Book Review: Ready Player One (2011)

Ready Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline

YA | Science Fiction | Fantasy | Fiction | Dystopia

Disclaimer: In every review that I complete, I try my best to avoid spoilers of any kind and include spoiler warnings when necessary.

Ernest Cline's Ready Player One tells the tale of a borderline overweight young nerd named Wade Watts, living in 2045. The world he lives in is in a state of disarray due to an "ongoing energy crisis, Catastrophic climate change. Widespread famine, poverty, and disease. Half a dozen wars" (pg. 13). However, none of this matters all that much. James Halliday's invention, the OASIS -Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation - changes the world. Simply put, No one lives in the real world; instead, they spend most of their time in virtual reality MMORPG. A huge part of the world even works and attends school in the OASIS. Upon Halliday's death, he leaves an Easter Egg within the OASIS, and the one who finds that Easter Egg will inherit the creator's vast fortune, including control over the OASIS.

Throughout the novel, Wade, and his in-game character Parzival, set out to tell his story of finding three keys and gates that will lead to the Easter Egg. Facing problems with IOI, also called the Sixers, on his adventure, he relies on Halliday's OASIS characters journal, Anorak's Almanac, to help him. The Almanac is a collection of entries about his life and his interests, filled heavily with video games, movies, shows, and pop-culture references from the 1980s- to do so. Alongside several supporting characters.

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My Review

When I first read Ready Player One ten years ago, I absolutely fell in love with it. It fit every single checklist I looked for in a book: fantastic, well-written characters, an in-depth story, and I was a sucker for dystopian worlds. Cline's dystopia is fascinating, as -save for the OASIS- he avoids using world creation that is too far-fetched and impossible. The way people act, the way they escape into the OASIS reflects how society would act if such a fantasy world existed.

My most recent re-read of the novel

As Ready Player One is one of my favorite YA novels, I have read it a few times, and each has been a different experience. This is likely based on where I have been in my life. The first time I read it, I was just fresh out of high school, the second, in college, the third, shortly after finishing both of my degrees (English and history), and the fourth, a few months after giving birth to my daughter. Each time I read it, I connect to a different character and always go on a Speilberg rampage.

The Good Things

1. The book, overall, is extremely well-written. I believe this is why I have enjoyed it so many times over the years.

2. The amount of nostalgia and pop culture reference is ridiculous, in a good way.

3. Most of the main characters are in-depth.

4. The storyline is good, and there are no huge flaws.

The Bad Things

1. I suppose it could have used more romance.

2. Just kidding, there weren't any.

My Final Rating:

☆☆☆☆☆ (Goodreads)

☆☆☆☆☆ (Amazon)

☆☆☆☆☆ (Blog)

Coming Soon: Book Review of Ready Player Two (tbr)

Please feel free to leave comments concerning how you liked -or didn't like, no judgment here- Ready Player One. I would love to hear your thoughts!