Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
I know I said this before but I’ll say it again: I’m a gaymer, though and though. Which makes it that much more mortified when I was late in knowing the existence of this fabulous novel. Fun fact, this is actually the first book I got with my Audible account and for a really good reason – or a simple one. Plain and simple, it was the first book I thought over when I activated my account. Still a great choice, nonetheless.
First things first I should disclose is that this book was narrated by Wil Wheaton. That’s amazing in it of itself and he was perfect for capturing the many emotions of the main protagonist. But, aside from all the pop culture references that are mentioned – and there’s a lot, Ready Player One does have a very specific theme that’s explored and a great storyline to boot. And trust me…it’s a very compelling one.
See, everybody works, plays and lives in this virtual world called the OASIS that doubles as an MMORPG. The only way players could access this world by using visors and haptic technology. It’s simple and everybody loves being in it. Maybe a little too much since the real world is practically in shambles due to an energy crisis. But that’s the least of Wade Watts’s concern at the beginning of the book.
Think of this scenario: What would the public do if the creator of OASIS, James Donovan Halliday aka Anorak, holds a contest with his entire fortune as a prize? I know what I would do – both the good and bad side of it all.
Everyday, millions of players would go out scouting and fighting in order to discover the location of the first Easter Egg (there’s three in total in order to get the prize). However, Wade, being a bit of a Class A (mad respect!!) and a gunter, took a different approach and immerse his life with everything that Anorak, his hero, liked. Because of this, he was able to find the accomplish the seemingly impossible task and set off a chain of events that endangered the lives of everybody was affiliated with. Remember what I said about the “bad side of things”?
Greed is one of the seven deadly sins for a reason and Nolan Sorrento fit this reasoning to a T. Being the Head of Operations at Innovative Online Industries (IOI), his endgame is pretty simple for a corporation but cruel, nonetheless: he wants to take over and monetize the OASIS. So, him and his employers, cleverly named Sixers because of their employee number, work to beat the gunters to the prize…by any….means…necessary! And I do mean “by any means”. Yes, there are deaths in this book and it gets really dark, really fast.
After the death of one of the major characters, the rest of the gunters are forced to work together with the Co-owner of the OASIS and Anorak’s friend, Ogden Morrow aka The Great and Power Og, to find and complete the final Easter Egg challenge before IOI could which, by this point, was showing no signs of stopping. All and all, this was hands down one of my favorite books of all time (Ender’s Game & Invasive Procedure by Orson Scott Card are still my all-time favorite). So, this books gets an A+ for the sheer genius in storytelling and clever placement of pop culture without trying to hard. Absolutely brilliant.
