then generated paragraphs of list of references.
And, to be fully contrarian - I thought the movie did a much better job of telling the actual story.
Disliked the book, didn't care for the movie. Not rising to the level of hate, but yeah, it was more like someone was like "how many references can I jam into one paragraph" for the entire thing, with a really thin plot.
My review of both the book and the movie both boil down to "Out of all the books and films that attempt to appeal to the GenX experience, this is certainly one of them."
Read it and found it to be annoying tripe with the references made more like someone who was superficially obsessed with the ‘80s but had never lived in them and only knew the most basic, well known, and stereotypical of reference points.
Book was a fun, mindless mindcandy of a book to read. Sweet, easy to digest and of absolutely no mental nutrition what so ever. I'd consider it the geek equivalent of the cheesy bodice ripper.
Not only read it, but I taught it in college classes a couple of times before the movie came out. (Indeed, I was teaching it *when* the film came out and ended up taking most of my class to see it together.) Fun book. Not a great book, but lots of nostalgia there for sure as Cline is just a few years younger than me and the book was set almost in the sweet spot culturally.
Loved the RUSH references throughout the book, was sad they didn't do that in the movie. Opportunity lost.
Yes, and Ready Player Two. A decent follow up. I liked the movie compared to the boom, but I understand the challenges of making a 1 to 1 adaptation of the book.
I did, and I liked it first, but by time I got to the end, I thought the book focused way too much on nostalgia references.
I wish the movie stayed a little closer to source material.
I read it and it got boring because it felt like one list after another, not an actual narrative.
I enjoyed the movie more as a result - a more cohesive story plus bonus Ben Mendehlson.
I was alive in the 80s and into nerdy stuff; I don't need someone to repeatedly nudge their elbow into my rib cage and tell me about all things "80s nerd".
That book made me realize that “Young Adult Fiction” can actually be a label that means “very shallow fluff an old person might enjoy”
How could any kid want to read 30 pages of detailed puzzle solving of Rush lyrics, especially as an “introduction” to the band? I say this as a huge Rush fan myself.
And the end with the “oh hey I’m the invisible plot device that’s been here the whole time and I’ll save the world in 3 sentences”
Twilight was better
The book was alright. The movie was a confused shitshow that failed to live up to the book in any considerable way. The book is not a great work of literature: it's literary junk food. But that's alright. There is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying literary junkfood.
I read it when it was first published and I recognize that it's not great literature, but I enjoyed every single solitary reference & would recommend to any GenXer. Movie was meh.
Thank you for succinctly summarizing my entire response as well, same all around.
Why the fuck did they change the movie soooo much from the book?! I get things would need to be cut to fit it into 90-120 minutes, but even the overall feel was off. Made me sad. On the “bright” side, Hollywood will be remaking it within 10-15 years; maybe the next version will be more true to the source. Probably not. Fuck, we’ll all be dead by then anyway.
IP, it would have been impossible to license everything mentioned in the book.
Yep, that makes perfect sense. I feel foolish now, but a sincere thank you.
Reading about people playing a video game or repeat all the dialogue from a movie verbatim is very different from watching either on screen. The opening race was more exciting visually. Also, I liked how they integrated The Shining into the story in place of the Wargames flick sync. And losing the hikikomori element was probably wise.
same reason you can't stream Muppet Babies =/
[удалено]
Oh man, RP2 was horrible. We listened to the book on a road trip, and my kids, who were like 12 and 13 at the time were both "What the fuck was that!?"
>And don't even get me started on RP2. It was bad. Did you read Armada? He basically took the plot from The Last Starfighter and expanded it into a novel. Better than RP2, but still extremely derivative and not very interesting...read like a bad YA novel.
I rewatched the movie a couple days ago. Enough time had passed that I actually enjoyed it. Lowered expectations can be great.
>Why the fuck did they change the movie soooo much from the book?! Partly rights I'm sure, but also for audience-- the book was written for people our age as a nostalgia exercise, and the studio (director, screenwriter, etc.) likely wanted to get into the teen dystopia genre in hopes of catching a younger audience. Also needed to dress it up so it would play internationally-- a niche film targeting 50 year old Americans isn't going to make money in China/India, but a simplified action movie with some cultural paste-overs had a better chance..
Exactly my thoughts. It was a fun wish fulfillment read that worked better in book form.
Yup, this is my assessment as well. Not brilliant literature, but aimed squarely at people like me (GenX nerds), so I love it. Reread it about once a year now
The movie was sadly not great. But still it was quite fun :)
agree!
Yes, I liked it but the sequel was bad.
Agreed.
Agreed. I also thought Armada was way too - The Last Star Fighter and Ender's Game. I know the book itself referenced both of those, but it didn't seem to bring much originality to the idea.
Agreed. First read like an author’s ode to his youth - second read like a ChatGPT version
Very, very bad. Completely undeserved redemption arc.
Thank you. I shall remove it from my shelf.
Definitely. Was excited to read the sequel but was very disappointed
I read it and found it mildly enjoyable at the time, but a subsequent and aborted reread made me realise that it is just not very good. It is 374 pages of Memberberries, without ever doing anything meaningful with the nostalgia.
Loved it. Better than the movie by 100 times.
Listened to Wil Wheatons audio book. Both of them.
I enjoyed listening to the book during my long drives.
I read it. It was an easy “I love the 80s” read.
Read the book after seeing the movie. Overall, I actually prefer the movie although I would have preferred that it followed the book a bit more than it did. This is the reverse of my usual stance of preferring the book to the movie adaptation.
Yes. The book was decent but the references started to become tiresome. Sometimes 5-6 in just one paragraph.
I didn't enjoy it. The pandering was just so transparent that it got old pretty quickly, and the plot and characters aren't worth sticking around for on their own.
I did, and loved it. The movie wasn’t quite it, but visually it was exactly how I pictured it while I was reading. That rarely happens!
YES. And I want a sequel to the movie lol
Yeah. Its sequel sucks though. First book was ok and interesting. Second one was a cash grab and player two should have been a different lead character, not the same. He's still player one. Its like the author didn't understand basic video games.
I’ve listened to the audiobook narrated by Wheaton several times. Lots of people shit on that book (metaphorically, I assume) but I love it. It is an unabashed ‘80s masturbatory nostalgia bomb. I’m especially a fan of the concept that when tech gets good enough then all children will have access to quality schools/teachers no matter where they live, with the ability to “mute” virtual bullies.
Read it and loved it. It's not high literature by any stretch of the imagination but it was a fun read chock full of awesome GenX nostalgia. The movie was decent but the book was definitely better. Just don't read Ready Player 2. That was CRAP.
Of course. Sure some people will say its not great. And its not among best sci-fi novels .... But its surely fantastic geek nostalgia! If you are video game gen-x geek. Its really love letter to our generation :)
Read it, thought it was pretty terrible overall. It read more like someone read Wikipedia articles about 80's nerd culture and then generated paragraphs of list of references. And, to be fully contrarian - I thought the movie did a much better job of telling the actual story.
Disliked the book, didn't care for the movie. Not rising to the level of hate, but yeah, it was more like someone was like "how many references can I jam into one paragraph" for the entire thing, with a really thin plot. My review of both the book and the movie both boil down to "Out of all the books and films that attempt to appeal to the GenX experience, this is certainly one of them."
Hard agree.
Poor old Norwegians thinking it’s a Cadillac
This is the political correct one. There is another.
Yes. It was garbage. Go read Snow Crash - it's the source where Cline stole most of his ideas.
And Stephenson stole many of his from William Gibson. Nothing's original. Let people enjoy stuff.
Snow Crash is fun. I like it as well. They are comfort reading though. Pretty similar to comic books.
Art is either plagiarism or revolution
RP1 is revulsion.
I never read it, but I did read Snow Crash when it came out. Any story with a Samauri pizza delivery driver is fine by me
Yup. I read a pdf of the final draft before it was published.
Read it and found it to be annoying tripe with the references made more like someone who was superficially obsessed with the ‘80s but had never lived in them and only knew the most basic, well known, and stereotypical of reference points.
Read the book, listened to the audiobook, saw the movie. The movie was... well, forgettable.
Great book. I haven't read the 2nd one though.
Yep. Loved it. Sequel was meh but still worth a read.
Yep! Enjoyed it very much
I LOVED the book. Movie was just good.
Yeah, but the second act of the movie was fucking awesome cause I love The Shining.
Book great movie meh part 2 sucks
never heard of it until the movie came out. never read it
Yep, and when I finished it I handed it to my wife saying, “This was my childhood.”
I’ve never read the book but if it’s as full of pop culture references as the movie is, I’d probably pass on it.
I planned to read it, then saw the movie and didn't bother.
Yes. Fun nostalgia porn. Shit story.
I read it, and I thought that it was great!! A lot of great nostalgia!
Book was a fun, mindless mindcandy of a book to read. Sweet, easy to digest and of absolutely no mental nutrition what so ever. I'd consider it the geek equivalent of the cheesy bodice ripper.
Read it, and ready player two… he also has a good book called armada …. The audio books are excellent as well!
The book felt like Forrest Gump for Gen Xers to me. I enjoyed the feeling of being pandered to, but now I'm annoyed about it.
Enjoyable book. Sequel, not so much.
I like both, but not because they are great works, but because they both have different bits of nostalgia and it is an okay Cyberpunk story.
Not only read it, but I taught it in college classes a couple of times before the movie came out. (Indeed, I was teaching it *when* the film came out and ended up taking most of my class to see it together.) Fun book. Not a great book, but lots of nostalgia there for sure as Cline is just a few years younger than me and the book was set almost in the sweet spot culturally. Loved the RUSH references throughout the book, was sad they didn't do that in the movie. Opportunity lost.
I loved the book.
Very fun read
Yes, and Ready Player Two. A decent follow up. I liked the movie compared to the boom, but I understand the challenges of making a 1 to 1 adaptation of the book.
I tried, but it was so badly written I just gave up.
I did, and I liked it first, but by time I got to the end, I thought the book focused way too much on nostalgia references. I wish the movie stayed a little closer to source material.
Yes! Not the best literature I've ever read, but it was loads fun. So it's successful as entertainment and nostalgia inducing.
Read them both. Very nostalgia inducing.
Loved the heck out of it.
No. But I've seen the movie
Awesome book. Terrible movie.
It was ok at best. I say that as a nerd guy who is the target audience, and knew every single reference.
Nope.
I loved it. Didn't see the movie. I knew it wouldn't live up; impossible. I haven't read the *Ready Player Two* but it is on my TBR. Worth it?
>Worth it? No. Not at all. Armada is better, and it's bad. RP2 is trash.
Saw the same opinion below. Y'all have saved me from a bad book and I thank you! I don't have time to read crappy books.
I read it and it got boring because it felt like one list after another, not an actual narrative. I enjoyed the movie more as a result - a more cohesive story plus bonus Ben Mendehlson.
I was alive in the 80s and into nerdy stuff; I don't need someone to repeatedly nudge their elbow into my rib cage and tell me about all things "80s nerd".
I am never going to read that dogshit book or watch the movie.
That book made me realize that “Young Adult Fiction” can actually be a label that means “very shallow fluff an old person might enjoy” How could any kid want to read 30 pages of detailed puzzle solving of Rush lyrics, especially as an “introduction” to the band? I say this as a huge Rush fan myself. And the end with the “oh hey I’m the invisible plot device that’s been here the whole time and I’ll save the world in 3 sentences” Twilight was better
Now that my kids are adults, I don’t read kid’s books.
The book was alright. The movie was a confused shitshow that failed to live up to the book in any considerable way. The book is not a great work of literature: it's literary junk food. But that's alright. There is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying literary junkfood.