I used to read books in which the authors skimmed over tiny details and stuck to the bigger picture and I'd think Man, I wish I knew so much more about this character's life. And then I read Ready Player One. I will never wish for more detail again.All the minutiae about showering and security doors and suits and furniture and masturbation tools and exercise equipment and virtual items up for auction was exhausting. I found myself skimming over every few paragraphs in several areas of the thing because I just got so fed up with all that junk that absolutely did not advance the plot in any way.
I did like the story, though. I appreciate the imagination of the writer and his obvious enthusiasm for science fiction and technology, and I'd definitely give this another go if it were re-edited with a mind toward streamlining. There's practically an entire second novel's worth of extraneous matter. It's what I imagine Harry Potter would have been like had JK Rowling inserted the full text of each and every book after every single mention of books. And there are a lot of books mentioned in Harry Potter.
My only other complaint with Ready Player One was that descriptions and synopses had me expecting something dark and gritty and slightly dystopic, with a slick futuristic bent. It actually ended up being kind of kiddish. More Big than Blade Runner.
