Ready Player One

Ernest Cline
Ready Player One Cover

Ready Player One

Carl V.
12/6/2012
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Author Ernest Cline's debut novel, an homage to video games and 1980's geek/pop culture, has been burning up the internet since its release in August of 2011. I have the distinct honor of being the very last person in the world to read it.

Yes, I'm being facetious, but that is the way it feels.

We all have those novels we can point to that we finally get around to reading, realizing all the while that it is inexplicable that we didn't get to it long ago. I came of age in the 1980's. My nostalgic hold on that time period has only grown stronger with each passing year. I have loved video games since the first time I sat in my uncle's bedroom and played Pong. So really, any excuse would be a lame one.

I chose to experience Ready Player One via the unabridged audio for one very important reason: Wil Wheaton. I have become such a big fan of his over the last few years, first and foremost because of his autobiographical writing, and secondarily because of his ambassadorship of the geek culture that I love. I had checked this out from the library earlier in the year, had listened to five out of the thirteen CD's, and had finally returned it unfinished after discovering that Witness Protection was my last option for dodging the tenacious library constabulary. I had not gotten back to it, so earlier this week I did a drive-by, abducting the audio book from the library once more, and finished it last night after a five-hour listening marathon.

Had I picked up Ready Player One in its purest form, words on the printed page, it is likely I would have not gotten past the opening pages. Ernest Cline begins his novel by painting a picture of the bleak near future in the year 2044. In doing so I felt that he took an unnecessarily long time driving home the message that we are screwing up our world and, oh yeah, believing in God is for idiots. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about current social and political issues. I get that and I do not have a problem with people expressing their opinions, even in their fiction. My issue with Ready Player One was that I felt that the message dragged on and on, looping around on itself and repeating itself. I got it the first time, you don't have to tell me more than once. And that was my experience listening to Wil Wheaton doing a rather excellent job reading it to me. I don't know that I would have made it out of the other end of the stage-setting had I been reading it on my own.

So my one criticism: the opening could have used some serious editorial work. That is really it. A minor quibble. The rest of the book: Totally Awesome! Others would say that a stronger editorial hand could have been exercised throughout the book. The passionate gaming/80's minutiae worked for me.

For the few of you who haven't read it, Ready Player One follows the exploits of one Wade Watts, a young man growing up in a desolate, poverty-stricken future where the populace spends a great deal of their waking hours living in a fully functional virtual world, the OASIS. OASIS founder James Halliday has died, and with his death comes the announcement that he has left his fortune and control of the OASIS in trust as the prize for the first person to find three keys that Halliday has hidden in the vast OASIS universe. To beat this ultimate video game players must use not only their gaming skills but also their obsessive knowledge of Halliday and his passion for all things 1980's to understand the clues and solve the riddles that will lead them to victory.

It sounds simple, but years have passed without anyone finding the location of the first key. When Wade, Parzival in the OASIS, finally figures out the mystery and obtains the first key, the frenzy for Halliday's game begins anew and not only will Parzival have to compete against the very best of the best in geek lore, but he and his fellow gamers also have to dodge the limitless resources, and murderous intentions, of a large corporation hell-bent on gaining control of the OASIS.

The words "homage" and "lovingly" get tossed around a lot, at least by me. Well worn as they are, they are perhaps the most apt phrases to use in discussing Ready Player One. In a conversation with a friend of mine a few nights back, he astutely pointed out that Ready Player One is a book written for a certain type of person. Not everyone is going to connect with it. Nearly 400 pages (or 13 hours listening) of obsession with gaming, virtual world immersion, and the 1980's will not appeal to everyone. But for those who grew up in that time period and/or have a fondness for that era and the world of gaming that has emerged from those humble arcade days, the book is a lovingly crafted nostalgic time machine that will have you smiling and reminiscing from (nearly) start to finish. But there is more to the book than simply gazing backward.

Cline has crafted a coming-of-age tale that examines the concepts of friendship and connection in an increasingly virtual world that is timely and accessible for all of us, regardless of age, who have developed our own relationships through blogging and social media. Included in the mix is a thread of tension and danger that propels the story forward as various contestants get closer to completing Halliday's quest.

The audio version of Ready Player One is a delight. Given his current geek culture status and his presence as a pop culture icon in his own right (Star Trek), Wheaton was the obvious choice to narrate this tale. He makes Wade, Parzival, come to life in a way that feels genuine and authentic and Wheaton's own enthusiasm for the time period emanates from each disc. If you are one of the handful of people who have yet to give Ready Player One a try, opt for the audio version. It is fantastic.

Author Ernest Cline has earned every ounce of praise he has received for Ready Player One. A novel that pays non-stop homage to a niche audience could have easily toppled over from the weight of its own ambitions, but Cline manages to stop short of overplaying his hand, leaving readers with a smile-inducing, page turning adventure that is obviously a work of great affection. I am so glad that I finally joined the ranks of those who found themselves lost for a time in Ernest Cline's imagination.

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