Ready Player One by Ernest Cline *spoiler warning*

Original Fan Poster by Harlan Elam @harlanelam on Twitter

I only recently heard about Ready Player One, but once I heard of it I started seeing it everywhere. I took this as a sign form the Book Gods that this was a book I needed to read soon. My husband and I got it for our April Audible download and he zipped through it. I did not start it until last week. I listened to it in 3 chunks. The first night I listened to half of the 15 hours. It was just so good!

Let me start this by saying that I finally am thankful to my father for what I previously considered useless knowledge of 80s pop culture. Thanks to him I actually knew and geeked out over the many, seemingly random, tidbits of 80s music, movies, and games mentioned throughout this novel. That made me feel pretty cool.

I did not grow up in the 80s but still have an appreciation for that decade in my own way. Ready Player One actually takes place in the future but most of the world is plugged into a virtual reality game called the OASIS. Much of the Oasis is inspired by 80s pop culture because the creator grew up during that time. When the creator, James Halliday, dies he leaves a video stating that hidden within the game is an Easter Egg. Whoever finds this easter egg will win a huge prize. I loved the nod to Willy Wonka with this plotline.

The main character, Wade, or Percival as he is known in Oasis, is someone I immediately liked. He was not annoying like I anticipated. I worried that since he is a know it all to an extent that after a few chapters I would end up hating him, but I just kept on enjoying Percival. Art3mis is my next favorite character. I enjoyed her badass-independent woman vibe. Us gamer girls need good representation and Ernest Cline gave us that. He did so as well with an unexpected twist when the reader finds out that Aech is actually a girl, and a lesbian at that. My inner womamly sisterhood did a dance when I read that scene.

What I loved most about Ready Player One, aside from the fact that it was basically one big nergasm, was that Ernest Cline takes the reader on such a journey. I began the novel thinking it would be lame and predictable. Guy wins contest, guy gets girl, nothing exciting happens, the end. And...that is what happens, except there is definitely excitement. By the time the climax happened it did not matter who got the egg, so long as IOI didn't. I got so involved in the whole world of Oasis that I just wanted the true fans and gamers to win the prize. And when the book ends on the boy gets girl scene, it did not feel cliche because Percival and Art3mis had been through so much I just wanted them to be together. Even the tiny bit of cliche-ness felt more like a nod to classic 80s films than a cop out ending.

Overall, Ready Player One was a very textured novel, dealing with themes of reality, creativity, nostalgia, where we come from, and what defines who we are. I am sad that I listened to this as an audiobook, but it has just convinced me to go out and buy a physical copy to read again. This has become a Top 10 favorite. I am anxiously awaiting the film (directed by Spielberg) which I know will be amazing. And I went out yesterday to buy Cline's newest novel Armada. Both of his books are being turned into films and Cline is writing the screenplay for both, something else that I think is pretty awesome.

If you know and love anything about 80s pop culture, if you love gaming of all kinds, if you are a nerd of even the smallest kind...read this book. It might not change your life, but it will make you excited for life.