August Book Review: Ready Player One – Get ready to skip this one

Disclaimer: The following review may contain some spoilers revolving around the plot and background. The review is simply my own opinion, you may disagree.

This year, I will be reviewing books based around their genres. This month’s genre is adventure.

In these reviews I will rate the books on a starring system.

5/5 Stars: This book will land in my all-time favorite book list and you should stop what you are doing and read it, no matter what.

4/5 Stars: You should try to read it at some point in your free time.

3/5 Stars: If you are bored or going on a long trip, it might be fun to read.

2/5 Stars: I would not really bother unless you enjoy the author.

1/5 Stars: The book would make a better coaster for your Coke than a book.

0/5 Stars: Congrats! You now have kindling! (just kidding, please do not burn books; just do not waste your money or your time with this one)!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a novel about a teenage boy named Wade and his quest to discover the location of the Easter Egg of the largest scale video game in the world. The year is 2045 and the world has basically fallen apart due to climate change and the lack of agency in the governments, but thankfully people have a better place to spend their time, the Oasis, a virtual reality game that simulates different worlds each player can explore. Its creator was obsessed with the 1980s and thus most of the clues towards the egg are hidden in 80s pop culture references. I have to be honest, I didn’t really see the appeal of the book up until my friend suggested I read it. While I greatly enjoyed the beginning of book, I was bothered by the lack of world building. The world was generic and leaned heavily on its pop-culture references. I am a self-proclaimed nerd, so at the beginning I was enjoying the pop-culture references, but as the story dragged on they became distracting and superfluous. The story started to have long instances of literally nothing going on other than Wade enjoying the fame he’s gained. Cline clearly didn’t plan out the story beforehand and there is no foreshadowing and constant retconning. On top of that Wade slowly morphs from a slightly normal hacker teenager into a self-absorbed stalker. The characters are very shallow, the story is boring, and the writing is bad. If you can look past the shallowness of it, I can see how someone might enjoy this book, but in my opinion there are better books out there. A boring dystopian novel that I recommend skipping, rated 2.5/5.

If you are looking for a better adventure novel, I would check out Contagion by Erin Bowman in the McNicholas High School library. Do you have a book that you would like me to review? Please suggest it in the comments or send me an email via 102867@mcnhs.org.

Next month’s genre: Science Fiction!