Ready Player One, a dystopian future mid-energy crisis, described in its entirety by Ernest Cline, the author. The book itself pulls you in constantly, its action packed and reminds you of fond memories of not so long ago pop culture. With tons of references to the 80’s and even current day events it almost seems like the book itself is just a history book written about specifically pop culture.

When Ernest Cline wrote RPO in 2012 the real world was already experiencing hardships like protests and Governmental overthrows. But a massive technological development was made: the first Virtual Reality headset made for gaming. The headset left much to speculate about, people wondered what the games would be like and how they would work. As seen in his novel, Ready Player One, Cline favors the simulation approach to it. The OASIS itself is just a dream game for Cline, and for many in the world around him.

Cline may have written his dream game yet he did it as a warning, he shows how desperate people can get in the face of greed. Cline also warns against forgetting about our planet, and real life, for a virtual world. If people become so dependent on technology like in the book, the world will turn into shambles.

The plot itself is very archetypical of the rags to riches story, it follows a main character who lost his family, where his one passion, video games, turns into his possible way out. It gives him a chance to grow when Halliday, the creator of Wade Watts favorite game dies, leaving his everything in his worldly possessions to the winner of a contest. Nobody makes any progress on the contest in the first 5 years, making people start to lose belief that the contest even exists. Then Wade stumbles upon a hint hidden right infront of him, and everything changes.

There are multiple themes in RPO, the themes focus on not being dependent on technology, to be able to do things for yourself this is represented by AI constructs that run your whole home with only a voice command. People became too dependent on the advanced technology and end up either in debt and indentured servitude or dead. Another theme presented is to stay determined on your goals, and to never give up no matter how much the world is against you, Wade shows this theme during the last legs of the easter egg, when all seems against him he pushes on. Cline wants people to focus on real life, after all, thats where the best things happen.

In my opinion, the book is five stars out of five. The plot keeps you interested and there is something in this book for everybody, be it romance, or obscure 80s references, this book could keep anybody interested.