dangoodman Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Heard a bit of chatter here on the boards for this book, so I thought I'd start a thread to share my review. Has anyone else read this? Covers don't lie. Certainly not the one for Ready Player One. It is a call-back to all the delightful energy of 1980′s yesteryear, and reminds me of a Vonnegut cover. Good stuff. Yet you wouldn't think for the cover's bright colours and visual beguilement that this is a dystopian novel. It is a point of saturation, especially in the young-adult reading market, that dystopian novels are as commonplace to a bookstore as trees are to paper. This trend has no doubt gotten a lot of younger authors out on deck, as publishers try to replicate the buzz produced by 2008′s wildly successful The Hunger Games, and a lot of them can be seen as pretty much the same. The same oppressive atmosphere, the same type of youth rising up, the same crumbling society, the same monotone cover of swallowed cities and gloomy-looking teens. Add in a dash of zombies, a glittering vampire, and that one is almost guaranteed to hit the mainstream. For better or for worse, it happens. Ready Player One stays away from all this. It uses the dystopia as a very thin backdrop, in a palette that's pretty standard. Resources have dwindled, world poverty is on the rise, puppet voting is now in place of the government, and global warming has affected much of the Earth. In short, life sucks for many people, including Wade Watts, our main character. There is a form of escapism in this world of decadent melancholia: a video game called the OASIS, a real-time 'worlds-upon-worlds' mega simulation. It opens up a whole number of opportunities for those who log in. It is said from the beginning by Wade that the full immersion sim "… was like having an escape hatch into a better reality. The OASIS kept me sane. It was my playground and my preschool, a magical place where anything is possible… Because the real world sucked." (p. 18) A combination of Second Life and a massive-multiplayer game, the selling point of the OASIS is that it only costs 25 cents to enter. 25 cents to build (literally) a whole new life for yourself. It was developed by an eccentric designer named James Halliday, who passes away at the beginning of the book. That is no spoiler- asides from this, not much of the in-jokes and quirks of the latter whole of the novel can really be discussed in detail, or it would be defeating the purpose of each surprise- and his death is the crux on which rests the entire story. Like an ode to the very first of its name, planted by programmer Warren Robinett in Atari's 1979 game Adventure, Halliday leaves an elaborate legacy behind in the form of what comes to be known as "the Egg", where his will- and the rumoured capability of the rights to control the entire OASIS- is hidden. The person who finds the Egg wins fame, power, reputation, and Halliday's entire personal fortune. He gives a few cryptic lines to help those on their way, right before he kicks the bucket. What he has in store for anyone on the hunt for the Egg- which consists of a large majority of the world, believe it or not- is anyone's guess. It's quite a few years later, in the year 2044, where the OASIS has fully replaced the internet to become a ubiquitous outlet for all users alike. The interest for finding the Egg has slowly waned like a melting candlestick that has been left to alight for too long; the interest is still there, but it's lessening. All that remains are various groups of hacker types and a big evil corporation named IOI that threatens to take advantage of, impose new rules, That is until a kid named Wade Watts earns the first key and clears the First Gate, along with a female spitfire by the name of Art3mis, who Wade can't help but become hopelessly smitten by when he meets her. Indeed, it is the idea of James Halliday as "Willy Wonka as a video game designer" that really got the wheels turning. Ready Player One plays around with this idea in all sorts of genre-busting ways, with enough lines, references, and nods to 80′s referendum sufficient to last a lifetime and a plethora of settings from the scifi to the Western to the mundane and the fantastical. When you start dishing out lines from Rush's 2112 liner notes, rehearse word-by-word deliverances of Broderick himself in WarGames, and the main character's ship is named after a certain author who writes a well known dark comedy on the life of Billy Pilgrim the soldier, you will know this was written by a geek. The reader is always waiting for some kind of name-drop to come along (Firefly class space vessels, obscure 80′s Japanese gundam cartoons, more video games than I can count, Ghostbusters, and the Voight-Kampff from Blade Runner are just a few things that grace its pages, along with much more) but Cline implements it in a way that never veers toward gratuitousness. It feels like the wonderland of a copyright holder's nightmares brought to life; everything a geek would love, beckoned forth into the stark high quality of computer surrealism and future scenarios where legal entitlement doesn't seem to matter anymore. Everything ever created here has a place in the OASIS, and every dream can be made limitless. As such, the book has some nicely convened imagery as well. For instance, the stack of trailers in which Wade lives are compared to the old metal ladder networks of Donkey Kong, and in one scene, a lich king and Wade are "hunched over the controls of a classic arcade game", in a moment of absurd irony. It looks cool and sounds cool, and never before have I wanted something this to be made true since Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. But this book has its share of obvious problems. First of all, how has this hunt not been solved before? The inconclusive evidence of it is nearly impossible- given enough time and a dedicated message board of statistic savvy Halliday yahoo's, I could have solved this in weeks- and not all of the problems are really that hard to solve, at least in the context of the reader understanding that no one has gone anywhere with them in the last seven years. The writing is subpar, but it's also fun and jumpy. There are some continuity issues that I couldn't help noticing (like the lack of credits in Wade's school account to having gotten enough to graduate in the span of a few chapters) and the love aspect really was not my thing. The protagonist Wade feels like a crowd-pleasing surrogate who states information about Halliday in exhaustive Wikipedia-detailed entries, while having some careless and unnecessary exposition in the first person (even if you think that the first person narration is being delivered to his particulars). Ready Player One is really freaking awesome. It's something out of a nerd's wet dream, an anomaly of both the playful incorporation of what the author enjoys and the childish appeal of a teenager discovering these things for the very first time. It's like the delight of a Christmas day, opening up a present to find that you just got the new Atari system (when Atari was big) or a new Dungeon Master's guide to aid you in D & D pen-and-paper roleplaying. It has an energy on match with other good dystopian young-adult novels, like The Hunger Games, and carries an immense nostalgia all its own. Sure, it has first-time problems, yet I found myself not even caring. Ready Player One is beyond fun, a playful (if light) read that really makes you think the author wrote the book he wanted to write. Like the coin hungry machines that feature in the story, this entertainingly addictive novel will burn away your time until the wee hours of the morning, and make you wish it were true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 This is my favorite science fiction novel in years. Absolutely charming and funny and full of wonder, despite being a new kind of dystopia. This is the novel about the MMO that we've been waiting for someone to write for years. And it's full of geek (mostly 80's) trivia. And it's pulled off in an interesting way. It's unputdownable. This is on my Hugo nomination list, for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Loved it as well. Insanely fun read. Not so sure about the "new kind of dystopia" part, but I wholeheartedly agree with everything else you mentioned. Hope to hell they don't fuck up the flick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Movie? Really? Interesting.By 'new type of dystopia' I did not mean to insinuate that the economic collapse or energy crisis was a new premise, but rather the entire world voluntarily living online in a geek amusement park was original. (Granted, Dick, Stephenson, Doctorow, Stross, Etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdiddyesquire Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Movie? Really? Interesting. By 'new type of dystopia' I did not mean to insinuate that the economic collapse or energy crisis was a new premise, but rather the entire world voluntarily living online in a geek amusement park was original. (Granted, Dick, Stephenson, Doctorow, Stross, Etc.) It's just a blast of a novel. Fun to read, emotionally engaging, nostalgic... pretty much has it all. This is two novels in a row I agree with you on Stego. Go read something we can fight about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 The movie rights sold 12 hours after the publishing rights. Seems to me the Online "Bread and Circuses" angle has been done before. Maybe not to quite the same scale, but I don't consider it to be a wholey original concept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Bump because this is the best SF book released this year. And you fuckers need to read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickg Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Read part of the sample on my phone, bought it, its up next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seli Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Bump because this is the best SF book released this year. And you fuckers need to read it. Is it? The geek-nostalgia that seemed to be the main selling point according to the reviews I've seen did not attract me at all. It seems to connect to a way of life I that is not mine in a similar way as the recent Jo Walton.I might have to take a look at both of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dornish prince Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 i recently read the little bit that is available via amazon and that was enough to hook me. i have GOT TO read this book. kinda reminds me of snow crash but that is just from the small sample portion and what a few people have described it to me as. this isn't a bad thing and i'm sure that similarity is only skin deep anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Is it? The geek-nostalgia that seemed to be the main selling point according to the reviews I've seen did not attract me at all. It's kind of hard for me to respond to this objectively as I was a child of the 80's and the nostaglia angle for me really put the book on another level. I think the story holds up even if you don't share a love for that time period's pop culture. Another thing to consider is the all encompassing nature of the nostaglia. It covers movies, books, music, videogames, TV, Dungeons and Dragons, etc, etc. You're bound to find a connection to at least some of the nostaglia that Kline centers on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 You are absolutely bound to find a connection in some of the nostalgia. It centers in the 80's, but there are references as far back as the 50's, and as recent as, say, Richard Morgan. (And the nostalgia is just tertiary to the story.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 I read this right around when it was released. It felt like a love letter to us nerds. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry. Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Bump because this is the best SF book released this year. And you fuckers need to read it. If this is the "best SF book released this year," then it'd mean that 2011 SF books will be trite, maybe enjoyable, but not something to be re-read multiple times for more insight. Cline's book was a light read, but once the final credits roll, it's like playing some of those games he references; only a few would want to keep returning to it. Then again, I didn't grow up an 80s video game/D&D geek. Maybe that's why it didn't appeal to me as much as it seems to with others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edda van Heefmstra Ruston Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 http://asoiaf.wester...ady-player-one/I liked it a lot. I particularly liked the reference to the elected leaders, because I can *so* see that happening.Crap. That wasn't even the thread I had been thinking of. This one was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Great review, dan. Put your initials up on the High Score Board. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 If this is the "best SF book released this year," then it'd mean that 2011 SF books will be trite, maybe enjoyable, but not something to be re-read multiple times for more insight. Cline's book was a light read, but once the final credits roll, it's like playing some of those games he references; only a few would want to keep returning to it. Then again, I didn't grow up an 80s video game/D&D geek. Maybe that's why it didn't appeal to me as much as it seems to with others. There hasn't been much as far as great SF Novels in years. Blindsight was good. Brasyl was good. The Road was good. Black Man was good. And Ready Player One is good. Certainly the best of this year. It shits on Stephenson and Vinge and Stross, for instance. ETA: And WTF. Seriously. Something has to be reread multiple times for insight to be good? Shit on that. Failure to express everything to the reader in a single reading is a failure on the part of the author. I'm looking at you, Gene Wolfe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry. Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 No, if a story works mostly (or entirely) at a superficial level (say plot only) and re-reads don't add much, if anything, to the reading experience, then that work is a disposable work, on par with the likes of what Martin Millar/Martin Scott has produced. I'd be much more inclined to re-read Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers compared to Ready Player One because it has more to offer me. Now if you think Ready Player One is above par for recent SF, what does that say about the overall shittiness of that category genre? P.S. Sometimes even Goodkind shits on Stross in terms of constructing a sentence. I loathe any of the Stross stories that I attempted to read when I thought it was important to catch up with the Hugo shortlist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Sometimes I want a bacon cheeseburger. And this was the best damn bacon cheeseburger I've had in quite awhile. I don't think that a fun, light read necessarily = disposable or superficial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry. Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 You might, but I tend to think of "best" as being something that will be remembered years from now, that's all. Besides, I hate bacon and I hate cheeseburgers in real life :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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