Two days ago I was watching the Feedback podcast hosted by G4’s Blair Herter with his fiancée Jessica Chobot and two of G4’s editors as the hosts. At one point during the podcast Blair started talking about Ready Player One; a geeky, nerdy, quest-driven, 80s memorabilia riddled, romance, adventure story. That sounds pretty vague and I’ll admit it is, it was the first book the author ever had published and it was a unique style to read. Typically I stick to my action adventure espionage thriller genre type books (Vince Flynn/Lee Child) but I decided to give this book a try.
Yesterday around noon I went to a nearby brick and mortar store to pick up the book, about 3 in the morning I had finished it. With exception to going to dinner with my parents and the occasional bathroom break I read it from beginning to end. Now don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not saying that it was so good I couldn’t put it down, it was a great book but that’s not the case. That is just how I usually read books.
Without ruining too much of the book here is the gist of it. The main character is a teenager that plays in a virtual reality world like World of Warcraft but much much more immense and immersive. Most of the world played this game because the real world had essentially become post-apocalyptic (minus the apocalypse part). A world wide quest was given out to obtain a huge award for real world money; it was a puzzle quest of sorts. The trials and growth of the main character are what keeps things interesting, the main character develops relationships in this world but knows nothing of their true identities much like our own world of gaming. The book creates an interesting perspective between the friendships that exist in the real world and internet world.
If you enjoy reading; and since you have suffered through this much of my own writing, then you will probably enjoy Ready Player One. It has an excellent way of reminding us of the 80s (which I missed by a couple of months) and the evolution of gaming, pop-culture, music, and the movie industry.
If you are interested in the book you can find it here on amazon (SUPER NEAT LINKY)
