Ready Player One is a science-fiction/dystopian novel, featuring a young boy named Wade obsessed with finding James Halliday's Easter Egg hidden deep inside the virtual reality game the OASIS. In 2044, the real world is a mess, and most of the population spends their time in a video game developed by James Halliday and his partner Ogden Morrow. James Halliday, who was in charge of the entire video game, set up a hunt for an Easter Egg that could be found using 3 keys; copper, jade, and crystal, which opened gates named after the same materials. The first person to find he egg earned Halliday's entire fortune and complete control over the OASIS. Wade Watts is one hunter among many searching for the egg (nicknamed "Gunters"). He competes and eventually allies with, Aech, his best friend and another gunter, Art3mis, a blogger whom Wade had a crush on (and dates at the end of the book) and Shoto, a Japanese stranger whom he becomes friends with. Their biggest enemy, however, is the IOI, a corporation planning to take advantage of the OASIS to make a profit. Together, they beat the IOI, and Wade's avatar Parzival ends up winning the game.
Overall, I enjoyed this book A LOT. The conflict with the IOI makes for decent villain with it's constant death threats that keep the IOI in a less-than-good light and the plot thrilling. Aech and Shoto are also both likeable characters. Aech is very supportive of Wade while not being a complete cliché flat sidekick with his own fun personality, and Shoto is highly respectable with how he deals with the loss of Daito and his dedication to hunting the egg. But undoubtedly, the most fascinating aspect of the book is the world-building. The OASIS is an incredibly intricate video game universe with it's own planets, complete with it's own planets, times, and transportation systems. The level of detail the author puts into describing the OASIS and how it works is brilliant. Not to mention the whole idea of trying to find an easter egg in what is essentially an entire dimension on it's own, is an incredibly original and unique idea. This world reminds me of Antartica in Champion. The world there runs like a actual video game, with points that go higher the more moral things you do. This world seems more like an action RPG, with fighting, mythological creatures, magical weapons, while still having everyday elements in it like school. Ogden was a character I honestly didn't expect, but I liked that his character was written in and was portrayed as not a goof, but a well-meaning man that is still loyal to his friend after the 10 years of falling out and wants to help our main protagonists.
If you noticed my lack of commentary on Art3mis and Wade himself in my previous paragraph, that's because I didn't like them that much. The sudden shifts between Art3mis's braggy, over-confident, "I'm-better-than-you" side and almost shy, "you-won't-like-me-when-you-see-me" and "I'm-going-to-save-world-with-my-money" miff me. As for Wade, I like him most of the time. I really do. However, the part where Wade basically pines and gets distracted by Art3mis from hunting the egg is a huge no. I generally don't like the sappy, clinging-onto-the-first-man/women-she/he likes character, because of those characters are simply ridiculous. Boo-hoo, your crush doesn't like you. Deal with it and move on. Not to mention that throughout most of the book, Wade seemed pretty fixated on finding the egg, and this pining seemed not only beneath him but incredibly OOC as well. I was practically raging when he let Art3mis top him on the scoreboard (in fact, now that I think about it, I raged when he gave her the clue about the jousting as well) because Wade seems to forget that Art3mis is his rival. And while romance is all sweet and cute when it stays in the background, interfering with the plot where romance has NO place is one trope I absolutely hate. At least that only happened for a couple of pages (But wow, those were TERRIBLE pages to bear through). This has to do with the ending, too. The romance was sort of abrupt, and the last time we saw Art3mis before the maze scene was where all their interactions can be called perfectly platonic. And the romance really just comes out of nowhere. I think the author felt pressured to add a romantic subplot because that's what all YA and adult books with a non-related female and male character do. Because God forbid a main character of a YA and adult novel not be in a romantic relationship with someone else.
On a more mixed bag-ish note, the 80's pop-culture references were okay? I mean, I've never been around in the 1980's, so all of my very limited recognition of any song, game, or movie was due to my spending way too much time on the internet and reading way too many books. I didn't really mind not getting most of the references and it was definitely educational.
Overall, I really liked this book, despite it's cringe-worthy moments. I heard that there was a sequel on the rise, so I should read that. Maybe I'll review it when I get my hands on a copy.
Thanks for reading!
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