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?".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :-(
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.
