Ready Player One Book Review

Recently, I finished the book "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. This was my third time reading the book (it's one of my favorites), but my first time reading it after seeing the movie in theaters. This is a review of only the book, as the movie changed a lot of plot points.

In the year 2045, Earth has become polluted, overpopulated, and not a good place to live. It's occupants have found a way to cope with this: a virtual reality system called The OASIS. The OASIS has everything they could ever want. Parzival, an avatar that goes by the name Wade Watts in the real life, spends all his time in the OASIS. When the creator, James Halliday, dies, he leaves a series of clues and puzzles that will eventually lead one avatar to winning rights to the entire OASIS and a large sum of money. Parzival and many others have been working on this for years. With the help of his friend, Aech, Parzival eventually finds the first clue. This leads to instant fame for the previously poor boy. Parzival and Aech meet a girl avatar named Art3mis (that Parzival happens to have a major celebrity crush on after reading her blog for the last three years), but they also meet a group of workers they call the Sixers, who want to take Parzival's newfound fame. Parzival continues the quest with his friends, hoping to become the victor.

My favorite character was probably Wade, simply because I found a lot of what he was saying relatable and funny. He devotes his entire life to something that he is passionate about, not even knowing if it's going to work out, and I consider that to be brave. I sometimes worry that, despite the amount of time I am putting toward writing, it's not going to pay off. It's nice to see a character like this. Despite the challenges present, Parzival never gives up on the competition.

I really enjoyed Ready Player One. It was interesting to see the author's interpretation of what the future may look like while also working in many aspects of the past. My favorite scene was probably the second task. I am not going to give too much away, but I thought the way it was set up was interesting, and it was great to see that something Wade had spent so much of his time doing was worth it. There is not much that I wish I could change, this book has diversity. There is also an underlying theme of friendship.

If you are a fan of science fiction or futuristic books, or if you grew up in the 80s (I did not, but there were a lot of references to this era) this is definitely a book for you. There are also a lot of humorous moments and heartfelt times too. Ready Player One is a book that I never wanted to put down, and I recommend it to everyone.

That's all. Bye!

Naiya