Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - Paperback

The book depicts a dystopian world in which oil resources are nearly exhausted and there is widespread poverty and famish. People have lost interest in the real world and are addicted to a virtual utopia called OASIS. OASIS is a virtual world with numerous planets where individuals lose their original identities and can create an avatar of their choice. James Halliday, a geeky scientist is the brainchild of OASIS and when he dies , a video is circulated which tells the world that his entire OASIS empire of half a trillion dollars is up for grabs. In the video Halliday tells people about an online contest to win the ownership of OASIS. The first person to find the Easter egg would win the contest. Wade is the protagonist in the story and his OASIS character Parzival is a below average “ Gunter “ . The book revolves around Parzival and how he ultimately finds the Easter egg. IOI is an organisation which wants to win the contest and is willing to go to any extent for the same. Sorrento, a member of IOI is the antagonist in the book..The characters of Art3emis, Aech , Shoto & Daito form “ the high five” with Parzival and take on the IOI head on. Art3mis is the love interest of Parzival and they fall in love in the OASIS without ever meeting in person. The book is very addictive and you get completely engrossed in the adventures of finding the Easter egg. I was initially apprehensive about reading a novel on 80’s pop culture & video games but I went ahead anyway and enjoyed it thoroughly. I was not acquainted with half of the 80’s pop culture references in the book but it didn’t matter. The book still interested me a lot & I was astounded by the research which Earnest Cline has gone into to write this book . PS . Watch the movie after you have read the book. The story depicted in the movie is quite different from the novel and all the adventures around the three keys has been changed completely. The book is however 100 times better than the movie.

I haven't read a book that I really liked for a while now, all of my recent reviews have been 1-3 stars, and I started to feel down about not being able to find a book I truly enjoyed. Therefore I could literally kneel down and kiss the feet of Ernest Cline, because I adored Ready, Player One , I loved every single page of it, and I powered through it over a matter of hours, I can't think of a single thing I didn't love about this book, it's both a thrill to write about and a massive sigh of relief. Ready, Player One takes place in the none too distant future the earth is over populated, resources are depleting, there's a Global Energy Crisis. In the midst of this James Halliday; eccentric billionaire computer inventor of the universally used OASIS virtual reality computer universe, dies leaving his fortune to the person who can solve the Easter Egg puzzle he has encoded within the vast system. Years pass, and the unsolved Easter Egg becomes an urban legend, but many computer geeks still hunt it. They are up against "The Sixers" employees of the dreaded IOI corporation hunting professionally for the egg in order to take control of Hallidays fortune and the OASIS system, and turn into a corporate entity. The genius of Ready, Player One is that while set in a future world within a kind of MMORPG that does not yet exist, the billionaire Halliday was a child of the 80s and the key to the Easter Egg is knowing enough about 80s gaming, films and pop culture to be able to crack his codes. So rather than a bunch of meaningless references to things that don't exist in the minds of the reader, Ready Player One is grounded within actual history, it's one long nostalgia trip, particularly for people of my generation. Our heroes Parzival, Aech and Art3mis live in the 2040's but need to know as much as they can about subjects like the Atari and all its games, the Commodore 64, the films of John Hughes, the music of the period, the developing reflection of computing within popular culture, and they do, because they study it as if it were a religion. The research in this novel is mindblowingly meticulous, rich and detailed on every level from the years certain games were released to the names of their programmers, no detail is too minor. It makes for an authentic, dazzling experience. It is the nerds dream novel, and there will be many a nerdgasm had over it and much envy from those who share these obsessions who will wish they had written it. It is a Herculean effort in terms of factual clarity. As a minor scale nerd, I too gave little jumps of joy when certain obscure references were made and I understood them. For example when "Setec Astronomy" is used as a password and not explained I knew that it came from the 1992 Robert Redford film Sneakers about a group of off the grid hackers and was an anagram found via Scrabble tiles for "Too Many Secrets" I loved that film, I saw it more than once. In addition to this rich detail, our characters are great, and uniformly easy to care about, and our baddies, faceless grunts working behind a smarm bucket called Sorrento easy to hate, which means that you root for outcomes and you get excited by developments as well as getting off on all the retro goodness. I cannot speak highly enough of this novel, I thought it was awesome. If you too were a child of the 80s and you played arcade games and you had an Atari or an Acorn or a Spectrum and you watched these films and you listened to these bands, or watched these shows I think you will love it too. Naturally there's a slightly skewed bias to American culture, but it really doesn't have a negative effect on the book as a whole. Yes, the outcome is always obvious, it's a hero's journey tale after all, but don't let the inevitable destination spoil the thrill of the journey!

My Thoughts: 1. Just like a real videogame, the plot had me addicted from the start. For me, being a medium gamer, I LOVED all the old classic 80's references. It's geeky, sci-fi and fun, all in one! 2. The author does an amazing job building such an intricate and yet simple, futuristic technological world. It felt like I was actually playing the game and experiencing virtual reality through the character. 3. Flawless. Is what I would describe the plot, the writing, and pacing. Cline's writing style seem so effortless and yet detailed enough for the reader to fully experience the story. 4. What I enjoyed most about the plot is that it has a realistic quality and believable element. Most dystopian or sci-fi novels I've read have far-fetched and over-the-top ideas that end up ruining the book. It's scary to think about how much time in our daily lives is spent on the internet and I wouldn't be surprised if in a few decades reality will be overruled by virtual technology. Cline does an amazing job with the plot by adding a few fun twists and turns which makes the journey much more adventurous and exciting. 5. I praise Cline for his ability to make so many connections from the 80's and incorporating them into oridinary clues and riddles. It amazing how every small detail plays such a crucial role in the hunt. I was so engrossed with the hunt that it felt like I was playing it myself. It was smart of Cline to get the reader involved and thinking along with the protagonist in solving the game. 6. I really admire Wade's character. He's just an ordinary, average-looking, slightly overweight teen who, like many of us, undergoes a virtual identity to escape reality (not to mention he has an adorable crush with a famous online blogger). Wade's character is much like James Halliday, the deceased multibillionaire, who never felt at home in the real world and is socially awkward. When Wade embarkes upon this new adventure, he soon realizes that not everyone is excited about his newfound discovery. I love how smart, determined, and calculating Wade is; he picks his battles rather than impulsively jumping into situations. Wade's journey was non-stop action and suspense and a total page-turner that kept me on my toes the entire time. 7. I had to pace myself and tell myself to slow down in order to enjoy the book or else I would have read it all in one sitting. Just like every amazing stand-alone book, I was so sad that it ended. I'm hoping Cline thinks about doing a sequel because there's so much more I want to know! 8. In all, if there's one thing I must say about Ready Player One is READ IT NOW!!

Ce livre est une tuerie. Je l'ai commandé en entendant parler d'une future adaptation de Spielberg en film, et je pense qu'on va se retrouver avec encore un chef d'oeuvre en puissance. Cette histoire de quète du graal pixelisée est palpitante. Et pour tous les enfants des années 80 comme moi, une vague de nostalgie assez rafraichissante. Le style est plutôt classique, mais les personnages sont attachants, les rebondissements nombreux et l'intrigue très bien ficelée. Au passage ces pages sont un vraie bouillon de pop culture qui ratissent large. Vivement le film !!!

ITA: Siete dei nerd? Intendo quelli veri, quelli "un po' derisi" ai tempi della scuola, con amicizie spesso relegate "ai propri simili", che quando si chiudono nella loro stanza con davanti a sé la loro grande passione (dal modellismo al collezionismo, dalla lettura ai videogame e ai film) finalmente si rivelano per quello che sono: persone troppo grandiose per un mondo troppo piccolo (inteso come "piccolo dentro..."). Wade, il protagonista del racconto, è uno di noi, e noi, nei suoi modi e pensieri, siamo lui: un nerd con davanti a sé l'opportunità della vita, quella di diventare qualcuno grazie alle proprie passioni, senza altri compromessi. Senza spoiler, la ricerca dell'easter egg defintivo è la ricerca di ognuno di noi. Un romanzo di formazione per chi è nell'età del protagonista, un romanzo di "mi sono formato bene" per chi quell'età l'ha già passata da più o meno tempo: per noi, ma solo (fieramente) per noi, un vero piccolo capolavoro! P.S.: anche se sono italiano, ho scelto di acquistare e leggere il romanzo in lingua originale, perché, come film e videogame, credo che la lingua originale esprima meglio il pensiero dell'autore. Se poi il tema è nerd... che ve lo dico a fare? ENG: Are you a nerd? I mean the real ones, those "a bit derided" at the time of school, with friendships often relegate "to their own kind", when they close in their room with their great passion in front of them (from modeling to collecting, from reading to videogames and movies) finally they reveal as they really are: great people for a world too small (understood as "small inside ..."). Wade, the protagonist of the story, is one of us, and we, in his ways and thoughts, are him: a nerd in front of his opportunity of life to become someone thanks to his passions, without other compromises. Without spoilers, the search for the easter egg is the search for each of us. A fiction novel for those in the age of the protagonist, a novel of "I grew up well" for those who have already passed that age for more or less time: for us, but only (fiercely) for us, a true little masterpiece! P.S .: even if I'm Italian, I chose to buy and read the novel in the original language, because, as film and videogame, I believe that the original language expresses the author's thought better. If then the theme is nerd ... what do I tell you to do?