Neuromancer and Snow Crash are seminal novels that broke immense ground, telling of a future world where people were largely able to live and work in a virtual reality. Their authors were visionaries, but in my personal opinion, both books completely failed to tell an interesting story.

Ready Player One benefits from the fact that the real world has progressed significantly in the realms of the internet and online gaming, and so incorporating the virtual world idea with the familiar concept of an MMO (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) works flawlessly. Cline isn’t trying to sell us on some far-fetched, futuristic technology, he’s simply taking the technology of today and extrapolating it a bit. And so the OASIS in Ready Player One is much more plausible and interesting than the Matrix or the Metaverse.

The plot is simple: the creator of the OASIS has died and left behind a contest inside his virtual game world. The first one to find and solve all the clues and quests wins ownership of the whole OASIS and a vast fortune; the catch is that doing so will require a vast amount of knowledge of 80’s and 90’s geek culture.

The book is absolutely crammed with references to old games, movies, tv, books, and music. The geekier the reader, the more he will appreciate the details in this story, but the most important references are explained for anyone who isn’t familiar. I caught all sorts of references to D&D, movies, and science fiction books, but I was just a little too young to remember much about my Atari 2600 games. Still, nothing was confusing for me and I suspect that even a total non-geek could get into the story.

Speaking of which, the story is a fun and exciting one, with a tone that reminds me of the equally geeky Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie. I honestly thought that the plot would be overshadowed by the geek culture references, but they actually play a supporting role to a cool sci-fi adventure that relies heavily on concepts of friendship and isolation. A small cast of supporting characters and an evil corporate villain make for a well-rounded story that I honestly enjoyed quite a bit more than I thought I would.

All in all, this is a fun book that anyone can enjoy, but is most heavily recommended for any geek born in the 70’s or early 80’s. The book’s major flaw is that, like Neuromancer and Snow Crash, it simply may not stand the test of time for new readers in a decade or two, who will likely find all the cultural references to be tedious, extremely dated, and cumbersome. Still, any story has a target audience, and while this one’s may be a limited one, it manages to please us very much.

Rating: 4 out of 5