Ready Player One

Ernest Cline

Aug 2011 · Ready Player One Book 1 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg.

“Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly

A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?

In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days.

When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. 

Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Village Voice • Chicago Sun-Times • iO9 • The AV Club

“Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”—HuffPost

“An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN

“A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”—Boston Globe

“Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR

“[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”—iO9

Ratings and reviews

This book is great if you're purely an 80's nostalgia buff. If not, I'd advise you to steer clear. It has a half baked and repetitive plot, little to no character progression, cringe worthy dialogue and an omittable romance arc. It does, however, have a TON of 80's references. At first they're really enjoyable but it soon becomes clear that a significant number are included for the sake of simply being there. Cline force feeds them to you at such a frantic rate it's as if he himself has something to prove; all so that his characters can claim they know the most obscure facts. In the end, that's how it reads. Like rival fanboys on trivia night, each desperately making a case to prove he/she is the ultimate fan. After a while it just stops being fun.

I haven't enjoyed myself reading this much since I last read Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game back when I was in High School. Ready Player One is a delightfully entertaining, yet though-provoking and eerily forewarning tale of a young boy who's world is rocked when he picks up on the trail of a grand quest of fame and fortune. Cline's portrayal of today's (and yesterday's) nerd/geek culture of the 80s, 90s, and 00s is spot-on and it's a rare thing to find among more notable authors who try and fail at it. I believe mainstream critics will find this novel hard to relate to as characters may seem bland and witless but anyone who has immersed themselves in this culture know that its part of the anonymity that defines it, and that there is a certain richness and camaraderie from it and that's a lot of what I love from this book. While the story line may be slightly simplified and maybe a little over-edited, it was incredibly entertaining none-the-less. Again, if you are anyone who even remotely relates to old-school gaming or 80s culture, this book will tickle those nostalgic nerves over and over again For me, a solid 9/10.

Despite all the reviews this was a great distraction reading the paperback on my deployment, as well as many other times, everything is of course opinions. Mine is this is a great read for those who enjoy something different, but familiar take your time and read this.

About the author

Ernest Cline is a #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, screenwriter, father, and full-time geek. He is the author of the novels Ready Player One and Armada and co-screenwriter of the film adaptation of Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg. His books have been published in over fifty countries and have spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times bestsellers list. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games.