So. I liked this. But I didn't love it, which is kind of disappointing because with all the hype I'd been expecting greatness. Now, let's be clear, this book certainly delivers. But it has some major flaws that just sort of leave me feeling lukewarm about the whole experience. 
 Like, I didn't really start to care about this book until Wade realized he was on the track to find the first key. Reading that scene really got me hooked and I was genuinely excited for what was going to happen next. But that was like, more than 50 pages in. So, it's slow to start. 
 Also, there was a lot of dead time in between keys and gates. All the anticipation and momentum that had been built up was sort of lost in the interim and that didn't really do it for me? 
 (view spoiler)[Especially because it was hard to be sympathetic about Wade's family dying in an explosion because a) they weren't set up to be sympathetic, b) Wade is really casually dismissive of the whole thing and c) it was almost so bizarre it was hard to accept? Suspension of disbelief not engaged. 
 And also I really could have cared less about the whole Wade/Art3mis romance thing. Like, I actually did not care at all. There was more than once during the course of this book that I thought to myself, "Wow, I bet this whole thing would be a lot more interesting from Art3mis' perspective." I still don't think I'm wrong about that. 
 Oh and furthermore, way to totally fail at foreshadowing Aech's true identity even though I totally guessed it a few pages before the big reveal anyway. And holy letdown Batman, the brief half paragraph talk about sex and gender and race in OASIS vs the real world was actually super interesting. Why can't there have been more of that in this book? Also, does no one see the huge irony in Aech's justification for a white male avatar juxtaposed by the fact that this book is told from a (presumably) white male perspective? 
 I get it, I get it, Wade's the "hero". But why? Why not someone else. Sure, you'd have to pull the twist differently, but seriously how cool would this whole thing been from Aech's perspective too? (hide spoiler)] 
 Wade is honestly my least favourite part of this book. It's not that I hate him as a narrator or anything, but he just seems to be the least interesting of his supporting cast. It's cool dude, congrats, you deus ex machina'd your way through this and I don't really sympathize with you at all. Wade on his own is not an interesting character, he's a plot device. 
 That said, there is some freaking sweet worldbuilding going on here. And a lot left unexplored (see spoiler) which is sort of a shame. 
 All in all, my 3-stars means I liked it. It was enjoyable and fun and I decidedly did not hate it. But it's not quite enough for me to go out of my way to recommend it to people. Which is fine. I don't feel like I have to anyway, since this book is popular enough on its own already.