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I just finished listening to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline a day or so ago, and I had to take some time to reflect on what I'd just read. This is one of those books that was thuroughly enjoyable, but also incredibly ridiculous.

To start with, here's what the publisher has to say for themselves...

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of 10,000 planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late 20th century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?
What became clear to me as I listened to this book was that it was definitely aimed squarely at people like me. People who have grown up in the 70's and 80's and who have fond memories of those times. It is full of pop culture references, music references, game references, and a wealth of other things.

If the book was just an homage to the 80's it wouldn't be very interesting though. Instead Ready Player One tells a pretty good story. The writing is well done, and Wil Wheaton's narration is top notch. He really does a great job of selling the characters.

There was one scene in particular where I just could not stop smiling.

It happens ...



The book is full of improbable events like this, events that could only happen in a virtual world. That only adds to the charm of the book though.

As you are listening or reading the book, it's hard to not try and keep a mental tally of all the references that are thrown at you, and the ones that you understand. Some of the stuff went over my head, but other things didn't, and it's very satisfying to spot something and think "I know what that's from!"

The book finishes in a pretty spectacular fashion. It mashes up so many various elements into something that somehow manages to work. I won't spoil that bit, since it really is worth reading for yourself.

I've never heard of Ernest Cline before, but if his next book is as good as this one was, then I look forward to reading more of his stuff.