Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Well. As you may (or not) have noticed, I failed to read three books in January per my New Years Resolution. So. Big fail for January. That does not, however, mean I'm giving up on my resolution to read 3 books every month and tell you about them, which brings us to Ready Player One.

You may have heard of this book because of the a movie coming out in March which was directed by Steven Spielberg. I had read Ernest Cline's other book, Armada, which I enjoyed quite a bit, and then happened to see the trailer for the movie, which prompted me to buy the book. A real hold in your hands book. Those are the best. Anyway. Holy Shite! I loved this book to death and as of now, it's my favorite of the year. Granted, it's only February, but it's going to be hard for another book to top this one. It has everything I love. Scifi, VR, gaming, and heroes who don't look like heroes, at least, not in RL.

In 2044 Wade is a senior living in the stacks (picture a bunch of trailers stacked on top of one another) with his not very nice aunt in a future that has none except for the exceedingly wealthy. The only thing it does have is OASIS, a virtual reality that acts both as an MMORPG and a virtual society, with its currency being the most stable in the real world. It was created by James Halliday who, when he died, announced that he'd left an Easter Egg* inside OASIS, and the first person who could find it would inherit his whole fortune and corporation.

The trick is, in order to win, you have to know Halliday, who was a massive fan of all things 1980s. Lucky for Wade, he's a huge fan of Halliday and the era the man loved which leads him to discover the first clue. After that, things get very interesting indeed because some people are willing to kill to win the contest, namely IOI, an evil corporation bent on finding the egg and controlling OASIS along with its creator's wealth.

I'll say no more except that I ripped through the second half of the book last Sunday and am now totally psyched to see the movie. This is a five star book all the way.  


* The use of the term "Easter egg" to describe secret features originates from the 1979 video game Adventure for the Atari 2600, programmed byWarren Robinett. At the time, Atari did not include programmers' names in the game credits, fearing that competitors would attempt to steal their employees. Robinett, who disagreed with his supervisor over this lack of acknowledgment, secretly inserted the message "Created by Warren Robinett". This message would only appear if a player moved their avatar over a specific pixel (the "Gray Dot") during a certain part of the game. As a side note, I played Adventure back in the day though I never did find that Easter Egg.

Speaking of Gaming...

Skyrim Log 01/27/2018 I completed a small quest to return an amulet to Ethnir at the Mages College in Winterhold. I tried again to find the place where Shalidor's writings are - to no avail. I then began the quest, "A Night to Remember" by engaging in a drinking contest at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun. Ended up in Markarth at the Temple of Dibella. The Priestess made me clean up the mess I'd made and apologize...

Oh, and Lydia (my other companion - I like Inigo better) finally found her way home from Kilkreath Ruins where I received Dawnstar in exchange for purifying (read: kill the bad guy) the temple.

Skyrim Log 01/28/2018 I completed the "A Night to Remember" Quest, which ended with my acquisition of Sanguine Rose, which summons a Dremora for 60 seconds. Very helpful in a fight!

I am now reading Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, which I'm liking even though the mc/narrator is not really a very good person at all. And yet, I'm rooting for him...