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Amanda (96 KP) rated Ready Player One in Books

Mar 18, 2019  
Ready Player One
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
9
8.9 (161 Ratings)
Book Rating
Why in the world did it take me this long to read this book? I could seriously kick myself! I haven't seen the movie yet, I'm not entirely sure I want to after reading this book. I don't think any movie could do it justice. Yes, I liked this book that much.

Imagine a world where the world has kind of gone to pieces and most of the time you want to escape the harsh reality. A man invented a virtual reality called OASIS and before his passing, he stated that there is a hidden Easter egg in the OASIS and whomever finds it, has COMPLETE control of the OASIS and his fortune. It's been several years and NOBODY has been able to find the egg, or even come close to it.

The entire story is told from Wade's point of view. In reality, he's known as Wade, in OASIS he is Parzivel. The creator of OASIS is known to be a huge fan of 80's style; music, movies, tv shows, you name it, he was a fan. Wade goes through all of these shows and movies to get some sort of clue to find out what and where the egg is located. One day, he figures out the first clue and winds up being the first name on the score board.

The idea of going to a virtual school sounded like a really cool idea. From the way it's described in the book, it sounds like a much more effective way to actually learn in a classroom. I think with the way technology keeps advancing, we may very well be on our way to going that route.

I loved all of the 80's references throughout the book. I'm not an 80's child, but I've been told I'm old soul. Like, I'm a reincarnated person who was born in the 30's because I'm not really into the new shows or the new music. Mentions of Monty Python and the other TV shows that I've actually binge watched myself really brought out my inner nerd and it was enjoyable.

The only thing that made me lose a little respect for Wade is when he starts falling for another user named Art3mis. He has NO CLUE who this person is in real life, just her avatar. And in OASIS, the avatar is a blonde woman and Wade falls for her and spends as much time with her as possible. When Art3miss decides to cool it down with him, he kind of acts like a puppy who had its treat taken away. I know he's a kid who just graduated high school so having your first crush on someone really clouds your best judgment, but I found his infatuation with Art3mis rather annoying and I almost wanted to yell at my book and hope he hears me.

Am I the only one who's felt that way?

In the end, I'm rooting for Wade to find all these keys and reach the gates before someone else does. There's another company who actually specifically hires people to find this egg. This company will start charging people to use OASIS and actually give people limited access, no, we don't want that.

The book as a whole was excellent. It caught my attention in the beginning, and even though I was a bit annoyed with Wade, I still WANTED to finish this story. I WANTED to go through the OASIS journey with him and help him, encourage him, to continue and find that egg and help everybody cope with reality, with or without OASIS. If you've seen the movie, read the book. I guarantee that the movie was not able to capture EVERYTHING with this story and you deserve to know EVERYTHING about WADE and his new friends in finding that egg.
  
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Cori June (3033 KP) Mar 19, 2019

Your not the only one who feels that way. There have been numerous times I wanted to yell at a character for being stupid and making bad choices. I am excited to read this, it is on my reading list and I've been having mixed feelings aabout it.

Kingdomino
Kingdomino
2016 | City Building, Medieval, Territory Building
So I am building a kingdom with these land pieces and I can just make my kingdom look however I want? Oh, I have to stay within a 5×5 square but my castle can go anywhere? And I can pick any one of those tiles in that column there? That sounds easy. Wait, that’s all? That’s the entire game?

DISCLAIMER: This review is focused on vanilla Kingdomino. We have the Age of Giants expansion and will be reviewing that as well. Maybe. If or when we do we will add that content to this review or link to it here. -T

Yep. That’s the entire game. On your turn you take the tile your meeple is currently sitting on and place it on another tile from the current offer column. That new tile will be your tile to be placed during the next round. Now you take the tile you just moved from and place it anywhere on your kingdom “grid” matching up similar land types if you can. Each crown icon shown in a land type will score 1 VP per land tile that is connected and matching. Example: you have a sand tile with two crowns on it. You have connected several tiles together and you have a connected sand area of seven squares showing sand. Two crowns times seven squares equals 14 VPs for that sand area. Just do that for all areas with crowns to get your final score.

Where is the conflict, you ask? Every good story has a conflict! Well, you cannot take just ANY tile you want. The tiles are placed in the offer column in numeric order (on the backs of the tiles are numbers). Then they are flipped so you can see what is coming up on the next round. Whomever chooses the lowest number tile goes first, and subsequently chooses their tile for the next round. Herein lies the conflict and what little player interaction there is in the game: you can block your opponent(s) by taking the tiles you see they may want. I personally do not play any games this way, but it’s a valid strategy. I am in it to win it, not in it to make you lose it.

Ok, so at first glance this is a children’s game. It can also be a hard sell to get people to want to play it. “It’s like Dominoes, but better.” That usually doesn’t spark a whole lot of energy and interest when I open with that. I am open to better sales pitches because this is a truly great game. Yes, it’s ultimately Dominoes at its heart. Yes, it’s very light. But dang it, this game is really fun!

The little cardboard castles that you build around are cute, but also kinda unnecessary. The meeples are, well, meeples. Not really too exciting to look at, but they are merely there to show player color. The domino tiles are a good thickness and the art is fun and whimsical. I LIKE looking at the tiles and sometimes finding a little hidden easter egg in there. I have no complaints about the components. Good on you, Blue Orange Games.

The game play is so simple but also so engaging! My mother, who usually only plays Rummikub, actually agreed to play this with me and she really really enjoyed it! Kids can play it and do really well. Older adults can too! It’s a great game to consider for gateway gaming, for a filler palate cleanser, or even for lighthearted tournament play. It just works well in so many scenarios. Is it my favorite game of all time? No. Is it in my Top 10? No. But I can guarantee you that I will never get rid of this little gem.

That said, Purple Phoenix Games gives this title a royal 14 / 18. Build on, Kingdomino!

https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/02/27/kingdomino-review/
  
Ready Player One
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
7
8.9 (161 Ratings)
Book Rating
Nostalgia (0 more)
Poor female representation and stereotyping (0 more)
The year is 2044, the world has burnt through it's fossil fuels and the effects of global warming has left the world in decline, many turn to drugs and crime to survive and to cope with the world around them. Tech giant James Halliday offers humanity an escape in "The Oasis" a virtual universe where you can pretty much do anything you want and mostly for free. When Halliday dies he has no heir to his vast fortune and announces to the world an elaborate game, the first to win and find his "easter egg" inherits everything. The game however is fiendish and after 5 years without a single clue answered, many have given up searching until one day, Wade Watts, becomes the first to enter the scoreboard and the race to win explodes back into everyone's lives.

I think it's safe to say I devoured this book! Whilst set in a future world, most of what takes place is within the Oasis itself as Wade is a "gunter" (an whittled down name for egg hunter) he dedicates his life to the search for the egg, living on a diet rich with 80's pop culture his knowledge is great enough to rival Halliday's himself. He is far from alone in this though, many are still searching and the race is on against corporate egg hunters, the Sixers, who want to take the egg purely for profiteering. I loved Wade as a character and whilst everything seems overwhelming for him the writing never feels so. You feel everything he goes through, willing him to solve each riddle, sharing his frustration at each dead end and his joy when something goes right. It's almost as if Wade becomes the readers avatar. The 80's references are many as well as throwbacks to all kinds of gaming which I loved and there was many a knowing smile and laugh out loud moment for me whilst reading. I loved how the solving of each puzzle was well laid out and researched (apart from the Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters that is) and how the story felt comfortable moving away from it's linear path, sometimes surprisingly so.

It's quite lacking in female avatars though which I think is a little sad, other than Art3mis it's pretty much a lad zone, which given that female gamers now make up over 40% (various sources) of the gaming populous makes it feel that the book was written for a male stereotype (and stereotyping crops up a lot). Not only is she the only female avatar but it feels like she is only there to be the "love interest" despite her being a formidable gunter. It's not all bad, she is pretty much the most kick ass of all of them but I just wished there was a more even presence. There is also sadly a fair bit of tokenism going on and I felt some minority groups were marginalised.

It didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book at the time which I read pretty much every opportunity I got, but now having had time to reflect I'm going to have to knock a star off for everything I mentioned above. If you grew up in, or have a good knowledge of the 1980's and have a thing for retro gaming this will tick a ton of boxes for you. If you didn't or don't, this is still a great adventure that will pull you in and you will likely discover a whole new world of games, films and TV that you may find yourself wanting to check out!
  
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El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
2019 | Drama
When we last saw Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), he was driving away in an El Camino car, having just been freed from six months or so of captivity and slavery. It was the final moments of what is arguably one of the greatest TV shows of all time - Walter White (Bryan Cranston) had come to the aid of his long time friend, and collaborator in the meth business, freeing him from the clutches of a gang of Nazis in what turned out to be a bloodbath. Jesse, clearly a broken man, drove away from it all, into the night, fighting back tears as he let out a scream of pain and relief.

As with all great stories, whether in a book, a movie or a TV show, you do naturally wonder what might have happened next to the characters who have taken you on a journey with them. If the finale is good enough, you can feel satisfied simply by drawing your own conclusions. In the case of Breaking Bad, did Jesse turn a corner, only to be met by a bunch of cops who then lock him up for the rest of his life? Or did he manage to find well deserved peace and solace, a chance to finally live out his days with some kind of normality? Series creator and writer Vince Gilligan clearly had some ideas of his own, and the result is this 2 hour Netflix movie, titled El Camino.

We’ve not been without our fix of the Breaking Bad world since the show ended in 2013 though. Better Call Saul, about to start its fifth season, has acted as a prequel, telling the story of the rise of Saul Goodman, the seedy lawyer who helped Walter and Jesse throughout much of Breaking Bad. It shares much of the same style and tone as Breaking Bad, magnificently scripted and proving to be compulsive viewing. It has also gradually begun weaving other familiar characters from Breaking Bad into the story too, helping us to understand what brought these characters to the point they were at in Breaking Bad, but never (so far) featuring lead characters Walter and Jesse.

El Camino picks up pretty much where Breaking Bad left off. Jesse is clearly a person of interest with the law - not only for his drug crime days, but also because they know that someone fled the scene where a machine gun massacre took place, resulting in nine dead bodies. It’s neither an immediate capture, or an escape to a happy ending though. Instead, we’re treated to something that’s a little in between, and El Camino closely follows Jesse to show us just how that all plays out for him.

There was some big news recently when it was revealed that a large number of Breaking Bad characters would be appearing in El Camino and speculation was rife as to who those characters would be. They appear either in flashback form, or in present day situations, and all justifiably serve to drive the story forward, whether it be as a moment of reflection and poignancy, an aid to understanding Jesse’s current actions, or just as a cool little Easter egg for fans of the show. I must admit though, I had to resort to Google to try and remember how some of the characters fitted into the Breaking Bad show, but that could just be down to my lousy memory!

El Camino is packed full of the steady, confident, detailed pacing that we know and love from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Action, drama, emotion, it’s all there as a determined Jesse tries to acquire enough money to be able to start over. There’s a constant feeling throughout though that this is a story we didn’t really need, but it is certainly a welcome one, and a real joy to be back in this world and in the company of these great characters once again, if only for a short while.
  
Alfonso
Alfonso
Felix Calvino | 2013 | Education
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
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Alfonso is a young man that has moved to Australia to find a better life. Through his story, we follow his feelings and search for purpose.

As a person that moved to another country to find a better life, I can understand Alfonso and I can relate to what he feels and thinks. Coming into another country can be extremely difficult, leaving your family and friends behind, knowing those relationships will never be the same again. Coming to terms with the fact that you will always be a foreigner and have trouble with people accepting you. Trying to make friends and get inside inner circles of people that have been together since high-school – yeah, good luck with that…

Given how I can relate to Alfonso’s situation, and the similarities I have with this character, I thought I would love this book. But I didn’t. Even though I could relate with him, I couldn’t agree with his perceptions and beliefs. Alfonso was always trying to find a girl to spend his life with. Which is normal and expected. However, instead of being his true and authentic self, he desperately tries to be as “less foreign” as possible and adapt to his audience. This is something that seemed to push the potential women away. Not to mention that he was being quite creepy at times (following a girl’s bus schedule and being there before she departs etc.)

Living in a new environment shouldn’t mean that people should stop being who they are and stop believing in what they do, or respecting and practicing the customs from the country they were born and raised from.

All my friends know that in my country we boil and colour actual eggs for Easter, rather than eat chocolate ones. In our home, me and my boyfriend celebrate two Christmases; one on the 25th December, where he does everything by his tradition, and one on 7th January, where I prepare everything in my tradition. And it works. And it’s double the fun and jolly spirit.

I couldn’t relate with the fact that Alfonso feels that he needs to change and adapt, and leave behind his culture. I also couldn’t comprehend the fact that he needs to have a woman to be happy. He couldn’t seem to find happiness with just himself. And maybe, this is again, part of the tradition. In my country, marriages and forming a family are very important, and this may have influenced Alfonso’s behaviour perhaps.

The most upsetting part about this book was that the book ended, and everything remained the same. No earnings, no character development, no closure. Just a bad vibe of negativity, that was lingering in the air and stayed with me for days, like a bad taste in my mouth that you cannot wash with brushing your teeth.

I am not sure how to properly rate “Alfonso”. It was relatable, but conflicting. Very understandable, but unsatisfactory. And I will be honest, I read books that will either make me feel good, or teach me something new (or both), but this book didn’t provide either…

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