Customer Reviews

Ready Player One (Unabridged)

5 star:		(174)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

READY PLAYER ONE is one great piece of literature, a book that not only will get hold of you from page one and never let go but it will also speak directly to your soul. At the same time though, Gen-Xers will have the time of their life in a nostalgia trip of the 1980's like no other.

Wade Watts is an 18-year old orphan living with his heartless aunt in a stacked trailer park. He is obese and suffers from acme and severe lack of social skills but to him it matters little because he is almost always online, getting schooled and hanging out with his friends on a massively multiplayer online environment named OASIS.

OASIS consists of a virtually endless number of worlds, some magical, others cyberpunk and yet others approximating the real world. OASIS is a huge success as in 2044, when the gap between the rich and the poor has grown into an unbridgeable chasm and all of the fossil fuels are gone (but not the environmental problems their abuse caused), life is bleak for the great majority of humanity. The only sane refuse is to get lost in this digital heaven.

When James Halliday, the insanely rich and eccentric creator of OASIS, dies he wills his multi-billion company to the first person who will discover the three keys he Easter-egged into his digital universe. So the worldwide stampede of egg-hunters (known as gunters) starts off, people searching for the ultimate video game prize. Their only clues are Halliday's video message and known 80's fixation. With such a global race, a race that takes the masses back to simpler and happier times, the 80's come back in fashion.

Early video games, taking their first steps just out of the primordial sea and capturing the imagination of an entire generation with only some blinking pixels. Classic RolePlaying Games with dungeon crawling, looting, re-equiping and leveling up. Sit-coms of unique determined optimism, springing from an era of a growing economy and reigned-in capitalism. SciFi TV series offering immersion that was never again replicated. Toys and gadgets that sprung from instances of pure genius. Movies so epic in scope and impact that one developed blind-spots to their cheesy props and plot holes.

Like a good 80's pop-culture narrative the hero (known by his handle of Parzival) has companions (Aech and Art3mis, Shoto and Daito), he has to face powerful villains (Sorrento and his army of Sixers), overcome insurmountable obstacles and find his destiny. A classic piece of literature that will find its rightful place in the 21st century canon.

The pop-cultural zeigeist shows a strong geek-chic bias lately but even if the 80's were before your time or you never played any MMOGs or even any video games you will still love this book. You will not want to miss a single line of code, you will more fun than Ferris Bueller on his day off and, when done, you will feel the urge to start it all over again. And again.
Because you too will ask yourself: did Ernest write this book especially for me or is the gravity tag of the pop-culture during our teenage years so powerful we have all unknowingly turned into its image?

Can you hear the 28K modem screeching its connecting handshake in the background?

WITH MY HIGHEST RECOMMENDATIONS!

Reading the reviews and the book blurb, most of you are going to think -it doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy. I'm not a gamer, and I didn't grow up in the 80's.
Ignore all that and immerse yourself in this excellent novel set in 2044 where everyone spends most of there time in a virtual world called OASIS, Our hero Wade Watts is looking for the clues to find the 'golden egg' and the fortune of the now dead creator of the OASIS world. He must find 3 keys and 3 gates and undergo a series of tests to progress and win the prize ahead of the corporate monsters striving to change OASIS into a money making machine.
This is one of the most fun and exciting books I've read this year.
Once you start reading this you simply will not want to put it down, the story flows very well and is very entertaining, the only slight criticism would be the seemingly quick ending. The tension could have been built better and the final challenge should have played out longer.
That said, I did read it in 4 sittings it reads quickly like a movie and will definitely make a fantastic movie when and if it eventually gets made.

This book is outstanding.

The author is a self confessed supergeek and wrote and directed a film called fanboys about obsessive star wars fans Fanboys [DVD] George Lucas endorsed the film.

The writer realised that nobody was going to allow him to delve into the geek culture as much as he wanted too within a screenplay forum, and had all the ideas about a screenplay based on this story rejected, and so he decided to write this book instead.

The ironic thing is that on the strength of this book it has now secured film rights which were rejected as an original screenplay idea and the author will now write the screenplay as well.

Im a bit hesitant to go into a lengthy review as i dont believe that anything i write can possibly put into words how great it is.

18 year old Wade Watts is an overweight supergeek that spends most of his life jacked into the Oasis, a virtual life that you access via a headset that displays the world directly onto your retinas and gloves (think caprica visors).
When the owner and creator of oasis dies he leaves a will stating that he has hidden 3 keys in the middle of his game that once gotten will give the winner sole ownership of the oasis.

As you can well imagine gamers all over the world go into a frenzy trying to discover the keys based on clues that the owner James Halliday had left and nobody finds anything for 5 years, until Wade suddenly discovers the location of the 1st key.

Wade is a tad obsessed with Halliday and has watched and read everything that James had ever mentioned on his website and so with the vast amount of research he has done into the owner Wade believes he has an advantage over the other Gunters ( Egg Hunter Geeks )

The story then goes on about the rest of his journey to try and discover the rest of the keys and try and win the contest, all the while being chased by his best friend Aech who is also desperate to win, his cyber crush Art3mis and Japanese Brothers Shoto and Daito and they are all being trailed by the sixers, an evil clan of supergamers that work for Evil conglomerate IOI and will do anything to win, even assault and murder.

There are masses of 80's pop and culture references, luckily as i was a teenager in the 80's, all of this made sense to me and i laughed out loud at some of the cheesy references that i myself can distinctively remember.

For example, setting his alarm clock to wake him him to wham's wake me up before you go go because he hates it and its the only way to get him out of bed.

Knowing every word to War games, and monty python, all the 80's cartoons etc the attention to detail is quite astonishing.

I firmly believe that this book will become one of those books that is always on the top ten list of the greatest books ever written, it really is that good.

The author is a genius as he has left me wanting more, it was so descriptive, so engaging that i didnt realise how much time was passing by as i read it, and i didnt want it to end, and when i turned the final page i actually sighed Noooo out loud.

Please hurry up and write another one.

Has catapulted itself into my top 5 favourite books of all time....

This book comes highly recommended by me to gamers, sci fi fans and geeks everywhere.

I feel as though this book was especially written for people of my generation. Growing up in the 80s I am familiar with a lot of the popular culture referenced here. Oh, and I love gaming. If I'm not actually playing a game then reading about someone else playing one is great.

The story is about Wade, his life is pretty sad, but he copes because he has the OASIS - a virtual world which seems like a future generation of MMO with a touch of second life. Everyone uses it, and everyone knows about the Easter egg that the games creator has hidden somewhere in the OASIS. The story is about Wade and his friends hunting for it. But it is so much more than just a quest for the egg. There are numerous references to popular films, music, games and television, mainly from the 80s era, loads of action, and a few clever twists and turns. I think recognising all the references enhanced my enjoyment of the story, but even without that it is still action packed and very enjoyable. I raced to the end because I loved it so much, then regretted it because I wanted to keep reading.

I hope that Ernest Cline writes many more books in this vein, as I enjoyed this one a lot. I'm now on a quest too, to get all my like minded friends to read this book!

I really, really enjoyed reading this book and finished in just over a day. It's lots and lots of fun.

However, it shouldn't be mistaken for anything more than that.

The idea behind it is novel and you can imagine the author must have had a great time writing it. When you strip it all down though, it is basically just a rather simplistic adventure story dressed up in really cool clothing. The writing is competent, but unremarkable; the characters are likeable, but have little depth; the plot is fast and exciting, but totally linear and throws up few surprises or twists.

It's the perfect book to read when you feel like spacing out a bit or being taken for a geekily-indulgent 80's space ride, but it's not quite the masterpiece it's being touted as.

Still though, highly recommended reading for anyone with any interest in old arcades, modern online games and, of course, the 80's.

The main protagonist in the book is Wade. Wade is a disillusioned teen living in a not too distant future. A future where there is a chronic energy crisis. By that I mean there isn't any! It's all gone! Planet Earth has all but run out of fossil fuels and the world has subsequently gone into total meltdown. War, famine, disease and record unemployment are rampant the world over.

The only thing that keeps Wade going is the OASIS. The OASIS is a vast virtual world and is the brainchild the brilliant and eccentric game designer James Halliday. Inside the OASIS Wade can escape the decrepit misery of the real world and immerse himself in the beautifully rendered vistas of the OASIS. Inside are thousands of different worlds to explore which are inhabited by millions of avatars (human controlled characters). The extent to which the OASIS has become a part of society is best demonstrated by the fact that Wade goes to school inside the OASIS!

It all changes however when James Halliday dies. Upon his death his will is executed and James Halliday reveals via a pre-recorded video that he has hidden an egg inside the OASIS. The finder of this egg will inherit ownership of the OASIS and all of Halliday's billions. Cue worldwide hysteria! Wade - and half the planet - then devote their entire life to finding the egg. But to find it he must first decipher a number of clues and solve a series of puzzles. All the puzzles are based on 80's pop culture due to James Halliday's fixation with that era. This takes the reader on a wonderfully nostalgic ride down memory lane. If like me you are a 30 something male you are going to lap this up. Wade has stiff competition though, mainly through the all-powerful corporate bully that is Innovative Online Industries. Their commander-in-chief - Sorrento is obsessed with the egg and fights real dirty to get to it first.

The characters are really well developed. Along the way Wade falls in love and goes on a tremendous journey as a person. The book also poses some moral questions, such as how us humans have no regard for our beautiful planet and are quite happy to destroy it in the name of convenience!

I cant recommend this book highly enough and therefore suggest you let Wade's take you on a glorious adventure across the OASIS!

Anyone who was young in the 1980s (and particularly Rush fans) will love this book. It is imaginative, nostalgic and incredibly well crafted.

Ready Player One has it all in a breathless race through the wonders of 80's gaming classics...mixed in with Dungeons & Dragons, Pretty in Pink, Led Zeppelin and Pac Man..It's a wonderfully humorous tale, with the pace and careful plotting of the 'Da Vinci Code'...I hope Ernest Cline picks up his Dungeon Masters robes and delivers another quest very soon.

I really liked this book. It did get a little repetitive at points which is why it lost a star but other than that great book. It was a really interesting read.

If you're a child of the 80's, this will sending you spiralling into fits of nostalgia. It's a superbly crafted novel and a really good read. There's plenty of action. It will have your inner geek screaming in ecstasy.