Ready Player One (Ernest Cline)

Welcome to another review being posted within the schedule! Hope you are all enjoying the consistency of my posting, as well as the books I am reviewing; I've been lucky enough to be in a pretty good streak for books at the moment. This next book is one I came across on Tumblr, but it was also suggested by a couple YouTubers that I still watch. After reading the summary for this novel, I was instantly intrigued. I absolutely love books that mess the worlds of reality and virtual reality. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may recall a book I read called Erobos that did exactly that. Since I'm a fan of gaming, being able to collide the worlds of virtual reality and the real world in a book is one of my favourite things!

Ready Player One is a science fiction novel that follows the lives of real people entering an online world known as OASIS. The main character of this novel is Wade, a teenager whose life in the real world is not desirable and difficult to remain in. Being an orphan, forced to live in a trailer park with his heartless aunt, one can understand the desire of OASIS; especially when the stakes of being in it are so high. The creator of this virtual reality (James Halliday), upon his death, raised the stakes for immersing yourself in his world of OASIS: the first person to claim three keys and clear their three respective gates would win millions of credits and gain immortality and invincibility. Wade, not liking the real world, became a gunter, meaning he spends most of his time in OASIS searching for the ultimate prize. But as the first key is discovered, the challenge becomes increasingly difficult as one corporation tries everything to finish the race first. Who will claim the prize, and at what cost?

Reading this book was both thrilling and unstoppable - I completed this book in approximately three days. The characters in this novel have distinct personalities, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. I never once questioned the real nature of their online personalities in OASIS, though there were a few twists towards the end that took me by surprise! That's another thing about this book that made it so incredible to read: it wasn't predictable. The story had twists and turns that I didn't expect, each with significant tolls on the characters and plot.

One thing that I didn't like was the extensive explanation present within the story. I understand that the details were meant to help immerse the characters in the culture of which Halliday based his contest on. Despite the relevance of the extra explanation, I found them to distract from the main plot line of which I truly wanted to read. Despite this, I found a way to not let it ruin my opinion of the book - I simply skimmed over the parts that were not completely relevant to the plot.

A handful of alternate book covers!

   

Upon completion of the book, I discovered that there are plans to turn this book into a movie! The film is set to release in 2017 and will be directed by Steven Speilberg

Overall I would rate Ready Player One a 4.5/5 because it was absolutely thrilling, leaving me immersed in the world of OASIS. The decrease of 0.5 from a perfect score is due to the over explained aspects of what made up Halliday's contest.

Until next time,
Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

Leave a comment with your thoughts on this story or with a suggestion of another book I should read & review!

If you would like updates for when a new review is posted, check out the Tumblr page! 
If you would like behind the scenes updates, check out the Facebook page!