Player One is Ready

Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One.

A novel, about a (sadly) profane, lazy, but awfully persistent guy hunting down a multi-billion dollar easter egg in the world’s most used simulation. Did I mention another group is willing to kill for some of the information he has?

It’s got everything to make a feature film. Great (albeit profane) characters, action, and romance to boot. Overall I would classify it as a sci-fi adventure novel. But, it’s one that, like so many other novels of its kind, can relate to the current world.

All of humanity is engrossed by technology, both in this novel and in reality. The main setting of the novel, the OASIS program, has become humanity’s “Second Life.” So much so that the actual world has become desolate and is pretty much a place to avoid.

The narrator, Wade Watts, although more known as Parzival, is the first to collect one of three “keys” needed to unlock one of the three related “gates” inside of the vast world of the OASIS.

He’s not alone though, this small-beginnings, really nothing noteworthy kid, gains international fame instantly just for getting this one item. He also gains the honor of wearing a large target on his back. Nearly all of humanity is after this, along with a massive company called IOI, with goons known within the OASIS as “Sixers.”

Needless to say, what follows is filled with action, suspense, mystery and romance. All with 80’s pop culture references.

It’s a well-written, but somewhat predictable novel, some events will not come as a surprise if you recall small details from earlier. I’d recommend it to adults, not just for some of the content in it, but also because they would get more out of it than I ever would. If you grew up in the 80’s, or love 80’s pop culture and technology, this is not one to pass up on.

Oh, Spielberg’s also directing the film version.