This was a fun book full of adventure and pop culture references that seems more accessible than a lot of similar dystopian books with virtual reality settings. It's a very enjoyable book, mostly because it reads like a screen play with a really good mix of dialogue, description and action. The pace is great and I was able to finish this book in just a few sittings.
Our protagonist, Wade, is smart -- he studies and sacrifices, memorizes vast amounts of information and makes strategic decisions. The "hero's journey" is very clear -- and this is one of the things missing from the film adaptation: Wade's parents died ignominiously, he was unwanted but motivated, chubby and isolated, went off to his own self-imposed imprisonment to pursue his quest, infiltrated the enemy to help his friends and came out victorious in the end.
I thought that the whole concept of the "lost generation" of young Japanese who stayed in the virtual reality world who were enabled and cared for by their parents was intriguing. I also liked the concept of apartment buildings that were basically virtual reality pods with toilets and showers (which conveniently dispatched depilatories in the soap), but offered enough space for prison-style body weight exercises (and offered apps with lockouts) to maintain fitness. You get into enough debt in the virtual world and you get taken into custody as an indentured servant with a video game creditor -- sort of a reference to "The Matrix" where the slaves are required to serve the system and can never leave because the cost of their debt & upkeep is never paid off (like coal miners and the company store).
The book doesn't cover any new ground but it's fun and a great read before checking out the film. They are substantially different as to be two different stories but complementary and both worthy in their own rights.
REVIEW: Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) by Ernest Cline
RATING: 3-stars
© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.
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