Ready Player One: A Book Review

Ready Player One: A Book Review

AUTHOR: Ernest Cline

RELEASED DATE: August 16, 2011

SERIES: Stand-alone

PAGES: Approx. 374 pages

RATING: 5/5 STARS

Ready Player One is – without a doubt – every geek/fangirl’s dream come true.

I first heard about this novel on YouTube, from several book reviewers that couldn’t stop talking about how fantastic this novel was and how everyone (EVERYONE) needed to read it. This was several years ago, when the novel first debuted.

Now, almost 4 years after its release, I finally got the chance to sit down and read my paperback copy.

Long story short:

HOLY-CRAP-THIS-IS-AMAZING-WHY-WAS-I-NOT-AWARE-THAT-THIS-BOOK-EXISTED-AND-WHY-WASN’T-I-TOLD-TO-READ-THIS-AS-SOON-AS-IT-CAME-OUT-BECAUSE-DEAR-GOD-I-LOVE-THIS-BOOK.

Ernest Cline takes us to the future, to the year 2044. There’s an energy crisis encircling the globe. Overpopulation has forced humanity to find new ways to live and coexist on the remaining space the Earth has; schools are crowded, understaffed, underfunded; food shortages are common, as are blackouts; the whole of society and government has collapsed on itself, rendered useless. It’s everyman for himself when it comes to jobs, money, food, shelter and other necessities.

To escape this ugly reality, people turn to the OASIS, a virtual utopia that started out as – of all things – a video game, more specifically an MMO.

In OASIS, you can be anything and everything you ever wanted to be: a wizard, a warrior, a king, a magical creature, a fighter from your favorite video game, a famous TV character, male, female, White, Hispanic, an alien, a cowboy – there are literally no limitations to the possibilities. In OASIS, people can even build lives for themselves, by setting up a store, posting popular blogs and/or videos, living out a fantasy of role-playing in their favorite video games and/or TV shows and movies, and there are thousands of worlds and planets and galaxies where technology and magic can function, where the worlds of Star Trek and Star Wars are next door to each other, where people can meet and befriend others of like-minded interests, where people can fall in love and marry – all without having to ever meet in person or leave your home. The best part? It’s completely free.

 

*~*~*~*

In this dystopic reality and virtual utopia, we meet the main protagonist Wade Watts. In the real world, he’s a teenage orphan with no money, no friends, and an aunt that he doesn’t get along with. In OASIS, he’s Parcival, one of the many avatars participating in an online contest seeking out clues and trophies to solve the greatest Easter Egg Hunt of their time. The one created by multibillionaire Jim Halliday, the creator of OASIS.

Upon his deathbed, Jim Halliday left behind a series of clues and riddles that would lead the finders to “3 keys” scattered and hidden throughout the whole of OASIS; together, the keys would lead to a grand prize: his vast fortune. His last message – and the only help he gives to the people – is a riddle telling the location of the first “key” to be found, alongside a large digital tome called Anorak’s Almanac that chronicled his day-to-day life, his personal history and his various obsessions – video games, books, TV shows, movies and 1980’s pop culture trivia.

Five years after the contest is announced, someone finally unravels the first clue. And that someone is Wade/Parcival.

Glory and happiness are short-lived, however, when Wade finds himself targeted by IOI (Innovative Online Industries), the world’s largest Internet provider and a major communications corporation, who seek Halliday’s fortune with hopes to gain control of his company and OASIS entirely. Just how far they will go to reach their goals becomes all too clear when Parcival refuses his cooperation.

Escaping death, the race is on to find Halliday’s Easter Egg before IOI. Aided by both friends and rivals (including his cyber crush, Art3mis), as he searches for the final clue to Halliday’s Easter Egg, Wade is now struggling to survive the harsh reality he has spent the majority of his life avoiding and determine how far he will go to save the virtual world that has become everyone’s home.

*~*~*

From the first page, I was hooked. I agree that the plot moved slowly in the beginning but there was nothing boring about it. There was a lot of world-building, a lot of details and visuals that Ernest Cline wanted to give us so that we could actually picture not only the harsh future that Wade lives in but also the virtual paradise that everyone has become obsessed with.

Ernest Cline does an amazing job balancing his story between two worlds: the harsh resource-depleted Earth and the large galaxy of OASIS. He also does an amazing twist on the “future-person-obsessed-with-present-day-history” cliché found in some science-fiction stories. There’s a reason Wade, his friends and the whole of the OASIS are so obsessed with Halliday and his interests – knowing everything about him and his favorite films, games, movies and books could lead them to the next clue. In regards to storytelling, this is also an amazing literary device to use; while reading this book, you get a feeling of nostalgia at all the pop culture references weaved into the story, some more well-known than others.

With every mention of a video game, TV show, movie and book, my fangirl heart screamed out with joy. Ernest Cline was described as a “full-time geek” on the small author’s biography on Ready Player One’s book jacket. Going into the novel, I thought I had a clear understanding of what “full-time” meant. Needless to say, I completely underestimated him.

Ready Player One is classified as a science-fiction novel, but this is a novel that anyone (ANYONE) can read. It’s a fun read with a world that Ernest Cline carefully guides you through, instead of just dropping you in the middle with no map or guideline. Amidst his explanations about the real world and the OASIS, woven into the story alongside all the pop cultural references, he even manages to flesh out the main characters and elaborate on the unique bond each of them feel for each other. Wade/Parcival and his best friend Aech have never met in person (at least, not until the end), but that doesn’t make their bond any less significant.

“As we continued to talk, going through the motions of getting to know each other, I realized that we already did know each other, as well as any two people could. We’d known each other for years, in the most intimate way possible. We’d connected on a purely mental level. I understood [Aech], trusted [Aech], and loved [Aech] as a dear friend. None of that had changed, or could be changed by anything as inconsequential as [Aech’s] gender, or skin color, or sexual orientation.” (Ready Player One, Ernest Cline. Page 321)

Ernest Cline has a clear understanding that such bonds  and connections formed online often bleed out into the real world, for better (as it does with Parcival and Aech) or worse (as it does with IOI).

In regards to IOI, Ernest Cline makes a point to detailing the corporation, its role in this future society, and how it parallels to those few corporations that exist today. Wade and friends don’t trust IOI to do right by Halliday or his creation should they win, but even they are stunned by the measures the corporation will go to, to get Halliday’s egg. I didn’t like IOI from the start and I was still constantly surprised by just how low they will go.

You don’t need to be a science-fiction geek or even a fangirl (or fanboy) to have to enjoy Ready Player One. This debut novel seems to have everything a reader and non-reader could want to enjoy it: action, fantasy, advanced technology, video game references, pop culture trivia, romance, humor, and so much more. It was a quick, fun read that was easily addictive and certainly made me want to go out and become knowledgeable in all things pop culture-related, no matter the era.

Because that’s something that Ernest Cline brought out and elaborated that made this book so wildly popular: before the Internet, there were books and movies and TV shows and video games and music videos that, although by today’s standards would seem crude and outdated, are things people should give a chance to uncover, watch and read for themselves. Even if you don’t become as obsessed as Wade or Halliday or any of the other characters, it’s something worth looking into. For all you know, you might find an Easter egg yourself.