Ready Player One #BookReview

“No one in the world gets what they want and that is beautiful.”

And no one in this world can write a geeky story better than Ernest Cline. No doubt there. Seriously.

Moving on, I stumbled upon Ready Player One at a local book fair and bought it thinking that I had seized an incredible deal, as it was placed at just twenty rupees. Pretty great, right? Well, at that time I had not even the slightest idea of how groovy this book would turn out to be.

Fast forward three months when I finally picked up the courage to read this book. And boy was I surprised. The very first page had me hooked. The book was like a powerful drug that I could not get enough of. Cline’s writing was something that kept my curiosity running. And the book’s geeky theme did the job of keeping my spirit alive. With every page-turn, I started to want more. The reference to the pop culture, geek world and classic games never let my battery drain. Reading Ready Player One was like traveling into the past which I had never witnessed. And it was a beautiful journey.

First things first, Ready Player One is set in the future, 2044 to be precise, where the Earth’s all crapped out and the world is coming to an end. So basically, this is a dystopian book. But this dystopia also has a tinge of utopia in it. In order to run away from their ruined world, people live in the other world, the virtual world. Some antisocial geek has provided the world with a video game, OASIS, which satisfies the people with its virtual water amidst the deserted dystopia. And after dying without a heir, this 80s’ pop-culture addicted geek has the whole world dancing to his beats. Before dying he had devised a game, inside the OASIS, and the person who was able to solve this game would win all of his possessions and the management and husbandry of the OASIS itself. Pretty crazy, right? But guess what no one was able to clear the first stage of the game until this young man gets lucky and changes the world (or the OASIS at least).

OK. Beginning written, a quote added, and described the plot of the book. Now let’s get to the part that we really care about. How was the book? In one word, Awesome. In two words, Wicked Cool. In three words, Stole My Heart. In four words, The Best Book Ever! Is that enough or do I need to add more adjectives? 😛

Seriously, there was nothing that I could dislike about this book. Strong characters, addictive story, geek culture and Ernest Cline.

Ready Player One is Cline’s Harry Potter, his Matrix and his Grand Theft Auto. It is a masterpiece that has found a permanent place in my heart.

You say that the book touched the ‘geek centre of your brain’; I say that it moved me to my bones. You say that it was the best geek book ever; I say that nothing can match its grandeur in the Known Universe. You say that Cline is one of the best writers that ever walked on this earth; I say that he even beats Tolkien.

Honestly, a huge shout out to the person who devised such a fabrication that left me flabbergasted. Ernest Cline, you’re the man!

Though, there was just one part in the book that did not make sense to me in the beginning. IOI, the evil organisation portrayed in this book, wanted to take over the OASIS and convert it into a paid service (as it was free of cost, right now). In the early stages of the book, I did not understand what the fuzz was all about. But as the story picked up its pace, I slowly made my brain understand how evil a company it was. After that, everything great.

Having read the book now, I have come to know that there is a lot of geeking out that I have yet to do. And all I can say is that Ernest Cline, I’m your slave, your servant, your student. Teach me, bless me, enlighten me, show me the path… 😛

So from now on I am on a geek spree. I am going to read, watch and listen everything geeky in order to brush up my knowledge (and catch up with that of Cline’s).  😉