Ready Player One: A future trip into the 80s pop culture and virtual reality

Do you love playing video games? The virtual world is a wonderful place. There we can be whatever we wish to be, couldn’t we? But what if the world you are so unwilling to leave once you have settled in becomes your reality? what if you have to fight the fights for real survival? If these questions make you want to jump open into that world, wait and read this book review. You are going to be introduced to one such reality through the book – Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

Book – Ready Player One

Author – Ernest Cline

Genre – Sci-fi, Thriller, Young Adult, Action

My Ratings – 4 stars

Pages – 374 pages

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Book review of Ready Player One:

Ready Player One is a dystopian fiction based in the future world of 2044. Like most of the dystopian worlds, the condition of our globe is not that promising. The protagonist of the story is a boy who is no one in real life, but one incident that helps him find that clue leads to a chase behind him; they won’t hesitate to kill him.

The story begins with a normal day description of a world, destroyed so thoroughly that the only normality in it remains in the video game world – OASIS. The reality becomes more real as the dead maker of the game throws a quest upon the players. The quest is not a feat of power but of genius with the reward being the OASIS itself. Thus, all the players have only one motive, to find the clue, and then one day our protagonist stumbles upon the first clue. The clue turns out to be a target on Wade’s back which will lead to further revelations. There are more than just individuals involved in this quest; the reason being the control over the virtual utopia – OASIS.

Writing style:

The writing style of the book is interesting and intriguing. I found myself sucked in the story and the world-building is merged with little everyday struggles of the characters. The oasis was a completely different world for the players; they shed their identity and opted for the avatars that they wished to see themselves as. The ambiguity of the real-life and virtual avatar provided them with the respite they needed in the crumbling capitalist world they lived in.

What is in there?

The protagonist was a teenager with life so miserable that he preferred the bullies in the virtual world instead of staying at home. Human interaction was something new and weird for everyone as they indulged themselves more and more in the virtual world-building. The author has tried to bring about several issues of the present world into his works. We see the capitalist power controlling and buying everything, and destroying what they couldn’t control. The game was a respite that was meant for everyone without discrimination but slowly the game itself becomes a divided society.

The book provides a lot of pop culture references and might feel nostalgic for 80s people. For me, I could understand a few of the references; much of it was lost upon me. The challenges, too, were based upon the arcade games of the 80s, which most of the teens of this era won’t find themselves familiarized with. However, the author has really tried to revive them all by introducing it as one of the prominent themes running through the game. Even without completely getting it, I was able to proceed in the story.

The plot is a mixture of adventure, action, drama, and thrill. The pace of the story never feels slowed or boring; there is a constant emergence of events that kept me on the edge of my seat. It has also depicted the family tension, lack of basic amenities as the population increased, distance from the real world, and the extreme to which companies can go for the sake of their financial benefit. The author has tried to include diverse characters in the book too, but somehow they were shadowed in the wake of the quests and protagonist. Everything revolves around our protagonist.

What I liked and disliked:

The 80s references. I get it that it was the USP of this book, but the same thing becomes the hurdle in getting into this book. It will feel relatable to only those people who really are from the 80s or are into those aesthetics because seriously I had to Google a lot of stuff to clear my ideas. The quest of the game Oasis was also based on those aesthetics, so while the characters were getting all excited about something, I had no idea what the hell was going on. I just knew that the protagonist is somehow going to take us to the place where the next clue is, and the fast pace of the story helped me in skimming those parts.

For me, the fast pace of the novel and the awesome world-building was the best thing in this book. The ending was exciting enough so I didn’t mind the numerous references which I had no idea about.

Conclusion to the book review:

Overall, this book is a dystopian world captured in 400 pages, filled with a lot of references from the 80s (which might make you feel left out more than once), and packed with action and a fast pace to accompany you.

I will recommend this book to someone who wishes to read a sci-fi that is not just about robots and aliens and spaces, this one is about video games and virtual reality within the confines of present technological advances. If not all, then most of the scenarios from this world seem plausible and that is what makes it more relatable. It is a fast-paced story with details and descriptions and a lot of 80s pop culture references.

I hope you enjoyed reading this book review and are planning to pick up your next read. If you enjoyed this, you can also check out these below, and don’t forget to drop a comment.

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• The MISOGI Method – increase your productivity along with your peace.