Ready Player One - Ernest Cline - New! Book Review

[Hells Sniper]

READY PLAYER ONE - Ernest Cline Hells Sniper The New Order Moderator Table of Contents: 1. Plot Summary 2. Major Characters 3. Story 4. Writing Perspective/Style 5. Final Thoughts 1. Plot Summary The following is taken from the book's back cover: In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines-puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win-and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. The story is very well done actually and there's a lot of things I like about it. What you have to understand is that during this time period, of 2044, Earth has run out of fossil fuels. Hundreds of millions are poor, unemployed, and living in slums or what they call "stacks," (trailers stacked on top of each other twenty or thirty in each stack). These people take refuge in the OASIS, a massively (millions of users at a time) multiplayer online virtual reality simulation which dominates all human activity; school, business, and recreation can all take place on the OASIS, which has millions of worlds to explore. The creator, James Halliday had died five years prior to the books start, leaving a will saying that his $250 billion fortune and controlling ownership of the OASIS would be awarded to the first player to find an Easter Egg inside the simulation. He hid this Easter Egg behind three gates unlocked by hidden keys. The only clues are Halliday's video will and published journal, which basically becomes a bible to the ones hunting for the egg known as "gunters." Gunters become obsessive and devoted to the 1980's pop culture, which Halliday was also obsessed. And a scoreboard for the "Hunt" is published on Halliday's website, but nobody has scored any points for five years. 2. Major Characters -Wade Owen Watts (Alias: Parzival, named after Percival, the Arthurian knight famous for his quest for the Holy Grail). Wade is a poor orphan from the "stacks" surrounding the metropolitan Oklahoma, he dedicates his life to finding the Easter Egg. -Aech (alias), Wade's best friend, fellow gunter, and rival in the quest to find the egg. -Art3mis (alias), a famous gunter and blogger from Canada. Wade has a cyber-crush on Art3mis, which is complicated by the quest for the egg. -Nolan Sorrento/IOI-#655321, a high-ranking official of Innovative Online Industries, the multinational corporations that serves as an ISP for most of the world and hopes to take over and monetize the OASIS. Sorrento is head of IOI's Oology division (the ones charged with finding the egg). -Daito and Shoto, brothers and Japanese gunters who work as a team in the quest for the egg, they have an unstable relationship with the rest of the gunters. -James Donovan Halliday (Alias: Anorak), creator of the OASIS, the one who sets in motion the novels events by dying and setting up the contest. -Ogden Morrow/Og, co-creator of the OASIS and best friend of Halliday. He is one of the richest people in the world, able to afford luxuries that others cannot. He is humble and respects Halliday's game and egg hunt. 3. Story The story is very well done as I said earlier and really demonstrates the dependency that our generation has on technology. This world in 2044 is completely dependent on the OASIS, it is a place where you could be an entirely different person and in turn, get rich if you did it enough. It is largely focused around the fact of reality vs simulation life and how the poor, orphaned Wade Watts desperately wants to get away from his reality, and he uses the OASIS to do just that. However, the story not only covers that, but covers the fear of huge corporations and companies. The gunters are normal people trying to find this Easter Egg, but a corrupted corporation called IOI (which is the ISP for almost the entire world) also tries to find the egg, hoping to take control of the OASIS and monetize it. The IOI created an entire division for hunting the egg, called the Oology division, and these gunters are referred to as Sixers (they're avatar names are their IOI ID #). The story takes a dramatic turn as Wade Watts moves through his journey, fighting not only other gunters, but the huge, massive, and incredibly wealthy IOI corporation. This is what I really enjoyed about the book because it really demonstrated a lot of what is happening today. That huge international corporations are gaining so much power simply by providing a service and it is nicely shown in this book. There also is a bit of a romance story that is very related to today's society. As Parzival begins his quest, he meets Art3mis, and throughout the journey he gets more and more close to her despite being competitors. Without giving too much away it demonstrates the effective use of technology as getting to know someone's personality and not their body (because most, if not all, avatars look nothing like the real players). It relates to today's world of interconnectivity between every person in the world. The story, I found, was also something I could get behind. With dozens of gaming, movie, and "nerdy" references throughout, I found myself attached to this thing like no tomorrow. (I finished the book in two days). Since gunters continually obsess over the 1980's pop culture, a lot of which I know from my dad and brother; so many things felt relatable to me. Plus the OASIS was like a dream I wanted to see come true in our time; a massively multiplayer online VIRTUAL REALITY simulation; something that many companies are working on creating. It truly is a book written for gamers and nerds written by a gamer and nerd. 4. Writing Perspective/Style First person narration just as I like them. The book is written by Parzival after the events, meaning he's recalling on all of these events to tell his side of the story and the truth. It's very nicely written, with luscious descriptions and dialogue that really feels like it's happening. Cline also incorporates online emailing and instant messaging in the books, that feels as if you are in the game and reading it as a player. As Wade begins to put clues together, you read as he thinks, and you become part of that, trying to figure it out just like Wade, trying to piece clues (if you're familiar with the 1980's pop culture) together as Wade does the same thing on the pages. It's incredibly addictive and so engaging I felt I was literally there throughout the entire novel, especially the climax. Even while reading the book, I felt as if I was this character, living in this world that took me from reality into one of my greatest dreams. 5. Final Thoughts A book written by a nerd for nerds that combines Willy Wonka, the Matrix, and today's world into an incredibly gripping adventure story that is both hilarious and compassionate. The book not only covers the fears of our future, but the technological future that may be created if we continue on a path like this. It's a reality that may very well happen and is an addicting read that is one part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and entirely nerdy. I absolutely loved every second of this book, and although it was predictable for a few moments, it kept me engaged, it kept me reading, and most importantly, it made me love the characters and story. 9.5/10 +Gripping Story +Relatable/Loving Characters -Predictable +Hilarious and compassionate +Pop culture references +Realization of a possible future/wakeup call I highly recommend it to all of you here, as we are all gamers and nerds. It is a story made for us.