The ultimate 'junk food' book sprinkled with an unsavory topping of bad characters and clumsy storytelling.

Not all of it was bad. In fact, there were often times where I found myself enjoying the total mindlessness of it. It's a lot like a Michael Bay movie in the silly fun of it, especially near the third act with the INSANE battle royal between mecha godzilla and giant robots. I'll also say that I really loved the idea of the slums being several enormous towers of mobile homes. Those aspects alone are letting this rating jump up just one more star.

Despite whatever fun the book brings, it's repeatedly bogged down by some of the most exhaustive 80's pandering that I've ever seen in a published work. It's ASTONISHING just how much of this book is just the author giving little nods to cultural references. Speaking as someone who grew up in the 90's and early 2000's, some of them were lost on me and just seemed so tedious.

This doesn't even touch on the characters. Never mind the fact that the protagonist is an unlikable know-it-all since the supporting cast is so much worse. Two characters are borderline racist Japanese stereotypes and one is revealed to be a fat black lesbian girl. Literally all of your 'token' characters wrapped up into one neat (and mostly disguised) package!

Ultimately, "Ready Player One" is brain candy. It's legitimately fun to read for all of its narrative stupidity, but there are those problem parts of it that bring it down for me. I'd say it's worth a look-see only if you know what you're getting into.