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.

Ready Player One is a science fiction novel written by Ernest Cline, that takes place in 2045. It follows Wade Watts, an 18 year old living in a trailer park in Oklahoma City. The world is a horrible place in this near future, as people fight over the remaining resources, capitalism has divided classes further, and the United States is full of violence and war. To remedy this, everyone hops onto OASIS, which is a virtual simulation world where anything is possible, created by James Donovan Halliday.

When Halliday passes away, he leaves his vast fortune and the future of OASIS to whomever can find a easter egg with a couple of hints left behind. The plot is essentially a deus ex machina of many different characters and groups looking to uncover the mystery of OASIS’ creator. I found the story to be very fun and found the world the be built pretty well. I enjoyed the 80s references and pop culture that the world was built around.

The main turn off in this book for me was how cookie cutter the characters were, and Wade’s ‘OP’ traits. I like realistic characters, characters that are difficult to predict, and are given tough decisions. Every time the characters get stuck, some magical obscure thing happens for them to figure it out.

I left this novel being unsure if the generated OASIS world was a utopia or a distopia. On one end, everything is up to your imagination, and information is free. On the other end, people use it to escape the reality that faces them, and rather than attempting to solve their real problems, they run away into a virtual world. They are so stuck in the past, reliving the 80s, that they are not creating new ideas. How are you supposed to truly live when you are stuck in the past?

In conclusion, the book generates an incredible world, and I would love to see the movie adaptation next. Some of the book is a tad bit corny for sure, but I have to say that I still enjoyed it a lot.

Overall Rating: 7/10