Can't agree with you on the Stu. Considering how big the prize is he would become a celebrity. They mention that IOI is the one hording the artifacts, and he decides to work out. So not really a stu.
I will say that much of it does stretch the bounds of disbelief, but I don't think he's a Marty Stu.
I agree with the rest of your review and I like it. Not a masterpiece, but a good read.
If it's true that wherever you go, there you are, maybe you need a better map.
This is where the line between Escapist Character and Mary/Marty Sue/Stu becomes greyed. Personally, I believe he is the former. He got a lot of his money through celebrity endorsements by his finds that he achieved through good research and detective skill. Since OASIS was established as an Allegedly Free Game, it makes perfect sense that he would start racking up the success once the money started coming in.
The 1/1000000 chance gambit, however, was just inexcusable. What's even more inexcusable is the fact that since he was able to hack into the company's computer systems, why didn't he just delete all their OASIS accounts (which made up their "army" in the game), thus making the entire final battle unnecessary?
Because then there would be no exciting climax for the readers. Personally, I would have hacked into the accounts and gave them all nerf weapons if I couldn't delete the accounts. Nerf launchers were a thing in the 80s, I imagine they're in the Oasis. And imagine the look on Sorento's face if he pulled the trigger and foam balls came out and bounced off his opponents.
If it's true that wherever you go, there you are, maybe you need a better map.
He hacked file stored on an internal network. There's not any indication that this gives him access to their accounts in the Oasis. Assuming that it would is a variation on the Eveything Is Online idea, like assuming that someone who can use your desktop will automatically be able to log into all of your online accounts.
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A mixed bag of holding.
Warning: Spoils everything.
If "nerd empowerment" isn't a recognized genre yet, it should be, and this is its Great American Novel.
That's both good and bad.
On one hand, this is a hell of a story. The prose is pretty good, the Cast of Snowflakes keeps things interesting, and the Jigsaw Puzzle Plot is genius. I can't imagine how long it must've taken to come up with those thousands of old pop culture references and craft a coherent plot out of them. Cline must've done ten books' worth of research for Halliday's quest alone.
On the other, the relentless assault of geekiness gets old. It's like how I imagine being forced to attend every panel during all three days of ComicCon would feel. At first, it's fascinating, but after a while, the constant "hooray for nerds" moments and self-congratulatory shout outs to obscure bits of pop trivia get very tired.
Not to mention that after finding the copper key, Parzival heads at warp speed towards the Stu sector. By halfway through the book, he's taken 99 levels in badass, become an international celebrity, probably hoarded up half the artifacts, vehicles, and weapons on OASIS all by himself, and is living it up at all the coolest parties. Not to mention he's lost weight in real life, because every fat protagonist has to do that, right?
...And he doesn't stop. By the end of the book, he's infiltrated, exposed, and taken down the Mega-Corp almost singlehandedly - via a Million-to-One Chance gambit that worked perfectly, of course - brought every gunter in the world to his side, become best friends with Og, landed the girl of his dreams, revived all his dead sidekicks, been given total control of the biggest cultural phenomenon in history, become OASIS's God and the richest man on Earth, and played a perfect game of Pac-Man.
I do have the give the book props for averting Hard Work Hardly Works - he's spent years earning it - but... Damn.
Most people seem to think the book is a troperiffic masterpiece. I can see why, and in parts, it is. But at other times, it's just a heavily cliched wish-fulfillment fantasy. Still worth a read, though.