Ready Player One

This book was really well researched… The characters are realistic and the story was completely engaging…I thoroughly enjoyed it… I couldn’t put it down.

A fun book that reminded me of my childhood with all the bells and whistles. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys 80’s pop culture or who just enjoys a little escape from the every day by reading a great book!

For this #FictionFriday review, we’re talking about Ernest Cline’s debut novel about the adventures into the Oasis, Ready Player One. While I’d heard of this novel a few years ago, I didn’t know anything about its plot. As can often happen with me, I saw a trailer for the movie that comes out next week, and I was instantly hooked. Having grown up in the 80’s and being a fan of many of the films and games referenced in the movie trailer, I went to the store and purchased the book the very next day.

So, what’s this book all about?

Following the character of Wade Watts in the real world, and his alterego Parzival in the VR world of the Oasis, we see a society that has pulled away from the organic to replace it with the synthetic. Nearly every person spends as much time in virtual reality as possible. Imagine the holodecks from Star Trek, but you get there by wearing a 3D headset and a bodysuit. If this isn’t crazy enough of a premise, a challenge is issued to all members of the Oasis. James Halliday created the Oasis, and his will is read upong his death that states he will leave his entire fortune to the person that can find the Easter egg he’d hidden in the Oasis.

My honest review of the book was that it could be the best thing I’ve read since The Martian by Andy Weir. As soon as I’d read the first few pages, it became very difficult to put down. I have responsibilities and things to do, yet all I yearned for was digging deeper into the world that Cline created. If that isn’t enough to tell you how much I loved this novel, I should let you know that I read the entire second half of it in a single sitting. I was not prepared to let the pages slip out of my fingers until I got to the end. With how incredible I found Cline’s words, I’m greatly looking forward to delving into sequel when it comes out as well as his other book, Armada. As always though, that is just one reader’s opinion.

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Thanks for reading!

While not my cuppa tea, I am still recommending this SF book for it’s originality and slightly terrifying glimpses of a future hell captured in a thing so many today love—gaming. As an escape from a dull, overpopulated, near future world many hate, the virtual reality gamers search for an “Easter egg”. The prize was designed by a socially awkward geek who became a bazillionaire creating “Oasis”, a simulated world you can escape into and forget your crappy life. Think Second Life meets Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, and you have the premise and concept for the book, which is also now a movie. I fully admit I’m not a “gamer” and that was probably a big reason I found it hard to get into this book. But for those who enjoying reading a book as much as gaming, I imagine they will relate to and love the author’s vision.

Way better than the movie and I loved the movie!

I’ve read it 3 times already, very good book.

Ever since i saw the commercial for the movie, i have wanted to read it. I got the book a couple of months ago and finished it. As the reviews on the book said, Cline has made a cornucopia of pop culture. I agree.

There were certain parts of this book that were great. The technology was fun and believable. Even the relationships between the characters were well written and thought out. The way the main character interacted with each of his friends or strangers was different, and that was wonderfully believable. I will even say that most of the time, the prose flowed well. It wasn’t choppy. There weren’t too many awkward sentences. The words and sentences that made up the story were thought out and done well.

But there were so many other things I just couldn’t get past.

1. The word “eighties” was used WAY too often and unnecessarily. We know at this point that the next song that just started is an eighties band. You already said the DJ was playing nothing but eighties tunes. We get it, dude. We. Get. It.

2. Constantly listing the artist, album, release date, etc for almost every single reference (especially about music or movies) pulled me out of the story. It was completely unnecessary. Again, we get it. Eighties, man.

3. The main character is simply too perfect. Considering the character’s age and how long he had been studying 80’s history, there is no way that he had THAT many movies, TV shows, songs, interviews, books, etc MEMORIZED. It’s not realistic, and I could not relate to the character at all. Of COURSE he was brilliant at that game. Of COURSE he had that movie memorized. Everything was far too coincidental and perfect. Even his plan to infiltrate IOI. There were never any flaws in his plans. The writer never thought about throwing a wrench in anything that Wade had control over. He was simply the perfect character, narcissistic and all-knowing. I hated him from the beginning.

4. I had the beginning predicted almost to a T by the third chapter. The only reason I even continued reading was the hopes that it would get better. But it really didn’t.

5. I still don’t entirely understand why the old lady was introduced at the beginning of the story at all if she was only going to die and not become a sort of martyr that motivates Wade. To some degree, that entire situation was a bit of a motivator, but it wasn’t touched on enough to know that THAT was Wade’s driving force to bring down IOI.

i went to see the movie before i read the book. and although they are similar they both have alot to offer. the movie blew me away (i did not know anything about the premise). once i had seen the movie i wanted to read the book. my only problem was that i am not a big fan of videos games and haven’t played that many. be that as it may, i learned alot about video games and future thinking. it seems as if the author really loved writing this book and it shows. was a blast to read.

Such a fun read for anyone who loves any fandom, science fiction, fantasy, dungeons and dragons, and the 80’s. If you are one who does not like any of those things, then you are not going to like this novel because the bulk of the novel, which is somewhat lengthy, is all about creating the OASIS not only for the characters but for the reader as well. That makes the bulk of the novel exposition because it explores everything that the reader may not be familiar to build the world. Moreover, then there is the OASIS. The OASIS is something society is just now imagining is possible with the sudden growth of augmented reality and the growth of VR. So the reader no longer has to suspend belief to imagine the possibility of the world, but on such a grand scale, there is so much that goes into building it. The OASIS is its own universe, and Cline treats it as such. So a lot is going into this novel to make it as grand and believable as possible.

Now, as a story, outside the world building, it progresses exceptionally well. It moves slow, but again that mainly has to do with the world building. However, it moves and focuses on character development and the problems in the world. Moreover, that is what’s so riveting about the novel, how it tells a story and paints a very realistic story about a potential future. Overpopulation, famine, and the like, those are all very close to being a reality. In some places of the world it is a reality, so for the story to address that and incorporate it into the novel gives it some depth while also giving the reader something serious to think about between all the fun in the novel. Video games are a great escape, but that is all they are, an escape, one no one can be locked in forever. Problems do not go away, they have to be faced and dealt with, and the novel addresses that thoroughly.

So the story progresses very well, it submerges the reader in the details without losing the fun edge, which is excellent. However, then there are the characters. Wade is a great character, and his tone captures the destitution in which he lives, while also capturing the hope and life he feels whenever he enters the OASIS. He has a strength to him that makes him a hero because he is willing to rise to the task, Wade makes a plan and makes the sacrifice he has to to make sure the good guys win. Wade is not without flaws of course. Wade thinks a little too naïvely, but he gets smart real quick, he makes mistakes but also learns from them. Moreover, his dynamics with his friends, they are also well constructed. They are fresh characters whom all have a fresh dynamic with one another, calling each other out on their mistakes and stupidity.

Ready Player One is just such a fun novel to read; it has dark moments that aren’t subdued by the lighter ones, and vice versa. It is a perfect mixture that makes the novel exceptionally captivating