I just finished reading this book all at one go and man was it a lot of fun! For those of you who grew up in the 80’s the cultural references will be a blast. I think the story background is a little weak on the political issues but that hardly mattered to me.
All in all a great summer read for geeks.
I agree. The plot is rather thin, but the book is a tome-length love letter to 80s geek culture. There almost didn’t need to be any plot.
If people are interested, the audio was narrated by Wil Wheaton (of DIE WESLEY CRUSHER, DIE infamy) who handles that jaded yet curious and upbeat personality/voice very well.
It was a great summer read. Apparently there’s already plans to turn it into a movie, at least according to the NYTimes review.
I agree with the above. A fast and fun story and since I am just a month younger than the creator of the Game in question, I was right in that sweet spot for the references.
The Buzzkill in me did have a few concerns, however:
It seemed that Copyright laws changed in a big way between now and then which seems unlikely given how much power Corporations have in the setting of the story.
No one seemed bothered by the fact that you had this medium where you could create literally anything you wanted and the only thing we saw it used for was to create copies of other creative properties. That seemed a little sad to me.
Regarding #2, I think part of it is that the story revolved around the 80s obsessed quest, and thus all we saw were copies or recreations of things from that time. It sounded like there was a lot of original content that had been created by Halliday, plus all the home bases and worlds that were made by users. My problem was with how amazing the main character was at everything. He was literally one of the best in the world at every single video game he played with the exception of one, but even that he was probably in the top 20 or so and he had every movie memorized. That seems a bit over the top, especially given he only learned everything in the 5 years since the contest was announced.
Given that I’ve been sharing UltraMan is Airwolf with people for years, I must now find this book!
A little bit of a zombie bump, but the Oasis just opened up for real, and you can telnet in and explore if you so desire…
Great news for those of us who loved Ready Player One: Armada, a new book by Ernest Cline, will be published in July 2015. You can pre-order on Amazon. The plot sounds like a rehash of The Last Starfighter, but I’m betting that Ernie Cline won’t let us down.
I listened to the Ready Player One audiobook, read by Wil Wheaton, a few years ago. As someone who grew up in the 80s, I found it to be great fun.
From time to time, I check to see if there’s any progress on turning the book into a movie. Here’s the latest update I could find.
And it sounds like Cline is working on a sequel novel to Ready Player One.
BUMP
Late to the party, but I just finished reading the book. I both listened to the audiobook and read the physical book when I wanted to.
The audibook is excellent and Wil Wheaton did a great job reading it. I highly recommend it.
The book itself?
I think I loved it. Believe me, my mind was open to loving, hating, or just liking the book. I had no idea what it was about other than being “geeky” and was totally unspoiled.
I guess I’m a sucker because I found the entire thing great. Yes, it’s ridiculous he was able to watch and memorize all those shows and movies and also learn to be awesome at all those video games. And that he was able to do all of that in a short span of time.
Still, the book was so great, I was able to set aside and plot problems and just accept things. It was very well written, I believe in the characters, and liked the way things worked out.
I did not expect Aech’s identity at all. I had wanderings, but was both surprised and touched by the scene where Aech and Wade meet. It was very well written and I like how Wade laughed at the reveal of Aech’s identity.
Loved the ending, found myself pulled along throughout. What a great book.
I, for one, do not want a sequel. I will likely read it if he really writes it, but I do not want one.
The movie? It could be neat or just OK. I doubt Spielberg will ruin it.
Hope you didn’t bet the mortgage on that one.
I heard it was pretty bad. Anyone read it?
I did. A horrible unoriginal hack.
That is a slander on horrible unoriginal hacks everywhere.
Ready Player One was not an especially well-written book, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. Armada was also not a well-written book, and it was, unfortunately, not fun at all to make up for it.
Same. My one slim criticism about the audiobook was when Wheaton would read the score board which couldn’t have taken more than 30-40 seconds but felt tedious as hell. Not his fault since he was just reading that was there but I doubt anyone with the book in their hands actually poured over each Sixer ID number and score.
I liked it a lot but, at the same time, have little desire to read it again. I feel it probably doesn’t hold up to repeated readings. I’ll see the film since that’s a different thing entirely, both in spectacle and story changes.
Despite feeling like a YA novel through most of it, it was obviously targeted at my age demo. I got most of the references aside from some of the Japanese/Anime stuff but then they rarely left you hanging (“Such and such from the 1981 movie So-and-So…”). I may have had one ahem nerd rage moment listening to it…
In Zork, the first treasure is a jewel encrusted egg which is located outside the house, in the back and up in a tree. Inside the egg is a tiny jeweled bird. Both of these count towards the nineteen treasures required. The book makes a point of mentioning how both Wade enters the house immediately and then how Shoto runs into the house while his brother fends off the attack – no time for tree climbing. Neither could have found the Jade Key as described. When Wade went, I actually thought there’d be a moment where he has seventeen treasures and then remembers the last (first) two. Instead I was having a one-sided argument with Wil Wheaton about how this was bullshit 
As much as I love the book, there’s a scene that triggers a bit of nerd rage in me, as well.
Much is made in one scene about how Black Tiger takes three hours to fully complete. This is false; a maxed-out game of Black Tiger takes just a tad over 45 minutes. I won a video game contest in that game, so I know.
I do see videos of youtubers beating it in 50 minutes, so it looks like you are right. Even though I just finished it, did the book say it takes 3 hours to beat it in one sitting, or does Wade just have to try a few times?
I read this book a while back and thought it was fun, but I’ve already forgotten most of it. I do remember that it depended so heavily on pop culture references that I assume it would be pretty annoying to anyone who didn’t remember the 1980s.
There is one particular detail that does stick in my mind because it nearly caused me to throw the book across the room. We’re repeatedly told that the love interest, Artemis, doesn’t look like other girls – or at least not like their avatars. She’s short and curvy, “Rubenesque” even. Of course our protagonist Wade is such a swell guy that he’s capable of being attracted to her anyway, but it seemed clear we were meant to understand that this was unusually open-minded of him.
Late in the book, after we’ve been reminded again and again that Artemis is a total cow, Wade comes across a file containing her vital stats and we learn her exact height and weight. She’s 5’7" and 160-something pounds. That would admittedly be short and fat for a fashion model, and we’re told that most women choose to give their avatars supermodel physiques. But Artemis is about the same weight as the average American woman and several inches taller. Going by BMI she’s at most 10 pounds overweight. While it seemed obvious that the reader was supposed to be giving Wade points for not being shallow, it really came across like the author was unable to conceive of even a noble video game geek feeling attracted to a woman more than a few pounds overweight.
The three-hour duration was mentioned a few times, but specifically when Wade recounts how it was one of Halliday’s favorite games… because he could play for three hours on one quarter.