Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This book was on the shortlist for the Indie Lit Awards in the Speculative Fiction genre. I read it because I was in the jury for this genre, which was a pleasure to do! (And actually, I wanted to read it anyway, not just for the awards). Oh, and the book won!

I enjoyed this book all the way through. Although it is set in the future, it was like I was reading something real, that was happening now.

Ready Player One: What it is about

Wade Watts, 18 years old, lives in a trailer on top of many more trailers. He is living with his awful aunt and is very poor. He spends most of his time in a van on a junk yard. There are junk yards with piles of cars everywhere, because petrol cars cannot be used anymore as there is not enough petrol left in the world.

In the van, Wade logs into OASIS to go to school. This is a huge online system. With some special glasses and gloves on, it feels as if he really is present at school, or playing online games after school hours. Wade is especially interested in finding a treasure, that has been left in the system by the inventor of OASIS, John Halliday, as a legacy after his death. Many people have tried to find it but so far no one has ever found even the first of three hidden keys.

Wade, however, does manage to find the first key and his online friends (or people that will become his friends) follow suit. But the Sixes are also after the keys. They are a large group of organised people who will do anything to find the treasure. They pressure Wade to tell them where the first key is as there will be severe repercussions if he doesn’t comply.

Bit by bit Wade discovers more clues to the prize, but has to fight off the Sixes at the same time.

There are a lot of references to old computer games and movies (from the 1980 especially), many of which Wade has to play with a perfect score in order to get closer to the keys.

Ready Player One: What I thought

I loved this book so much! I thought it was fantastic. From the description you might think this book is for computer geeks and it is. But it’s also for people that have an average interest in computer games.

I was totally immersed in the book while I was reading it. When I wasn’t reading, it was as if this acquaintance of mine, Wade Watts, was somewhere out there fighting a difficult battle. Only when I finished the book, and the issues were resolved, was I able to let go of the story.

It was a dystopian story in which the big corporation that the Sixes were working for, was in charge of most of what happened in the country, with lots of people working for them in a kind of slavery situation. Wade Watts is determined to undermine them and gets himself in dangerous situations to achieve this.

The world building could have been a bit more comprehensive. At times I felt I was looking through a tube, seeing Wade and his actions, but not really having a good idea what the rest of the world might look like and what its people were doing. This didn’t matter much, as the pace of the book was high and there was little time to stop and reflect on such matters.

My favorite moment was when Wade is in OASIS looking for a key and finds himself in a movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and discovers that he is a character in this movie. He has to (and can, as he has seen the movie many times) reproduce the exact dialogue of his character at exactly the right time. If he passes through the complete movie with few errors, he will be allowed to go to the next level of the search for the treasure. What a brilliant idea!

This is an absolutely wonderful book if you like science fiction-type books. A little computergames-geekyness doesn’t hurt, but even without that, this makes a great read.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
I got this book: for review from Crown publishers for the Indie Lit Awards.
I read this in: English, the original language
Number of pages: 363
First published: 2011
Genre: science fiction
Extra: An interview with Ernest Cline, after winning the Indie Lit Awards

Book Review: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

As far as I remembered, I’d seen (and very much enjoyed) the movie of this book, so I was keen to read it. It turns out, the book is not much like the movie I’ve seen. The initial few chapters could  be the same as the beginning of the movie, but after that?

However, according to the Internet Movie Database it is the same movie, but it seems to be only very loosely based on the book. The name of the main character is the same in both book and movie (played by Will Smith), the situation he is in is the same, but after that, it diverges quite a bit.

Not a problem: I enjoyed the movie AND I enjoyed the book!

I Am Legend: What it is about

Robert Neville is probably the last living human on earth. After a virus has infected most of the population, they have turned into vampires who are after his blood. He lives in his family home, boarded up so the vampires can’t get in and during the day, when the vampires are comatose, he goes out to find food, kill as many vampires as he can find, and generally gather items that he needs to make his life as best as it can be.

The story takes place between January 1976 and January 1979. It is not a continuous story, because after learning how Robert is getting on at a particular moment (several days or weeks), we then move forward in time to the next moment that is being focused on.

At some point, Robert starts to spend a lot of time on trying to find a vaccine against the virus. He experiments on vampires that are asleep during the day but there are so many what-if’s and why’s that he finds it incredibly hard to make sense of his data. Slowly he gets closer to the solution.

Meanwhile, the vampires aren’t giving up, and it’s only a matter of time before they will get him. Unless Robert can fabricate a vaccine that will work against them.

I Am Legend: What I thought

I lapped it up, most of the book. I loved the story, how Robert is keeping himself alive, how he’s trying to work on a vaccine, the world he was living in. Until near the end. The set up of the story was great, the middle was good, too, but the ending was a little too coincidental and sudden. I think we could have done with a little bit more information about the situation in the world at that particular time. If that sounds cryptic: that’s fine! I would not want to give away the story.

I love post-apocalyptic stories: the world is changed and people are trying to survive for better or worse. A good post-apocalyptic story is interesting when the new world is described in detail and you can feel that the author has thought about it to a great extend so that everything makes sense and fits together well.

In this case, there was some world-building but it wasn’t quite clear what the situation was when Robert was cut off of information about the world (i.e., radio and television no longer working). Were there pockets of people still living out there? What about other countries? Why didn’t anyone set up a system so survivors could contact each other, etc.

On the other hand, the “world-building” inside Robert’s house and life was comprehensive. It was clear how he went through each day and how he managed to keep electricity, water and food stuffs. His ideas about the virus and how it might be beaten were also comprehensive and well thought-out.

I loved reading this book and it was a real pity it’s so short! If you’ve enjoyed the movie: this is nothing like the book, so do read the book if you haven’t done so yet.

Rating: 4.5 stars

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 164

First published: 1954

Genre: science fiction, dystopia

Extra: I read this for the Magical March Challenge by Roof Beam Reader

Book Review: Lies (Gone # 3) by Michael Grant

I’ve read the earlier two books in this series and got this one from the library for my son. But he’d read it already so I decided I might as well read it myself!

I enjoyed the first book, Gone, very much, but the second book, Hunger, a bit less.

Lies: What it is about

The children still live in the FAYZ where there are no adults or children above the age of fifteen. Food is getting scarce and there is no longer any electricity.

Sam meets Orsay who claims she can read the dreams of the adults on the other side of the wall. She claims that when you are 15 and disappear, or when you die, you’ll end up back with your parents. That is a dangerous idea and Sam and Astrid and the rest of the council decide to lie to the others, telling them this is definitely not true.

Meanwhile, Sam and Astrid fall out with each other, as Sam is very active fighting evil, but Astrid wants him to follow the council rules and ask for permission to undertake action.

The evil Zil and Sam’s brother Caine and their respective gangs are unhappy to be outcasts and try to take over the FAYZ by force. Some new (or really, old) evil forces become active too.

Finally, some new children are discovered that were not mentioned in the other books.

Lies: What I thought

It was an enjoyable story, more interesting than the second book, Hunger.

Really the book was a description of what was going on in the FAYZ with not a lot of progression of the general storyline. But it was still interesting to read how the children tried to survive. Orsay’s visions were appealing and the reader had to make up their own mind on whether to believe her or not.

I also like the addition of some new children to the story. Normally this would seem a lousy trick of the author (to add some new characters to a place where everyone knows each other) but in this case it was completely believable.

At the end of the book I was keen to read the next instalment. I’m expecting to see some more of Little Petey, who didn’t play a big role in part 3.

Rating: 4/5 stars

I got this book: from my library

I read this in: Dutch, the original language is English

Number of pages: 382

First published: 2010

Genre: dystopia, YA

Book Review: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

When I first heard about this book, I just couldn’t wait to read it. It sounded a bit like The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, a book that is a favorite of mine.

Dystopia? I love it! When it’s a good story. This one’s good. It missed a little something for me, but overall it was a very good and original read.

When She Woke: What it is about

Hannah Payne wakes up in a detention center, her skin colored red all-over. A virus had been injected as a punishment for having an abortion. Abortions are not allowed in the very religious society she lives in, a post-scourge USA that left many dead with the survivors trying to build up a community again.

Being red she is recognizable as a criminal and anyone in the streets can attack her, kidnap or rape her without others stepping up to help her. Luckily, once she’s out of the detention center her father arranges a place for her in a rehabilitation center for chromes (criminal girls that have been dyed red, yellow or another color, depending on their crime).

It turns out that the rehabiliation center is even more strictly religious than the outside world but Hannah is lucky enough to make a friend, making her stay more bearable.

After many challenging events Hannah has to decide how she will survive in the big bad world.

When She Woke: What I thought

This book indeed reminded me a lot of The Handmaid’s Tale. The story is very different but it had the same suffocating, religious, atmosphere.

The story was quite bleak, with lots of unpleasant things happening, and I didn’t feel totally attached to Hannah. However, it wasn’t all bad: there was also love, friendship and altruism.

I thought the story was too focused on Hannah and the Chrome system, with the rest of the new, changed world (compared to ours) not explained quite so well. I like dystopian novels especially for the way the author presents a new world to the reader, and it was a pity that wasn’t further though through.

The events around Hannah were very interesting and original. The book was well-written and because of the events and a certain suspense in the story I found it hard not to skip sentences to find out what would happen next.

Compared to The Handmaid’s Tale, When She Woke seems less likely to happen in the future and was therefore less unnerving.

Because 26-year old Hannah had been brought up by very strict parents, allowing her very little freedom, she seemed more like a young adult with very little experience with the real world. However, the book is not particularly aimed at young adults and makes a good read for older adults, too.

Rating: 4/5 stars

I got this book: from Algonquin books for review

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 352

First published: 2011 (October 11th)

Genre: science fiction, dystopia

Do not confuse this book with: Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson, a thriller about memory loss. Very different from When She Woke.

I enjoyed this book a lot. If you read it and absolutely loved it, consider nominating this book for the Independent Literary Awards under Speculative Fiction. Any reader can nominate titles! 

Book Review: Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson

When I first heard about this book, I was very excited: this seemed a really good book. You know I love dystopia and this looked like a great story.

Pam, of bookalicious Pam, on my panel of the Speculative Fiction section of the Indie Lit Awards, heard me going on about the book, and was so kind, very kind indeed, to send it to me, all the way to the Netherlands (she’s in the US). Thank you very much, Pam!

People had meanwhile warned me that they didn’t think the book was quite as good as they had expected, so I was a little worried.

I found the beginning of the book absolutely wonderful, but the story did dwindle down to just “OK” for me nearer the end. I did enjoy reading the book, though, and I am looking forward to the movie (Steven Spielberg, 2013)!

Robopocalypse: What it is about

Cormac Wallace of the Gray Horse Army presents in short chapters the transcripts of witness accounts, camera recordings and other digital records of people who have been part of the recent robot wars in some way.

Robots are taking over the world. The transcripts show unconnected cases in which a robot (previously harmless) has attacked human beings. Before people realise, all robots have taken over and start harming people (this includes household robots, cars, etc.).

Several people are followed through time: first attack cases, zero hour (when it all really starts), fighting back, etc. These read like separate stories within the same post-apocalyptic world, but eventually these all come together into an attempt to damage the robot brain behind the war.

Robopocalypse: What I thought

I loved the beginning of the book and I was convinced this was going to be a great read. In the end, I must say, it became a bit boring and I became disinterested. So on average, it was a good read.

I am not a keen short story reader and because of the way the book was set up, it seemed as if I was reading several short stories, of which an instalment was added in each main section of the book. Later on, these story lines came together, but before that happened, I began to be impatient with it.

I liked the human interest parts of the story (a couple surviving in an apartment building, a family escaping town, etc.), but the ending was more like a military story, which I enjoyed less.

The idea was interesting, and, given that the author is an robotics PhD himself, probably also possible: robots/machines being so intelligent that they take over from the humans. It wasn’t quite clear why so many humans needed to be killed, though.

In all, an interesting idea, with some great situations in the beginning, but with a somewhat boring ending.

Rating: 4/5 stars

I got this book: from Pam at bookalici.us because she knew I was keen to read it (ARC)

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 368

First published: 2011 (June)

Genre: dystopia, science fiction

A disappointed reader: Dead Trees and Silver Screens (review)

A happy reader: Under My Apple Tree (review)

I enjoyed this book a lot. If you read it and absolutely loved it, consider nominating this book for the Independent Literary Awards under Speculative Fiction. Any book blogger can nominate titles! (nominations open September – December)

Player One by Douglas Coupland

I read this new novel (2010) by Douglas Coupland only a few weeks after reading last year’s novel Generation A. Now, at the end of that novel, we were left with five people on an island after bees had become extinct. In this new novel, there are four people stranded in an airport hotel bar after the oil price has reached unimaginable heights (in a way, oil has become extinct).

Same-old? Yes and no.

Jackie from Farm Lane Books and I read this book at the same time. We sent each other comments via Twitter and it was interesting to see how we had more or less the same reaction to the book. Her review will be up in a few days, so have a look at her blog too.

Player One: What it is about

The story centers around four people who are stuck in a hotel bar. Rick is the bar keeper, Rachel is trying to find someone to impregnate her, Karen is meeting an internet date and Luke is a priest who has run off with $20,000 of his parishioners’ donations.

When the oil price suddenly goes through the roof, mayhem ensues in the world around them. Flights are cancelled, there are long queues at petrol stations, and, much worse, a cloud of toxic chemicals is emptying itself above the airport (and probably elsewhere too).

When a man with a shotgun is sighted, the four people in the hotel bar lock themselves in and tape off windows and doors against the chemicals.

The rest of the book involves the four main characters discussing and thinking about religion, mainly.

Player One: What I thought

I haven’t finished the book. Yet. No worries, it’s not that bad. And I will finish it, for sure. It’s just, there is a 30-page appendix at the end of the book with definitions of new words. E.g., Lyrical Putty: The lyrics one creates in one’s head in the absence of knowing a song’s real lyrics.

I cannot handle page after page of definitions that are totally unconnected (they are in alphabetical order). There is a connection with the story on the previous pages, but it’s not strong enough for me to read these all in one go. So I’ll read them over the coming days.

In Generation A there were many stories within the story. As I pointed out there, I don’t like that. In Player One there are no embedded stories, but there are quotes. Many quotes. No, I’m saying it wrong. There are many quotable sentences. The second half of the book contains about 50% quotable sentences, while the first half is also abundant with them. This makes the book a joy to read, as the pleasure centre of my brain is constantly triggered by another good sentence.

There is also a drawback, and that is that there is too much to think about in too few sentences. As Jackie asked me: Can there be too much wisdom in one novel? I think that’s probably the case here. Certain topics such as time, humans vs animals, bodies, religion are discussed from different angles, sometimes very briefly. The reader does not get the chance to form their own opinion about this (except if they’d put the book away for a moment) as the story already continues with another thoughtful quotable sentence.

The second half of the book had a strong focus on religion which is not a topic I enjoy in a novel. I would rather have learned more about the outside world. We know what happened in the hotel bar, but what was going on in the rest of the world? As the t.v. and radio didn’t work, we were only given sparse information.

However, I do understand that the writer created the isolated bar world on purpose through the apocalypse. The isolation was needed so the characters could concentrate on each other and come out with great philosophical statements about religion and the world. What happened to the rest of the world was not important for this scenario.

I liked: that Karen and her date met in an oil price chat room. That’s right, a chat room where people discuss oil prices!

I didn’t like: the fact that the whole world came to a stand still as soon as oil prices went up a lot. I think it is very unlikely that more or less immediately all flights are cancelled, long queues at petrol stations, etc. I’m sure this would happen gradually, over the course of a day or more, not within an hour after the announcement.

Rating: 4/5

I got this book: from the bookshop

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 246

First published: 2010

Genre: literary fiction, dystopian fiction, philosophy

Extra: Check out my review of Generation A by Douglas Coupland

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

I read this book only because my library hasn’t got many steampunk books. In fact, very, very few. This book from 2001 I picked up from the 12+ section. That fact alone pointed towards young adult, and while I don’t mind young adult books, I would prefer to read fewer of them, not more.

But still, I borrowed it, so I had something to read for the Steampunk Challenge, and mentioned the book in my Monday post. Rikki suggested that the book was for 7-10 year olds. I was worried.

Upon reading it, I found that it was definitely a 14- book. Something like 11-14. No more, definitely not for older kids. I mean, they can read it, but it’s not written for them, I think.

Mortal Engines: What it’s about

This story is the first of a series, I believe a six-part. We are introduced to a world about 3,000 years from now. It’s still Earth, but not as we know it, of course. In this world, cities have been placed on wheels and they move around.

After the “Sixty-Minute War”, a nuclear war that caused lots of geological activity, cities found it safer to be able to move away from unstable areas. A principle called “municipal Darwinism” states that to survive, cities have to move around conquering other cities and live off them.

Tom (15) is a history apprentice in London. He is present when the head of the History Guild, Valentine, whom Tom really looks up to, chases a girl with a deformed face and she falls through a chute onto the bare earth (where most people have never been and will avoid ever going). When Tom wants to tell professor Valentine about her, the professor pushes Tom so he also falls through the chute.

The rest of the story is about Tom and the girl, Hester, trying to get back to London. They travel some of the time on the ground, but manage to get some lifts in airships. Meanwhile, they find out things about Valentine and how he may not be the hero that Tom thinks he is.

London is approaching an Asian conglomeration of cities and will aggressively try to destroy them. Tom and Hester need to get back to London to stop this.

Mortal Engines: What I thought

I like post-apocalyptic stories, especially dystopia, which this book probably not quite is, but this book was definitely too simple for me.

It was simple in writing: clearly directed to the younger reader. But it was also simple in story line. Nothing much really happened and there were no sub-plots (although there was a second story line about two teenagers in London who also start to discover the real character of Valentine).

Also, the reason I like dystopian fiction, is that the author often makes up an entire world full of interesting elements. In this book, that was rather limited. There were the steampunk-ish elements, such as moving cities and airships with balloons, but otherwise, things were not very much different from how we know it.

So yes, I was disappointed with this book. Other than this book I have only read Soulless and I haven’t really got enough exposure to steampunk to know whether I will like other books in this genre. I won’t know unless I buy them, which I’m not likely to do because I don’t know that I will like them. A catch-22, that is.

Rating: 3/5

I got this book: from the library as I wanted to read it for the Steampunk challenge

I read this in: Dutch, the original language is English.