bestmessever
Written on Mar 4, 2016
#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
- ISBN10 1299048803
- ISBN13 9781299048805
- Publish Date 1 January 2011
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 14 April 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Crown Publishing Group (NY)
- Format eBook
- Language English
Reviews
BookeryBliss
Written on Feb 2, 2016
Though the ending may be predictable and expected, this book might not have been as good if it went a different way. Don’t get me wrong, there are surprises throughout the entire story so don't let that deter you. You might even be thinking: “I’ve seen the movie so I don’t really need to read the book”. However, some of the events are different and the overall ending is not the same. While the movie kept the main points of the story intact, there are enough differences between the two to make this worth reading as well.
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charlton
Written on May 6, 2015
But I gave it such a high score because a giant evil company was trying to take over a particular gaming system
and a miniscule number was trying to prevent it.
It was like the Rebels against the Empire, if you will.
All and all it was a really fun ride.
I mean there are sad parts as well as uplifting parts.
Sometimes sadness will lift a person up to become better.
chrssym
Written on Apr 19, 2015
inlibrisveritas
Written on Mar 4, 2015
Ready Player One was an awesome surprise in our monthly Loot Crate a few months ago, and we started reading it immediately. This book turned out to be so different from what I was expecting. I had expect a ton of 80’s references, but I didn’t expect to laugh so much and then spend my time digging out old Atari games to play. The bottom line is this book is incredibly fun, both for the geeky gamer and for the everyday reader. Our main character is Wade, a witty kid who has always had a tough time getting by in the real world. He’s poor and lives the Stacks with his not so appealing family. But in OASIS he has the possibility of being something more, he just has to find a way to make it happen and that comes in the form of the game wide contest put in place by the late creator of the game. The person who solves the puzzles will win an epic prize. What follows is a wild ride of self discovery and nostalgia. I spent most of the book wishing that something like this existed in our world. It’s one of my favorite gaming tropes, and I’m always addicted to things with virtual reality gaming in them (i.e. .Hack, SwordArt Online, etc.). The one thing that Ready Player One has that the other stories don’t, is reality. I can easily see our world becoming so virtual that the real world suffers greatly, and I easily see large groups of people seeking to exploit something as large and communal as OASIS. Then of course there are the clues. I literally made myself stop reading when I got to a new clue because I wanted to try and figure it out for myself.
I quite like Wade, and I really enjoyed his character progression throughout. He’s gone through some tough crap before the beginning of the game and it only gets tougher the more involved he gets into searching for the answers to the puzzles. I actually saw a lot of myself in him, and I totally understand his obsession with the easter egg hunt because I get the same way about my games. I really appreciated that the author took the time to go over the dangers of sitting in a gaming chair too long too…because been there done that, and I would absolutely love to have a system that required me to move around. I’d be the most fit gamer to graced the planet. I also liked his fellow gamers Art3mis and and Aech, who are there with him throughout most of the egg hunt. There is even some romance and it’s perfect. When you spend large amounts of time in a virtual world it’s not odd to find yourself gravitating towards other people, and that’s what happens with Wade. It’s a slow building relationship that has it’s problems, some universal and others unique. There were moments when it became a focus, but I don’t think it took away from the story as it helped Wade grow as a person.
Ready Player One now has a permanent place on my favorites list. I’ve listened to a fan made playlist of all the songs mentioned in the book, played as many of the video games mentioned that I could, and spent hours trying to figure out where on earth each clue could be. In the simplest terms, this book is incredibly fun!
sarahjay
Written on Jan 27, 2015
Edit, August 9, 2017: I have tried to read this book multiple times since my original review and I just cannot believe I gave it more than 1 star when I first read it. I am fixing that now because just, damn. Regurgitating 8,000 pop culture references does not equal a coherent, fun to read book for me. And the awkward, half-assed characterizations and stilted dialogue were so much more egregious to me trying to read it a second time.
leahrosereads
Written on Aug 21, 2014
I loved READY PLAYER ONE. Really simple as that. Having been born in the late 80s, I may have not been old enough when most of these references were still new and fresh, but I know that the 80s was the best decade by far, and most everything awesome came out during those 10 years. This is fact, not me being bias or anything at all.
Ernest Cline created a wonderful world and story with READY PLAYER ONE. While I was sad to see Momma Earth in ruins because of us humans, it’s completely plausible that we’ll end up doing exactly that to her. I loved how realistic his Earth is, and I can see it happening. Maybe not in my lifetime, but the world Ernest Cline shows, is one that can happen. And when it does, if I’m still alive for it, I hope that someone creates OASIS. Because, we’ll need it.
OASIS is a simulation game/universe created by James Halliday, a game designer of epicly rich and genius proportions, and when he dies, he leaves an easter egg in the OASIS for one lucky bastard to win his fortunes and company. Needless to say, it’s an extremely sought after award. Halliday leaves clues and keys and everything people need to discover the easter egg, but unfortunately, it remains hidden…
Until Wade. Wade is our 18 hero. In the real world, he’s awkward, overweight and doesn’t want to exist in the real world. Outside of the OASIS, he’s a nobody. Poor and has no future, but in the OASIS, well, he’s still poor, but he’s Parzival and he has friends and the same chance that everyone in the OASIS has - to find the easter egg and become a multi-billionaire overnight. And he wants it. And he’s been researching the life and geek loves of James Halliday for just that chance. And now, it’s here for him.
But of course, as it is with any competition, Wade isn’t alone with his desires to find the easter egg. There are really two groups that are searching - Gunters - fans of Hallidays and lovers of the OASIS. They want the egg, but really, they want the adventure of the search. And the Sixers. Egg hunters recruited by an organization, IOI and under the orders of Sorrento (The Big Bad) to find the egg before the gunters, so that IOI can control the OASIS. Those evil bastards.
And I feel like I’ve already given a lot a way of the plot, and for that, I’m sorry. Just know that Wade has an adventure, meets some great people along the way, gains friendships and works toward finding the egg, but more importantly trying to keep IOI from getting it first.
It’s dangerous. He’s courageous. It really is a lot like a video game. Unfortunately, IOI isn’t just killing avatars, and humans still really only have 1 life to use. When it’s Game Over, it’s game over.
I would recommend READY PLAYER ONE to anyone. Gamers, non-gamers, doesn’t matter. Ernest Cline created a novel that transcends geek culture, and it’s a story that at the heart of it, is good vs. evil. And everyone loves those kind of stories.
teachergorman
Written on Jun 23, 2014
Amber (The Literary Phoenix)
Written on Jan 6, 2014
I'm a huge pop culture fan, so this book is one whole Easter Egg. Add to that the world of the OASIS, which built to the greatest scope of of the imagination. Imagine being able to build a character and step into that skin. To create planets of your own. To interact with people from all over the world and follow storylines of your favorite books and movies in an immersive world. Add to the mix a group of incredible characters who are real and relatable, and you have a great story.
I've read Ready Player One three times now, and every time I find something different. This is the type of book where it's easy to get excited with every new discovery right alongside the characters. There are so many moving pieces to the plot that I forgot so much of it between reads, and reading it again after four years was like discovering a whole new story.
I'm a sucker for a good treasure hunt, and Ready Player One has a great one. Everything is at stake - from millions of dollars to the virtual world these kids live in. The villains are corporate giants, seemingly too big to touch. They're impersonal and heartless. The story peels apart in layers, and every player in it has a piece to the puzzle, as long as you know where to look.
There are definite points where the plot is weak. The love story overtakes the main plot for a little while and it's difficult to trudge through when everything feels like it has come to a standstill. Left as a subplot, the love story is sweet and funny, especially at the end. My favorite relationship in this novel is a friendship. So I don't spoil anything specific, I'll leave out the names, but this quote is everything:
“As we continued to talk, going through the motions of getting to know each other, I realized that we already did know each other, as well as any two people could. We’d known each other for years, in the most intimate way possible. We’d connected on a purely mental level. I understood her, trusted her, and loved her as a dear friend. None of that had changed, or could be changed by anything as inconsequential as her gender, or skin color, or sexual orientation.”
That is true friendship and true acceptance. It's the way we all should see each other. One of the underlying themes in this book is acceptance - both of self and others. Understanding and respect is so important between the gunters. I think we can all learn from this.
Come for the 80s references and video game-centric dystopia. Stay for Wade, Helen, Samatha, and Akihide. 3
mbtc
Written on Oct 23, 2013