Tuesday 5 February 2013

Devouring Books: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

"You'd be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever."

I can't even describe to you how much fun I had reading Ready Player One. It was on my radar for a while, because that's what happens when Alley and Alice both read a book and say it's awesome, but I put off reading it because... Well, it seems stupid now, but I was like 'but what if I don't get the 80s pop culture references, and I don't like video games that much...' etc. But then Kit of Books are my Boyfriends got REALLY excited about it, and it finally gave me that extra push to read it.

And, as The Sisters Brothers already proved, I should really listen to my internet friends more often.
Totally what everyone is doing right now.

Because, just for a start, reading Ready Player One was seriously the most fun reading experience I've had for a while. It's not like I can say that the writing is perfect, or that it didn't have problems (probably...) but it genuinely brought me so much pure JOY that I can't criticise it in any way because that would kind of cheapen the experience of reading it. Which, if I haven't mentioned it yet, was SO MUCH FUN!
Let's see, I should tell you something about the book, correct? It's basically set about 30 years in the future, where civilisation has ever so slightly collapsed in the real world, but a virtual world (the Oasis) which takes place entirely on the internet (well, it kind of is the internet) has strengthened and become the only place to be. The bleakness of the real world is matched only by the awesomeness of the Oasis. To make things a little spicier, hidden in the Oasis are some easter eggs that, if all are obtained, lead one Oasis user to the late creator of the Oasis's billion dollar fortune. Enter our hero, Wade Watts, and his search for the hidden clues and keys within the Oasis.

And, I mean, wow. Cline is quite clearly a massive nerd, and, presumably lacking the skills to code a computer game, has somehow managed to put one in a novel, whilst also creating relationships between characters who have never seen each others faces, and exploring social issues and the underlying loneliness of the people who exist more in the virtual world than the real one. It is these latter things that made the book something more than just a thrilling game, which, admittedly wouldn't have been the worst, but would have been a lot more one dimensional than it actually is. The sadder parts made the Oasis seem even more vivid, even more exciting, for what it allows its characters to escape.

But let's talk about the fun parts! I'm willing to admit that I hadn't heard of the vast majority of the games mentioned (and I'm fairly certain that Cline could have gotten even more obscure, so... Thanks for keeping Pac-man in there, man!) but they were well described enough to get a good idea of what they'd look like, and besides, all you really need is to have faith that Wade is going to be able to play them well. Fortunately, too, there are plenty of other 80s pop culture references that I totally got (Back to the Future ftw!) and with each one I definitely got a little burst of excitement at the recognition I felt. I mean, I understand the impulse that comes with being obsessed with video games and movies and music, even if I kind of switch 'video games' with 'books'. I'm still dedicatedly a nerd, and this book really appeals to my nerd instincts.

There is SO much more I could say about Ready Player One- I haven't even covered the way it goes about approaching internet friendships, or how it really, in spite of what you might think, advocates a balanced life as opposed to one lived entirely in virtual reality, and how I love that, and also OMG more awesome 80s references. But, instead, I'll just repeat that THIS BOOK IS SO MUCH FUN and wait for you to come back and thank me when you've read it. You're already welcome.

19 comments:

  1. Yayayayayay!!! I'm so excited you liked this book so much!

    It was SUCH a fun book, and one of those books I just couldn't stop telling people about as I read it. I may re-read it later this year, actually. Great review there!

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    1. Me tooooooo!

      I think I'm definitely going to make people read it. I told my friend about it whilst I was reading it, and she expressed a mild interest in it, so when I see her on Saturday I'm going to THRUST it into her hands hahaha

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  2. I really should make some sort of list of aaaaaall the people who have basically reviewed this book and said "FFS READ IT ALREADY!" so that I can go say something grateful when I'm done. YES it's right here in my room (which means its reading time is imminent) but NO I haven't actually picked it up yet because I'm totally crap at reading right now and even Harry Potter and the *INSERT EARLY TITLES HERE* is taking forever. I shall boost it further up the pile though, just for you. :)

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    1. Duuuude, you really should read this though because OMG HOW MUCH DID I WANT TO READ IT?! It was a lot. As in, I just wanted to read it all the time and not do anything else, which is the way all books should be. READ IT NEXT!

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  3. yay for you liking it and YES it is so much fun. I didn't get most of the '80s references either but whatever. I still loved it. I sorta want to get the audiobook of it cos Will Wheaton reads it and I feel like that must be excellent.

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    1. Is it bad that I don't really know who Will Wheaton is? At this point, I kind of feel really defiant about not knowing haha!

      I got waaay more of the references than I expected to, but it was cool that it DIDN'T MATTER anyway because so much fun was happening that you didn't need to catch EVERY reference. At least, I think not anyway!

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    2. He was the rubbish kid in Stand by Me. The one that wasn't River Phoenix or the crazy guy or the one from LOTR...

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    3. Ok, ignore the LOTR bit. Sean Astin was in the goonies not stand by me, obv. Its been a.loooong day....

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    4. Oh wait, he's like the main kid in Stand by Me? I like that kid! Him and River Phoenix, man!

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    5. He was also in Star Trek (one of the versions. I dunno which one and Wikipedia is all the way over there) and he's a general funny nerd guy. I recommend following him on Twitter

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    6. Wesley was the character, I think it was The Next Generation series. Wil Wheaton gives it a whole new level of geekiness. He makes you feel like you are in the basement for the video game battle scenes. Definitely try the audio when you want to reread it.

      Of if you watch any of The Nerdist shows or podcasts, he shows up on those, too.

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  4. This is on my to read at some point list :D

    I'm glad that you said that it's good even if you don't get the references... I think that I would definitely get some of them, but I think that these things can be a bit too... insular to enjoy sometimes. So yay!!!

    Pacman!!! I'm a translator, and sometimes I do work translating manuals for games companies (not interesting manuals, you understand, really boring ones, haha), and I got really excited when one of them was for some kind of new pacman game. Hehe. I think it was mainly because I actually knew what that was, whereas the other games are all ones I've never heard of.

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    1. Yeah, totally! Things definitely can be a bit insular, and I thought that might be the case with this, but actually it was more like... the references were just the icing on top of the cake which was the story itself that was actually really good!

      Hahaha, THAT'S WHAT I WAS LIKE WITH THIS BOOK! I think pacman was maybe the only game I really knew anything about, although there were like references to those text adventure game things that I totally remember from school because I'm old. And yeah, I don't even like pacman that much! (I like it enough. When google had pacman on its homepage, I couldn't stop playing allll day hahaha)

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  5. So glad you liked the book. I loved it also. It was so much fun, but I swooned over all the 80s tv and movie references. :)

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    1. Hehehehe, that's just like an added bonus, right?! I just seriously had so much fun reading it. I want to do it again!

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  6. This made me want to re-read it. It's SO good and I'm soooooo happy you read it and loved it. Yayayay!

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    1. ALL THE YAYAGE!

      Look, you and Alley said it was good. It had to be read! *ignores that a whoooole other blogger ACTUALLY made me pick it up* hahahaha

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  7. "Thanks for keeping Pac-man in there, man!" < YES! I got that and World of Warcraft and no other things.

    I. Loved. This. Book. I'm so glad you liked it! You're right that it was so fun that, if there were any problems with the writing, they were completely unnoticeable. I wish I owned this bad boy - that must be remedied.

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    1. I KNOW RIGHT?! I'm also like vaaaguely familiar with the text games where you type in commands and whatnot, because I'm ooooold, but other than that I was like 'ok, cool!' and moved on haha.

      IT WAS SO FUN! There totally weren't problems with the writing, it's just that I always want writing to be MAGNIFICENT (completely unrealistically) so when it isn't I'm a bit like *pouts* BUT THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN I DON'T EVEN CARE! You totally need to buy it dude. Seriously :)

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