Book Review - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I decided to read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline after I heard a few YouTubers mention it and my housemate also recommended it. I started the book last Wednesday and I finished it Sunday because oh my god I could not put it down. This is the first book in a while that has really captured my attention and I just need more people to read it please (especially before the film adaptation comes out next year)

Ready Player One is set in the not-too-distant-future the 2040's where environmental problems has left much of the planet in desolate states and poverty... except the entire world can also access the OASIS, an interface sort of Virtual Reality type service and game where you can essentially live without ever having to physically go outside. The OASIS was created by James Halliday, a child of the 1980's, so the book is littered with pop culture references (which I absolutely loved); when he dies, his avatar makes an announcement that, just like any good video game, there are Easter Eggs hidden within them. 3 keys will lead to 3 gates and whoever clears all of them with the highest score will become the heir to his fortune and to the OASIS. The book is told from the POV of Wade Watts, or Parzival as his avatar is known, who becomes the first person to make any progress with the Easter Egg hunt. I won't go too much further as I'll start spoiling things but let's just say there's also some people on the Hunt who wouldn't use the OASIS for good...and they won't stop at killing people. 

The writing itself was perhaps a little shoddy at time, things seemed to move on very fast and towards the end, it seemed a little rushed to wrap up some plot holes. However, the story itself had me hooked, you found yourself really wanting to find out what the end of the quest was as well as finding out more about the other people behind their avatars, for example Ar3temis and Aech... we only ever see their avatars until towards the end. Every character is well-rounded. Despite a straight white male protagonist, there is good diversity within the book ranging from sexuality and race not to mention the fact that Ar3temis is clearly the smartest of the main characters and she's female so yay! 

I give this book a strong 9/10 and highly recommend it. If you like sci-fi but also obscure pop culture references, this is a definite read. I'd also say it doesn't have a particular gender preference and the ages of 14 up could read this. 

Thanks for reading! Laura x