Sandro

It's evident for the reader that Cline grew up surrounded by media and art that left a positive mark on him. Ready Player One is an homage to some of the great games, music, movies, and series made in the 70s/80s and a dream about a game that would allow us to be wherever we want and free us from the limited reality in which we live.

Cline raises some subtly interesting points in his dystopian world about the way we're currently ‘paving' our future and depicts the passionate ‘obsession' that us geeks have when we love and care about something.

I must say this book may not be for everyone. Some may feel the geeky references that drive the story forward a little bit too much.

However, if there's somewhere inside you a person that fondly remembers their child/adolescent years listening to music in their room, knowing all the secret ‘cheats' for a specific game, watching a favorite movie/series over and over again, Ready Player One may be a good book for you, and certainly, the time you take to read it will be time well spent.

So go ahead and read it. Even if it's just to pique your curiosity to listen to some band, see some movie/series, or play some retro game that, for some reason, you've never gotten into before.

Maybe I was simply not feeling it, but the story had one stupid reaction from Zooey after another.

From deciding to just go to poor zones instead of agreeing to go to the Livingston tower, to the constant whining about her dad having everything and his poor taste.

Also come on... 4 very intelligent people, and none figured out that Molech would take her elsewhere the moment she set foot in the building?After the first kidnapping, not one of the brilliant minds could have figured out that Zooey's mother was her weak point and protect her?

The constant reminder of Arthur's terrible taste in decor and all the things he decided to have exposed in his house got old quick.

While I'm not one to jump on the feminist critique bandwagon, the book does lean heavily into sexual content and objectification of women. It's possible this fits the overall vibe of the book, but the exaggeration of these elements, including hints of potential rape used as mere page-turners at the end of chapters, feels unnecessary.

Here and there, the book presents the readers with some clever social critique but it quickly fades away amidst all the exaggeration of the story. I compare the humor in this book to the one from comedians who make jokes about farts. It's fun the first time, not for the 19872367 time.

The end of the conflict also seemed anti-climatic and convenient, considering all the building-up until that moment and the overall tendency to multiply everything by a thousand.

Considering the reviews for the book are generally good, maybe I'm not the target reader for it, but I also can't recommend it to others.

It's an entertaining book, despite my personal gripes with young adult stories, such as insta-love and occasional angst.

At times, the effects and the lengths the players go to just to stay in the game can be a bit exaggerated. I can't really imagine people doing such things in real life, but then again, stuff like GamerGate exists, so what do I know?

However, due to this ‘exaggeration,' the book sometimes seems like anti-gaming propaganda, even though the writer demonstrates knowledge in the area and appears to be a gamer herself.

The resolution of the mystery didn't blow my mind away, but it was properly wrapped up and explained well enough.

While reading it, the book had the ability to make me want to play Skyrim, Diablo, Fallout, Pillars of Eternity, and so on. This, in my opinion, shows that the way the writer narrated Sarius and the gang's in-game adventures was well-executed and resonated with my interest in games.

Hence, my final rating for this one is 4.0.

“Too much ‘young-adult' for my taste; most of the time, it felt even child-like given the simplicity of the writing and story.

The setting and nostalgia trip are right up Ernest Cline's alley, but this time, he may have overdone it without tangible results at the ending.

Also, the inclusion of angsty teenagers and insta-love (I rest my case here).

In conclusion about the book:

- It's a so-so book, perhaps hyped by the success of Ready Player One.
- My recommendation: Go read Ready Player One (again if that's the case) instead of Armada.
- Consider subscribing and listening to the ‘Raid the Arcade' playlist on Spotify (or create your own based on the cassette tape image at the end of the book).”

Your review is well-structured, but here are a few tweaks for clarity:

The Maze Runner story has a lazy and predictable ending: "Let everyone die, and only leave the ones who can't be infected by the disease in this world." By coincidence, this renders the entire story and everything that happened completely useless. Now that this is out of the way, let's talk about the other problems.Repetitiveness:The issue with repetitive expressions continues in this book. Thomas is such an angsty character... Also, how many explosions of energy or adrenaline can a human body have in such small periods of time, especially having been beaten up like these teenagers' bodies were?Memory Loss:So Thomas, for no logical reason at all, decides he doesn't want to have his memory back... Isn't it great that the writer has since released books that deal with Thomas's past?Teresa, where are thou?She went from a major character in the first book to a target of all the angst in the second, to a completely ignored character in this last book. Even her death was like what, one or two paragraphs? A little anti-climactic. Dying for saving Thomas, yeah, predictable.Seeing it the other way around, it was a good if unimaginative way of resolving the catfight between Teresa and Brenda?The return:The return to the labyrinth and revisiting its perils was an attempt to instill nostalgic feelings in the readers. This came to me as an ineffective way of trying to cater to long-time fans and squeezing the last drop of juice from an already dry fruit.Thomas, The Chosen One:After reading the three books, it catches me by surprise that Thomas is the chosen one. He ain't that smart, and he really isn't good at reading people's intentions. Something that came as odd to me was that he never fully forgave Teresa for her "betrayal" that saved him in the second book.Brenda, on the other hand, also lied to him, kept many secrets, had personality issues (from completely throwing herself into his arms after just knowing him, to being a doctor (?) for CRUEL, to finally being a relatively normal girl) and, for working hand-in-hand since the beginning with Paige.Even at the end of the book and after she almost spills the beans, he couldn't figure it out.For the record, I found the Brenda character much better than Teresa; I just think it's odd the loss of importance in the story and the different treatment. After all, Thomas has known Teresa for many years. With Brenda, it was a matter of weeks. Well, it must be the hormones changing his love interest all of a sudden and stuff...

Final Thoughts:

On a fundamental level, it's a fast-paced and quick read book and trilogy with some nice moments here and there. If you read it carefully and try to think a little more about what you've just read, the story really lays out its many flaws and a so-so writing style.

(The fitting rating would be 2.5)

Just to be sure... What is Gally's role in this last book? Another blast from the past, I'm guessing...