Ready Player One, Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a book recommended to me by two friends, Joe and Mike.  I picked up the audio version from the library (the bulk of the books on my shelf are not in audio format) and found that it was read by Wil Wheaton.  I had a bit of a Sheldon moment when I noticed that, so I should probably amend the sentence to read my friend Wil Wheaton.  I looked at Wil Wheaton's blog which I linked above and it looked mildly interesting.  Much better than this blog, but not something to which I would turn all that often.  Of course, I don't turn to my own blog very often.  So, anyway, if you are reading this, please go look at Wil Wheaton's blog.  He'd like that.  And, of course, he's my friend.  Feel free to remind him if you find yourself talking to him.  He, uhm, might need a reminder...

This book received the Alex Award from Young Adult Library Services which should tell you something about my friends Joe and Mike.  It also won the Prometheus Award from the Libertarian Futurists Society which is a higher honor and a bit more off kilter.  The book has been picked up for a movie that is apparently going to be directed by Steven Spielberg.  Oh yeah, and it is a New York Times Bestseller.

Started:  6/1/2016

Completed: 6/23/2016

Recomendation:  Highly Recommended.  Excellent.  Go get it.  Don't put it on a shelf.  Go get it and read/listen to it.

Recommended By:  Mike and Joe (who should go look at my friend, Wil Wheaton's blog)

Review:

An audio book you can't put down?  Are you kidding me?  So I thought until I sat in the driveway listening to "just a little more" over and over.  This book is AWESOME!

The "Tomb of Horrors" is easily my favorite D&D module and it brought back a huge stream of memories when I ran into it in this book.  It is truly sad that I remembered it so well after not playing in well over 30 years, but that is the kind of impact the module had on this geek.  To wrap it into another book is simply awesome.  The way the author related all of the events reminded me of the first time I "stepped" into the tomb as a player-character.  All of those traps!  It truly took forever to move through the first hallway.

The parallel story of a kid from the "stacks" and his actions within the Oasis blend nicely and appropriately.  The smooth transition back and forth reminded me of Tad Williams' Otherland series of books.  It is nice when the "real world" has consequences like having to go to the bathroom or eat.  It is also nice that this is explained without being constantly relived (so we know the characters are all busy taking care of basic bodily functions, but we aren't constantly exposed to it).

The pure love of 80s stuff is really nice and makes for a warm and homey return to the era when I was a geek and got all geeked out on stuff.  Oh, honestly, I didn't have the grasp of the material that the lead character does (but, really, who does?) but it is mostly familiar and some has caused me to go back and look at (or listen to) things I brushed by at the time (like most of Rush--it turns out that I was pretty familiar with their music even though I didn't realize it; there was one girl in college who used to drink Jack Daniels and listen to Rush like crazy, so I got a big dose of it without realizing it).  Mostly, it let me think of the 80s as a time when I did "cool" stuff instead of "on the outs" stuff.  It is a pleasant fiction.  I also preferred Tempest to other games back when I occasionally went to arcades.

For those of you who have read the book and are just reading this little blog post as a trip down memory lane, remember to keep your quarter in your inventory.  I think that will be a take-away from this book in the same way that always carrying a towel came from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Or something else.  As you may have guessed, I'm not great with society.

Finally, I should note that it is worth getting the audio version.  My friend Wil Wheaton does a masterful job.  He isn't terribly good at making his voice into another person, but he is good enough that you know when the protagonist is speaking and when someone else is speaking.  It is like having a person read a book to you instead of a group of actors "voice act" the book.  It is nice.  In addition, I felt it only appropriate to plug the audio version, 'cause I heard that Wil Wheaton makes something like a nickle a book and it can't hurt to send him an extra nickle (of course, if you are a cheapskate--er, supporter of local access to information--like me, and get it from the library, then you are stretching that nickle pretty thin).