Okay, that was a bit dramatic. I have
not written a blog, or done much online because of Ready Player One. This book. I’ve been reading this book for about two
weeks. I finished it a couple of days ago. I know what you’re thinking … if
it’s such a great book Melissa, why did it take you two weeks? I have reasons.
Alright I admit it, it’s because when the book got dark, I was too depressed to
keep reading it. (Hey! If people can feel that way about a tv show, I can feel
that way about a book.)
My husband first read Ready Player
One, then he told me about the book. We actually started listening to the
audiobook before I started reading the book. The audiobook is read by one Mr. Wil
Wheaton. Then I could not help it I had to read it. Darn you Wheaton’s voice, making
me want to read things. Who am I kidding, I was going to read it anyway. But
seriously Wil Wheaton does an amazing job.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline has been out since 2011, so I don’t think there will be
any spoilers here. Before I forget to say, if you are looking for a book that
will ruin your life, in a good way, this is the book for you. And if you like
80s references you’ll like Ready Player
One. And if you like witty banter, you’ll like this book. And if you like
gaming you’ll like this book.
WARNING: Okay there’s a lot of
spoilers in this. Usually when I say sorry about the spoilers guys, they are
vague spoilers. But these spoilers you are about to read have a lot of details.
So if you have not read Ready Player One,
and/or you don’t like spoilers you may not want to keep reading.
With that last note, if you have read
my blogs you know that I am not as the kids say, a gamer. But you don’t have to
be to appreciate the other themes in this book. The main theme, well for me
anyway, was how scarily addictive the internet can be. (Trust me there is no
irony here. At least I don’t think there is. I mean just because I am using the
internet to tell people about this book. Right?) Anyway. After I read Ready Player One I went through a lot of
emotions. One was being freaked out. It was kind of scary to see how even
though that the world was a total mess, people could not log off the OASIS. Even
if the world was a bad place in 2044, it would still be scary to see how addicted
everyone is to the OASIS. (I know it was not medically proven that the OASIS is
addictive.)
One of my favorite scenes is when
Parzival and Art3mis meet for the first time at the First Gate. (And yes Wil
does capture her attitude and hard core gunterness perfectly.) I like how
Parzival totally crushes on her in person. Well as in person as they can get
online. Although I still would like to know who this Chuck guy is. Every time
he tries to convince himself Art3mis may not be a girl, it’s always a guy named
Chuck.
I was in love with another scene in
the book. Well two scenes. (Side note: I will be skipping around all over the
place after this.) The first was when Aech and Pazival meet IRL. That’s when
Wade realizes Aech is really Helen. You can feel the nervousness in the scene
as Helen and Wade want to, but they don’t want to look at each other. Then when
Helen smiles her smile Wade knows without a doubt this is his best friend. In
the first part of the book, I knew Wade was a genuine nice guy, but this scene
sealed it for me. That Wade was an amazing person. In the end Wade did not care
that Helen was a girl because he loved her for who she is, not for what she
looked like. And I mean love as a friend because you can tell as Wade and her
talk that he respects and values their friendship.
The other scene I was in love with is
of course the end when Art3mis and Parzival meet IRL. Of course Samantha
(Art3mis) would not be Samantha without telling Wade “Well, what do you know?
You look just like I always thought you would too,” she said. “Butt ugly.” Okay
maybe the fact that he was in love with her before he meet her at the first
gate made it an aww moment. (Side note: if you know me I am not the type of gal
that says awww.)
I guess I can forgive Art3mis even
though I feel like a part of why the book got dark is because Wade was so
depressed after she decided to be a “girl” and not want to keep talking to him.
Wade, I keep shaking my head because even though he threw those items away, I
was a little disappointed he was looking for love in all the wrong places. I
know, I know he was upset. But still.
I also liked that it was a happy
ending. The bad guy was arrested, and the good guys were all really good guys.
None of them were playing both sides. They all genuinely wanted to make sure
the Sixers did not control the OASIS. It was such a happy ending it made me
feel like a cross between John Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club where he throws his arm in the air, and The NeverEnding Story when Falkor flies
over Bastian’s bullies.
There were a couple of “WHAT?”
moments for me as well. Okay when Wade lets himself get caught by IOI. I almost
threw the book across the room. Only because I thought it would knock some send
into Wade. I mentioned earlier my husband read this book before me, so he gave
me the “breathe, he has a plan” speech. Which he did and it was canon! Talk
about tense, I thought I was going to pass out after you realize Wade bought a
maintenance tech ID and access password to be able defeat the Sixers from
opening the third gate. And then he had to leave earlier than planned because
he saw the file folders on all of his friends. And then when the lady in the
lobby was like sir you’re bleeding. And that was after he realized he was still
walking in the plastic slippers. And then he changed back to his identity. (PS:
Really Art3mis you had to be a girl because Wade looked at your picture. I know
I can’t really say that because I would be the same way. But still. Wade is a
super nice person. And he was trying to save your life.)
The other “WHAT!” moment is when
Aech, Parzival, and Art3mis get through the third gate and everyone dies. O, my
G-O-S-H! But then you realize what that quarter was for that Parzival won
playing Pac-Man. (Did you know the original word for Pac-Man was Puck-Man? You
would think it was because he looks like a hockey puck, but it actually comes
from the Japanese phrase “Paku-Paku” which means to flap one’s mouth open and
closed. They changed it because they thought Puck-Man would be too easy to
vandalize, you know, like people would just scratch off the P and turn it into
an F or whatever. –Scott Pilgrim)
I said this before about when you,
well when I felt like I learned Wade was an amazing person because of the scene
with Helen (Aech). Then right before he gets into the Third Gate and tells
everyone that he is going to split the winnings with them. I could not help but
smile because he really is a genuine, trusting person with no motives. And IRL
we could use more of that.
Thank you Ernest Cline for writing a
book that is, well … canon.
