5 ms·

I am surprised no-one mentioned "Ready Player One" yet. It is a NY Times best seller and Steven Spielberg is set to direct it in 2018. Great book, often referre

I am surprised no-one mentioned "Ready Player One" yet. It is a NY Times best seller and Steven Spielberg is set to direct it in 2018. Great book, often referred to as a NERDGASM ;-) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/books/ready-player-one-by-ernest-cline-review.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/books/ready-player-one-by-...

endgame 10y ago
I found that book to be dreadful and couldn't make it through. The initial worldbuilding was interesting but then it seemed to turn into an endless loop of "HEY DO YOU REMEMBER THIS THING FROM THE 80'S WASN'T IT AWESOME?".
- aerovistae 10y ago
  Oh my god same reaction. I thought it was just awful. I was so excited to read it, got that same initial impression, and then was slowly ground into utter boredom as the plot devolved to just one 80s culture reference after another with little no real character development or story intricacy.
- ghaff 10y ago
  I think you really need to appreciate and get into the 80s nostalgia. If that doesn't work for you--or you just don't have the cultural background--the [EDIT: book] probably isn't for you. If it was about a topic or era where 90% of the references meant nothing to me, I don't think I'd have liked it either. Personally I loved it even though I was never a hardcore gamer in that vein and I know others in the same boat. But I certainly get your criticism.
  - endgame 10y ago
    I generally enjoy that stuff, and I think that it made the book worse for me. Example: Referencing Tomb of Horrors as some kind of forgotten lore? Preposterous! That module is iconic. Whatever module he used should have been something I'd never heard of.
- digitalengineer 10y ago
  Each their own of course. Perhaps you'd like Robopocalypse more. It's written by someone with a PhD in robotics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robopocalypse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robopocalypse
- Jaruzel 10y ago
  Likewise. It started off SO well, but then the 80s (and a couple of misplaced early 90s) references became too frequent and it felt like the author was just off on his own nostalgia trip and the actual story was secondplace. About halfway through, I also felt it took a direct shift into 'teen romance' as if the publisher had read the draft thus far and said 'y'know, with xyz added this would make a great film for the 12-15 yr old audience!' Going in, I was hoping it was to be a homage to things I loved growing up, but what I ended up with was a pile of teen-fict no better than Twilight. I am a little bit bitter about RP1, can you tell? Right now I'm reading Kim Stanley Robinsion's '2312'. It's very similar to some of the Culture novels - indeed I picked it up after feeling the loss of no more Iain M Banks books coming... If you like Culturesque stuff, I can totally recommend it.
- whostolemyhat 10y ago
  Yep, it definitely felt like a couple of sentences of plot followed by a page of 80s trivia copied from Wikipedia.
  - endgame 10y ago
    "A page" is putting it mildly.
aedron 10y ago
This was the book that taught me to not trust recommendations from HN uncritically. God I hate it.
viraptor 10y ago
Maybe it's not the right audience here. Ready player One is a total YAF, so not many adults will find it fun. I did enjoy reading it, but at the same time thought it wasn't great quality. A bit like finding a really fun article in a trashy magazine. I feel like Ender's Game is in the same category.
- chx 10y ago
  The biggest strength of Ender's Game is how many of us as a child could identify with it. Before the Internet a bookish nerd kid very often had a very hard time finding anyone even remotely similar. Ender called to us and gave us hope that if there's a book then perhaps there are others out there. Translating this into a movie is near impossible but also the time for it has passed.
  - viraptor 10y ago
    The essence of YAF really. A kid just like you who can change the world! I did read some Card books again around 30, and can't find much interesting in them anymore :-(
    - chx 10y ago
      YAF?
      - gergoerdi 9y ago
        Young Adult Fiction.
FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
It was a nostalgia-gasm for Gen X/Y people like me who grew up in the 80's. That feeling was so strong, that it allowed me to power through the sub-par writing and plot. I just skimmed through and only paid attention to the references. Without these, I don't think I could've gotten through the first chapter. I'd fully expect the movie to be superior to the book. Then again, that's not saying much.

endgame 10y ago

I found that book to be dreadful and couldn't make it through. The initial worldbuilding was interesting but then it seemed to turn into an endless loop of "HEY DO YOU REMEMBER THIS THING FROM THE 80'S WASN'T IT AWESOME?".

aerovistae 10y ago
Oh my god same reaction. I thought it was just awful. I was so excited to read it, got that same initial impression, and then was slowly ground into utter boredom as the plot devolved to just one 80s culture reference after another with little no real character development or story intricacy.
ghaff 10y ago
I think you really need to appreciate and get into the 80s nostalgia. If that doesn't work for you--or you just don't have the cultural background--the [EDIT: book] probably isn't for you. If it was about a topic or era where 90% of the references meant nothing to me, I don't think I'd have liked it either. Personally I loved it even though I was never a hardcore gamer in that vein and I know others in the same boat. But I certainly get your criticism.
- endgame 10y ago
  I generally enjoy that stuff, and I think that it made the book worse for me. Example: Referencing Tomb of Horrors as some kind of forgotten lore? Preposterous! That module is iconic. Whatever module he used should have been something I'd never heard of.
digitalengineer 10y ago
Each their own of course. Perhaps you'd like Robopocalypse more. It's written by someone with a PhD in robotics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robopocalypse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robopocalypse
Jaruzel 10y ago
Likewise. It started off SO well, but then the 80s (and a couple of misplaced early 90s) references became too frequent and it felt like the author was just off on his own nostalgia trip and the actual story was secondplace. About halfway through, I also felt it took a direct shift into 'teen romance' as if the publisher had read the draft thus far and said 'y'know, with xyz added this would make a great film for the 12-15 yr old audience!' Going in, I was hoping it was to be a homage to things I loved growing up, but what I ended up with was a pile of teen-fict no better than Twilight. I am a little bit bitter about RP1, can you tell? Right now I'm reading Kim Stanley Robinsion's '2312'. It's very similar to some of the Culture novels - indeed I picked it up after feeling the loss of no more Iain M Banks books coming... If you like Culturesque stuff, I can totally recommend it.
whostolemyhat 10y ago
Yep, it definitely felt like a couple of sentences of plot followed by a page of 80s trivia copied from Wikipedia.
- endgame 10y ago
  "A page" is putting it mildly.

aedron 10y ago

This was the book that taught me to not trust recommendations from HN uncritically. God I hate it.

viraptor 10y ago

Maybe it's not the right audience here. Ready player One is a total YAF, so not many adults will find it fun. I did enjoy reading it, but at the same time thought it wasn't great quality. A bit like finding a really fun article in a trashy magazine. I feel like Ender's Game is in the same category.

chx 10y ago
The biggest strength of Ender's Game is how many of us as a child could identify with it. Before the Internet a bookish nerd kid very often had a very hard time finding anyone even remotely similar. Ender called to us and gave us hope that if there's a book then perhaps there are others out there. Translating this into a movie is near impossible but also the time for it has passed.
- viraptor 10y ago
  The essence of YAF really. A kid just like you who can change the world! I did read some Card books again around 30, and can't find much interesting in them anymore :-(
  - chx 10y ago
    YAF?
    - gergoerdi 9y ago
      Young Adult Fiction.

FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago

It was a nostalgia-gasm for Gen X/Y people like me who grew up in the 80's. That feeling was so strong, that it allowed me to power through the sub-par writing and plot. I just skimmed through and only paid attention to the references. Without these, I don't think I could've gotten through the first chapter. I'd fully expect the movie to be superior to the book. Then again, that's not saying much.