Ready Player One

Slow to start but rocking and rolling along after the main cast is introduced. Found myself really enjoying it and surprisingly touched by the ending, despite how predictable it was. Guess I should really should get on and watch Monty Python huh?

“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable. - Anorak's Almanac, Chapter 91, Verses 1 – 2” Actually, for me, being human doesn't suck and yet I fully sympathise with the feeling that videogames do add to life – always provided we can agree that books count as well. This book, in fact, made me smile a lot and remember a lot of things from my childhood and youth – during the 80ties which feature more than prominently in this wonderful geeky, nerdy story. I'm three years younger than Cline but it seems we share a lot of experiences and, maybe, some notions about life: “So now you have to live the rest of your life knowing you're going to die someday and disappear forever. “Sorry.”” This, Cline says, might be one way to summarise what life is about and how it ends. It's certainly a very sobering way of expressing it. Nevertheless, it's true. In 1979 in the hilarious “Monty Python's Life of Brian” Eric Idle already sang “Life's a piece of shit / When you look at it” and that's pretty much the situation in which our hero, Wade Watts, finds himself: Living in 2045 on an Earth that has been devastated by climate-change, wars for resources, with his parents dead, he's a loner. Wade lives with his unloving aunt in her trailer but mostly stays out of her way in his hideout, hidden away in OASIS, an immersive virtual reality simulation that let's its users escape from the harsh reality. By heart, Wade is an egg hunter, a “gunter”, who is searching for the Easter Egg in OASIS the finder of will inherits the entire wealth of OASIS' founder. “Ready Player One” tells the story of the hunt for that egg and the inheritance. The entire book is full of references to the 80ties and I've had so many “WTF” moments, e. g. when Cline mentions FidoNet (in its time the largest private pre-internet network) - of which I had the honour to be a member (2:2437/209 and others) of for more than a decade. For me, the book exactly hits its mark because of the many “Been there, done that, got the t-shirt” moments: I've played most of the games, watched most of the films and have heard most of the music. Cline obviously knows his target audience very, very well, even quoting the right role models: “I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal. - Groucho Marx” I even felt like the author describes feeling at times and, I guess, that's why this book made such an impression on me – I felt at home, it felt like the book was written for me. Of course, we tend to whitewash our childhood, gloss over the rough patches we all went through. Maybe that's why I like this book as much as I do and maybe I'm being played here but if that's the case I'm going along willingly because everything feels so right. I'd totally be a “gunter” in the scenario presented here, I'd certainly loathe the evil mega corporation and I'd love to be Wade.I'm writing this review on Linux in text-mode (-nw) Emacs (not vile vim!) running in a Konsole (not a typo!) window with zsh; right after reading the book on a jail-broken Kindle. If you understood that, you're my brother (or sister, for that matter!) and I guarantee you'll enjoy this book. If not, well, I'm not sure... I'm not sure what today's kids will think of this book unless they're totally geeky and/or nerdy because my very own offspring doesn't really know most of the games and films mentioned throughout the book. They might still enjoy it for the action and adventure, for the unbridled joy this book permeates despite the dystopic setting. At its heart, “Ready Player One” is more than a glorification of the “good old times” (which the author knows full well weren't that great) or one of the escapism OASIS allows for (the danger of which the author recognises very clearly as we see when he introduces a certain “device” at the very end). It's a story of survival in spite of the odds, of true friendship beyond the confines of gender or skin colour: “I understood her, trusted her, and loved her as a dear friend. None of that had changed, or could be changed by anything as inconsequential as her gender, or skin color, or sexual orientation.” It's a story of finding love and a bit of coming-of-age. And for me, it's an instant classic (totally awesome stuff!) that's going right into my “Favourites” shelf! P. S.: “I'd heard all the clichéd warnings about the perils of falling for someone you only knew online, but I ignored them.”, says Wade at one point.I did, too. I've now been married to her (in the real world!) for about 20 years and she's hopefully still reading my reviews. :-) I love you, C. Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram

Edit of an older review:
When I first read this book, I was too involved with the nostalgia to notice anything else.
Now, once I glanced over it with an unbiased eye, it's a mediocre exercise in vanity - replete with things such as horseshoe theory, transphobia, racism, xenophobia and beautiful lines such as ‘the Internet was the best thing that had ever happened to women and people of color' because you could choose a ‘white male avatar'. Absolutely astounding as to how this guy even got a publisher in the first place.
The villains in the plot have nothing to do with the world's near-destruction - they're just people who want to put a monthly subscription fee for the Internet in place, which is apparently disgusting? As if everything else is okay in the first place and only ‘net neutrality' is worth getting hyperactive over. I thought it was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the net neutrality issue in the States, and the protagonist would eventually turn his attention towards more serious issues such as literally anything else, but that never happens? The end result is that Ready Player One is not a decent read at all.
The nostalgia is decent enough, I suppose. Worth reading if only for that. Someone should compile all the '80s references as a community Wiki which we all can lose our minds over, because as it stands the flimsy plot, the narcissistic characters and Ernest Cline himself gets in the way of appreciating those.

Perfect book for holiday. Felt meany similarities with Harry Potter, Mathilda,... smart abandoned kids

While I was reading this I was asking myself ... “am I enjoying this because of the 80-90s references? Is the story actually good?”. Near the end of the book the references found on every freaking page starting to get more and more annoying and then it hit me. The references themselves are just there to validate the geek/nerd culture. I think this book got so many good reviews mostly because of the nostalgia factor and the fact that people want and need the geek/nerd culture to be validated. Having a 5 star book, having a movie ... it means that your culture is validated. For me, I don't need and I don't care about validation.

The story overall was so so. It was a light read ... but that's about it.

One of my Favourite books of all time. Worth a read.

Another all-nighter :-D
And, yes, I'm crying. :-D
really liked it.

Though seppuku is not suicide in Japanese. It's the specific cut open belly ceremonial suicide. You don't perform it by jumping from a balcony.

And another thing. All the five of them are good guys. Just saying, because I was a bit worried.

This was fun. I was surprised to get as many of the 80s references as I did.

Overall this hit me right in the 80s nostalgia and made me feel like I was playing all these old games right alongside my brother in our childhood game room. It's by no means a groundbreaking story or anything along those lines. Honestly though, I had a lot of fun reading it and would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something easy.

Wade Watts hanya merasa sepenuhnya hidup saat masuk ke dunia utopia virtual yang dikenal sebagai OASIS. Wade membaktikan hidupnya untuk mempelajari teka-teki tersembunyi dalam dunia virtual tersebut. Teka-teki yang berasal dari James Halliday, sang pencipta OASIS, tempat Halliday menyembunyikan harta peninggalannya yang paling berharga dalam obsesinya terhadap budaya pop dan permainan video tahun 1980-an. Saat Wade menemukan petunjuk pertama, seluruh dunia mengejarnya, karena banyak orang yang rela membunuh demi menemukan rahasia tempat Halliday menyembunyikan hartanya.
Dan sejak itu dimulailah perburuan yang sesungguhnya. Bagi Wade, ini bukan sekadar Perburuan, tapi bagaimana dia bisa menyelamatkan dunia virtual tempatnya berlindung, dan pada saat yang sama berusaha menyelamatkan orang-orang yang dicintainya di dunia nyata. Satu-satunya cara bagi Wade untuk bisa melakukannya adalah dengan memenangi Perburuan itu.
Yang paling aku suka dari novel ini adalah pesan Halliday kepada pemenang perburuan Easter Egg, di akhir novel.
“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.”
Jadi sebagus-bagusnya dunia utopia OASIS tetaplah hanya di kehidupan nyata kita akan menemukan kebahagiaan sejati, walau dalam perjalanannya banyak hal menakutkan & menyakitkan.

Great story. Kept me guessing with all the puzzles to solve. Much better than the movie. Your mind can always create an imaginary world much better than any movie.

This was a lot of fun to read!

Awesome book. Read in one breath.

This books reads as an excuse for relieving the golden age of the 80s. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just not my thing.

The year is 2044, and the creator of the Word of Warcraft equivalent died and left his fortune for whomever finds an Easter egg inside the virtual world he created.

Life is shitty in the future, and pretty much everyone uses it this virtual world to escape reality. Its popularity is so great that it even replaces a proper education in physical schools (which are pretty much gone from underfunding).

Anyway, in order to find the easter egg, people have to find clues in the pop culture of the 80s era. So people just start talking and dressing like the 80s. They watch 80s sitcoms, play 80s Atari games, etc. The person with most knowledge of the 80s culture will most likely be able to find the clues to discover the prize.

Read 1:50 / 15:41 12%

Fun read but somewhat predictable

“No one in the world gets what they want and that is beautiful.”

One of the good things about Wade is that he had the worst mother yet he never hated her. I'm not sorry for the three stars. The thing is I think at Chapter 11 I realized, I am totally clueless on ALL gaming references until Quidditch was mentioned I never really got to get most of the reference because it was all too gamer for me. :( But like a good friend, I forced myself to finish this book but overall this is not my cup of tea. Thank you. I'll take the film now please.

I loved this!!!!!! I didn't get all the references but I got most of them. And I'm sure I got some most people my age wouldn't have!

It's not you, it's me.

I loathe the ‘80s. I loathe sci-fi. I wish I could have liked this, but I only read it because of some guy. #notmykindofbook

Listened to the audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton.

30% cringe, 50% 80's references, 20% story.

The story itself is captivating, it's an easy and fun book to read.
A lot.. lot of cringe, especially in the first 6 chapters. If you manage to get through them it gets better.
And the 80's references - you might enjoy the book more if you get them, but they weren't my thing.

Teenager Wade Watts, lives in a dystopian world twenty-five years or so, into the future. The environment is shot, the world is in a 30 year recession it can't seem to escape. The only contact between people is through a digital world where people connect with avatars and life is like a video game. In fact, even school is conducted this way.The eccentric billionaire owner of the system that everyone is plugged into, leaves an grand prize of a special Easter egg and whomever reaches it first will basically be immortal and rule the digital world.
Wade must battle hordes of avatars both good and evil, all competing to solve the complex riddle and get to the prize first. There were tons of eighties references, some of which I remembered, others I did not. As a non-gamer, some things were lost to me, but Cline's vivid descriptions moved the story along. Of course, people hide behind the avatars, they are not whom they seem. Wade must learn that ultimately you can love the digital world, but being “real” is a privilege and no machine can replicate the joy of human contact and friendship.

This book made my geeky little heart happy! I loved the references, the story and the characters. Definitely an ode to geeks, nerds, gamers and pop culture aficionados and if you consider yourself one of those things, you'll enjoy this immensely. It's a fun ride that had me turning pages faster and faster. Anyone who has ever felt more alive in the realms of fiction than the real world will appreciate it. Ready Player One is just SO much fun!!

I would give more than 5 stars if I could!

One of the best sci-fi books I've read. The world is a a truly believable, immersive futuristic landscape and theory. The characters are deep, developed, loable, dislikeable but all intriguing. The story could have been so simple but tells so many deeper stories within it making you think about things you really wouldn't think the book would make you think about! I would highly recommend this to fans of sci-fi, fans of books with adventure journeys, fans of books on governmental regimes, fans of books about MMOs, fans of books about romances. It's become an instant classic for me and has made me very excited to watch the film!

Finished my 2nd read through before the movie comes out later this month. I have loved this book for years, and it holds up on the repeat reading. It's certainly geared towards my exact interests and age group, but seeing how my interests of geek culture have started taking over so much of popular culture in the last few years, I think it'll appeal to more people than I may have thought at first. I'm not going to see the movie on opening night. Instead, I'm going to be going to Reno early next month to meet some friends and see it on the big IMAX screen. Looking forward to the vacation.

Name dropping does not make a good book

I'm a child of the 80's. I loved the 80's. I want to go back there.
So like every other tragic fan of that era I thought this book was tailor made for me.
Unfortunately this was the closest I've ever come to a DNF. 80% of this was not a story. It was name dropping for the sake of it. For the first half of this book I felt like I was sitting in a room with someone simply reading through a list of 80's movies, TV shows, songs and fictional characters. That's it. That's all it was. It was 20% story, and 80% filler. And the 20% story was filled with overly convenient and simplistic plot devices.
“Oh let's pull this thing out of my inventory that was never mentioned anywhere else in the the book which just happens to be the exact thing I need to progress further!”
Sorry, but I'm angry. Because so many people love this book. So many people I respect. But I can't help but think they all got so caught up in the reminiscing that they didn't notice that this is a terrible story.
I look forward to seeing what Spielberg does with the movie, because if anyone can make something good out of this, he can. And he's the perfect person to turn this into what it should have been.