Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Ready Player One is the first book released by Ernest Cline and a ridiculously fun read. The book is basically a trip into the future through the nostalgia of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. Old is cool right? Like my aunt Irma. She’s stupid old, and cranky. But damn is she cool. Not that she knows anything about the two decades that heavily shaped my generation since she was born in 1873 or something…but we’re not here to talk about her.
Ernest Cline offers a storytelling experience akin to his a comedian playing World of Warcraft after he had a love child with every conceivable robot anime and an Aladdin’s Castle, while reading Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and listening to Rush. There is so much quality nostalgia in this book you need a salad shooter just to get through it all. Imagine if you will a MMO that has everything you can imagine? Yeah that’s the OASIS, and everyone is jacked in via full immersion “haptic” suit. Did we mention it’s basically the post apocalypse, just with out the nuclear wasteland we all assume will wipe us off the planet? It’s simply due to our terrible maintenance of our resources.
Our hero Wade aka Perzival, is a gunter. Gunter’s are people devoted to solving the greatest puzzle of all time in search of Halliday’s Egg. Who’s Halliday and what is this egg I’m talking about? Well I’m getting there, hold your freaking horses, or go read the book. Halliday is the reclusive genius that created OASIS and changed the world forever. He’s also a multi-billionaire, who has locked his fortune under a complex series of retro themed riddles for OASIS players to find. Problem is most people simply exist in OASIS as an escape from the crappy slums and energy depleted wastes of the real world. Only a select few, like Wade and others in the story actually are seeking out Halliday’s Egg. Problem is it’s been five years since the announcement of the contest, which occurred the day Halliday died.
No sign of clues, just a riddle he left. Gunter solos, those going it a lone; Gunter clans, those that banded together to attempt the chase; and the corporate giant IOI, who hired huge banks of faceless avatars to attempt the quest, all have slowed in their forward momentum. Where there was a rush of every avatar in OASIS surging for clues to find the egg, time and lack of new clues past have basically slowed the search to a crawl. Most people returned to their daily OASIS lives and have forgotten the quest. That is until suddenly the scoreboard, showing the top achievers in the quest, which has been empty since the announcement of the search, suddenly changed. On top of the scoreboard, one Perzival stood alone. Things just got serious.
What follows is a blazing and enthralling story of Wade (Parzival) as he is lurched into the dangers, joys, pains, stresses, and challenges of uncovering the secrets that Halliday coded into OASIS as a part of the competition. Up for grabs is the future of OASIS and life as people now knew it. IOI will stop at nothing to gain control. Along the way Wade will make unexpected friends and even more enemies.
Every page of the book is filled with refreshing and fun bits of nostalgia most readers are sure to relate to. There is every conceivable game system represented in the book. Old school television, movies, music, pop culture, books, and games all take a front seat, as Halliday was an obsessive collector of items from his childhood. And if the players hold any hope in finding the egg they’re going to have to build a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the era that shaped Halliday and that he loved so much.
Ready Player One reads easy and quick. It’s an amazingly fun book bringing back memories of late night D&D sessions, hair metal, bad TV, and classic movies to the reader. Cline does a great job capturing the flavor of what made people either love or hate the ‘80’s (though not just that decade) and mixing it with a dystopian cyberpunk feeling future. If you’re not reading anything, go out right now and buy, download, listen to, or whatever Ready Player One right now. If you are reading something, stop. This is far better. I promise. If I’m wrong it’s because you have bad taste and don’t like unicorns, rainbows, and pixie dust. Plus aunt Irma will get you in your sleep if you don’t go read the book now.
