[EDIT 30.01.2020] dropping the 2 to a 1star because everytime i think of this book i think "really didn't like it", which is what goodreads says the one star is, so...

[original 09.2019]
the first 60% or so of this book was almost unbearable. I only picked it up again because a DNF was a prompt for a readathon im currently doing. In the last 150pages or so the action picks up considerable and reading becomes much more enjoyable.
Some phrases of this book were pretty good. Some geek references were very fun. But the political stuff ends a bit underdeveloped, which is a shame because i think it had a lot to offer. And the good geek gets swallowed up by the too much geek of the rest of the book.
That being said i still found some negative points in those last 150 pages and with the ending.
The socio-political commentary is alluded to, but ultimately never dwell on as deeply as I'd hoped. In my opinion it could have been the most interesting part of this story.
The references get too much, and i end up skimming a lot of them. It is simple infodump, with no interest to the story, or really essential to understand whats going on. For comparison, imagine if Stranger Things had explained the entirety of D&D. Also, I'm not against telling, but this book does need a lot less telling and more showing.
I did found it pretty interesting that the Villain and the Wise Old Man characters were almost represented by corporations. Which is why I'm not mad that the faces of those companies are underdeveloped - they're just human character vessels for the company they represent, in a way.

i was lowkey waiting that the OASIS being free would be a twist, because of the "if it's free, you are the product". But no. Just like Wikipedia i suppose. Not quite Mockinjay

The rest of the characters were fine; apart from the main 5, they were simple archetypes without much to them. The MC, Wade, is just unbearable. I knew it was a redemption arc so i went with it. Then i reached the end. I'm still looking for the redemption arc.
The way women are treated in this book is the fucking worst. Have you seen that clip of Bo Burnham singing "Straight... White... Man" through gritted teeth? Yep, that's it. Everytime Wade referenced women that's what i envisioned.

Surely, his redemption arc was there! Nope! He still treats women with the same tokenism turned fetishism feel. A snape type of love. And I'm 100% not about it!
The other part of his redemption is Wade, about halfway through, realizing that is cool virtual life is an illusion, and the physical truth of his existence is a pretty sad one. Which is underlined very obviously in the final message of "reality is real and super cool". Discussing the implications of the real world going to shit, other than 2 pages of description of the street in Columbus, though? Nah, why bother!? Also pretty Dursley of him to have the realization as he achieves the male phantasy body archetype. Which he does in 2 months by the way.