Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Summary:
In the year 2044, Wade Watts spends the majority of his time inside a massive virtual reality world called The Oasis, because, well, the real world sucks. Cities are falling apart, trailer parks are built up instead of out, and Wade has to live with his aunt and her abusive boyfriend. In The Oasis, Wade can be himself. When The Oasis creator, 80's pop culture obsessed James Halliday, dies, he leaves clues for three hidden keys and gates inside The Oasis. The avatar who solves the puzzles and finds the keys wins the ultimate prize: an egg that contains all of Halliday's fortune and complete control of The Oasis. When Wade finds the first key, his avatar, Parzival becomes instantly famous, and The Oasis changes from an escape for humanity to an unapologetic fight to the death.
Sci-Fi Characteristics:
Characters: The characters' avatars are used to show a different version of themselves. H specifically uses his avatar's gender to hide his true identity because of past discrimination. Wade uses his avatar to show the bravery he's too scared to show in reality.
Pace: The story, for the most part, is told through physical action of the characters' avatars, so the pace is fairly quick.
Tone: This story is emotional. It brings adventure and a sense of purpose to a desolate world. All five of the main characters deal with loss while trying to complete the Oasis challenge, often endangering their own lives in the real world. The danger is offset by the fun 80's pop culture references, the friendly banter between characters, and the romance between Wade and Art3mis.
Setting: Cline evokes an emotional response with his depiction of the dystopian reality and awe and wonder with the complexity of the Oasis, a technology that doesn't exist outside of Cline's mind...yet.
Read-a-likes:
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia
For the Win by Cory Doctorow
Press Start to Play by Ernest Cline
Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
Excellent choice! We recorded this at the Talking Books studio and it was one of the most popular titles among our staff that we recorded. It's good sci-fi as it hints at what the potential of humanity can be or what it can achieve, while examining our relationship with technology.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds SO fun! I've always wanted to record an audiobook. I think it would be so fun, although I'm not great at accents or changing my voice, so probably not the job for me lol.
DeleteThis is literally one of my all time favorite audiobooks of all time. I sat in my car for four hours after work one day because I had to find out what happened. Wil Wheaton was perfect! Super cool Don!
DeleteI have been on the fence about whether to read this or not and I think you've convinced me! I guess I wasn't clear on all the details of the book, but from your summary it sounds like I would enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteI was on the fence too and was surprised I liked it! The audiobook is great if you prefer that. Wil Wheaton is the narrator! He's also one of the pop culture references in the book, so it's kind of amusing to hear him read about himself :)
DeleteThis book has always intrigued me but I still have not dedicated the time to reading it haha. But your summary has moved it to the top of my reading list! Have you seen the movie? I saw the first twenty minutes or so and lost interest. Perhaps I will try again after reading it. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI would definitely suggest giving the movie another try! It was very different from the book though, so beware. Not bad, just different.
DeleteThis a great concise annotation. I have seen the movie only because my sister read the book. Before the movie came out she had told me how much she enjoyed the book and tried to get me to read it, but I didn't understand what it was about and put it off. While she was nervous to see the movie, she came home and told me she actually enjoyed it even though it had differences from the book. I watched it, learned what it was really about, and now I would like to read the book to find out exactly what those differences are. It is always interesting to see how book to movie adaptations go. Sometimes they work out pretty well. Sometimes they're disasters.
ReplyDeleteI tried to read this back in 2014 and failed. Your annotation and the additional knowledge I have about how SciFi works might have convinced me to try again. It sounds really similar to Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle, too.
ReplyDeleteFantastic review! There'es a lot going on in this book and your summary does a great job of providing a concise summary without getting lost in the details. Hands down one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to. Great job on your characteristics as well. Full points!
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