Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage 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. 

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.

My Review: 
James Halliday was the creator of a new and improved version of the internet called OASIS has died. His entire fortune of 240 billion is now up for grabs-if you can find the Easter Egg hidden within OASIS. The way to get to the egg is to solve the clues to find the keys to open the gates and every gamer in the world wants to win that prize. After years of failure for everyone, Wade stumbles across the first answer and everyone goes wild over the contest again. Wade is competing against gamers who are friends as well as enemies who are ready to kill to win the prize. Who will find the egg first?

"Three hidden keys open three secret gates, wherein the errant will be tested for worthy traits. And those with the skill to to survive these straits will reach the End where the prize awaits"

I'm not the biggest fan of science fiction in general though I do like certain things like monsters and dinosaurs killing people on planets or on board spacecraft, some dystopian plots like The Hunger Games, some time travel like Future Shock. I'm not a gamer either though I sometimes watch my dad play. I really didn't think for a minute that I was going to like this book but I wanted to read it before I tried watching the film. I was so surprised to really enjoy it! 

I loved the worldbuilding in this book so much. It is a grim future world set in the ongoing energy crisis and against a backdrop of extreme poverty, disease and war. Crime is rampant especially in the stacks where Wade lives. Basically, mobile homes are stacked in huge towers  to save space, leaving the occupants crammed in. The lower homes have no light, the upper homes with a long journey to get in and out their homes, and dark alleys running between them where criminals prey on the vulnerable. I could feel the misery that these people in the stacks endure on a day to day basis. People rent out any extra space in their mobile homes to other families to get more money for themselves as Wade's nasty aunt does. Fifteen people are crammed into her trailer and her contempt for Wade has her reluctant to feed him but happy to take welfare from the government and steal any items of value that he finds. With such a grim life to endure, it is easy to see why people want to spend all their time in the OASIS.

The OASIS sounded so amazing-a virtual reality global network that can be used for everything from education and chat rooms to gaming and media. You can go to school and learn without leaving your home, and it is programmed so that nobody can misbehave in the virtual classrooms, making it easier for kids to learn and teachers not having to discipline the class. Access to the basic OASIS is free for all citizens but the more money you have, the more freedom you have to explore the countless worlds at your fingertips. Instead of just playing a game on a console as we do now, the created avatars of the players can get on a spaceship and go and explore whole new worlds, fight countless other avatars, meet up in chat rooms and play all the old retro games that are no longer around. It sounds great! I was always a Pac Man, Space Invaders and Chuckie Egg kind of gal!

Wade, like other gamers who want to win the prize, spends a lot of time researching the 80's on OASIS as James Halliday loved the music, films and games from that era of entertainment. He hides his computer gear in a pile of abandoned cars which he retreats to for privacy, using OASIS to go to school and meet gamer friends. With little money, he is stuck on his school's planet and unable to experience the whole experience but it doesn't stop him finding the answer to the first clue and becoming an overnight sensation online. His best friend is fellow gamer Aech and their bromance is a lot of fun. Wade is also a big fan of female gamer Art3mis, who has a huge following and becomes a friend and rival for the prize. Also on the leaderboard are Shoto and Daito, and others start to figure out the clue for themselves. I really enjoyed the chatroom interaction between the main characters as they try to stop the clues for each stage.

101 are a rival company who are gathering gamers to work for them, but the victory will belong to the company rather than the gamer who finds the egg, though other rewards are offered. When 101 start filling up the leaderboard behing them, Wade and his friends are alarmed, knowing if 101 win, they will remove free access for OASIS and everything will be pay for use. However when the five gamers are approached by 101, Wade is curious about their intentions and agrees to meet them, a decision that will prove to have fatal consequences. I'm not going to say anything else about the plot as I don't want to spoil the story but this is where everything starts to kick off!

I really loved the 80's references because I was an 80's child, growing up with the music, the Brat Pack films and playing my first games on the old Atari system. I really got the world that James Halliday loved and incorporated into his work. I used to spend hours playing Pac Man and Ateroids with my parents and the place we went on holiday every year had a big Space Invaders game that I loved! It was a nostalgic look back at a time in my life when I was really happy so that was fun to have in a book. I liked the blending of OASIS and real life, the great characters and battling the big bad evil company who wanted to ruin things for everyone. I enjoyed the quest and the clue solving, which was really interesting and the worlds that the characters visited. It was just a great piece of writing that appealed so much to me. I'm also interested in the fact that there is a sequel in the works and I have no idea what plot it could have, but I'll read it!

Read August 2018.
4 stars.