Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Monday!

Huh. It’s the last Monday of 2013. Odd, isn’t it? But that’s not important.

What is important is that I just finished another book. A book that I’m going to write a review on, for your reading pleasure!

Hush. It’s not as though I’m forcing you to read my posts… But yeah.

Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Non-Spoiler Section

I really enjoyed this book. It’s written from the first-person perspective, is about 370 pages long, and is quite gripping. Even if it might take a chapter or two to set up the setting and plot. I think I would give it about a 9/10. (Ten being OMG BEST BOOK EVAH!1! of course. And 1, by extension, being BLECH! THAT’S HORRIBLEFYING!)

…You already knew I invent words.

At least it gets my point across, which is the purpose of language? True?

I shall therefore declare victory, and continue to the next section:

Spoiler Alert! Plot & Premise & Summary & Such.

This book is set in the year 2044, in a post-apocalyptic Earth era. What makes this particular plot unique, however, is the means of “escape” from real life. There is a virtual reality system, OASIS, which is completely immersive. It’s free to access. And it’s huge.

However, the creator of this system (who of course got a huge fortune from it by selling stuff in-game, or something like that) has created an Easter Egg for people to find after he died. The first person to find his Easter Egg will receive his entire fortune, and a controlling portion of his company.

Needless to say, this is a major competition.

The story starts abut 5 years after the competition is announced. (The competition was announced upon the inventor’s death. Just in case that wasn’t clear.) Our hero goes through and tries to solve the clues that lead to the Easter Egg. Throughout the plot, he also needs to deal with friends, potential romances, and evil corporations out to kill him. I’m not going to provide more info about the plot than that. If you really want spoilers, you can probably go to wikipedia. I’m not sure, but I’m guessing they have info. You should really read the book, though.

Fun Things

One of the great parts of this book is the references. The inventor of the game was really into 1980s Geeky stuff. The main character, therefore, studies that piece of American history. There are references to all sorts of things from the 1980s. Star Wars, Monty Python, Last Starfighter, Star Trek… you name it, it’s probably there.

Another of the best parts of this book is the setting. OASIS makes me very technology-jealous. Seriously. It’s a virtual reality where, depending on how much participants can afford, all the senses can be immersed. The main character, for example, eventually gets to the point of getting a “hamster-ball” like system for moving around- he actually walks. Further, the graphics are apparently amazing, and, one of the best parts, there are touch sensors on a suit he can wear. The gloves that have touch sensors & emulators are a part of every kit- the players can actually feel items they interact with.

And, of course, the players can get cool items, including magic swords.

Downsides (end spoilers)

Basically, the only downsides are a couple of “not quite pg or pg-13 language” moments. In other words, there’s a touch of fowl language, and a few references. It’s nowhere near as bad as a lot of fiction- even some supposedly “young adult” fiction I’ve read recently. *cough*Graceling*cough*

If language doesn’t bother you, don’t worry about it. If it does, you might enjoy it less, but I’d still highly recommend giving it a try. It’s a lot tamer than any high school I’m aware of.

Concluding Remarks

As I said before, I really enjoyed the book. I definitely wish that the technology described actually existed- it sounds pretty darn cool. It’s also fun he number of references there were! I know I didn’t get them all, but any that I did get just added to the story. (It’s still a fun story without understanding the references.)

In other words, I highly recommend this book.

Enjoy the rest of 2013!