Review:
Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Publishing:January 1st, 2011 by Random House
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Genre: YA; Sci-Fy; Dystopia
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
Thoughts:
I had been meaning to get around to reading this book ever since I was able to try out the Oculus Rift when it was brought to my school last fall. (BTW if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you have to visit their site. Virtual reality is seriously the next venture for storytelling)!
When I think about how Read Player One made me feel as a reader, the first word that I can think of is immersion. We open Ready Player One in the year 2044; a dystopian future chock full of an energy crisis and 30 year recession. The entire world is currently obsessed with the latest and greatest technological achievement: virtual reality. The ‘Gregarious Games’ company, founded by the 1980’s born and bred James Halliday, brought forth OASIS. OASIS is a full immersion virtual reality world, and at the time the book begins the latest modules create a simulation so realistic it is almost impossible to tell the difference from real life.
Four years before Ready Player One begins, the elusive OASIS creator Halliday dies, but leaves behind more than his legacy. A contest, dubbed ‘The Hunt’ takes the world by storm. Halliday left a major easter egg ( the term for a hidden item in various visual media formats), and the winner will receive Halliday’s billion (+) dollar fortune, and much more. Instantly, the 2040s spiral into a 1980s revival, as Halliday was particularly inclined to his teenaged years.
Our protagonist is Wade, but he goes by the screen name of Parzival. Coming from a broken home, ‘The Hunt’ is becomes Wade’s life line. When the contest begins Wade joins a group of dedicated egg hunters, later shorted to the nickname ‘gunters’. Then suddenly, four years after the contest begins, Wade stumbles across the first clue. Suddenly the contest is seemingly in his hands. Ready Player One goes on to outline the entire contest, including Wade’s competitors and friends, Aech, and Art3mis.
Amidst the contest action, Cline includes a world of OASIS lingo, a haunting, ever changing scoreboard, and detailed depictions of 1980s culture and their role in his future world. (Who knew that the Pac Man ghosts each have special/individual paths that the follow as methods of attack)?!?
The narration is generally third person, but Cline switches occasionally to share (fitting) chatroom-esque conversations between the characters. Cline pushes all of his characters to be interesting and individualistic. Each of them have extensive character development, including Wade. I was impressed with the realistic way that Cline portrayed Wade as a teenage boy. I saw many of my peers in his actions and mannerism, and believe that the things that were included are not things that would have changed in thirty years. Beware, there is a romance side-plot, but I felt that it was portrayed in a satisfying way. Although it doesn’t happen without its trials, I felt that the characters involved learned from the experience and it was a vital part of Wade’s development.
My only jibe for this one is that in middle of Ready Player One Wade loses some of his motivation for the contest and his quite depressed. While I remained engaged due to Cline’s detailed descriptions and backstories, I was frustrated with Wade in these moments. However, he does manage to get through them, and comes out better as a character.
Final Thoughts:
I can safely say that I am not a gamer. My video game skills consist of playing Lego Star Wars with my brother on the Wii when I was nine and more recently playing Just Dance on Xbox at parties. However, Ready Player One is the sort of book that gets you excited about its content. It made me want to not only go out and play video games, but to master them, to memorize the different Pac man ghost attack strategies. (lol, just the thought).
Cline does a spectacular job of mixing a large amount of 1980s pop/geek culture (I’m looking at you Dungeons&Dragons) with a future, dystopian world. I marveled at the details and the stories and remained fully engaged in this book, utterly tearing through the pages. And while yes, I did manage to have a good gist of how much of the story ended up, Cline not only kept me entertained but humble. Forewarning there is a major character twist, but I loved it. Not only did it teach Wade lessons about virtual life vs. real life, but it taught me too.
I recommend this book to gamers, people who grew up/were teens in the 1980s, for those excited for the future of virtual reality and for sic-fy fans that want a technology that is so close you can taste it. I also want non-gamers to read this, teens today who know the 80’s because of The Breakfast Club and that’s about it. Some might compare this tooJames Dasher’s Eye of Minds, but Ready Player One has a more advanced, sophisticated vibe. I was beyond impressed with the captivating nature and spontaneity of Ready Player One. This is a book for many.
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