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A review by giuliana_ferrari
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Ready Player One is the ultimate gamer / geek fantasy. Mix it with the underlying dystopian plot of an dying Earth, a megaevil corporation and the dangers of capitalism, and you would have a great combo that could be amazing. And in its good side, it's a book that is easy to read, and for the people that grew up in the US-based 80s or immersed in its culture after, it is probably a delightful read engineered to light up those dopamine receptacles in your brain that go "I understood that reference!".
But the book falls short in some major ways. The same audience it is trying to captivate it also entails into a complicated narrative of the importance and overall superiority of white, all-American males, teenage boys that would be bullied for knowing all the dialogues to any nerdy TV show or movie, but in this universe, they become Gods. Any point of contention that could be used to argue important issues - the lack of proper representation of different cultures (except the classic Japanese 'samurais', which is kind of cringy) and races, and discrimination against women gamers - gets lost in the ever increasing list of game, TV shows and movies referenced in the book.
In the end, Ready Player One tried to be many things at once and it failed in less or higher degrees to several of them. It was still a compelling read, but I feel like this book will be quickly erased from my hard drive - see what I did there? - in the near future.
But the book falls short in some major ways. The same audience it is trying to captivate it also entails into a complicated narrative of the importance and overall superiority of white, all-American males, teenage boys that would be bullied for knowing all the dialogues to any nerdy TV show or movie, but in this universe, they become Gods. Any point of contention that could be used to argue important issues - the lack of proper representation of different cultures (except the classic Japanese 'samurais', which is kind of cringy) and races, and discrimination against women gamers - gets lost in the ever increasing list of game, TV shows and movies referenced in the book.
In the end, Ready Player One tried to be many things at once and it failed in less or higher degrees to several of them. It was still a compelling read, but I feel like this book will be quickly erased from my hard drive - see what I did there? - in the near future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Violence