Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

🌟🌟🌟out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
 
The beginning of the book was ruff for me. The video game knowledge went right over my head and made my eyes glaze over. I felt like I was having a conversation with my husband about video games which is to say that I had to work very hard not to zone out.
Once the book picked up speed, I found myself enjoying it a lot more. I thought that it was an interesting premise having the story be like a game within a game with everyone racing to decipher clues in order to win the ultimate prize. I enjoyed the references to 80s music, movies, comics, and games like asteroids and centipede. I know that a lot of readers took issue with all of the references to the 80s but I understood the reasoning behind why the author did it so I thought that it was a fun aspect of the book.
I didn't like how the author focused so heavily on the romance between Wade and another character during a portion of the book. It really messed with the pacing of the book in my opinion and made the book have a sort of lull to it. (Although, the whole book felt a bit slow to me) The romance felt a bit forced so I had a hard time buying into it. I think that part of the reason was due to me not trusting the motives of Art3mis. I didn't believe that she really liked Wade which may have been due to all of the hints that were dropped/foreshadowing that she was in it for the wrong reasons. I also didn't like how gullible Wade was concerning her. If I had experienced what he had, I think that I would have major trust issues and not even trust people that were fellow gunters. My opinion changed a bit regarding this romance later on in the book but I wish that it wasn't the focus for so long.
I think that my favorite portion of the book was the last 30% of it. The author kicked the book into high gear! I loved Wade's plan of attack! It was exciting to see it unfold because there were so many tense moments and I wasn't really sure that it would work out. I would have liked to have seen more issues thrown his way because everything fell into place a little too neatly for my liking. I loved the huge push that was made for the crystal key gate. There were so many fun elements included into the action sequence and I loved the twists and turns that were thrown in.