It’s not often you find a book that’s both a ‘quick read’ as well as ‘engaging.’ Normally, in my experience, quick reads are just that, quick, and I find that I don’;t have enough time to get involved in anything deeper than the plot floating on the surface. But Ready, Player One, kept me engaged in the plot, characters, and universe from beginning to end, yet I finished it in less than a week.
SUMMARY: Wade Watts, like millions of other Americans in 2044, practically lives on the OASIS, a multi-player virtual reality universe where one can live as they choose, visit other worlds, go to school, or even have jobs. When the creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves a video will that explains that his massive fortune will be bequeathed to whoever in the OASIS can be the first to locate three keys, clear three gates, and find an Easter egg using only cryptic clues about 80s pop culture and vintage video games. Wade, though ordinary, poor, and living out of the back of a discarded van, is the first to find the first key after years of hunting and studying. As his avatar, ‘Parzival’ gets closer to the prize, he has to deal with IOI, a greedy corporation bent on finding the egg and using the fortune to turn the free OASIS into an exclusive club, as well as sly fellow egg hunters, like the elusive celebrity blogger ‘Art3mis,’ and his online best friend, ‘Aech.’
The first thing that stands out to me about this book is the universe in which it takes place. It’s both based in reality and as fantastic as JK Rowling’s Hogwarts. How? Well, the OASIS is an impossibly large universe, where you can relive favorite movies as your favorite character, visit whole planets dedicated to classic TV shows, and immerse yourselves in games and battles as if you’re there live and in person. But it’s all still a virtual reality realm. The real world is still out there, and it’s grim, poor, and dog-eat-dog. One of the themes of the book is discerning reality from fantasy, and drawing the line between losing yourself in the fantasy and enduring the hard realities of the real world. It’s a theme that is extremely relevant in today;s social media-ridden world, where the OASIS’s hold on everyone’s lives doesn’t feel like such a parody.
Another thing about this book that I wholly appreciated about the book is that fact that the characters are…normal. Very average. The lead, Wade, is highly intelligent, but that’s about it. He’s not special. He’s not a prodigy. He’s not even attractive by normal standards, described as ‘overweight’ and ‘acne-ridden.’ In a typical teen novel, he would be a side character or a nobody, but here, he takes center stage, and doesn’t earn his place as hero through magic or might…he earns it through plain hard work. The same can be said of Art3mis, the love interest and main female character. Also very average in appearance (‘Rubenesque’, brown-haired, and with a port-wine birthmark covering half her face’). She’s not a sexual character. he doesn’t get her way through betrayal or feminine wiles. She also relies on logic, hard work, and simply beating the odds. All of these factors make them very easy to cheer for. They are normal without being Mary Sue ‘normal.’
Another shout out in praise to the ‘Aech’s true identity’ subplot. I won’t spoil it, but Aech is not who he seems, and his reveal uncovers another issue at large in today’s society where anyone can mask their true identity to their advantage.
On the other side, no book is perfect, and I have to admit, the bad guys in the book are a little cookie-cutter. The ‘evil corporation’ cliche was used to the max here, to the point where they are willing to kidnap and murder to grab the winnings. It’s been said and done before, and I always find it hard to believe ANY business, no matter how influential, getting away with murder for the sake of money. The novel would’ve benefited from a bit of a deeper story to the head of the evil group, Sorrento, at least. Why is he the head? Why does he want to switch the OASIS into this imperialist and exclusive society?
Another problem about the book is the referenced to 80s popular media ans vintage video games. Some of the nods are a bit obscure, and if you don’t understand the references, then you don’t understand at all what the situation is at the moment, and it’s very easy to get confused. In places, the book tries to explain so the reader can follow along, but for as many times as it works, it doesn’t work just as often. As an 80s media fan, I understood most of those silly in-jokes, but I was at a loss for most of the video game references, and some of them were major parts of the book.
However, in this book, the positives far outweigh the negatives. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who considers themselves a ‘nerd.’ You nerdiness will be severely tested, and by book’s end, you will be satisfied, I promise.
**** out of ***** stars
RATING: PG-13 for language and violence
iRead Too Much 
Seems like an interesting read. I’ll have to keep it in mind next time I load up some stuff on my Kindle 🙂
-avideogamelife.com
That book was amazing! Great review, as well. I just did a review on ‘Super Mario’, have you read that one? Not so much a sci-fi story, more a history of NIntendo. It’s been a good past couple years for video game nerd reading.