Ready Player One

Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Genre: Fantasy/Sci Fi
Source: Paperback
Rating: 4 out of 5


The OASIS is a virtual reality world, where you can do basically anything your heart desires.  One of the world's creators placed an Easter Egg within the realm and has clues leading players to the egg.  It has been 5 years since the first clue had been release and no one has found it yet.  Until Wade (user name being Parzival) figures out the first clue relates to a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon.  Once he figures it out and competes for the first key, he discovers he is not the first person to figure out the clue, but the first person to defeat the first boss.  From here it is race with other "gunters" and an organization named IOI, who want control of OASIS, to find the remaining keys and enter the gates to find the Easter Egg.  Along the way Wade makes some friends, as well as some enemies.  He finds the game not only challenges his nerd knowledge, but also challenges his strengths and weaknesses.

I was already interested in this novel, but was encouraged to read it quickly to see the  movie, I am glad I did.  While it was slow to start and seemed a little slow moving throughout different parts of the book, it was well written and interesting to read.  Being an 80's nerd, I loved all the references and understood every one of them.  He does describe some things a lot, but then some things he doesn't as they are typically things the general public would understand such as movie or television show references.

I have always enjoyed the idea of virtual reality (VR), and enjoy seeing how other people interpret the idea such as this novel or shows like Sword Art Online.  The idea of this book is that people basically live their lives in the alternate universe, almost like people who get pulled into the world of MMOs like Everquest and World of Warcraft, but Ready Player One takes it farther with working, shopping and going to school through this VR world.  Cline does a great job at describing the world, how it works, how people interact, as well as continues to show a class difference even inside the OASIS.  The way he presents the game, challenge, quest whatever you want to call it is rather interesting, and I almost expected it to get harder as it went on, but it didn't seem as that was the case, the clues were harder to decipher, but the gates themselves seemed rather easy.

Wade was an interesting enough character of a typically nerdy fellow down on his luck.  He does grow into himself and learns about his strengths and weaknesses as well as the importance of being able to rely on those around him.  I liked how Cline incorporated that idea into the story as well, the importance of teamwork as well as healthy competition between friends.  Art3mis was interesting as well, I kind of wanted a little more from her perspective and the competition between them and Aech rather than the romantic aspect of her and Wade.

Overall it was a good perfect for those of us who love the 80's and all things considered nerdy.  I am excited to see what the movie will be like, hopefully I can catch it in theaters.  If you are a fan of sci-fi, virtual reality, and 80's nostalgia pick up this book and dive into the OASIS.