Well, well, well… Here is a review I was expecting to go differently. Back in 2018, I did a joined review of the Ready Player One book and the movie, but since then, I’ve watched the movie I-don’t-know-how-many-times, and my mind started to get blurry about the book. That had to change. It was time to do a reread of what was my past self favourite book EVER!

Fast forward last month, it was time to jump back into the OASIS and fall in love once again. Except cupid was taking a vacation. Part of me still doesn’t want to admit that Ready Player One isn’t as amazing as I remember. Maybe because it was the first book I read about video games or, maybe watching the movie right after influenced my opinion on the book. I don’t know. But one thing is for sure, 2018 me was over the moon with excitement, and 2021 me is disappointed.

Author: Ernest Cline Pages: 374 Genre: Sci-fi, Dystopia, Adventure, Games Publication: 2011

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First impressions

For most of the book, I felt that I was reading it for the first time. I forgot almost everything about what I read before. I still remembered the plot points, but how the characters got there was a mystery. At least, this allowed me to fully enjoy the journey to the Easter Egg as if I was doing it for the first time.

Something I didn’t realize was how descriptive and slow the book was most of the time. Reading the first chapters was a struggle. I wasn’t finding any magic pulling me in or captivating me. It took me a while to fully commit to rereading it and wanting to continue reading. I wasn’t expecting to have such a hard time.

Another thing I misremembered was how many ’80s pop culture references are in this book. I already knew that the sci-fi movies I love from that decade are not in this book. Although since my first read, I thought I had open my mind to more ’80s stuff. Turns out I only watched War Games. So I kept being clueless about all the references. Not having a nostalgic connection attached to a bunch of pop culture turns the narrative quite boring. And when it composes almost half of the story, it’s hard to keep focus. This was actually one of the key points that sold the movie to me. I would get references that I actually recognize.

On an adventure in the OASIS

I actually loved everything about the hunting. It was more complex than just finding the three keys. They also had to find the three gates, and in each, there was a challenge to overcome to move forward. Which extended the adventure. It added more challenges, and I loved it! Now I know why I want to be able to play in the OASIS. I want to have that sort of adventure inside a virtual reality open world.

Although there was one thing that I realized between all the keys and gates. It wasn’t getting harder to find them. It’s even mentioned in the story that key after key, it was harder and harder to reach the Egg. But none of the keys or gates after the first one were as complicated. I’m not talking about the riddles or the ability the characters had to surpass the challenges. It was the number of challenges. To be able to pass each gate, the number of challenges was increasing. It was even mentioned. Although getting the keys was becoming easier. So looking back to the entire adventure, reaching the Egg wasn’t feeling any harder. It felt the opposite.

Despite its flaws, I love this story. It’s complicated, the adventure takes a long time, and it’s all about the journey to get there. The invasion in the IOI headquarters is the Mission Impossible moment of the story that I don’t mind, even though it’s slightly out of character. The characters travelled to every sort of place, inside and outside the OASIS, allowing the reader to know this world even better.

Something I’ve learned from rereading Ready Player One is how much I enjoy treasure hunts, competitions, and adventure. Those were the moments I was enjoying myself the most and the reason I wanted to keep reading. I didn’t care for the romance or the make the “big guys pay” sort of thing, I was there for the hunt and to explore the OASIS.

The odd one out

There was one particular chapter that never left my memory. I forgot almost everything about this book, but that chapter never left my memory. The beginning of the second part of the book starts with Parzival in a chat with Art3mis. At the time, the whole conversation sounded strange. And I can say with certainty that I feel the same, nowadays. The entire chat sounds out of character. Wade is being too straightforward, too confident. And actually, I found out that it wasn’t just that chapter that was odd. From that moment on, Wade has some actions that I can only describe as erratic comparing to the character we are presented with.

To be clear, I don’t like Wade at the beginning of the book. Not even at the end. I don’t like him. I tolerate him. I’m reading for the story to find out more about the OASIS, to be part of this amazing adventure, not for him. He starts as a strange mixture of a young very childish teen while he’s 17-18 years old. For starters, he doesn’t act like a 17-year-old. He’s too immature and has childish moments like a 5-year-old does. But then, in a short time, his character changes his behaviour drastically. One month he was showing his butt, and in the next, he’s a twenty-something guy leaving alone with no prospect for the future, just lazying on the couch. It doesn’t seem normal to me.

Young Adult or Adult

Wade’s age brings me to my next point: the targetted audience. The book is YA, meaning that it’s written, in a way, to appeal and be understood by a younger audience with characters about the same age range. Obviously, YA doesn’t mean that only teens can read this book. That is a stupid way of thinking. Although this book was first published in 2011. I was straight up the target audience. But the people that can actually recognize these ’80s references had to be at least 30 years old, back in 2011. And since most adults don’t read YA, the people reading this book weren’t even born in the ’80s.

Although all the game aspect of the story is much more exciting for teens than adults. The new generation is playing more with all the easy access and diversity we have nowadays. So there’s this strange mixture of a story clearly targeted to teens and young adults, but with a lot of pop culture that misses their youth and instead is nostalgic for their parents.

This book was clearly a road down memory lane for the author and other game geeks of the same generation. To drop some gaming history for the youth to learn, it’s great, but I don’t think all the references chosen were the best of the best that came out of the ’80s. Bottom line, there is nothing wrong with loving the ’80s, but 2011 teens aren’t the best audience to appreciate all that lore.

Sadly, I didn’t end the book as thrilled as I was the first time around. Which is quite unfortunate. I was disappointed that the book didn’t suck me in as it did back then. I wanted this book to be my cacoon of happiness. Whenever I wanted to feel excited and happy, I would jump back into the OASIS. But turns out things change, and there’s nothing I can do about it. At least, I’ll still have my 2018 thoughts written down, spilling excitement everywhere.

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