Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Hi all, today I will be reviewing and analyzing the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Ready Player One is a book that is centered around the 80's and 90's pop culture. It follows a teenager named Wade Watts who lives in the year 2045 where the world suffers from overpopulation and pollution which they escape from using the OASIS, a massive virtual reality game that only costs 50 cents to play. This is where Wade spends most of his time as he lives in "the stacks" a massive multi-level trailer park. He goes to school in the OASIS as well as hanging out with friends in virtual rooms that they can program to their taste. The book starts 13 years after the founder of the OASIS has died. The founder, James Halliday a total social recluse and genius, releases a video will to the public announcing a contest to find three keys which lead to an easter egg of sorts that grants the winner Halliday's fortune of billions of dollars. Wade is a gunter, short for egg-hunter, and has dedicated his life to finding the easter egg. However, some others are extremely determined to get the egg for themselves. The sixers, a huge corporation that has hired tons of people, as well as kidnapping some, to hunt down the egg. The sixers will even go so far to kill whoever they please as they are the largest company besides the OASIS. They have control of the government, access to anyone's personal information, and even have drones monitoring cities.
The most interesting part of the entire story is the development of maturity. He had never been in a good emotional state because of the deaths of both his parents and his abusive aunt and her boyfriends. He is never good at resisting temptations and becomes obese and lazy. He is relatively stable, however as the story progresses and he starts to live by himself, and his social life complicates he gives in to some sexual temptations and even orders some *things* online in an attempt to cope with his depressive mood. But, as he reflects on himself he comes to a major turning point that gets himself back on track to find the egg. He throws everything unnecessary away and even implements some software that will not allow him to access the oasis unless he has completed his daily workout.
After this turning point, he finely regains enough will power to even go and mend his relationships with his friends. But, he is still reminded that life is not that easy and the sixers manage to find his apartment and abduct him. After that, he even discovers the death of one of his fellow gunters from Japan who had been found and killed by the sixers. These blows of emotions force him to grow even stronger and help him focus on his goal to get the egg as that is the only way to avenge his friend.
Because of the fact that almost all of the action in the book occurs in the OASIS, it emphasizes the effects of events on Wade's emotions and mental state whenever it describes anything in the real world where everything is gloomy and uninteresting. Sometimes it is even jarring when Wade steps out of the fantastical OASIS and into the real world because of the striking differences.
Overall, Ready Player One is a great read with tons of action that keeps you locked into the book at all times. The characters are very interesting with a lot of focus on personality because the appearances of the avatars are at times quite misleading. You will become very attached to the characters and the book as a whole. I would definitely recommend this book.
The most interesting part of the entire story is the development of maturity. He had never been in a good emotional state because of the deaths of both his parents and his abusive aunt and her boyfriends. He is never good at resisting temptations and becomes obese and lazy. He is relatively stable, however as the story progresses and he starts to live by himself, and his social life complicates he gives in to some sexual temptations and even orders some *things* online in an attempt to cope with his depressive mood. But, as he reflects on himself he comes to a major turning point that gets himself back on track to find the egg. He throws everything unnecessary away and even implements some software that will not allow him to access the oasis unless he has completed his daily workout.
After this turning point, he finely regains enough will power to even go and mend his relationships with his friends. But, he is still reminded that life is not that easy and the sixers manage to find his apartment and abduct him. After that, he even discovers the death of one of his fellow gunters from Japan who had been found and killed by the sixers. These blows of emotions force him to grow even stronger and help him focus on his goal to get the egg as that is the only way to avenge his friend.
Because of the fact that almost all of the action in the book occurs in the OASIS, it emphasizes the effects of events on Wade's emotions and mental state whenever it describes anything in the real world where everything is gloomy and uninteresting. Sometimes it is even jarring when Wade steps out of the fantastical OASIS and into the real world because of the striking differences.
Overall, Ready Player One is a great read with tons of action that keeps you locked into the book at all times. The characters are very interesting with a lot of focus on personality because the appearances of the avatars are at times quite misleading. You will become very attached to the characters and the book as a whole. I would definitely recommend this book.
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