“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.”
- Title: Ready Player One
- Author: Ernest Cline
- Genre: YA science fiction
- Pages: 374
- Publication date: August 16, 2011
- Publisher: Crown Publishers
Since the movie is coming out next March, I had to read the book.
The trailer doesn’t give the book justice. It takes place in the OASIS most of the time, which is kind of like inside a MMO. But the creator of the OASIS dies, leaving an Easter Egg to find in the server. The Easter Egg – filled with riddles – stumped everyone for years until Wade Watts uncovers the first part. Players from all over get interested in him – even players that want to kill him for it. Wade has to race to the end to get the Easter Egg.
80s and game references fill up this book. If you like either of those, you’re almost guaranteed to get entertained. Most people read this book for the nostalgia. It’s great at getting non-readers reading.
But, as always, there’s need for improvement. As many people have pointed out before, the characters could develop more. Art3mis and Aech (Wade’s friends) don’t have too much development. Aech, with his spoiler at the end, gets waved off almost and not explored. Other characters have even less development.
Another flaw is the number of references throughout the book. Even in the OASIS, it’s piles of references one after another. The whole book is more of a collaboration of other people’s ideas rather than an original one. The original idea – a torn up Earth and the OASIS – could have been developed more to get into how life had become that.
Overall, I like the book. Two people recommended this book to me. I liked most of the references throughout. It feels more modern than futurist, which I enjoy. It has a good pace too, going through all the different riddles for the Easter Egg. I would recommend this book.
Score: 7.7/10
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.31/5
Robin LeeAnn 
I liked this book too, despite its flaws. The pace was great, and I’m a sucker for “quest” stories. I agree that there should have been more character development, and although the author could have put more background into the physical surroundings, that might have detracted from the alternate reality of the Oasis. Keep up the reviews, have you read Station Eleven? Post apocalyptic fiction by a female writer.
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I haven’t read Station Eleven. What’s it about?
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Station Eleven is a post apocalyptic novel set in the American Great Lakes region, sometime in the future after a pandemic has killed off most of the Earth’s population. The main characters belong to a traveling troupe of artists who go from outpost to outpost performing plays and music. I loved it because although there are some pretty bleak events, the overall tone of the novel is hopeful. The author weaves together the individual narratives so skillfully that it is like listening to a symphony where all the parts come together. Lol, I guess I just wrote a whole review. Anyway, check it out: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20170404-station-eleven?ac=1&from_search=true
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That sounds interesting! I’ll go check it out!
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