It’s been almost two and a half months since I read and saw Ready Player One and I’m finally ready to talk about it. I’m sure you know the feeling of loving a story so much and being so invested in the world and the characters that it hurts. You just want to read it all, no matter if it’s getting to the end because you only care about knowing the whole story. And then… BAM! A punch right in the feelings. There isn’t anything else to discover, no more story. Then you realise the world is not real, the characters aren’t real, and that real life sucks, now you are upset. And it gets painful to remember that nothing is real. So, instead of keep crawling back inside the book, I prefer to move on and then, after a while, I can talk non stop about it without any problems.

For the first time, I’m doing a joined review. I’m reviewing the movie and also the book in one post. Since, for me, they complement each other to make the story even better, it didn’t make sense to do two separated posts. So, I’m sorry about this massive post. I still kept both reviews separated and with the respective spoilers apart as well because there isn’t anything worse than getting spoiled unintentional.

The year is 2044, the world is turned completely upside down. There is poverty, hunger, wars, and diseases, it’s a dreadful place to live in. Although, Wade spends his days inside the OASIS as most people do. It’s a virtual utopia where you can be everything you want, live, work, play, and even fall in love with in the multiple worlds. When Halliday, the creator of OASIS, suddenly dies, he leaves behind his massive fortune and also the future of his virtual paradise to the person who can find the Easter Egg he has hidden in the game. This announcement induces a mass treasure hunt throughout the entire OASIS.

Several years later, still without any results, Wade is the first one to discover the first clue, and suddenly the whole world is back again in the rush of the hunt. But friendly competition is something that isn’t in the vocabulary of some players, and they might even be ready to take care of the competition in the real world. At that moment Wade realises the only way to protect OASIS is to actually win the Egg hunt.

The Movie

I finished reading the book less than 24 hours before watching the movie, so it was pretty fresh in mind how the story progresses in the book. Obviously, the book is better than the movie, I’m not even going to discuss that. The movie kept the key points of the competition for the Halliday Easter Egg. The keys, the riddles, the “problem” in the end was close enough. One thing that I actually can’t remember is how did they get the last key. I felt, in the beginning, the movie was giving a big importance to it but, towards the end, they ditched a bit the all key hunting thing.

What I did enjoy and makes me like the movie, even more, are the pop culture references. The book focuses on the 80s which I don’t know much about, so my expectations for the movie were basically in them. I wanted references I would be able to recognise and they nailed it. There was Hello Kitty, Looney Tunes, Back to the Future, Terminator, The Shining, Chucky, Godzilla, and so many more I can’t remember and others that I might have missed. The IMBD has a huge list with all the references if you want to check out, I prefer to buy the DVD and do several careful rewatches to find them all.

Also, I was really curious to know how they would be designing the OASIS. Even though it was way off what I was expecting, it didn’t bother me. It was created in a more family-friendly graphics like Fortine, which adapts very well with animated characters like Hello Kitty. Although, I always saw OASIS as a more realistic since it’s a virtual world that everyone was basically living in. So I thought the graphics to be more like Detroit: Become Human or The Last of Us. Those types of games that really give you the sensation you are inside a real world. Either way, I’ve very jealous that OASIS isn’t real. I would seriously spend an outrageous amount of money to have everything I needed to play that game. If PS VR would announce something similar I would go to the store in that right moment and buy it – this is how much I like the OASIS!

Careful spoilers ahead!

Something I didn’t click with, was the relationship between the characters. I think they went to fast with Wade and Samantha, they barely knew each other to be that much head over heels for each other when they first met.

I didn’t like the fact that Samantha was the one that went to work for the IOI. The story in the book was more planned and thought all the way through, while she let herself get caught and then had to be rescued out of there. Typical princess in stress. I would like she would stud up more and a take the matter into her own hands, as her character appeared to be in the beginning.

There was one thing that wasn’t exactly explained. Sorrento had that suited big guy skin, then his character is killed, so he goes to one of his employees account to go back into the game, and he appears with the same skin, which isn’t possible. Once killed you lose everything you have, you start on level 1 and you can’t transfer your things to another account. But my problem doesn’t end here. After the cataclyst is used, everyone was killed. Every single avatar that was in that sector was whipped out, except Parzival because he had an extra life thanks to the coin. So how did Sorrento came back to life again?? That was the only thing I was questioning after the movie end.

The Book

Author: Ernest Cline   Publisher: Crown Publishers   Year: 2011   Pages: 374

I loved pretty much everything about this book. From the first sentence until the last my inner geek was screaming for more all the way through. And now I think it should be her who gets the word:

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SECOND BOOK!!

Well, I guess she’s no use… *sigh* Moving on!

If someone tells you that, if you like games you will like this book, they aren’t lying. Now, don’t expect any 2000s games. The story focuses only on the 80s pop culture since it’s the favourite decade of Halliday. And when he created the OASIS he left a lot of references about it behind. So you get overload with many arcade games, that are famous even today, like Pac-man, Galactica, Space Invaders, and others that only people who lived through the 80s remember. I got pretty sad that the arcade games saloons don’t exist anymore, at least in Portugal, because I would give anything to play those games in the original versions, not the remasted ones we have today.

In terms of movie and music references, let’s just say that now I have homework to do. A list of all the movies that were talked about that I need to see and then I might understand the book even better. This is the only negative point I have with the book and the movie complements because it gives me what the book couldn’t, that inclusion you feel when you know what the characters are talking and referring about.

The writing is completely spot on! It has that teenager vibe while keeping truthful to the environment it’s delivered. The gamers slang, the nicknames, the childish wars, the “boy talk”, the sex talks… Everything screamed teenage gamer and I loved it. Which also created some pretty funny moments, the kind where you just start laughing like mad and everyone stares at you.

Contrarily to the movie, the love story in the book is more slow and chilled. There’s a moment where it’s only what Wade thinks about and even almost put him off the race. But apart from that, the romance develops a lot in the background focusing the story on the OASIS and the Easter Egg hunt. I love my romantic moments, but when it comes to games romance needs to be put aside.

Careful spoilers ahead!

There were only three things that didn’t get explained. I-r0ck suddenly vanishes from the story. He was such a despicable gamer and always teasing Parzival and Aech, and then we never heard of him again. I was expecting the whole time he would be helping the IOI, which brings me to my next point, how did Sorrento pass the second gate before any of the others? Wade was sure he must have had help, and my instinct was screaming I-r0ck (even though he’s not that smart). But then the story continues and that moment it’s never talked again. Maybe it was given too much attention to something that wasn’t going to be explored in the first place.

The same thing goes to the Will Wheaton reference. His name is dropped when Wade is talking about elections in the OASIS and then we don’t know if he won or not. Actually, what was even the point of talking about the elections when it didn’t even matter for the story? It seems it was just a way to add Will Wheaton. Although there is always the possibility some of this information was left open on purpose for the next book.

Final thoughts

If you go into this book expecting a literary masterpiece, you’re going to have a bad time. It’s not even close to that, although it has the ability to please a geek’s heart. I 100% recommend reading the book to anyone who enjoys games, tech, sci-fi, and obviously 80s pop culture. And expect just to have a good time inside the OASIS, playing with Parzival and his friends, and enjoying the hunting.

After that, and if the book wasn’t enough for you, go watch the movie. Let your inner child came out and scream for everything you see. Feel excited by all the rush of the hunt and the design of the OASIS. And enjoy the soundtrack like it’s the last time you would hear it.