I’m now reading Cline’s Ready Player One.
I enjoyed that. Just don’t take it too seriously, it’s just a fun guilty pleasure, nerd out, type of thing.
From my nephew’s encouragement, I started Ready Player One again and actually finished it this time. It has a great climax, and a decent resolution, but it has a serious case of nostalgia overload. It doesn’t just scratch some nostalgia itch, but rubs it until it turns raw. As though the late 70’s to mid 80’s were the epitome of media. I say mid-80’s because there was one point when the protagonist finds himself in a phone booth, and I found myself waiting for a Bill & Ted reference that doesn’t happen—and then I remembered that Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure took place in 1988, which was apparently released too late to consider.
Also, I didn’t like the love interest, especially for her stringing the protagonist along with an online relationship she felt had no value and had a subsequent chip on her shoulder about. …oh, and the co-creator of the simulation seems mostly content to sit on the sidelines no matter what happens, which bothered me. As though the lives of real life people weren’t actually at stake regarding the outcome.
It has a decent storyline, with a good twist during the climax, but the constant references bog the experience down more than prop it up.