Ready Player One
byErnest Cline
Willa Wonka meet's the Matrix, is a good world colliding analogy to describe Ready Player One, set in a dystopian world where people escape into the massively popular virtual utopia called 'OASIS'. The story follows Wade Watts, whose world resolves around the OASIS and finding the egg hidden in the game by it's creator James Halliday, winning his fortune of 240 billion dollars. This story had amazing world building around 80's games, music, movies and other pop culture and I felt a part of Wade's journey, there's a lot of twists and the story felt very nostalgic to my gamer days when I was younger. It was a clever and smart story, but not too novel. Still it was an entertaining read.
Motivations to Read
I used to a be a huge gamer in my younger years and would take it seriously enough to skip doctors appointments during double experience weeks. Although I'm a 90s baby, a similar kind of passion for fandom set within this 80's theme and I also played a ton of games when I was younger, specifically MMORPGS like runescape and guildwars so I remember the grind in training and leveling up my characters.
3 Reasons to Read
- A story around a Massive Multiplayer Role Player Virtual Reality Game called the Oasis, set on retro themes
- Coming of age story in a Dystopian Universe where people escape the suffering of reality through virtual reality
- Clever Puzzles and Clues based on 80's games, music, movies and other pop culture
Notable Quotes
“Whenever I saw the sun, I reminded myself that I was looking at a star. One of over a hundred billion in our galaxy. A galaxy that was just one of billions of other galaxies in the observable universe. This helped me keep things in perspective.” Ernest Cline
“I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn't know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life, right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.” Ernest Cline
“One person can keep a secret, but not two.” Ernest Cline
“I wish someone had just told me the truth right up front, as soon as I was old enough to understand it. I wish someone had just said: “Here's the deal, Wade. You're something called a ‘human being.' That's a really smart kind of animal. Like every other animal on this planet, we're descended from a single-celled organism that lived millions of years ago. This happened by a process called evolution, and you'll learn more about it But trust me, that's really how we all got here. There's proof of it everywhere, buried in the rocks. That story you heard? About how we were all created by a super-powerful dude named God who lives up in the sky? Total bullshit. The whole God thing is actually an ancient fairy tale that people have been telling one another for thousands of years. We made it all up. Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. “Oh, and by the way … there's no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny. Also bullshit. Sorry, kid Deal with it.” Ernest Cline
Ready Player One Notes & Summary
