READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline
This week we take a look at books written from a boy's perspective. READY PLAYER ONE is a perfect example. The story is complicated and multi layered. It's something of a mix between Inception and The Matrix, but each layered world is real in detail and experience. Award winning, it's full of humor and adventure. The book moves at a different pace than most "girl" books - lots of action and excitement here. I can definitely see why it appeals to boys and girls alike. And although young adults will certainly enjoy this book, the 1980's memorabilia is fun for the older crowd, too.
Check it out!
From Readyplayerone.com:
Check it out!
From Readyplayerone.com:
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 ten thousand 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 twentieth 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?
2 comments
I only recently came across a blog that mentioned this novel in passing and neglected to write it down or look it up. I'm glad I read about it here. This would be a fun book to read because I grew up in the 80's. And I am loving all these books written from the male point of view. Or dual points of view. I like to know what's going on in that guy's head. They are still a mystery to me, especially the teenage guy. I have two and I'd love to understand them!!
Heather
This is a really good book! I don't know if I can give a 100% spoiler free review so read at your own risk: there is a huge puzzle in a virtual reality world with the whole world as the prize, and to crack the code the people and corporations of the future are immersing themselves in the singular creator's passions, which are all completely retro - Dungeons and Dragons, Trash 80 text only games, 80s movies, etc. I liked the CHARACTERS even if they were broadly drawn. I liked the bad guys, they always surprised me with how evil they could get while very much resembling the constantly-excused corporate overlords of today. The near future world of energy crisis and indentured servitude to corporations for unpaid debts was one of my favorite parts of the book. And while you're reading, it'll all fly by and you'll love every word. Until after the book. The biggest problem I have is this massive puzzle, built by a genius, which took five years to get a crack in the armor, then devolved into a fairly 'easy' scavenger hunt. I guessed at the first clue for the first key before the main character did. I like books where I am amazed at how smart the author is and he's always 10 steps ahead of me, but I didn't feel like that with the puzzle aspect of this book.
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