An excellent book. I have already read this twice, once on my own and once to my son, and I’ve seen the movie at least twice also. Movie is very different from the book, but also good.
My son in law recommendedi it to me and after finishing about a third of it, I put it down and wasn’t interested in finishing. When I saw it was on the list, I took it with me on vacation and finished it and am so glad I did!!!
I have another book by the same author called Armada. I haven’t read it yet so can’t vouch it’s as good, but it looks like it’s set up like The Last Starfighter. I’m looking forward to it.
Ender’s Game is amazing, but there are no 80’s references nor is it entirely set in a gamer world. I read The Eye of Minds by James Dashner (Maze Runner author) and I felt it was similar to RPO without the 80’s sub culture. Love this genre!
The book and the movie are both great. As always, the book is better. However, they’re different enough you can enjoy them separately. The movie does not recreate the book. For either, you have to like 80’s references and video games. Much fun.
I wouldn’t say it promotes atheism, any more than it promotes video game addiction. He’s just stating his beliefs (or lack thereof). He’s the only character in the book who mentions it, so it’s not given as fact. Of course even if it was, it still wouldn’t matter or be “promoting” anything – it’s fiction.
@Atlanta have you finished it yet? He only mentions it once or twice, and only there in the beginning. And I can already assume the author of that article spent way too much time delving into it, finding symbolism that wasn’t even there.
It’s an interesting point that I hadn’t fully considered. The comments on God and religion caused me to recognize a cultural shift in Cline’s world. It made sense as basically every other part of the dystopian society had crumbled (politics, energy/food shortages, environmental collapse, etc). Morrow believed this had to do w neglect as people spent their lives online, and towards the end of the book Halliday pushed towards a life outside of the Oasis as well. Even Wade moves beyond his life in the Oasis. So to me the loss of religion and God were more symptoms of crisis, rather than a push to atheism by the author. It also feels like an exaggeration of what we currently experience with our online lives, so lends itself to a natural progression from where we are to a possible future.
I didn’t read the above articles, but I do find this kind of discussion awesome and thought provoking ??
@Carol cool, the book comes from Kline’s point of view as a child of religious parents and his dislike of that. There are more articles I can post that ive read.
Listened to the audio version read by Will Wheaton. Only knew about it from the GAR. Have never been a gamer, but my grown grandson told me he liked it. Maybe because of the main character’s living situation in the stacks reminded me of Harry Potter’s life in the closet, I cared for Wade right away. I listened while driving for my job and while I won’t spoil it with what happened, at one shocking plot twist, I actually pulled my car over to absorb it. (I may assimilate story lines as reality a bit too much☺). Enjoyed this much more than I expected I would.
I don’t like SciFi but I liked this book. I’m going to watch the movie too.
Be prepared to be disappointed!
It’s on my to read shelf.
Reading it now and enjoying it more than I thought I would. Probably because I, too, was a teen during the 80s!
It’s sitting right there, staring at me…
Ha! Me too! Just sitting here calling, “read me”?
Loved it
An excellent book. I have already read this twice, once on my own and once to my son, and I’ve seen the movie at least twice also. Movie is very different from the book, but also good.
How old was your son at the time of reading?
@Pyper , oh, he’s older. 16. We still do family read alouds. ?
I was really surprised by how much I liked it. Never would have read it if it hadn’t been on the GAR list.
This was one that really surprised me how much I liked it!
I couldn’t put it down! Glad it was on the list; I probably wouldn’t have read it otherwise.
AWESOME book!
One of my knew favs!
It is on my reading list 🙂
My son in law recommendedi it to me and after finishing about a third of it, I put it down and wasn’t interested in finishing. When I saw it was on the list, I took it with me on vacation and finished it and am so glad I did!!!
I loved the book. Don’t bother watching the movie.
And I really didnt like it at all. Read for book club. Like you, everyone else loved it.
Loved it, too! New book out, Armada
I am about a third of the way into it. I didn’t expect to like it, but I do.
I really enjoyed it but could have done without the movie.
The movie seemed like it was based on a completely different book.
@Caroline … I thought it was weird that they made the challenges different.
He has another that is equally good. Its called Arcade.
Loved it! Funny how a book set in the future brought back so many memories!
Movie different
Movie was OK but I liked the book better.
I loved it! Totally related to the 80’s Zork references.
Flick bic. ?
Just finished it two nights ago, sooo good! Way different than the movie. Really enjoyed it.
The audiobook is awesome, read by Wil Wheaton!
Yes! My son loved that Will was the one who read it. He did a fantastic job.
This made me sooo happy!
Read before GAR…really liked it, but I live with gamers.
I enjoyed it too. It’s our book for discussion Thursday night.
Movie is good too
I loved it – can anyone suggest anything similar?!? I also read Armada but I wasn’t a big fan.
I have another book by the same author called Armada. I haven’t read it yet so can’t vouch it’s as good, but it looks like it’s set up like The Last Starfighter. I’m looking forward to it.
Enders Game has some similarities and is good.
I’ve not read the following book, but it seems similar and I’ve heard good things about it.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41014903-warcross
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai
Ender’s Game!!
Ender’s Game is amazing, but there are no 80’s references nor is it entirely set in a gamer world. I read The Eye of Minds by James Dashner (Maze Runner author) and I felt it was similar to RPO without the 80’s sub culture. Love this genre!
Loved it! Especially the 80s references
I liked this book. I see it as a fairy tale for video gamers!
Did you hapoen to read the Myth Adventures books as a youth? It’s sort of like living in the arcade version of that.
It’s a top 5 book for me!! Just finished it and loved it so much I started it over again!!
AMAZING BOOK!!!
how does the movie compare? i have not read the book or seen the movie
The book and the movie are both great. As always, the book is better. However, they’re different enough you can enjoy them separately. The movie does not recreate the book. For either, you have to like 80’s references and video games. Much fun.
@Chris thanks
I just finished the audiobook last week and I still haven’t gotten over how good it was!!
Wil Wheaton does a great job narrating.
@Shelley Yes! I loved every second of it!
Reading that one right now for my book group and loving it!
I really loved that one and I do not play video games at all. I really didn’t think I would like it but everyone said read it and I loved it.
Nobody told me it was promoting atheism…
I don’t think I caught that even though I read it.
@Michaél oh really, so him saying all that god stuff was bullshit wasn’t atheism? Ok maybe agnosticism?
@Atlanta I wasn’t trying to start an argument, I just read it so fast I did honestly miss that.
@Michaél oh ok well it’s your post and I’m not trying to argue with you.
@Atlanta I’m a Christian too, just not an easily offended one.
@Michaél ? not sure now to take that as I didn’t admit to being a Christian but you caught me. As to offended, I didn’t say that either ?
@Michaél for your reference
@Atlanta Thank you ? I had returned the copy I borrowed from my son in law so I appreciate that ?
you’re welcome
I wouldn’t say it promotes atheism, any more than it promotes video game addiction. He’s just stating his beliefs (or lack thereof). He’s the only character in the book who mentions it, so it’s not given as fact. Of course even if it was, it still wouldn’t matter or be “promoting” anything – it’s fiction.
@Naomi https://chrisbyersblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/short-christian-review-of-ready-player.html
It is the most atheistic piece of literature I’ve read in 20 years. At any rate I didn’t come here to argue this point. Thank you for your comment.
@Atlanta have you finished it yet? He only mentions it once or twice, and only there in the beginning. And I can already assume the author of that article spent way too much time delving into it, finding symbolism that wasn’t even there.
Naomi Dasher there are other reviews https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/god-and-pac-man-in-ready-player-one/ at any rate if this kind of thing is not important to you it won’t matter, as I said, I didn’t come here to debate. It’s not about the symbolism, it’s about the over all tone and atmosphere.
It’s an interesting point that I hadn’t fully considered. The comments on God and religion caused me to recognize a cultural shift in Cline’s world. It made sense as basically every other part of the dystopian society had crumbled (politics, energy/food shortages, environmental collapse, etc). Morrow believed this had to do w neglect as people spent their lives online, and towards the end of the book Halliday pushed towards a life outside of the Oasis as well. Even Wade moves beyond his life in the Oasis. So to me the loss of religion and God were more symptoms of crisis, rather than a push to atheism by the author. It also feels like an exaggeration of what we currently experience with our online lives, so lends itself to a natural progression from where we are to a possible future.
I didn’t read the above articles, but I do find this kind of discussion awesome and thought provoking ??
@Carol cool, the book comes from Kline’s point of view as a child of religious parents and his dislike of that. There are more articles I can post that ive read.
It’s made me want to go find a legit arcade and play some pinball!
Just finished it after a 48 hour marathon. So good. Loved the bitchen world he created!
Never been one to worry about what other folks see as symbolism in a book. I make my own conclusions and I loved this book!
Watched the movie last night. Bleh. Love the book! ?
I just read it in two days I couldn’t put it down!
Listened to the audio version read by Will Wheaton. Only knew about it from the GAR. Have never been a gamer, but my grown grandson told me he liked it. Maybe because of the main character’s living situation in the stacks reminded me of Harry Potter’s life in the closet, I cared for Wade right away. I listened while driving for my job and while I won’t spoil it with what happened, at one shocking plot twist, I actually pulled my car over to absorb it. (I may assimilate story lines as reality a bit too much☺). Enjoyed this much more than I expected I would.