Review: Earnest Cline's Ready Player One book by Fourth Dimension Club

A fun science fiction novel which loaded with lots of references to 80's pop culture, video games, music and movies.

Author

Earnest Cline was born in Ashland, Ohio. He is an American novelist, slam poet, and screenwriter. Armada is his other notable literary work. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg.

Review

Wade Watts, an high school student who lives with his aunt in tall block of stacked mobile homes called "Stacks" narrates the story which set in 2044. The people on the planet are depressed while the planet itself is depleted. Everyone logs into a virtual reality game called "OASIS" most of their time. Even students goes there to take their classes in schools and colleges. Yes. It's legal.

The OASIS is filled with virtual planets and even galaxies where you can travel and do any stuff you wish to do. Same like here on earth, travelling in Oasis needs money. But travelling is fun in Oasis, you can fast travel to distant places instantly using portals.

Going outside is highly overrated.

James Halliday, the creator of OASIS, leaves a video when he died which live telecasts on all users feed. He placed "EASTER EGGS" inside the OASIS. The first person to find all the three easter eggs wins the race and the rights to OASIS as wells as all the shares of Halliday which sums up to more than half a trillion dollars worth. The hunt for the eggs begins instantly. Every single person is searching for the eggs, few formed into clans while few preferred to hunt alone. These egg hunters were called "Gunters". Another Major tech conglomerate determined to grab those eggs and win the race at any cost. The hunters from these company are called "Sixers".

I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn't know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life, right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.

Through out the novel, 80's pop culture references, Video games, comics are spattered every where. Duran Duran, Star Trek, Back to the future, The Shinning and many more familiar names can bring back the nostalgia to 80's nerds and geeks. Cline's writing style kept me engaging and entertaining till the very last page. I finished this novel in a single sitting and is my first science fiction book which I loved a lot. The narration is intriguing and the suspense build up pays off nicely with the worthy ending. Puzzles and clues in the games are very good and even acts as food for our brains too. Even though major part of the novel rests in virtual reality but the narration never felt bored.

For a bunch of hairless apes, we've actually managed to invent some pretty incredible things.

If you want to enjoy a fun and nice dystopian sci-fi novel, Ready Player One is worth a grab. I highly recommend to read this book at least once.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Get yourself a copy:

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