This book was really, truly, enjoyable. It’s not something I’d usually go for either. It’s not YA for starters, it’s not a stereotypical dystopian, romance is not the driving factor. Which isn’t to say it is devoid of such factors. The world is post-fuel-crisis with the majority of the population being poor and living in ‘stacks’ of caravans. The protagonist, Parzival/Wade does have his romantic life explored, but it is in a far less idealised manner than in many of the books I read. The fate of the world does not hinge on his epic romance – if anything his romantic interests are more of a hindrance than a help.
Ready Player One is set in a world where the horrendous reality of real life is avoided by many in favour of a virtual world known as the OASIS – a fully immersive virtual reality created by computer genius, Halliday. And this world is particularly inviting: upon his death Halliday revealed that an easter egg was hidden within the game, the finder of which would inherit the fortune he left behind. This then led to a frantic hunt across the virtual universe, by many, and after years of no progress, by the persistent few known as gunters. One such gunter, 18 year old Wade Watts is the first to unlock the quest. Whilst he attempts to complete the quest and find the final easter egg, he must go head to head not only with his fellow gunters, but with the Sixers, who work for a company wanting to monetize the game.
The premise as a whole was inviting. Video games and nerd culture galore. The entire book is rammed full of eighties references – the entire plot is hinged on them. Having a vague concept of early video games and eighties pop culture makes the book so much more enjoyable. To be honest, I’m not sure my knowledge was anywhere near good enough to appreciate all of the nuances, but I could at least follow what was going on! And even if you have absolutely no clue what happened in the eighties, the book is fairly good at guiding you through.
The book wasn’t predictable. I mean it was, but deliberately. The blurb implies that Wade is probably going to be the one to find the easter egg, and from the first few chapters you can be relatively sure of it, but to be honest I just didn’t really care. It was how he got there that was interesting, the role the other characters would play, and what the different parts of the quest would be. In the same way as playing a lot of video games is (or at least the ones I’ve played, which admittedly is relatively few because my skills are entirely lacking). You know that in the end the main character is probably going to win/defeat the bad guy/save the world, because that’s kinda the point, but the storyline of the game is still fun because you get to find out how they do it. It’s also nice that the main character isn’t all that likeable. Nor that dislikable. He’s just kind of average. And not in that annoying, ‘Bella Swan is an average girl and in making her so I’ve decided to take away every inch of personality’ way. He’s kind of a dick. Some of the time. Other times he’s lazy, or distracted by hormones (I mean he is 18) or pretty damn kickass. He’s pretty believable and that makes a nice change.
Also I want all the stuff. You’ll see.
So yeah, if you’re looking for something different, this is probably the one to go for, especially if you like video games. Or the Eighties.
~ Becca x
The Paper Ship 