Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Rating: ★★★★★
USA Today says this book was Willy Wonka meets The Matrix and I would have to agree. It was very clearly based on Willy Wonka, and I think it worked extremely well. The dystopian world just twenty-five years in the future is absolutely plausible. It's a warning about the decline of our environment, and the benefits and dangers of advancing technology. This story is definitely geared toward video game nerds, a category I don't fall in to, but I still enjoyed this story. I loved the references to 80s pop culture. Some references went over my head, but a surprising number made me feel nostalgic. Even if I didn't get all the references, it was expertly written, and I was fully immersed in the world.
Beyond the self indulgent video game and 80s pop culture agenda, this story did actually address some interesting social issues and that's why I love it. Of course, Cline employed the big corporate villain, and I think, in this dystopian world, it worked. The idea of the OASIS was the perfect modem (ha see what I did there?) to address issues of white privilege and male privilege. I won't expand on this issue to avoid any possibility of hinting at spoilers, but I thought it was executed extremely effectively. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes quests, video games, or 80s pop culture.
