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Book Review
Jul. 12th, 2012 11:49 pmReady Player One
by Ernest Cline
This was another really fun book. It's set about 30 years in the future, America is a more downtrodden and grim place, and most people spend a lot of time online in a vast and varied virtual reality world called OASIS. Jim Halliday, the creator of OASIS and the CEO of GSS, the company that runs it, died six years ago. Before he died, he put in place a massive easter egg hunt game in OASIS, in which the winner receives 240 billion dollars and a controlling share in GSS. This has spawned a whole subculture of egg hunters who are looking for the clues and widgets that lead to the prize. Wade/Parzival, our 18 year old protagonist, is one of these hunters. When he discovers the first key, the egg hunt goes into high gear and the stakes become very high for Wade and his friends and fellow hunters Aech and Art3mis.
It's a very fast-paced book, with a structure that mimics that of classic video games, completes with fights and puzzles. Since Halliday grew up in the 1980s, the game, and by extension the entire novel, is awash with references to 80s pop culture, particularly the geekier elements. I have to admit that this thread of nostalgia was a big part of my enjoyment of Ready Player One. I would find myself wondering if certain movies get a mention, and a chapter or two later, they would. The references to and descriptions of classic videogames also reminded me of how awesome our Atari was when I was 8 years old. I'm actually slightly baffled at the way this book is marketed as YA, since that audience will not have the same associations with and knowledge of the pop culture references.
The plot, if not exactly surprising, was well-written so that even when I knew where things were going, I could still feel excitement and suspense. The romance sub-plot was pretty well done, too, and had a nice turn to it that it would be too spoilery to reveal. Most of the action of the book takes place in OASIS, so you don't get too much information about this future, but what there is does provide a nice dystopian feel as well as some interesting anti-corporation commentary. Overall, it was entertaining, a nice indulgence for us children of the 80s, and even had a few tidbits of social commentary.
I received this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.
by Ernest Cline
This was another really fun book. It's set about 30 years in the future, America is a more downtrodden and grim place, and most people spend a lot of time online in a vast and varied virtual reality world called OASIS. Jim Halliday, the creator of OASIS and the CEO of GSS, the company that runs it, died six years ago. Before he died, he put in place a massive easter egg hunt game in OASIS, in which the winner receives 240 billion dollars and a controlling share in GSS. This has spawned a whole subculture of egg hunters who are looking for the clues and widgets that lead to the prize. Wade/Parzival, our 18 year old protagonist, is one of these hunters. When he discovers the first key, the egg hunt goes into high gear and the stakes become very high for Wade and his friends and fellow hunters Aech and Art3mis.
It's a very fast-paced book, with a structure that mimics that of classic video games, completes with fights and puzzles. Since Halliday grew up in the 1980s, the game, and by extension the entire novel, is awash with references to 80s pop culture, particularly the geekier elements. I have to admit that this thread of nostalgia was a big part of my enjoyment of Ready Player One. I would find myself wondering if certain movies get a mention, and a chapter or two later, they would. The references to and descriptions of classic videogames also reminded me of how awesome our Atari was when I was 8 years old. I'm actually slightly baffled at the way this book is marketed as YA, since that audience will not have the same associations with and knowledge of the pop culture references.
The plot, if not exactly surprising, was well-written so that even when I knew where things were going, I could still feel excitement and suspense. The romance sub-plot was pretty well done, too, and had a nice turn to it that it would be too spoilery to reveal. Most of the action of the book takes place in OASIS, so you don't get too much information about this future, but what there is does provide a nice dystopian feel as well as some interesting anti-corporation commentary. Overall, it was entertaining, a nice indulgence for us children of the 80s, and even had a few tidbits of social commentary.
I received this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.
