Ready Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline Review with 372 Pages Podcast

If the last contest was Family Ties themed, I would have rated higher.

Ready Player One (2011): 7 out of 10: by Ernest Cline: Ready Player One is a science fiction novel set in a dystopian future, where most of humanity seeks refuge from the bleak reality of the world through an immersive virtual reality platform called the OASIS. Authored by Ernest Cline, the novel explores themes of virtual reality, nostalgia for 1980s pop culture, and the consequences of corporate control over global resources.

Ready Player One is set in the year 2045, a time when the world is plagued by energy crises, environmental degradation, and widespread poverty. (So the seventies basically). Most of the population lives in overcrowded slums and relies on a virtual reality universe known as the OASIS to escape the harshness of real life. The OASIS is a vast, highly interactive virtual world created by James Halliday, an eccentric genius and a huge fan of 1980s pop culture. The OASIS functions as both a game and a fully immersive alternate reality, with users living much of their daily lives inside it.

Before his death, Halliday announces a massive contest within the OASIS: he has hidden an “Easter egg” somewhere within the virtual world. The person who finds the egg will inherit Halliday’s entire fortune, estimated to be worth hundreds of billions, and control of the OASIS itself. This leads to a global frenzy, with millions of people—known as “gunters” (short for egg hunters)—devoting their lives to solving the puzzles that will lead to the egg.

For years, the hunt remains unsolved, with no one making progress, until the novel’s protagonist, Wade Watts (known by his avatar name “Parzival”), a poor teenager from the “stacks” (vertical trailer parks), discovers the location of the first of three keys that unlock the series of gates leading to the egg. Wade is a dedicated gunter, spending most of his time studying Halliday’s life, his interests, and his obsession with 1980s video games, movies, music, and television, all of which are crucial to solving the riddles.

Their principal adversary is Innovative Online Industries (IOI), a corrupt, powerful corporation that seeks to find the egg to take control of the OASIS and exploit it for profit. IOI is led by Nolan Sorrento, the novel’s primary antagonist, who commands a massive army of professional egg hunters known as “Sixers.” IOI is willing to go to any lengths to win, including hacking, cheating, and even committing murder in the real world.

The central plot revolves around the hunt for three keys (Copper, Jade, and Crystal) and the corresponding gates they open. Each key and gate requires deep knowledge of Halliday’s favorite aspects of 1980s culture, and the challenges involve solving puzzles, playing classic arcade games, reenacting scenes from Halliday’s beloved movies, and exploring hidden corners of the OASIS.

Wade’s discovery of the first key attracts the attention of both IOI and other gunters. As the competition intensifies, IOI becomes more aggressive, attempting to kill Wade in real life by blowing up his aunt’s trailer and later trying to capture him to force him to reveal his secrets.

Wade is forced to go into hiding, using his tech skills to break into IOI’s network and gather incriminating evidence of their illegal activities. With the help of his friends, Wade devises a plan to thwart IOI’s efforts and ensure that the egg falls into the hands of someone who would preserve the OASIS for the users.

The Good

The Good: Ernest Cline does two things very well in Ready Player One. He knows how to start a novel and he really knows how to end one.

This is not an insignificant victory. Plenty of authors struggle to get the reader involved with the story instead of having one info dump after another or being afraid to get the plot in motion till all I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed. “The Left Hand of Darkness” by the usually solid Ursula K Guin is a good example of this.

As for books with disappointing endings. That is an ocean both wide and deep. Hell, Stephen King alone contains dozens of examples, as I noted in my ‘Salem’s Lot review.

Ernest Cline can also write a decent action beat. There are some fun sequences in Ready Player One and the story has some superb surprises. Cline also makes sure his IOI bad guys are proper bad guys committing terrorism and putting people in indentured slavery. (They even throw a teenage boy off a building. Underage defenestration certainly checks the evil corporation box.) Combine all that with some nimble world building and it is understandable why people embraced Ready Player One.

The Bad

The Bad: It is a good thing that IOI kicks the puppy a few times because honestly, they are right about The Oasis. Think Magneto from 2000’s X-Men. Sure, he dresses like the bad guy, but he makes a good point.

In Ready Player One, we are told that the evil IOI corporation wants to win the contest to control the Oasis so they can monetize it. There are two flaws with this plot point. First, The Oasis is already monetized. It is, in fact, a major plot point of the book that our fat loser hero living in a stacked trailer home cannot afford to go anywhere in the Oasis.

Travelling across the Oasis takes both time and money. It is how Halliday became the world’s richest man. Now a major plot point of the book is to win the contest to prevent the oasis from falling into the hands of the evil corporation. But if you are charging me real world money to “surf the internet” as The Oasis is doing, how would another corporation be any different?

And why does it take money and up to ten hours to travel from one “planet” to another in a virtual world like some sort of No Mans Sky/Crazy Taxi gaming mix? If it took me twenty bucks and ten hours to travel from Wikipedia to IMDb each time I wanted to go from one to the other, I would be pissed. Really pissed.

How is that any better than IOI’s plan for subscription tiers and pop-up ads? You literally cannot afford to visit most web pages in the current iteration. And when you go to visit these websites, you have to spend hours “travelling” to them.

Society itself has collapsed, seemingly due to the fact that people are addicted to the Oasis. You expect Cline to run with that ball at some point during the story, but he never picks it up.

There is a love story in Ready Player One that does not seem to work. Our hero Wade Watts may be a tool, but his paramour Art3mis is a cruel sociopath. Okay, maybe that is a little strong. She is a not a pleasant person to spend time with and Wade certainly could do better. And he would probably know that if he was not a teenager who got his sex education from Family Ties reruns.

The Ugly: Where the worm turns for most people reading Ready Player One is the lists. The lists of TV shows, video games, and books that the evil lunatic Halliday liked and are undoubtedly the keys to winning his demented contest.

Ernest Cline lists his favorite.. sorry Halliday’s favorite things from the eighties throughout Ready Player One and the effect is numbing.

So we get detailed reports on Wade Watts training routine. And all sense of the time, space continuum, and reality goes out the window. Yes, he has nothing else to do and all the free time in the world. But apparently he is some sort of video game playing savant because he is a pro level player in every game Halliday liked in his youth in a collection of boasts that made my eyes roll out of my head.

As someone who has played many of the games that he supposedly conquered with ease, one after the other, I call complete bullshit. (Dragon’s Lair, for example (and Zork) which shocking were not name called as far as I can recall, are good examples of the tedious trial and error common in such games of the time. And he completed 90s adventure games without a guide? Okay Jan…

Then we have his claim he watched every Simpsons episode and read every Stephen King book? What is he, fifty? I read King voraciously as a youth and even I didn’t read every one of his books. That loon wrote a thousand pages a day. And catching up on all the Simpsons’ episodes is one of those tasks like reading the Library of Congress that is easier said than done.

There is far more entertainment produced than one can experience in one’s lifetime. (Writing reviews for Cinematic Diversions has reinforced this point home for me)

Five hundred channels, and nothing is on is all too real. But what is also real is that the sheer volume of entertainment means that even fans of a very specific genre have an entire series of TV and books and movies that they somehow missed. That went under thier radar.

Gamers famously have a backlog and If I retired today, I am unsure I really could get through my own backlog even in retirement. The idea some high schooler consumed the entirety of the eighties in seven years is honestly clinically insane.

In Conclusion: While Cline did not start the 80’s geek is actually cool trend (I blame 1996’s Scream for starting that ball rolling.) there is no doubt Ready Player One added gasoline to the fire. So we have TV shows like Stranger Things and movies such as 2018’s Bumblebee swimming in the nostalgia like they were Happy Days or American Graffiti. Even an environmental novel I just reviewed “The Great Transition” clearly caught the eighties bug.

I can see why people liked Ready Player One. It has a great hook, and it ends very well. While the characters are unlikable and large chunks of prose in the middle of the novel, are a bit of a slog. In the end, Cline pulls it off. If you want to see an author make all the same mistakes and not pull it off? Cline’s follow up Armada is an excellent starting point.

372 Pages Podcast

372 Pages Podcast: The first Podcast is a really fun listen. Connor and Mike are clearly good friends and have been working together for years. Mike has a nice curmudgeon side he lets out. They point out that the book might have been run through a readability software since it seems written at a third-grade level. They compare it to Dan Brown.

Now I kind of like books with good stories that are written on that level. (I also like Dan Brown). But I see what they are referring to. They also point out that Atari 2600 and Intellivision games are basically unplayable. And while that is harsh, there is a lot of truth to the thought behind it. Without the veil of nostalgia, the experience is often lacking. You can’t go home again and a man never steps in the same river twice… you know the drill.

I listened to the audiobook version while following along with the podcast, which was read by a surprisingly game Wil Wheaton. The criticism of the endless lists (And scoreboards as well) becomes a lot clearer when you have will Wheaton reading them for twelve minutes straight rather than your eyes glossing over them on the page.

As a proof of concept, 372 Pages works well and as a first book Ready Player One provided plenty of fodder for Mike Nelson and Conor Lastowka. I liked the book more than they claim to and in terms of books covered by 372 Pages down the road, Ready Player One is fairly painless.

Random Notes from reading

First three chapters… Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Now I realise I am smack dab in the core demographic as someone who grew up with an Intellivision, a Commodore 64 and read every issue of Dragon magazine. I am right here in this character.

Still, the writing and world building so far have been at least serviceable and the plot is rolling right along. As a long time listener of 372 pages, I know much, much worse books are coming. So I need to reflect on how the boys tackle this one.

In the first Podcast (Which is a really fun listen. Connor and Mike are clearly good friends and have been working together for years. Mike has a nice curmudgeon side he lets out. They point out that the book might have been run through a readability software since it seems written at a third-grade level. They compare it to Dan Brown. Now I kind of like books with good stories that are written on that level. But I see what they are referring to. They also point out that Atari 2600 and Intellivision games are basically unplayable. And while that is harsh, there is a lot of truth to the thought behind it. Without the veil of nostalgia, the experience is often lacking. You can’t go home again and a man never steps in the same river twice… you know the drill.

Okay, now I see the reasoning behind picking this book. The search for the key starts, but first we need our main character to go over his training routine. And all sense of the time, space continuum, and reality goes out the window. Yes, he has nothing else to do and all the free time in the world. But apparently he is some sort of video game playing savant because he is a pro level player in every game Halliday liked in his youth in a collection of boasts that made my eyes roll out of my head. As someone who has played many of the games that he supposedly conquered with ease, one after the other, I call complete bullshit. (Dragon’s Lair, for example (and Zork) which shocking were not name called as far as I can tell, are good examples of the tedious trial and error common in such games of the time. And he completed 90s adventure games without a guide? Okay Jan…

Then we have his claim he watched every Simpsons episode and read every Stephen King book? What is he, fifty? I read King voraciously as a youth and even I didn’t read every one of his books. The loon wrote a thousand pages a day. And catching up on all the Simpsons’ episodes is one of those tasks like reading the Library of Congress that is easier said than done. There is far more entertainment produced than one can experience in one’s lifetime. Writing reviews for Cinematic Diversions has reinforced this point home for me)

Five hundred channels, and nothing is on is all too real. But what is also real is that the sheer volume of entertainment means that even fans have an entire series of TV and books and movies that they somehow missed. That went under thier radar. Gamers famously have a backlog and If I retired today, I am unsure I really could get through my backlog even in retirement. The idea some high schooler consumed the entirety of the eighties in seven years is honestly clinically insane.

We learn about Halliday’s youth and the business. It is both predictable and told gushingly from a fan’s point of view. It is like listening to someone breathlessly describe the greatness of Steve Jobs or Elon Musk or Wally Amos. It is in character but very tiresome. The “key hunt” portion of these chapters is actually interesting and fun, but is a small part of the entire thing.

Another plot problem creeps up here. Travelling across the Oasis takes both time and money. It is how they make thier bucks. Now a major plot point of the book is to win the contest to prevent the oasis from falling into the hands of the evil corporation. But if you are charging me real world money to “surf the internet as The Oasis is doing, how would another corporation be any different?

And why does iot take money and up to ten hours to travel from one planet to another in a virtual world like some sort of No Mans Sky Crazy Taxi gaming mix. If it took me twenty bucks and ten hours to travel from Wikipedia to IMDb each time I wanted to go from one to the other, I would be pissed. Really pissed.

Episode 2 372 Pages. First a confession, I seemed to have screwed up the assignment an only read to chapter eight rather than thru chapter eight. Apparently I missed little. We found out what bird Mike is at war with (crows) which seems weird because he worked with a robot named crow and of course crows will kick your ass. They are the bird world equivalent of Mara Salvatrucha. Conner last week confessed to a mockingbird war. His local mockingbirds have taken it upon themselves to mock the local car alarms.

They both noted independently as I did there is simply no way our main character could have consumed the media he claims. (Connor focuses on a fantasy author and Family Ties, but I still say Stephen King alone would eat a few years.) There is little love for Family Ties. They also note the lack of Nintendo properties outside of one Donkey Kong reference. And the lack of MST3K. Mike tries not to seem hurt by this.

They note that Ernest Cline himself has restored a Delorean and collects video games, so accurate claims of author insert fiction come forth. Comparisons, possibly unfair to John Grissom, commence.

Chapters 9 through 13: The boys make an interesting point this week. Most tales of this ilk have a moral factor to the contest. Think Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The contest is a way to make sure the person who takes over your empire, company, favorite couch is wise, true and good. But these contests are simply memorization challenges for very specific (and honestly obscure) things Halliday likes. It really is a contest as run by a mentally challenged individual. I am not sure if this is on purpose by the author.

One of the delights of 372 pages is that it really does highlight some bad writing habits, including some that I am more than guilty of. As an educational writing course, it is surprisingly effective. For example, it would encourage me to take out the word surprising out of the previous sentence.

Next chapters… the boys have hit a groove, and the book keeps getting worse. It really nails what two virgins talking to each other would sound like, though I do not necessarily mean that as a compliment. The boys point out that our hero would be aged beyond his years living in such violence and squalor. (And certainly should have a good idea what sex is considering the internet access and the aunt with rotating boyfriends.

Also, the boys shared my thought that the wildlands between Oklahoma City and Cleveland sound more interesting than the fake universe, with dance offs and birthday parties for old game designers.

I Liked the ending. Ready Player One does close well.