Books
OASIS Overhyped: A review of Ernest Cline’s ‘Ready Player One’
Get ready to geek out to the fast paced and witty prose, but if you’re looking for more depth, don’t set the bar too high.
“Overall, Ready Player One had so much potential but just wasn’t able to live up to it. Had Ernest Cline reigned in a bit the pop culture references and focused more on characters and plot, this book would have been a lot more than an average read.” ★★★☆☆ — By Janin B. Volante
Have you ever been so hyped up and excited to read a book only to endup extremely disappointed when you finally do read it? That is exactly how I felt after ripping through Ernest Cline’s debut novel, Ready Player One.
I first heard about the book online. I was looking for my next read andReady Player One came highly recommended with critics calling it “an adrenaline shot of uncut geekdom” and “a smart, funny thriller that both celebrates and critiques online culture.” Apparently the novel’s pull came from its plethora of references to video games, films, and comic books from the ’80s with a few of them hailing from succeeding decades. Reviewers also enthused about its fascinating virtual scavenger hunt premise. So I picked the book up with high expectations.
Ready Player One tries, without the expected amount of finesse, to immerse readers in a world set in the not so distant future of 2044 where the problems we face today like climate change, poverty, overpopulation, the depletion of resources and the like have escalated so greatly that most people take solace and refuge in OASIS, an online virtual reality created by multibillionaire inventor and ’80s aficionado James Halliday.
When the aged Halliday dies, a film called “Anorak’s Invitation” is released into the OASIS, announcing that his entire fortune and control of his company would go to the first person to figure out the ’80s pop culture themed clues embedded into the film and find the easter egg he hid somewhere in the expansive virtual world he made. This sets in motion a scavenger hunt among many OASIS users who have been dubbed ‘gunters’ — short for egg hunters. For those unfamiliar with an easter egg it’s basically a secret sign or whatnot embedded in a game or movie.
The story follows protagonist Wade Watts, an orphaned and impoverished teen living in a vertically stacked trailer park who spends nearly all his time attached to his VR visor and haptic gloves to escape his terrible life. We find him in the middle of the hunt for Halliday’s Easter Egg. As a character Wade Watts falls flat. Ernest Cline writes him as if following a list of the usual tropes in the Young Adult genre — a hero with a tragic past with the odds stacked against him and smarter than any of his competitors. Aside from his unrelenting desire to find the egg and knowing the ins and outs of the ’80s as well James Halliday did and pining after Art3mis, another gunter, the character doesn’t have much depth.
Mr. Cline doesn’t handle his other main characters very well either. Art3mis, the leading lady of this story, who at first seemed to be a strong independent character mostly turns out to be a manic pixie dream girl, written in only to further the development of the male protagonist. Another problematic thing about this book is that one of its endgame plot twists involving a major character, probably an attempt at diversity, comes off more as an act of tokenism.
The writing style itself leaves much to be desired. While Ready Player One does prove to be an exciting page-turner, well, after the long and dragging exposition anyway, every scene and sequence is doled out in a “telling and not showing” manner. The lack of passable descriptions deters readers from fully engaging in the narrative.
A film adaptation is on the way and it seems that many of the scenes filled with lackluster prose would be better visually presented onscreen. The fast and action-filled bits will surely make for a good ride, every detail already set.
Despite these flaws, I did find a few things to like about this book. For one, the story really shines when Ernest Cline cleverly and effortlessly weaves together references in his prose. Imagine a paragraph where Wade mentions in passing that in the 27 sector virtual world is an exact replica of the Star Wars galaxy situated right next door to the Star Trek universe, or a page where the top gunters pick out a robot as a reward in a level of the hunt and among the choices are Iron Giant, several mechs from Gundam, and the entire line of Shogun Warriors. It was enough to get me flailing. There is a certain thrill of recognition and excitement you feel when something you’re a huge fan of gets a nod in some other piece of media you’re consuming. Although, there are points in this book where the sheer amount of references overwhelm the rest of the writing.
The witty dialog is also worth the read. The characters’ quips appear fast and often. They verbally spar whilst referencing movies, video games and comic books. They manage to quote Lando Calrissian in one scene and the movie “Airplane!” in another.
I found the plot fascinating enough. The premise outlined above was solid groundwork and the worldbuilding was good. However, there are some parts where the story gets glaringly predictable and a tad boring.
Overall, Ready Player One had so much potential but just wasn’t able to live up to it. Had Ernest Cline reigned in a bit the pop culture references and focused more on characters and plot, this book would have been a lot more than an average read. For anyone who’s interested in reading Ready Player One, I have one piece of advice: get ready to geek out to the fast paced and witty prose, but if you’re looking for more depth, don’t set the bar too high. ■ By AH Online / The Culture Review
