Something Novel: Ready Player One [Book Review]

"Ready Player One"
Book by Ernest Cline

Synopsis (from Amazon): “In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenager Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.  But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.”

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Called a “Grown-Up’s Harry Potter” and “Willy Wonka meets The Matrix,” Ready Player One's author, Ernest Cline, does a fantastic job of painting a futuristic world that is both frighteningly post-apocalyptic and sweepingly magical. Steeped in 80s nostalgia and brimming with post-adolescent hope for the future, this is a page turner…

…for the first 50 pages.

Once the basic plot is established, and some momentum is built, Cline stops all action in its tracks to describe (in unnecessarily great detail) the ins-and-outs of nearly everything from the 80s.  What began as tongue-in-cheek comments that felt like a wink to the reader, now became page-after-page of unentertaining lecture about subjects the reader is already privy to.  After all, this book is aimed at the current 30s/40s something who remembers playing Zork and Pac-Man, watching ET and War Games, and who’s love of all things geek still holds strong today.  I found the author’s explanations not only boring, but almost insulting.  The book could have been a novella without the exhausting explanation.  Have you ever had a friend launch in to a story that you know you’ve heard (probably more than once)?  You have the option to say, “Skip to the end.”  You can’t while reading this book.  I found myself saying (out loud) “Yes, yes, yes, I get it.  I played it.  I beat it.  I know it.  Move the EFF on,” but you’re held hostage by era-specific minutiae until the author gets back to the action.  So, the overall pace of this book felt like a chugging train; just when you thought you were going somewhere and making good time, it slowed to a grinding halt.

Aside from the pace, the only other problem I had with Ready Player One was the nemesis, an organization called “IOI,” that didn’t seem to be that much of a threat.  Don’t get me wrong, there were promises of certain death if you got in their way, but over all, if they were to “win” the game at hand, and thereby take control of the OASIS, all they had planned, really, was to start charging people for access to the Oasis.

So… a subscription fee.

Like that $8.99 a month you forget you pay for Netflix.

That REALLY doesn’t seem like something to get your undies in a bunch about – especially if the alternative is death.  The battle between the main characters and IOI seemed less like Good versus Evil, and more like Capitalism versus Teenage Entitlement.

Was the book enjoyable?  Sure.  The plot kept me engaged, the characters were very real (even in their virtual world), and Cline created an alternate reality that was deliciously nostalgic.  If early video games and movies from the 80s are your thing, then run, don’t walk, to get a copy of this book.  You will enjoy the adventure as well as the trip down memory lane.

Rating: 2.5/5