Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ernest Cline
Ready Player One
Crown Publisher
374 pages
10.0 (Best Book)

Blurb
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the  OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Review
Ernest Cline's debut, Ready Player One, is the most adventurous book that I have ever read. 

Such claim from me is absolutely shocking, as you probably may have read from my reviews, it's rare for me to give glowing reviews--mostly because I'm not easily impressed. I'm sorry if I sound cocky. I really am--sorry, I mean, not cocky--I don't want to be conceited honestly; it's just that I am coded this way. Since I adopt 0-10 rating system, it's hard to crack the 9 score. An even 10.0 review is more elusive, and so far I only give it to this book. When I first read the book almost three years ago, I made a mental promise to myself to buy the book when I am financially capable. It needs three years for me to buy the hardcover edition, but it's all worth every rupiahs. On my second read, I am still in a complete awestruck. Ready Player One is the epitome of the embodiment of nerdiness and that's cool. Even Buzzfeed recommends it

In year 2044, when the world was in an übershit condition where climate change, energy crisis, poverty keep gnawing the mother earth, every single human beings covet to escape the shit world to a massive virtual reality multiplayer game called OASIS, created by a genius game designer named James Halliday--no, not the wine judge. OASIS is like a sweet escape from a real world, where it has vast environment, beautifully rendered graphics, and anything. So when Halliday passes away, he creates an Herculean Easter egg hunting inside the OASIS. The winner of the contest will inherit all Halliday's wealth and properties of OASIS--it's billion dollars. Of course, people all over the world go batshit crazy. But after five years of no progress in solving the first clue, all the hype dies down. Until our main character, Wade Watts, is able to crack the clue, and gets the first of three keys he needs to get the Easter egg. But, he can't live in leisure. He must race against an evil corporate to get the egg, an evil corporate who wants to commercialize OASIS and ruins the ideology that James built around the game. 

I am a geek.... I guess. I mean not that kind of geek--who plays D&D (Flash news: I've never played D&D), or watches all Star Wars movies or reads not only all the canon comics, but also not canon ones. I am just simply not cool. Of course, I grow up playing games--I first know Nintendo when I am in kindergarten in 1999, almost a decade late where people have already moved on to PlayStation 2 that year. It's what makes me at least able to correlate with Wade--and Cline, particularly, because I feel like Ready Player One is the ultimate chimera of his. But I salute Cline because his gigantic idea to make such an ambitious book is warmly received. It's not a pioneer, though, because my friend recommends me Stephenson's Snow Crash--which I plan to read later--but Ready Player One is the one book that can penetrate the mainstream media, and people suddenly are drunk in their 80's nostalgia. His idea itself deserves a 10-star review. 

Reading Ready Player One is a six-hour pilgrimage of nerd and geek. Indeed, Cline tends to babble geekly, and if you're not familiar with the reference he inserts, you will be confused. But, this is the place where Cline is having fun; this book is his playground, and you will feel Cline's ecstatic squeal when he writes this book. He's not a middle-aged white man in Ready Player One; he's an adolescent boy who's elated after finishing a videogame. He's your best friend in playing games. He's my cousin whom I spend time together to beat Final Fantasy games with. He's your D&D buddies. And you can also feel the geek spirit of the book worms in your heart, and before you realize, you're twelve all over again. 

I am seriously still in awestruck. Looking at the vast and imaginative worldbuilding churns my mind and I really want to be in part of OASIS. Cline makes his readers become a central part of his story--and in a way, Cline is like James Halliday himself, the man behind all of this awesomeness. I know I don't understand most of 80's references in the book. But, that doesn't stop me from enjoying the book. Cline proves that nerd is cool; geek is cool; you can be yourself and it is cool, and it feels really genuine in Ready Player One, unlike his next work, Armada, that feels insincere. 

I was literally jumping up and down when I heard that Spielberg will direct the movie, and I have huge faith in him to make Ready Player One an apotheosis of pilgrimage to mecca of nerdiness and geekiness. I can't wait to see how he turns the picturesque world of OASIS into a screen. I can't wait to see how these lovable characters played by actors in the screen. I can't wait the world to feel what I feel; I can't wait the world to see what an amazing journey Ready Player One has been. But I must wait two years before it's released. The release date has been pushed back to March 2018 to avoid the competition with Star Wars Episode VIII in December 2017, its initial release date. Until that day, I will only be able to cherish Wade and his comrades' adventure in my heart.
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8 Oktober 2016 pukul 06.47 delete

Daaamn i got to read this. Is it already translated into bahasa anyway?

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8 Oktober 2016 pukul 06.48 delete

Daaamn i got to read this. Is it already translated into bahasa anyway?

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9 Oktober 2016 pukul 12.51 delete

yeaaah, kamu harus baca buku ini.

it's not yet translated to indonesian but i heard that it will be!

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