“Ready Player One” Review.

I never thought that I would really like a science fiction novel but the book by
Ernest Cline changed my mind.
Reading “Ready Player One” you’re immersing deeply into the existing world of
virtual reality and computer games. The narrator is Wade Watts. A teenager whose life is
not simply at all: besides having an average teenager’s problems such as acne, low self-
esteem and some extra pounds, he has to survive in appalling conditions, living in the
"stacks", a district for the poor, constructed of trailers piled on top of each other, with his
not very caring aunt and her boyfriend. An unusual place to live, isn’t it? The action takes
place in the 2044 and the world is no longer the same... Energy crisis, global warming,
overpopulation, famine and other terrible things seemed so faraway, finally happened.
The only way to escape this reality is to turn to the OASIS, a virtual reality simulator
accessible by players using visors and haptic gloves.
It is therefore not surprising that Wade (like most of other people) is spending
most of his time in the virtual world. There he goes to his ‘virtual school’ and have a
‘virtual friend’, moreover there he can choose a different name and a better appearance.
The most enjoyable activity for him is searching for an Easter egg inside OASIS, hidden
by its creator - James Halliday, with hope that he can be the first person to find the Egg
and inherit Halliday’s entire fortune and the corporation.
The book is truly absorbing and thought-provoking. It is not only about the game
but about global problems, true friendship and first love. The story gives us the chance to
see the future «ugly» world if we do not stop ignoring the looming challenges of the 21st
century. This book is definitely worth reading and I would thoroughly recommend it to
everybody!