Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Release Date: 2012
Publishers: Arrow Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 372
My Rating: 5/5

The Geekiest Book I've Ever Read



It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty and disease are widespread.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS - and his massive fortune - will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based on Halliday's obsession with 80's pop culture. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle. Suddenly, he finds himself pitted against thousands of competitors in a desperate race to claim the ultimate prize , a chase that soon takes on terrifying real-world dimensions - and that will leave both Wade and his world profoundly changed.

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I thought this was FANTASTIC!!! I had heard many bloggers and book tubers (Youtube Book Community) fall in love with this book. Ernest Cline has done a truly amazing job.

The characters and the setting has been created so vividly that this utopian world is actually so possible to imagine and believe and it does get the reader thinking that this could easily happen in the future; especially as people have already started to make prototypes to these kinds of ideas of virtual reality. With all these disaster movies it has become so easy to imagine and depict a world very similar to Wade Watts' reality where humankind has overcome nature and has taken its toll. I really liked the idea that the world has become so overpopulated to the point where caravans are being stacked upon themselves and no one can truly afford the things they like so they live a virtual world where they can be happy and escape reality.
I love the idea of OASIS, a place humans can escape to for hours in the day, where they can be whoever they want to be (including aliens and monsters) and they go about working in the virtual simulation. I also found it really interesting that the OASIS was filled with deception and lies, much like reality that the humans are trying to avoid. Warning this is not necessarily a happy, light hearted, book.

The characters of the 'High Five' were really fascinating to read about. Wade Watts, whose OASIS name is Parzival, is seen to be portrayed as a kid; however he is much wiser than a kid, as he devotes his time to all things Halliday and finding the first clue to Halliday's Egg Hunt. The readers also get a sense of Wade's youth when dealing with love, for his outside friends and family and for Artemis and the Contest.

Artemis is portrayed as a know it all yet I see her as a kick ass female throughout the book who stands up for herself and knows the right way to get things done. One thing I most loved about the book was the Artemis didn't fall in love with Parzival immediately and you begin to see the relationship forming and then the contest interrupts them and they eventually, although not for definite, appear to become a couple at the end of the novel when all is restored.

Aech is the best friend character which I believe most people will love immediately, the classic joker, always there for you kind of friend who doesn't take anything from anyone. Ernest Cline created this character brilliantly through a hugely unexpected plot twist further on in the novel making you understand Aech's beliefs and actions thus making the readers love Aech even more.

Shoto and Daito are unfortunately the characters that come along in which you know are the less important characters although they make a great duo in this novel and it is very saddening when events related to the Contest occur. I see them as the "brothers from another mother" kind of type. The ones that know each other the instant they meet. They make a good character development throughout the novel and one's death leads to anothers perseverance.

James Halliday and Ogden Morrow are the founders and designers of the OASIS, Halliday being the main man himself. I imagine Halliday, who was obsessed with 80's pop culture, as a wise geek (picturing a geeky Dumbledore although I doubt he was that old in the book) and for Morrow I was depicting a sort of Doc Brown (Back to the Future films) as Morrow's character was cooky, crazy and very loveable. The best thing about these two characters in the novel is that although they aren't the main characters this whole virtual world is created because of them and as Wade and the 'High Five' venture on in the Contest we, the readers, learn a lot more about these two game nerds.

Sorrento is the true bad villain of the book. Of course we immediately dislike him. Sorrento is a part of a corporation who want Halliday's treasures all for themselves so they can control the OASIS. Parzival, Artemis, Aech, Shoto and Daito group together to overthrow IOI and Sorrento however Sorrento causes havoc towards Parzival to get what he wants.

Overall this book was utter geekiness. A must read for all geeks, nerds, gamers and of course the ultimate 80's fan (as there are a lot of references in this book). I loved the Hunt for Halliday's Egg and the adventure along the way and I believe everyone would love the adventure too!
Leave a comment if you loved this book too!

Enjoy x

Author's Website: Ernest Cline
GoodReads: Ready Player One 

Available in most book stores and online now.