Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
the hype is that e.c. is in the same rarefied air as sterling, stephenson, and gibson, that this is the decade’s neuromancer. at first i found his prose too easy, but we are living in a post-rowling world. by the second half of the story i was engrossed in the adventure. there are some great ideas in here, the depiction of online education in the middle of this century is worth the price of admission alone. so many great moments as it layers on the pop culture references of the 80’s (having lived them, i saw a few dropped balls, as it were), the music, the films, the television shows are all here. the stand-up arcade games of my youth are essential, as are many other obsessions of (mine &) the times. i suppose the highest compliment i can give it, it made me want to start a d & d game again, and get an emulator for my computer. i have neuromancer, islands in the net and snow crash if i want to really get lost in the “net”, but it is a good story and is recommended if any of the things mentioned above pique your interest.
true story: when i went to my local comic book store for the signing, who was giving eric words of encouragement (and likely came to see the delorean w/ flux capacitor) was none other than bruce sterling hissownself. welcome to the cyberpunk royalty mr. cline. i await your next adventure…
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2011/08/31
Categories: the librarian's reads . Tags: big brother and the police state, corporate asshats, library is the new cupcake, our shiny future, wordy rappinghood . Author: jesse l mabus . Comments: Leave a comment