Review: Ready Player One
/2019 CHALLENGE: 1 YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT YET?! PER MONTH 11 / 12
Ah fine, 5 stars it is. I'm in a good mood, and it's the holidays. What the hell, why not? 'Tis the season. But don't get me wrong - I have complaints! But this is a GREAT read. I loved it.
Look, this was FUN. It was entertaining. It was well-written, RELEVANT, amusing, adventurous, and delightful. Ready Player One is The Westing Game + Warcross + Willy Wonka. It takes place in the future (normally I would use the word dystopian but I think it may just be the expected reality now), when the world is decaying and humans spend most of their time in a VR program called Oasis. Oasis's creator dies and leaves a "hunt" as his legacy - an Easter egg contest with his fortune as the prize. Obviously this inspires millions to study up on the creator's obsessions in the hopes of finding clues to the egg.
One of these hunters, Wade, stumbles across the first clue and suddenly the game is afoot. We get to witness him form alliances and enemies as he races against corporate drones (intent on winning the contest to monetize the Oasis platform - boo hiss so evil!!), solves puzzles and plays games for the ultimate prize. It's an addicting read full of its own Easter eggs - thousands of references to 80s pop culture. Which of course I loved.
I know I mentioned complaints. I guess my heart is still a few sizes too small. Here they are: first, it's a teensy weensy ittle bittle tryhard. I didn't find the adolescent voices entirely convincing. Second, I'm not sure if it was actually a bit preachy in places. I completely stand by the book's messaging, I just found the delivery a tad hamfisted and dry. It is eerily and accurately bleak when it comes to the future of the human race, but some of that exposition came across as info dumpy. And pompous.
I actually found myself complaining to my husband about this mid-read, while simultaneously trying to convince him to read it. It's just too much FUN. Many of my favorite movies, books, TV shows, etc. aren't PERFECT. I enjoy them to such a degree that they are affecting, and offer proper escape. This is a wonderful pageturner for readers of all ages and I'm excited to view the adaptation.