Thursday, August 13, 2015

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Source: Bookshelf
Pages: 372
Publisher: Broadway Books
Release Date: June 5th 2012
Series: Standalone
Verdict: Buy

SummaryIt's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. 

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune — and remarkable power — to whoever can unlock them. 

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved — that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig. 

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle. 

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt — among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life — and love — in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. 

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

Review: I'm a huge fan of sci-fi, action-filled, old-timey, mind-blowing, and intensity-ridden books. Ready Player One meets all of that criteria, and much, much more. Futuristic books can be hit or miss. And ones that try to tackle as much as this one did? Don't even get me started, because those ones are really hit or miss. However, let me tell you, Ready Player One is by far, one of the best books I've read all year. To be honest, it's one of the best books I've ever read, period. It captured my attention, my heart, and mind, my body, my soul, and my entire being. It's seriously fantastic.

If I had to choose one word to describe this book, I'd choose the word, "intense." This book is seriously intense. There's something happening at every corner. Nothing is expected. Okay, maybe some things are expected, but even then, something crazy happens to blow you away. 

I get obsessed with anything that combines a bunch of different things into something that makes complete and total sense. Ready Player One does just that, and that is why I'm completely obsessed with this book. There's the futuristic factor, which is a topic that I adore. There's the down-to-earth character who has more down-to-earth character friends, which is always very nice. There's the evil villain group that is always necessary. There's the huge amount of knowledge on old video games that I  was really into, especially since I don't really play video games. It made me want to play everything that was mentioned. And of course, there's the competition of a lifetime, which was dangerous, thrilling, suspenseful, and crazy amazing.

Ready Player One has so much in it. There's passion, intensity, thrill, and danger. Yet, there's also friendship, values, trust, and determination. All of this combines into a literary work of art, and that is what makes this a must read book. 

I've got to say (again) that this book is now one of my favorite reads of all time. It combines everything that I love and executes it amazingly. There were rough goings for the characters, but no rough goings for me as the reader, and that's what I like to look for in a good book.

Whether you think you like sci-fi or not, whether you think you like awesomeness or not, Ready Player One is a book that I feel everybody can connect to. Technology takes on a whole new role as people take on virtual lives on top of their real ones and discover that while things may not be what they seem to be in regards to online personas, they can turn out to be life changing in connection to one's real life.

Read, reread, and never stop reading. Ready Player One. Let's roll.


Pure perfection

2 comments:

  1. Woah! I'm not too familiar with this one, but I know how popular it is among a lot of the bloggers I know. I like action-packed sci-fi! Maybe I missed out on this one initially! It sounds like something I might enjoy. Fabulous review, Grace! :)

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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    Replies
    1. This is so, so good! I would highly recommend that you read this!

      Thanks, Alyssa!

      -Grace :)

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