It's easily the worst book I've read, and I only finished because of the unintentional hilarity of it all. In a story ostensibly about how evil media mega corporations are, the author wrote a hail corporateove love letter to top selling franchises without realizing the irony.

There was potential in it being a self parody, although in a way the whe situation is funnier because he was so earnest.

[–] m13@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It’s a blur to me now but I just remember so many forced 80s references, and the plot was basic. Fan fiction vibes.

[–] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Ironically I found the megacorp produced movie version much more palatable both because it wasn't stuck on making that which the author liked the only media worth obssessing about, it showed that fans of all eras enjoyed themselves equally in that world. And because it gave more of a human core to Halliday's quests and the plot, rather than it just being about who's more of a fanboy gets rich and gets the girl.

Seeing the book describe how Wade is so great at reciting every line of War Games just took me out of it. Am I supposed to be impressed by this second hand fawning over a different story? Is there even a point to that beyond Halliday/Ernest Cline thinking it's cool?

[–] jasondj@ttrpg.network 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I spent my first audible credit on that book. I hadn’t seen the movie…still haven’t. But it was narrated by Wil Wheaton, and I knew him from reddit. He did a good job. That’s all I have to say about it.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Same only way I heard it and the movie sucked ass. He is a sellout won't even touch the second one.