“Shall we play a game?” – WarGames (1983)
I don’t know how else to put it: Ernest Cline’s extraordinary debut novel Ready Player One was unarguably one of the most entertaining and downright enjoyable novels that I’ve ever read. (And that is saying something coming from a reviewer who has written more than 6,000 reviews over the last two decades…)
Set in a decidedly dismal near future beleaguered by an ongoing energy crisis and economic recession, it’s an overcrowded, poverty-stricken world that people just don’t want to exist in. That’s why millions spend all of their time in the OASIS, a free massively-multiplayer online game encompassing thousands of virtual worlds that has irrevocably transformed entertainment, social networking, business, and even global politics – it’s become “a new way of life” for millions of disillusioned humans seeking escape from their depressing lives, albeit temporarily.
When the creator of the OASIS, a billionaire recluse named James Halliday who was obsessed with the 1980s, dies, he essentially leaves his riches – which includes the OASIS – up for grabs in a video message that states:
“Before I died… I created my own Easter egg, and hid it somewhere inside my most popular videogame – the OASIS. The first person to find my Easter egg will inherit my entire fortune.”
Thus begins a worldwide frenzy – à la the search for the golden tickets in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – where video gamers all over the world began their quest to find Halliday’s egg. But years pass and still no one has even found the first of the three keys that open up the secret gates that lead to the egg.
Then Wade Watts, an 18-year old living in a trailer park on the outskirts of Oklahoma City with his aunt, finds the first key. But in doing so, he makes himself the prime target of a ruthless corporation bent on finding the egg and taking control of the billion-dollar prize. Thus begins a breathtaking virtual quest that will lead to the “most epic battle in video game history”…
A seamless fusion of near future science fiction, epic fantasy quest, and unlikely love story, Ready Player One is, above all else, a glorious homage to the 1980s. There are hundreds of references throughout the novel pertaining to ‘80s pop culture – from the DeLorean in Back to the Future to Max Headroom to feathered hair and acid washed jeans. With a soundtrack powered by classic tunes from AC/DC, Rush, and Duran Duran, readers who have already experienced the ‘80s can relive it all again with allusions to Galaga, Family Ties, Silver Spoons, Blade Runner, Heathers, Pretty in Pink, etc. For those readers too young to remember the advent of MTV and who have no idea what ColecoVision refers to, Ready Player One is like a literary time capsule – with leg warmers.
“A woman with a giant ozone-depleting hairdo bobbed her head to an oversize Walkman. A kid in a gray Members Only jacket leaned against the wall, working on a Rubik’s Cube. A Mohawked punk rocker sat in a plastic chair, watching a Riptide rerun on a coin-operated television.”
Additionally, Cline’s novel is constructed upon a remarkable foundation – a treasure trove – of hardcore geek trivia ranging from obscure Dungeons & Dragons campaign details to quotes from movies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail to how to pull off a perfect game of Pac-Man.
I’ve read a lot of amazing “geek” novels – Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, PKD’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blood Blade by Marcus Pelegrimas, Richard Cox’s forthcoming novel Thomas World, etc. – but I believe ultimately Ready Player One will go down as the best geek novel of all time.
It’s pure geek gold – there’s no question about that – but Cline’s fluid and intelligent narrative makes this novel palatable for a potentially huge audience: young readers will identify with the teen protagonists, older readers will embrace the nostalgia, hardcore science fiction and fantasy aficionados will revel in the abundance of references (Gary Gygax, THX 1138, Cory Doctorow, etc.), and mainstream fiction fans will be more than impressed with the story’s social commentary and deeply profound theme.
“…as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness.”
Bottom line: Ernest Cline’s debut novel is a masterwork of fiction that transcends categorization – underneath all of the geeky pop culture references and nonstop adventure is a chilling cautionary tale: how many of us are seeking escape from reality inside of our virtual gaming realms as our world collapses around us? And what will the ultimate consequences of our mass departure from reality be?
Paul Goat Allen has been a full-time book reviewer specializing in genre fiction for the last two decades and has written thousands of reviews for companies like Publishers Weekly, The Chicago Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, and BarnesandNoble.com. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.
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