"Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline is a quick read dystopian novella for the 80's-90's kids who've grown up and want a bit of nostalgia. Brimming with pop-culture references and trivia, the book really shines as a sort of YA crossover piece and is more of a candy read for adults who just want to lose themselves in a curious piece of fiction.
In it the protagonist Wade Owen Watts (WOW - get it?) is a poor kid from the new ghetto - vertically stacked trailer parks accessible by construction scaffolding - who is in the middle of a contest bequeathing the fortune of James Halloway to the first player to solve all of it's riddles. After years of no activity in the leaderboards he luckily uncovers the first piece and solves the puzzle, earning him a lot of celebrity and the enmity of a multinational corporation hell-bent on winning the prize.
The story grows from there in to a classic sort of hero's quest in both this virtual world and the real world. Wade has to deal with things on both fronts since this mega corporation is a force to be reckoned with. The government seems to be non-existant or powerless in the universe, and as such he must act as his own guardian, hacking and dodging the corp when he can (this is a less developed motif then the actual game world, no complaints there).
All in all the story was interesting, a fun romp and a good look in to a dystopian future world. The author poses some very interesting thoughts on how education and gaming in a virtual massive multiplayer RPG could be married together.
Unfortunately, the piece hinges on all the silly tropes of bland scifi including James Halloway, the socially inept developer of the MMO, the greasy unwashed and socially inept gamer, a series of deus ex machina that will make your head spin, and the power of teenage love. This is more of a thing that makes me sigh rather than a jab at the book which was well-written overall and fun.
If you're a fan of YA and/or Science Fiction I say go for it.
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