Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Published by Random House on April 16, 2011
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: eBook
Pages: 374
Source: Purchased
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It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?
What I Thought…
- If you haven’t yet read Ready Player One, what are you waiting for? Seriously, read this right now!
- Even though it’s about gamers, you don’t have have to be a gamer to enjoy Ready Player One. Trust me, I’m the one of the worst video game players ever (my skills are directly related to the level of graphics – the better the graphics, the worse I play), and I freaking LOVED Ready Player One.
- While I think that you should be a fan of the 80’s, you probably don’t have to be to enjoy the book, but it’ll make it better. I was born in ‘81 and there were a few references that I didn’t get, but it wasn’t a big deal.
- I was completely sold on Ready Player One by page 3. All it took was a Heather’s reference. (What’s that? You’ve never seen Heathers? It’s probably on Netflix, go watch it!)
- The OASIS is basically a virtual reality playground. The virtual reality sounds amazing. Not only does everything look completely real it’s Star Wars universe big. There are a ton of planets that you can “visit”, some that are created by users to suit a purpose (i.e. schools) and there are some that are created after movies/games/books that existed (i.e. Star Wars). The downside to all this virtual reality is that some people never leave. Because it’s in the future they don’t have to leave their house for anything so they never have to encounter real people. I know a few people that are pretty well set in their gaming already and that’s kind of a scary thought.
- Ready Player One is a crazy adventure. There are twists and turns and lots of action! It’s all over the place, but not in a confusing way, in a fun way. Even though they spend a lot of time in the virtual reality world there is plenty that happens in the real world as well. My one complaint (and it’s a small one) is that I would have liked a little more from the real world.
- Wade is pretty awesome, and a total nerd! And as an extra bonus he’s not perfect, he makes several mistakes (both personally and along the quest), but he also has this goodness about him.
- Wade’s friends are excellent as well. Aech was my favorite, but I liked Art3mis, Daito and Shoto as well. Aech had this special attitude about him that made him easy to like.
- Did I mention that Ready Player One is filled with awesome 80’s references? Because it is, and it rocks. Seriously, read it.
Notable Quotes
“No one in the world gets what they want and that is beautiful”
“I watched a lot of YouTube videos of cute geeky girls playing ’80s cover tunes on ukuleles. Technically, this wasn’t part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukuleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.”
“One person can keep a secret, but not two.”
“You were born at a pretty crappy time in history. And it looks like things are only gonna get worse from here on out.”
fakesteph
I totally loooooved this one. I… don’t remember the 80s at all and I loved this one! And… I have been repeatedly told that Heathers is indeed on Netflix.
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
And you should totally watch it! It’s awesome!
Kate Midnight Book Girl
I will definitely be re-reading this one next year! I’m so glad you loved it, I don’t know if I would want to be friends with anyone that wouldn’t at least like this book. ;) Love the quotes you chose!!
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
Lol, it was sooo good!
Alexia561
Hadn’t heard of this one, but love your review! And what great quotes! I probably won’t get some of the references either, and sorry to say I’ve never seen Heathers. :(
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
What??? More people who haven’t seen Heathers??? You must! It’s excellent!
....Petty Witter
Such a great review, I’m almost tempted to read this. Glad that you enjoyed this even if some of the references went over your head.
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
I think if I were a gamer I would have gotten them all. But still an excellent read.
Bittner
I will probably have to make time for this one next year, which will be here all too soon. I’m glad you liked it. I’m still kind of nervous about it, but I don’t really have a reason for why. I think I’m just afraid I wont get it. But I will give it a try as soon as I have time next year.
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
I can’t wait for you to read it. It’s filled with awesome!
Jenny
I was going to read this one but then a friend read it and thought it was sort of “too much” so I took it off my list. Funny, considering this friend and I don’t usually share the same opinion’s of books. Sigh, I should probably reconsider reading it.
I was born in ’81 too!!!
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
I could see how for some people it might be “too much” but really, can you ever have too much of the 80′s? No, no you cannot.
Jennifer | Book Den
I loved Ready Player One, too! It was so much fun.
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
It was super fun!
Christina
Dude, I didn’t get the Heathers reference, because I only saw it after I read the book. That movie is SO WEIRD. Like seriously. O_O
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
I think what you meant to say was that Heathers is SO AWESOME! ;)