| | |  | Telecommunications & Network Security | Home » » Ready Player One | | | | | | | Description: | | At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.
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? | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Ernest Cline | | Hardcover:
| 384 pages | | Publisher:
| Crown | | Publication Date:
| August 16, 2011 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 030788743X | | Product Length:
| 6.45 inches | | Product Width:
| 1.31 inches | | Product Height:
| 9.52 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.33 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.2 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.5 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.4 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 778 reviews |
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130 of 150 found the following review helpful:
 This is going to be on my best of the year listAug 13, 2011
By sb-lynn
Brief summary and review, no spoilers.
The year is 2044 and the world is an unpleasant and grim place. Famine and poverty are rampant, and to escape the bleakness of real life most people choose to instead enter the world of OASIS.
Let me explain OASIS - this is a virtual world that is very elaborate and realistic,and it contains multiple planets and landscapes. It was created in main part by a man named James Halliday, the ultimate lonely computer geek, who was obsessed with the 1980's. Halliday died some time before the start of this story but had stated in his will that his vast fortune would go to the person who could find three magical keys hidden in OASIS, pass the portals associated with them, and then find the ultimate prize - the hidden egg. Over the years many people have searched for these magic keys and gates but none have prevailed. Those who search call themselves gunters. Also at play is a villainess corporation called IOI led by a man named Sorrento - who's agents searching for the egg are called Sixers.
The main protagonist of this story is an 18 year old named Wade Watts. Wade lives in abject poverty with his uncaring and cruel aunt. Because Wade's life is so grim, like so many others he spends almost all of his time in OASIS. It's where he goes to school and it's in OASIS where he meets his friends - avatars named Aech and Art3mis. Because everyone he meets via OASIS is an avatar, it's hard for anyone to distinguish friend from foe.
Because of his real world lack of money and help, Wade has few powers and weapons for his avatar (which he named Parzival, a takeoff of Percival the Knight which was already taken.) Even with this disadvantage, because of his intelligence and his obsession with anything Halliday or 80's related he is able to figure out how to find the first key - the copper one, and figures out how to pass that first gate. The race is on, with other gunters and the Sixers in hot pursuit. The future of OASIS is at risk because Sorrento intends to start charging money for the use of OASIS, which would keep so many offline and unable to access it. And this competition poses real life dangers for the players as well.
This is really a quest novel in the grand tradition of great fantasy literature. We have obstacles to overcome and evil-doers to defeat, and "magic," albeit computer generated, along the way.. There is plenty of action in this book and you will be turning the pages eagerly to read what happens next.
One of the (many) things that makes this book so wonderful are all the 80's references, especially to the video games and music and movies that so many of us fondly remember.
Note - don't worry if you weren't or aren't a big video game player or don't remember a lot about the 80's - if you are it might only add to your enjoyment of this novel but anyone can follow along. The story is both innovative and old-fashioned and it should appeal to anyone who loves to lose themselves inside a good novel.
At heart, this is a book for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or a geek, and for those of us who love to read. I haven't fallen in love with a book like this in a long time and I hope it gets the recognition and readership that it deserves. As an added plus, and without giving away any spoilers, there is an interesting twist of sorts at the end, that poses an ethical dilemma for anyone wielding power over OASIS.
Highly recommended. Just a magical book with a cast of characters that you will really care about. Even though this takes place in the year 2044, the sense of nostalgia and the world created will take you back in time to the way you felt when you were 18. I promise.
45 of 54 found the following review helpful:
Ever had a book you didn't want to end?Sep 28, 2011
By J. Clark
"J. Clark"
Well I couldn't stop reading this one if I were a gunter heading for the third gate. I didn't want it to end but I couldn't stop reading it either.
Do you remember a time when microwaves or CD's didn't exist? Floppy disks were floppy? When walkmans were cool? How about when Pac-man and Joust were the (edited) and you had to go to your local 7-11 or game room to play them?? Remember when you had to put your quarters up on the screen to get the next game and everybody stood around watching? This book brought back memories of that time. I've read the bad reviews. "No character development" "Same old plot" "Good guys vs Bad guys." For me, this brought back some vivid memories of sitting at a table with my D&D group. To have the visual of entering, virtually, a Gygax dungeon, holy (edited)! *bowing* "We're not worthy." It's almost too much for words on a personal level. I think that would be at the top of my g33k bucket list! Zork, my first true love of video games, when you had to create the scenery. (I can see the house and tree in my head vividly) I never beat it back then (I was 12 when my father and step mother introduced me to it and I was always getting kicked outside) but I own all versions of the game to this day. Cyndi Lauper,( "what time, I mean old Cyndi or now Cyn.." "Anytime Cyndi" Time After Time. I'm totally playing that at my wedding! I had all this running through my head as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep after two LATE nights and lack of sleep. While being drowsy at work, all I wanted to do was pick up this book or call off sick so I could immerse myself in this tribute to a childhood (now not forgotten). I HOPE I did this book some justice. I felt it was the least I could do. BTW I found your book by a plug on Patrick Rothfuss' blog (herein refered to as Art3mis cuz he's witty like that:)
This is the first review I've ever written and am proud to do so! Thank you so much Mr. Cline! I feel forever in your debt
This one's for all the nerds, g33ks and phreaks out there! You know (who) you are ;;)
66 of 87 found the following review helpful:
 Decent book, bogged down by nerd panderingSep 03, 2011
By Stiles "Hard Talk" Finstock
"Hard Talker"
I picked up this book because I am a bit geeky. I like all the stuff this book is about - computers, games, comics, junk like that. And the book isn't bad at all, really. Neat story, neat idea (sort of like Snow Crash without the satire/tongue-in-cheek humor. I want to let everybody know that I like this book, and will likely reread it in a few years. I am going to point out a couple of things that bogged the book down, and at times made me want to stop reading.
First, this book panders to nerds. That isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but you get the feeling very quickly that they are in there just so that nerds reading can think "HAH, I GET IT!" And instead of just throwing them in there so that people into nerd culture get them, he explains every single one. So not only do you immediately recognize the references, but then you get to sit there as he explains them anyway. If you're not completely turned on by having things you know about name dropped and then explained, this will bog down the story. Oh, Family Ties is a TV show from the 80's? Glad you explained it. Thanks.
Secondly, there are two types of nerds. Generally decent guys and girls with nerdy hobbies, and then anti-social, smug, condescending, pseudo intellectual nerds who are incredibly unpleasant to be around. These are, in popular vernacular, known as "Monvilles". Sometimes the author veers very, very close to outing himself as a Monville. A perfect example is that he includes a long, out of place rant about how he's atheist (he's speaking through the protagonist, but it is clear he wanted to rant against religion and used his protagonist as the mouthpiece) in the first chapter. He even includes "Deal with it" during this rant. It's out of place, silly, and I could see reading it on a message board, but here it's awkwardly inserted so that the author can say "I'm atheist...deal with it!"
Then there are a couple of parts that deal with working as technical support...and these are even worse. I've worked tech support jobs before, and they are incredibly frustrating. However, Cline uses these instances to show just how smug and unlikable he would be in real life. He has such utter contempt for anybody who dares spend their time doing something other than learning about computers. The people who need tech support are all halfwitted, slobbering subhumans who refuse to "think for themselves" and need a nerd (who is, of course, incredibly smart) to show them the way. He wastes a ton of time ranting against the people who call into technical support. Cline has said he worked in tech support, so when you call these places realized bitter, poorly socialized nerds are on the other end, furious with you because you have the audacity to ask questions about computers.
Then there is the dialogue. There are several instances where it becomes clear that Cline isn't very socialized. The dialogue reads like it was written by somebody who had never had a conversation but was told how they work by somebody who had. The book is pretty great when it's just the protagonist doing this thing, but when more than one character shows up it gets really bad really quick. There is one conversation about Swordquest in the book that is truly cringe worthy. The dialogue is so bad, so forced, and so unnatural that it makes Cline seem autistic.
Overall, I liked the book. I'm not trying to rag on it, I just want other people (who might not be unwashed, unshaven, obese nerds who love to sneer at the plebes) to understand the problems with this book. I think the really, really geeky will love the parts I've outlined above, but most normals will find them childish and unpleasant.
16 of 20 found the following review helpful:
Fun, but flawedSep 06, 2011
By Robert L. Bishop
"Ready Player One" is fun, especially if you grew up in the 1980s or at least have a working knowledge of the popular culture of that day. The book is overflowing with references to the era, and for good reason: several of those references end up being important plot points.
Many of them, however, are extremely forced. The main character listens to "Pour Some Sugar on Me" while he's flying around? Great! What does that add, exactly? Cory Doctorow and Wil Wheaton are the President and VP of The Internet in 2044? Fantastic! That ought to get your book mentioned on their websites. The list goes on and on.
One thing that bothers me about futuristic tales is that sometimes the author won't "fill in the gaps." It's pretty hard to believe that none of the characters found anything redeeming about entertainment from around the year 2000 on. At least make up some titles from the 2020s or something.
Finally, I must agree with some of the other reviewers that the writing is pretty substandard for a book that will ostensibly be placed on several "Best Of" lists by the end of the year. The dialogue is forced and unrealistic, and the narrative style is far too expository. Also, beware of McGuffins, at least one major Deus ex Machina, and preachy monologues just as the tension is building for the final act. I feel that this book should be classified as "Young Adult Fiction." Not only is that a better description of the reading level, but I can see teenagers being captivated by the themes of escapism more than adults.
Having said all of that, the plot did capture my imagination as well as my attention. I thought about giving four stars, but there were just too many glaring problems to do so. I have recommended the book to my geeky friends, but probably won't bring it up to the ones that are more interested in literature.
46 of 62 found the following review helpful:
Fun, enjoyable page-turner, but not a great read.Aug 27, 2011
By Ron Zacharski
While driving cross-country I listened to the audible version read by Wil Wheaton. First, Wheaton nailed the narration. It helps that the main character seems to match how Wheaton comes across on TWIT. Five stars for the narration! The book itself is fun and the pace is good. I read some review that said it was like DaVinci Code with a Cyberpunk theme and I think that is a good description--a fun book but not really great. It's definitely not in the league of Snow Crash or any book by Stephenson, Gibson, etc. Much of the plot movement involves pulling an arbitrary rabbit out of a hat. Wade gets stuck in some way and instead of tying threads together through the story, some random solution is presented. The characters and the world itself are 2D and not described in much detail. For example, the story takes place in a post peak-oil world, but that world is only briefly described. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading the book, but I wouldn't describe it as great.
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