I like to re-read books that I’ve enjoyed, especially those that encapsulate everything I love about science fiction. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a shining example of this, and while I’ve read it a few times since its release in 2011 I had an overwhelming urge to re-read it again recently. So that’s just what I did. I often find that when revisiting a book that I love I’m always a touch cautious about my expectations. Yes, I know the story and know it’s going to be entertaining, but whether it will still captivate me like it has done in the past is a question that won’t go away. Fortunately, Ready Player One has lost none of its charm for me, and the fact that I read this through in a handful of sittings (interrupted by that pesky thing called Real Life) tells me that re-reading a novel is often a thing of joy.
James Halliday is the creator of the OASIS, initially an MMORPG that has since turned into a bedrock of civilisation: a virtual reality world that everyone uses from an early age. From work to play, the OASIS has anything and everything that anyone could possibly want. When James Halliday dies and his will is announced to the world the OASIS takes on a new fervour to many – the search for Halliday’s Easter eggs with the promise of the ultimate prize at the quest’s end.
Wade lives in the real world but spends his time mostly in OASIS, attending a virtual school and hanging with his friends in specially created chatrooms. Wade is also a ‘gunter’, an egg-hunter, the main objective of which is to find Halliday’s clues and win the legendary quest. However, Wade is but one person among millions who are also searching for the clues – some like himself work alone, others in clans working together to share the prize, and one big company hell-bent on inheriting the OASIS and turning it in to nothing more than a money making business, abandoning all that it was built for.
One day Wade finds the first piece of the puzzle, a piece that nobody else has found in the years since Halliday’s death. Following this discovery the quest begins in earnest, others following him and tracking down the clues for themselves. When those that want the prize above all else turn nasty it has consequences in the real world, and the prize must be kept from their hands at any cost. With this the rush is on – who will get the keys, beat the quests, and find what the much-desired prize really is…
Ready Player One hits just about all the right spots for me as a reader. The story is entertaining, the characters interesting, the world in which it’s set fascinating, and the prose makes you want to keep on reading. And reading. And reading. I had to force myself to put this book down when I had to, and for me that’s exactly what I want in a novel. Wade, Aech, Art3mis – they fit perfectly into this story, are well fleshed out and seem to grow and evolve as the story progresses. It’s fair to say that I found pretty much everything within Ready Player One to be exactly what I hoped.
One of the big things I liked about Ready Player One was the OASIS. Let’s be frank, it’s pretty much the pinnacle of entertainment. Imagine being able to escape to a virtual reality with thousands of worlds to explore, even more quests to take part in, and just an immense amount of stuff to do. Ready Player One touches on all the things I would be doing – questing, game playing, world building, taking part in classic movies, and many, many other things. Cline manages to make it interesting beyond these things with the technology working as you’d imagine and the virtual world what you’d expect. There really is no limit to his imagination.
With Halliday being an 80’s kinda guy the novel is firmly rooted in that decade as far as the nostalgia, geekiness, and nerdisms go, and with his legacy up for grabs it makes perfect sense that so many people would embrace that era and study it to death. There are things here that go over my head for sure, but I’m geeked up enough to know a great deal of the references and enjoy them fully. The prose oozes charm and nostalgia, and once you start reading you’ll find it nigh on impossible to put it down.
In summary, I loved Ready Player One. It took me back to my youth, brought back the memories of more innocent times. Many of the quotes you’ll read about the book will say similar things, and for good reason: Ready Player One is the type of novel that doesn’t come around very often. It may have a smaller target audience due to its central theme, but it’s safe to say that Ready Player One is one of the most entertaining, enjoyable, funny and nostalgic books I have ever read. Highly recommended.
Publisher: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk
Author: http://www.ernestcline.com
April 2012, 384 Pages
Paperback, ISBN: 9780099560432
Review from purchased copy
© 2016 Mark Chitty
