Book Review #15 - Ready Player One

Ready Player One has an element I normally find lacking when reading dystopian novels with an emphasis in science-fiction: plausibility.  Oh, sure, I'm usually scared right out of my pants about the possibility of living in many of the worlds many authors describe, but, at the end of it all, I rarely have the thought, "This could happen. Soon."  Ernest Cline and his thorough description of a virtual world not only influencing but actually taking over our flesh and blood reality in 2044 seemed not only possible but...well...likely.

That doesn't mean that I subscribe to his doomsday forecast completely.  Cline creates a world so depleted of natural resources and innovation that the only progress made since our current 2012 existence happens online.  That world, with individual visors and hepatic clothing designed for full virtual immersion as well as altered online personas doing everything from working lame jobs and going to school to battling demons and traveling via some majorly souped up space ships, is so preferable to anyone's real life that no one bothers with "actual" relationships anymore.  Heck, no one bothers with actual furniture anymore.  All anyone really needs is a room with a bathroom, someway to heat pre-packaged food up and, of course, a strong connection to the web.

For what seems to be pure entertainment value, or perhaps his own personal satisfaction, Cline chooses to include a lot of 1980s references.  There were times I really enjoyed his mentioning of a band, TV show, clothing trend or, more likely, video game that was popular during my youth.  It successfully induced nostalgia and gave the book some legitimate cool retro vibes.  However, much more often, I was distracted by the tangent a description of a game or character or quote took me on and eventually annoyed by the extra work it took to keep my focus on what was really happening in the novel: a pure good versus evil/little guy up against a giant/rebel army fighting a Darth Vader empowered empire fight for the future of mankind.  If you're into that sort of thing, you'll like this book.  But you might be surprised by the hero.

Wade Watts is the ultimate loser.  Overweight, poor and acne prone, he has no advantages in life and everything going against him including living with a meth addicted aunt who charges him rent to live in the laundry room of her decrepit trailer.  He is, however, very good at video games.  When the person who created the virtual world called "Oasis" dies, he announces via video that he is leaving everything - all his money and all his rights and control to Oasis -  to whomever can find his hidden "egg" in the virtual world that consists of multiple planets and universes.  Every geek with online access is searching for clues but Wade, who has spent most of his life in Oasis, sees his avatar name, Parzival, as the top scorer when he solves the riddle, gaming challenge and test of 80s knowledge (he has to recite Matthew Broderick's entire dialogue from the movie "War Games") to open the first of three gates.  Overnight, Wade is thrown into a dangerous spotlight with very real-life consequences.

Besides the bigger issues Cline presents, such as energy abuse and impotent governments, not to mention a free to the masses World Wide Web, there are lots of juicy ideas to reflect upon.  As someone who has not only made but enjoyed many online friendships throughout the years, I especially appreciated the debate between Wade and his love-interest, Artemis, about whether these count as real relationships or not.  Really thought provoking book with great characters, anxiety causing action sequences, satisfying principles and, more often than not, entertaining 80s humor.  Recommended!