Cakes

Absolutely amazing.

I liked it alright. I didn't hate it, but there were parts that made it hard for me to read. All of the blatant 80's videogame and pop culture references made me a little uneasy. For the most part they were really cool, but then some parts seemed like one of those moments where the author is just simply trying too hard. (A ship modeled after the Serenity named Vonnegut? A delorean that had the voice of Kitt and Ghostbusters paint?) It was just too much, too obvious, and lacked a light touch. Jpod did it right IMO, and this one went waaaaay overboard. Not to mention the cheesy love story that was in the story, ick. I would have loved the book a lot more without it.

I did, however, love reading about the competition and the story of how the OASIS came to be.

I was totally surprised by how the story and the book played out. The ending was great, but it was strange having Murakami's fantastical elements be explained by science and technology. (And made-up ones, in fact.) I like Murakami's work because the magical qualities are left for the viewers to interprete on their own, and this was a strange departure. Not bad, really. But it's not great either.

I contribute my poor rating to the fact that I made a bad decision and read this first, rather than in the specific order it should have been read in. (I was in late elementary/early jr. high, admittedly it was a poor mistake on my part.) The only thing I remember taking from this was that I loathed the ending and the love story that came from it. If there's one thing I'm bad at, it's appreciating a sappy love story.