Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline



                The day James Halliday died a video was released to the world media and to every Oasis user. James Halliday had created the OASIS, the globally networked virtual reality that had begun as a massively multiplayer online game. He was worth two hundred forty billion dollars and this video was his last will and testament. Whoever found Halliday’s Easter egg hidden within the OASIS would get not only his fortune but his controlling stake in the company. Wade will never forget where he was when he first heard the video. He became one of the many people known as “gunters” obsessed with finding the three keys that would lead you to the prize. But it wasn’t just the other gunters Wade was worried about. The Innovative Online Industries, IOI, was hunting for the keys too. They planned on changing the OASIS making people pay a monthly fee and plastering advertisements everywhere. It would change everything. But years passed and no one had found a single key. Until Wade found the Copper Key.
                I am pleased. This was a high octane, fun read, full of suspense that had my undivided attention. Halliday dies in 2041 and the situation is dire and many, including Wade, have turned away from the real world and live in the OASIS. Most people are destitute, broke and living on top of one another. And here is the opportunity to amass a huge amount of wealth and power. And we’re off. World development in this story was amazing. Keep in mind that Cline had to create two different worlds: the real world of the 2040’s and the virtual reality that is the OASIS. He did an amazing job with both. Cline was so detailed and he had great references for all of the worlds found inside the OASIS. My imagination took off while picturing the many places/planets/worlds that Wade went to. Wade was well imagined and full of depth. He was intelligent, full of a young man’s angst and bravado but fun and self-aware. I was pleased with his character and that was true of all of Cline’s character. I didn’t have to try and understand or decipher any of them because they all jumped off the pages. If I was basing my opinion off of just character and world development this would already be a hit.
                Judging a book is never that easy though. The plot has to be taken into consideration. Luckily the premise behind this story and the mystery behind Halliday’s Easter Egg made this story amazing. The intensity never wavered, especially once it became obvious that people’s lives were in danger over this game and obtaining the prize. It wasn’t at all predictable which I appreciated. There were plenty of moments where I suspected that something may be happening and I wasn’t right. Plenty of twist and turns to keep readers on their toes. I will say that this book does reference a lot of old school video games. The amount of knowledge Cline drops on these older systems and game is impressive. Having some kind of background knowledge about massively multiplayer online games may help when understanding some of the jargon early on. If you aren’t aware it isn’t a deal breaker. You can get used to the terms pretty quickly.

                I had so much fun reading this book. I will admit that I shunned it for a while thinking it may only be meant for hardcore gamers based on some of the reviews I saw. I was wrong, very very wrong. This book was great. The humor was great. The plot kept moving. The level of intensity never wavered and I really enjoyed reading this book. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. Hat’s off to Cline for something so fun and original. I am a fan.  

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