So I am jumping on a band wagon that is already well on the move. The novel is in pre-production to be a major Hollywood movie directed by Stephen Spielberg. It has a massive audience already and certainly won't need my help creating a buzz. However this blog is designed to talk about things I like and missed, so maybe, just maybe you did too!
So Ready Player One is set in the future. A place where resources are scarce, the real world is a stark place to live but with the virtual world of the OASIS we can be more than we are in real life. Our Avatars can be like who we really are or nothing like us. We are not limited by real world functions and constraints, magic (and not just movie magic) can happen.
The novel follows Wade AKA Parzival through his journey to find the secret prize hidden within the OASIS. A prize left as a will by the creator of the system. The prize is the system. Full control over the finances, direction and everything associated with the company that owns the system.
This novel had me gripped from the start to finish, and by then end where I would normally fall asleep reading a book at bedtime, I would stay awake and force my self to have to put it down. It was gripping, enjoyable and a fantastic mystery into the clues it lays out to the reader and the plans to get the hidden "egg".
Not wanting to spoil the novel I won't touch on too much detail, but the friendships that a formed, the risks that are taken are interesting well crafted and fun.
Wade is a true nobody living in the worst part of America at the worst point in history. His only salvation is the life he has in the OASIS, and his only friends are the few he has online (sounding familiar for this day and age?)
The mysterious recluse that is James Halliday, the creator of the OASIS dies leaving a handbook and a challenge to the world. This online world splits into factions and for 5 years after his death everyone is stumped by the clues left to start them off. Halliday was a big fan of geek, 80's culture and this novel serves as a wonderful memoir to that time. The classic references and nostalgia are painted perfectly but are being viewed from a more modern prespective. It is a very clever and well written idea, that allows those who also loved that time to immerse themselves once again. For others it just becomes part of the DNA of the book and does not leave you feeling excluded if you do not share the same level of love for the time. Ernest Cline is the author and through his writing you can see aspects of his love of all the subjects reflected in the characters. How they thrive with their friends talking for hours around old games, movies and comics. You know there are a few parts in this book lifted straight out of Clines own life, and they do say write what you know.
This novel was first published in 2011 (I said I was behind the curve on this one) and has won awards in 2011 and 2012 which I think it deserves. It won an award from the Young Adult Library Services Association, which makes it sound like a kids book and while many of the themes will touch many children's imaginations, it is also a great book for those of us who are thirty something and remember the original games and comics from the 80's.
Even if you are not a huge geek around the subjects of the book, the story does not rely on that and takes you on a fantastic adventure that I would suggest everyone reads. It is fun gripping and wonderfully enjoyable. If you have missed this, get a copy. You will not be disappointed, because while one of the greatest film makers of the time is going to be leading this film forward, as with any book to film conversion you really won't be able to capture some of what makes this book fantastic in a film. However great the film might end up being.
Read this now while the film is still in pre-production, you won't regret it!
No comments:
Post a Comment