Review: #898
Title: Ready Player One
Series: N/A
Author: Ernest Cline
Comments: Ready Player One is perfect for readers who have a decent amount of knowledge of the 1980s and the decades surrounding that. This is because there is a huge amount of references to that era, mostly on pop culture (music, literature, games, movies etc) and if you grew up in that era, it’ll probably set you alight with nostalgia. The novel is set in the future where VR has developed to the point where it is like another reality. It’s still a weird combination since you can wear suits to simulate feeling but you’re still physically in the real world. Ready Player One follows a teenager with an avatar called Parcival in the Oasis, the leading VR world where it’s not only a game but pretty much the other reality, used by businesses. We’re shown how this is integrated into the world, which is currently suffering from an energy crisis. Things are much cheaper to run in the virtual world, from education to entertainment. Before the original creator and super-billionaire of Oasis died, he set up an Easter egg hunt and whoever could find it will get all of his fortune. This naturally set the world on fire and everyone went on the hunt. It is an interesting premise and the plot follows Parcival as he participates in this challenge. He is focused most of the time but gets distracted, nearly to his detriment, during the middle of the book and this is one of the weaker sections. Otherwise, the way the journey was presented slowly increased the stakes, while at the same time kept introducing us more and more to how the world currently functions. Once the plot starts to reach the climax, it is relentless, building an excellent tense atmosphere of anticipation. The ending is satisfying in terms of what happens at the end of the challenge but ends a tad bit too early without giving a definitively conclusion on what happens to each character. Despite that, Ready Player One presents a fun time, even more so if you’re into gaming and 1980s culture.
Rating: 6.5/10