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Bezig met laden... Ready Player One: A Novel (origineel 2011; editie 2012)door Ernest Cline (Auteur)
Informatie over het werkReady Player One door Ernest Cline (2011)
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This is an amazing book. A great adventure story that would be just as good in a fantasy or wizard setting. However putting it in the pop culture of my youth was a bonus. ( ) A guy left his Converse sneakers at the Arcade's door in 1986 and keeps looking for them. Even after death. This pretty much sums it up. One would think that, at least, something is gonna happen to raise the suspense but no, it's just a giant videogame geek's wank where the final reward is infinite lives, superpowers, money and, obviously, the girl; with a sloppy moralistic afterthought (probably by the editor, Great Absent otherwise) about the primacy of real life, slapped on the ending like a Parental Advisory on a CD. Style: clunky when not absent. The attempts at giving characters a voice are even worse than the general flatness. Storyline: ridiculously childish. There is every single marker of bad narrative: Deus ex Machina; last-minute tricks; plot-serving character twists; even the Protagonist's Cunning Plot (that goes so smooth that you start doubting whether the Evil All-Powerful Corporation is run by dummies). Had I marked every instance of bad plot symptoms, finishing the book would have taken years. Characters: cardboard silhouettes. Should I mention predictability? A second star because I was a child in the Eighties. But it's a guilty pleasure star. It should have been one star. Guilty as charged. EDIT: I have afterthoughts, too. To be honest, the first third of the novel is not that bad. I remember thinking that it could have made for decent cyberpunk dystopian sci-fi with a geeky twist (apart from the style. The style is awful throughout. I know, I am repeating myself). There were many interesting threads: life in the stacks of caravans, the collective loss of contact with reality, the protagonist not being your run-of-the-mill muscular handsome fella... until he becomes one, but more about this later on, in the spoiler. The problem is that, as the novel goes on (I don't dare say "progress" because, well, it ends up going nowhere) all these threads are left loose, and the attention narrows down to a pretty challenge-less ascent to power with little credibility. Considering that the characters are already plot-driven and that the world-building stops at the caravan stacks, with some further reference to economic implosion and to the world of hikikomori, when the plot flatlines one is left with pretty little to keep the whole thing moving. Then there is the diversity tokenism. Every time this guy tries to wink to minorities he ends up shitting himself with a distinct David Brent: Life on the Road flavour. SPOILER ALERT CUM RANT. The fat black lesbian chick disguising herself until now as a white handsome guy is totally fine, let's not challenge the choice and its repercussions; it's just that her homophobic mum taught her to pass white and male online to avoid problems and that's what she will keep doing until the end of the novel. A-okay, right? Look at the bright side, at least she was not acting when drooling over arses and tits with the protagonist. Yes, this is an argument actually made in-text. You are welcome. Our protagonist is a chubby boy, how inclusive. Until he starts exercising and becomes your run-of-the-mill handsome fella, ditto. Because one doesn't want the reader to visualise a chubby boy smooching the pretty girl-with-birthmark-so-she-is-different-while-remaining-wank-material-for-acneic-teenager-males, does one? END OF SPOILER ALERT. RANT CONTINUES BELOW. And the style, well, the style sucks. Have I mentioned how the style sucks? I never tire of mentioning it. I wonder why. And indeed... ...one last consideration about the style, or lack thereof. Boy, this compulsion to put in the characters' mouths pedantic citations of date and details of books, games and movies. Come on, I am a Start Trek geek myself. I don't answer casual references to Data with "well said! Star Trek: Next Generation, 1985-1992, the actor was Brent Spiner". I just don't. Either the interlocutor is a geek like me, which makes this kind of info-dumping redundant, or they are not, which makes it just annoying. One is supposed to bond by hugging in tears at the discovery of a brother in arms, or to answer with another reference if the mutual geekiness is already acknowledged. There is no universe in which info-dumping is acceptable. Unless one IS Data, of course. And one is most definitely not. Actually, it comes out that it was a rant more than an afterthought. Thank you for your patience. #BookReview Ready Player One by Ernest Cline It's a rare occurrence in my life when I end up watching the movie without realising that it is a book adaptation. Now that I've read 'Ready Player One', I sure am glad that I watched the movie first! (Be forewarned; the movie story is very different from that of the book.) Imagine reading a book on baseball and you happen to be interested in sports but aren't an expert in baseball. You'll enjoy the book, no doubt. But there will be many terms that you can't understand and at the end, there will be a slight regret in your heart. You will start pondering, "if only I had some interest in baseball, I'd have enjoyed this book even more." That's me with 'Ready Player One'. 'Ready Player One' is a full paisa-vasool entertainer. The story is set in a dystopian 2045, where the world is in tumult after the energy crisis and countless wars. The only escape people have is to log into a huge virtual reality world called OASIS that is a combination of video games plus real life skill enhancing options such as schools. The owner of OASIS passes away without an heir and declares in his final will that whoever can solve a three-level challenge can inherit the company and all his wealth. You can guess the rest. Every OASIS player wants to win this challenge. There are some baddies too who want to win the challenge for their own profit. (I am slightly reminded of the movie 'Avataar' while writing this, but the similarity is only limited to the extent that there is a virtual world and there are heinous corporations involved.) The key OASIS players in the challenge are all interesting characters and each of them displays a range of human strengths and weaknesses. Ernest Cline keeps the momentum of the book steadily going with his tricky unveiling of the challenges, his mastery over the pop-culture content and his vivid imagination. Boy, does the man know his video games or what!
Ready Player One borrows liberally from the same Joseph Campbell plot requirements as all the beloved franchises it references, but in such a loving, deferential way that it becomes endearing. There’s a high learning curve to all of the little details Wade throws out about the world, and for anyone who doesn’t understand or love the same sect of pop culture Halliday enjoyed, Ready Player One is a tough read. But for readers in line with Cline’s obsessions, this is a guaranteed pleasure. "Cline is an ingenious conjurer talented at translating high concept into compelling storytelling." The breadth and cleverness of Mr. Cline’s imagination gets this daydream pretty far. But there comes a point when it’s clear that Wade lacks at least one dimension, and that gaming has overwhelmed everything else about this book. "Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Cline’s first novel is old wine in new bottles. " Onderdeel van de reeks(en)Ready Player One (1) Onderdeel van de uitgeversreeks(en)Fischer Taschenbuch (70242) Heeft de bewerkingInspireerdeHeeft als studiegids voor studentenPrijzenOnderscheidingenErelijsten
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines-puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win-and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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