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

Quick Book Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

This book was on the shortlist for the Indie Lit Awards in the Speculative Fiction genre. I read this book because I was in the jury for this genre. I had read one previous book by Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go, which I enjoyed a lot.

This book was a children’s book. It has black and white pictures throughout the book, quite dramatic!

The book is about Conor, 13 years old, who is having nightmares. One nightmare in particular keeps coming back. But then one night, he wakes up to a real nightmare: A monster, looking like the yew tree that he can see from his window, is coming close up and looks very scary.

Conor’s mother is very ill and there are some doubts that she will get better, although everyone is putting on a brave face. At school Conor is being bullied, his grandmother (whom he doesn’t like) takes him in for a while, and at night he’s visited by a monster. Life is very difficult for Conor.

The monster that visits at night tells him stories from which it becomes clear that people aren’t just good or bad, as Conor has always thought, but that a baddie can do good things, and vice versa. This helps Conor in accepting his situation.

It was a very well-written book with a heavy topic. I’m not quite sure what age group this book would be most suitable for. My son (14) read it and seemed to enjoy it but we didn’t really get to discuss it together. I think he was a little ambivalent about the book.

I don’t read a lot of children’s books now that my own sons are teenagers, but I think this was a high-quality book, especially interesting for children who need to deal with a loss, or with guilt. Recommended.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I got this book: from my on-line book store

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 216

First published: 2011

Genre: fantasy, children’s fiction

Book Review: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

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

It’s a huge book, and it could have been a bit shorter for my liking, but a good read anyway.

11/22/63: What it is about

Jake Epping, a 35-year old high school teacher, is asked by hamburger concession owner Al to go back in time to stop president Kennedy from being assassinated. Al has found a portal to the past in his store room. He is too ill himself to make any more journeys into the past (although he’s been there many times) and so he hopes Jake will do this for him. Every trip, however long it takes in the past, only lasts two minutes in the current time.

Before he makes up his mind, a mature student tells him about a horrific incident in which his father killed most of his family. Jake decides to interfere in this incident which happened in 1958, the year that the portal leads to.  Then he waits until 1963 to try and stop the Kennedy assassination. But while waiting, he falls in love.

11/22/63: What I thought

I enjoyed this book a lot. I loved the 1950s feel. It was clear that King had spend time researching the details to make this a convincing story.

The first 100 or so pages were a bit slow, but then the story took off. There were some slow bits in the middle too. At least, Jake spends several years seeking out Lee Harvey Oswald and making plans to stop him from murdering Kennedy. This I found a little boring at times. Too much focus was given on this. I enjoyed the love story with Sadie much more.

The book felt a bit disjointed at times because of the different story lines. The result of Jake’s visit to the past was surprising and could maybe have been expanded on a little more.

But overall, this was a very good read with a great feel for the time.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I got this book: for review from Simon & Schuster for the Indie Lit Awards.

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 850

First published: 2011

Genre: science fiction

Indie Lit Awards 2011: Winners!

Finally! The winners of the Independent Literary Awards have been announced! You can see the full list of genres and winners HERE.

I was involved with the Speculative Fiction genre (magic, fantasy, science fiction, etc.). The shortlist was a good representation of the genre, I think.

The following five books made it to the shortlist:

• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Candlewick)
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman (Viking)
• 11/22/1963 by Stephen King (Scribner)
• Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor Books)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Crown)

I read these five books in the January to March period and they were all worthy of being on the shortlist. I had a great time reading these. So, here is the winner of the Speculative Fiction genre…

Winner: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Runner-Up: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

The world in Ready Player One is quite different from ours – a post-apocalyptic world where people spend a great deal of their time online (even children can go to school online – with a helmet on and special gloves, it feels as if they’re really present rather than looking at a screen). The world felt so real to me! While I was reading the book, it was as if this world really existed somewhere. A great book.

The publishers say: “At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.”

Reviews of Ready Player One:

Aths of Reading on a Rainy Day
Jenn of Jenn’s Bookshelves
Marleen of More Than a Reading Journal

Let’s make a list of reviews! Have you read this book? Let me link to your review.

Don’t forget to look at the other genre winners of the Indie Lit Awards in HERE.

What do you think of Ready Player One?

Did you read it and love it? Do you plan to read it?

Indie Lit Awards 2011: Shortlist for Speculative Fiction

As I’ve told you in an earlier post, I’ve been chosen to be a Voting Member for the Indie Lit Awards 2011 in the Speculative Fiction category. This means I’m one of the people to read the shortlist and vote for who I think should win.

The following five books have made it to the shortlist:

• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Candlewick)
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman (Viking)
• 11/22/1963 by Stephen King (Scribner)
• Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor Books)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Crown)

This looks like a fine shortlist to me, and I’m happy I’ll be reading these books (Among Others I read a while ago, check my review HERE).

Check out the shortlists for the other genres on the Indie Lit webpage HERE.

Which books have you read? What is your favorite?

Last Chance: Vote for the Indie Lit Awards 2011

Have you nominated your best reads for this year yet? Yes, you! Any book blogger can nominate their favorite 2011 publications for the Indie Lit Awards, but only until the end of December.

The Independent Literary Awards are organised and nominated and voted on by independent book bloggers. After a nominations period, a panel of voting members read the five short-listed books and decide on a winner.

I’m a voting member in the Speculative Fiction genre. This may sound like something you don’t read, but it includes fantasy, dystopia, science fiction, horror and alternate history. And don’t forget anything supernatural and magic! So, if you have read one or more great new books in this genre this year, please vote for them now.

I and the other voting members will read the 5 books that were most often nominated for the Spec Fic genre. So, make sure I get to read something nice and nominate those great books that you’ve been reading.

The other genres for the Indie Lit Awards 2011 are Literary Fiction, GLBTQ¹, Non Fiction, Memoir/Biography, Poetry and Mystery.

Nominations are open until the end of the year… that’s Saturday!! So, enter your favorite books now, to be sure your nominations are included.

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¹ If you don’t know what that is, ask! It’s not a stupid question!

The Indie Lit Awards – Have You Voted Yet?

Indie Lit Awards

I hope you’ve discovered a lot of new Speculative Fiction this year that you want to enter for the Indie Lit Awards. You can nominate books until the end of the year, but you may as well do it now, unless you have another potentially great book waiting to be read.

The Indie Lit Awards are awards for Best Books as voted by you, book blog readers and writers. If you’re reading this, then you’re eligible to vote (unless you’re professionally connected with the publishing industry), so go for it!

Speculative Fiction includes Fantasy, Science Fiction, and also include anything supernatural, horror, dystopia, etc. Books have to have been published for the first time in 2011.

Out of all the nominations, the five books that are nominated most often will be read by the voting members of the Indie Lit Award and I’m one of them! So, you decide what I’m reading in January and I decide, with the other voting members, which of those five books is the best speculative fiction book of 2011.

Don’t delay, vote now! And also check out the other genres that you can vote for.