Ready Player One

Wade Watts is a teenager that lives in a trailer. The only time he feels like his alive is when he is plugged into the Oasis, a virtually reality world where nearly everyone lives their lives. It's how he attends school and has social interactions. But like any virtual reality, there is a creator behind it. In this case the creator of the Oasis is ready to pass on the torch for maintaining and running the Oasis. The Oasis creator has hidden clues and puzzles in the Oasis and the new game master has to find all the keys. Wade Watts finds the first key and the race is on. Ready Player One.

The story is a throwback to many pop-culture gaming references including Pac-Man, Dungeons and Dragons, and more. I listened to most of the book which is read by Wil Wheaton. Wil is the perfect person to read this book. He does a very good job and as a listener, I know that Wil is a gamer at heart. He gets the story. I did return the audio book because it was taking me a long time to read it, so I finished up reading the print edition.

Overall, I found the story interesting and engaging. The author does a good job delving into the Oasis but also pulling out and seeing the real world. But, the story does start to drag about three-fourths of the way through. I simply got bored of the ongoing quest to find the next key. I did get most of the references mentioned in the story, but only because I lived through some of the things mentioned. I had to wonder if kids today would understand it. But as kids borrowed the book at the library, they did.

I was curious about the movie adaptation. I haven't seen it, but I have wondered how the movie would portray the Oasis. There is also the problem of all of the gaming references, which would require extra rights to mention or portray. From what I have read, the reviews were mixed and the movie over-all did not do as well as expected. Still, I'm curious and may watch it one day.

Book Rating: 4 stars

The books I select for review are books which I personally select from my local library. I do not receive any reimbursement from authors or publishers or free books. I do provide links to Amazon as a convenience to the readers of this blog.

Divergent series

I admit that I read this book series three years ago and I am just now writing my review. Divergent is a dystopian young adult series by Veronica Roth. Beatrice Prior attends a ceremony with her family that will select which faction she will be assigned. This ceremony is supposed to help keep a stable society. Should she stay with her family's faction or choose something different. Tris chooses differently. Tris endures initiation into her new faction, but she has a secret that could unravel society.

I can't remember all the details of the books. I can think of several other young adult series that follow the same formula. In that sense, the plot twists are almost predictable and I became bored with the overall story. Endless struggle, violence, and politics overshadows character development and that happens a bit here. It is nice to see a strong female character, but Tris started to become annoying by the third book.

I did see the first movie. It was entertaining, but I have not seen the rest. I admit, I am starting to become tired of young adult dystopian stories. They are all the same. Perhaps, if I had written this review three years ago, I would have had a different reaction. I did finish out the series and I was rather "meh" about the ending. I didn't find it adding much to the story.

Book Rating: 4 stars - it is entertaining, but not all that unique.

The books I select for review are books which I personally select from my local library. I do not receive any reimbursement from authors or publishers or free books. I do provide links to Amazon as a convenience to the readers of this blog. I do earn a small referral pittance which is not even enough to buy a soda.