Book review: Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I saw this book shortly after it was published. If I was smart, I would have read it then, and then been way cooler than you. Instead, I waited and have had to deal with the reactions that followed it, I have seen this book go from a 'unique idea' to one of the hippest books around to modern day classic to the movie being made and Cline being considered everything at that time from genius to 'lame lame lame', and then finally to the release of Armada and subsequent cooling off period.

So, which is it? Well, a bit of all that really. Let's get into it (Mild spoilers ahead)

I have heard this book termed 'nostalgia porn' and there are a bunch of 80s references, but the book just blasts off, feeling like a nod to all that came before, but done in a new way. The idea of a virtual "The Great Race" over a world that looks like what would happen once World of Warcraft-style virtual reality overtakes 'bricks and mortar' reality.

The first 200 pages sell the promise. It has taken a spin on Enders Game and The Last Starfighter, and makes it feel really fresh. I was excited for what was coming next and could hardly put it down.

So, what happened. I am not sure. The book is 372 pages. That's probably too long by 100 pages. It isn't (ostensibly) a Young Adult novel, but it feels like one (with a few cusswords thrown in).

At some point, I became a bit disenchanted with it. One complaint of Cline is that he is constantly referencing pop culture. That is a fun for awhile, but at some point, it ran thin for me.

If he hadn't leaned so much on it, I think I definitely would be onboard. However, at a certain point, he went to that particular well so many times, I was forced to examine it. My first guess was at Cline's age. I was maybe a year off. This is certainly written by a 46 year old. I am not ageist, but it certainly would be a different book written by a 32 year old, and it would probably be better. The nostalgia pieces feel like they could have only been written by someone in their mid-40s.

We have to believe our protagonist Parzival is obsessed with the 80s. One part of that is that he has the same obsessions as James Halliday.

It doesn't ring true to me that Parzival would love everything exactly like Halliday does, no matter how obsessed he is. It's funny the thing that set me off is when Parzival says he doesn't like Wham. You love everything else, but this is where you draw the line?

Indeed, Cline seems to mix 80s nostalgia with gamer (and video gamer) nostalgia. It does go one way (Halliday likes Vonnegut, Rush and Neal Stephenson), but not really the other. We have to believe Halliday was fascinated with the pop culture of his youth, but at around 1989, turned it all in. Halliday has no interest in the Whedonverse, Harry Potter, The Matrix, anime, X-Files, Star Trek: TNG, the Walking Dead or anything contemporary.

If Parzival and Halliday didn't seem like carbon copies, I could move on. I am not saying my great grandchild isn't going to be all about Joust and WarGames, but I have my doubts.

Oddly enough, I don't really have a problem with the Deus-Ex Machina-ish part that brings things close to resolution. Cline has made a great baddie, and it's a fine way to resolve it. However, from there everything seems to go for the most obvious ending. The Morrow/Halliday stuff is textbook. The supporting characters reveal is nice but obvious. The big game challenge and its twist is again, super obvious.

The love story is probably the worst of all. I don't expect Cline to be Updike but it's the most obvious 14-year boy romance story. It rings as puppy love and teenage fantasy. That's probably okay for a YA story, but along with the other factors dragging it that way, it just leaves it with a weak finish, and left me dwelling on the book's weaknesses instead of its many strengths.

Speaking of which, after the Deus Ex Machina, it goes on for about 70 pages after that. It's kind of like watching a baseball game when you know the final score. It can be entertaining, but you just want to get to the end.

I give credit that Cline seemed to really mix things up more than some famous YA authors. (For example, the Hunger Games series never quite knows what to do without the Games). I do like he gathered a bunch of scenarios, though it started to get a bit repetitive at the end.

Cline will ultimately be recognized for having a very entertaining and unique idea, but the back half of the book prefaces that his premises are wearing thin. This book ends with a few pages of Armada, Cline's second novel, which sounds like a fantastic plot, but reads like a mess. It probably will put more people off that book than sell copies.

Anyway, that's my take. Complaints to the usual address.



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