The Only Winning Move
Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
I knew I should have been in for a treat when I saw this was by the writer of Fanboys, which was a movie I had waited for for over a decade, mostly based on the brilliant insane premise. And the book draws from the same well, where being a nerd isn't a hobby, it's a lifestyle.
I admit to being apprehensive before I read it, after my tirade after finishing Flashforward. The book is set in 2044, and I was worried that there'd be some niggling detail that would bug me and just utterly ruin it. But I shouldn't have worried, since Flashforward was hard sci-fi, which sells itself as being more realistic and accurate, but FF had failed at that all on its own. Ready Player One isn't hard sci-fi at all, they can just make up whatever crap they want because they're not selling us the science or anything else. The future presented in this book is very much a product of the world we currently live in, in particular the recession. This is a world where the recession never ended, so the poor continue to get poorer and their only escape is through the OASIS, a combination of VR/MMORPG/Second Life/social network. Everything we've pretty much been waiting for (and very similar to Summer Wars in some ways).
But all of the future stuff takes a back seat, because this book isn't really about the future. It's about the past-specifically the '80s but there's plenty of the '70s, '90s, and '00s thrown in there for good measure. All pop culture is fair game, and the whole book is a big sloppy wet kiss to obsession and nerdly pursuits. The book is about presenting a scenario where all the bullshit trivia cataloged on the Internet suddenly has real world implications, though along the way the characters learn to love the objects of their study.
Just to give you an idea of the density of references:
Star Wars. Star Trek (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT). Indiana Jones. Lord of the Rings. Battlestar Galactica. Firefly. Schoolhouse Rock. Family Ties. Cowboy Bebop. Neon Genesis Evangelion. Gundam. Robotech. Rush. Pat Benetar. WarGames. The Breakfast Club. Pretty in Pink. Ladyhawke. Legend. The Goonies. Rocky Horror Picture Show. Blade Runner. Highlander.
And that's not counting all the D&D references, arcade games, and text adventures. It's crazy. And all almost analytical but natural. These aren't useless bits of trivia, they are both vital clues to the world's greatest treasure hunt, and a way of life for the youth of 2044. I think my only disappointment was that there wasn't a single "Darmok" reference to be found, but I shouldn't be surprised, this is the writer who wrote a movie about Star Wars fans after all.
There's even a obligatory mention of Doctorow and Wheaton in there, which was probably the only true groan-worthy moment for me.
I can't say this is the greatest book I've ever read, but it's certainly a ripping yarn, and reading it made me giddy. Now I'm just kind of remembering being in college and a bit afterward, when it was all about the media I consumed and my fandom. I guess I've grown up and moved past that, where my geek is really just a facet of a more developed person, but this book made me look back with fondness. Happiness is a warm blanket.... and a all-night gaming marathon.
EDIT: I forgot, the book had a few predictable moments, but let's chalk some of that up to the fact that I've read a lot of the same books and seen a lot of the same movies at Ernest Cline, so my brain probably functions in a lot of the same ways.
by Ernest Cline
I knew I should have been in for a treat when I saw this was by the writer of Fanboys, which was a movie I had waited for for over a decade, mostly based on the brilliant insane premise. And the book draws from the same well, where being a nerd isn't a hobby, it's a lifestyle.
I admit to being apprehensive before I read it, after my tirade after finishing Flashforward. The book is set in 2044, and I was worried that there'd be some niggling detail that would bug me and just utterly ruin it. But I shouldn't have worried, since Flashforward was hard sci-fi, which sells itself as being more realistic and accurate, but FF had failed at that all on its own. Ready Player One isn't hard sci-fi at all, they can just make up whatever crap they want because they're not selling us the science or anything else. The future presented in this book is very much a product of the world we currently live in, in particular the recession. This is a world where the recession never ended, so the poor continue to get poorer and their only escape is through the OASIS, a combination of VR/MMORPG/Second Life/social network. Everything we've pretty much been waiting for (and very similar to Summer Wars in some ways).
But all of the future stuff takes a back seat, because this book isn't really about the future. It's about the past-specifically the '80s but there's plenty of the '70s, '90s, and '00s thrown in there for good measure. All pop culture is fair game, and the whole book is a big sloppy wet kiss to obsession and nerdly pursuits. The book is about presenting a scenario where all the bullshit trivia cataloged on the Internet suddenly has real world implications, though along the way the characters learn to love the objects of their study.
Just to give you an idea of the density of references:
Star Wars. Star Trek (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT). Indiana Jones. Lord of the Rings. Battlestar Galactica. Firefly. Schoolhouse Rock. Family Ties. Cowboy Bebop. Neon Genesis Evangelion. Gundam. Robotech. Rush. Pat Benetar. WarGames. The Breakfast Club. Pretty in Pink. Ladyhawke. Legend. The Goonies. Rocky Horror Picture Show. Blade Runner. Highlander.
And that's not counting all the D&D references, arcade games, and text adventures. It's crazy. And all almost analytical but natural. These aren't useless bits of trivia, they are both vital clues to the world's greatest treasure hunt, and a way of life for the youth of 2044. I think my only disappointment was that there wasn't a single "Darmok" reference to be found, but I shouldn't be surprised, this is the writer who wrote a movie about Star Wars fans after all.
There's even a obligatory mention of Doctorow and Wheaton in there, which was probably the only true groan-worthy moment for me.
I can't say this is the greatest book I've ever read, but it's certainly a ripping yarn, and reading it made me giddy. Now I'm just kind of remembering being in college and a bit afterward, when it was all about the media I consumed and my fandom. I guess I've grown up and moved past that, where my geek is really just a facet of a more developed person, but this book made me look back with fondness. Happiness is a warm blanket.... and a all-night gaming marathon.
EDIT: I forgot, the book had a few predictable moments, but let's chalk some of that up to the fact that I've read a lot of the same books and seen a lot of the same movies at Ernest Cline, so my brain probably functions in a lot of the same ways.