Book #5 Ready Player One
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
15-year-old Wade calls himself Parzival in the Oasis, the virtual reality everyone uses in the 2100s to escape the dystopic real world. His dream is to solve the Egg Hunt left behind by the Oasis's inventor and inherit his fortune. To do this, he's had to become an expert on the 80s: play hundreds of 80s games, listen to 80s music and watch 80s movies.
A lot of people in my RL circle of friends read this book last year, and I am a child of the 80s, so it had to go on my list.
And I have to say, I really liked it!
The first two chapters were tough. Believing that the world would turn into a dystopic wasteland because of a lack of fossil fuel? Ah no. The only consequence he described was that there was no more gas for cars. But there also would be no more plastic for computers, rendering the whole "everyone only lives online" premise void. The whole setup of the world was unconvincing to me. The same goes for his family situation. No parents, and junkie relatives who keep stealing his stuff? No way he would have been able to keep the amount of hardware he's carrying around (or be a halfway sane individual). The author really overdid it there.
But I persevered through the first few chapters, and it was totally worth it.
The whole book is Parzival solving a huge puzzle, spouting 80s trivia on the way. I loved that! Sorry not sorry.
I liked the interactions between the tight-knit circle of friends, the "Top 5". That was one of the major attractions of the book for me - building a family out of strangers you've never seen in real life? Count me in. There was enough "do I really know them?" and "can I really trust them?" in it to ring true for me.
I also liked that the Big Bad is a corporation, so it's all about underdog geeks fighting an evil, impersonal villain.
The book was made into a movie this year, but not a very good one, from what I've heard. Apparently, they turned it into an action spectacle, when in the book it's mostly about smarts and puzzles and being geeky.
* I'm not quite sure what to think about the women in the book. He makes sure to say several times that he doesn't care how Art3mis looks, so that is good. But from the description, she basically conforms to body stereotypes anyway, except for her birthmark. And she is his age, too. I would have liked a bit more daring, there.
* Making Aech an overweight lesbian was a bit much. He probably needed to make absolutely clear that there is no competition and Parzival and Aech could stay best buddies. He took the easy way out there.
* I do appreciate him mentioning the reason for Aech choosing a white male avatar. Well done.
* Another thing that doesn't quite make sense to me is that the society he describes has obviously broken down in a major way, but the prize at the end is *a whole lot of money*? Again, I think the author didn't think quite big enough here. If everything is still solvable by having enough money, then the society still has to be working to some degree.
* In the beginning, he describes the world as so terrible that nothing short of reinventing it would be a solution, and in the end he remains within the confines of the world, preserving the status quo (the Oasis), and his big idea is to do some charity work. It doesn't quite fit with the premise. But I think most of the fault lies with the first few chapters describing the situation of the world as much more dire than it really is. For me, that didn't up the stakes, it just made it illogical.
* On to the sillier aspects: I barely recognized any of the 80s games, except Pac Man and Q-Bert. And Burger Time, of all things! :D I didn't think anyone knew this game. I used to love it! It is from 1982, but I played it in the 90s on the Amiga: youtube link.
* Firefly definitely isn't from the 80s. If I was the author, I'd have put it in there anyway, too. :D
* I was expecting there to be more music-related stuff in the third puzzle. And then it was just playing an old game, again. That was kind of repetitive.
* I liked Wade letting himself be indentured, and his plan to defeat the Sixers made enough sense for me to be able to believe it. The glimpses of the real world there were also very interesting (and a lot less dystopic than the parts seen in the beginning).
* Og reminded me of Peter F. Hamilton's Ozzy a lot. Benevolent old geek inventors ftw!
* My favorite part was that Parzival didn't win on his own - it was a group effort in the end, and they agreed to work/play together and share the prize. Awesome!
Despite the rocky beginning, this book was absolutely fascinating and a lot of fun to read. I went through it in no time! 5 stars.
1 - 5 stars - Brothers In Arms [DW]
2 - 3 stars - Rose Point [DW]
3 - 2 stars - Back to Sodom and Gomorrah [DW]
4 - 4 stars - First Among Sequels [DW]
5 - 5 stars - Ready Player One [DW]
x-posted from dw (comments:
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