It's impossible to not use the phrase 'high concept novel' when discussing "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. Everything I've read about the book before actually reading it praises its 'high concept'. And they should have praised it. I'm going to praise it. The execution, though, maybe could have been a tad bit better, but we'll get to all of these things in a few minutes.
Is this an entertaining novel? Very much so. It's never boring, there is alway something going on and world(s) created within are vivid and engaging. But it just never lives up to the concept, which isn't really a 'knock' on the book. It's actually praise for said concept.
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"Ready Player One" takes place in the not so distant future of the year 2044. The environment wrecked, as is the economy. The only form of escape or entertainment for the depressed populace of the world is the OASIS: a virtual world (that started as a massive multiplayer role playing game years before) where a user can be (and look like) whatever they want and every song, movie, video game and any other work of art you could think of is easily available. Our narrator, Wade Watts is one of these users. Under the the name Parzival he navigates the OASIS as an 'egg hunter' or 'gunter', trying to solve a puzzle left by the now deceased creator of the program.
This creator, James Halliday, was obsessed with 80's pop culture. The clues he left are all references to video games, films, role playing games a music of the 1980's. Because of this, just about everyone in the world (OASIS and real) is obsessed with the 80's. Deciphering these clues and winning the hunt awards the winner control not only the company that owns and maintains the OASIS (which is the most profitable company in the world), but also the multi-billion dollar personal fortune left by Halliday. So, yeah, winning is a big deal.
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This book is loaded with references to the 80's. Literally every page has at least one reference, some more obscure than others. Which, like other aspects of the novel, are both good and bad. For a reader like me, it was great because I understood the vast majority of the references. I have working knowledge of old-school video games, so I knew what was going on when Parzival was playing the Atari game 'Tempest'. But if you're not familiar (even in passing) with what the game looks like, you're at a bit of a loss.
But sometimes the references don't go far enough. At one point Parzival is cruising around the Oasis in a custom Delorean (from "Back to the Future") with a Kit LCD grill (from "Knight Rider") and Ghostbuster decals (from....."Ghostbusters") on the doors. Oh, it can also fly through solid matter. So, we know exactly what the car looks like and what it can do. We're told it's become Parzival's 'trademark' car and everyone in the OASIS knows it's his car. But it's only mentioned the one time. It really serves no purpose to the story; it's just a reference for the sake of reference. And in this part of the story, Parzival could have used it to fly through solid matter, but he doesn't. I guess he could have forgotten about it. Or maybe we as the reader were supposed to.
At 372 pages the story moves quickly with some parts developing almost too fast. Toward the end, Wade devises and executes a pretty involved plan to steal information from the villainous corporate bad guys. And everything goes exactly as he planned with no hick ups. Everything just goes by too quickly and is just too easy. There is no real sense of danger because there isn't enough time for one to develop.
Now, as stated before, the book is entertaining. The concept of the vast majority of the world living the majority of their lives in a world where they can be a totally different person is intriguing; you can never be sure the person you're interacting with is actually who (or what) they say they are. This obviously happens on the internet today and nothing in the OASIS fixes this. So even though Parzival has 'friends' in the OASIS, he can never really be sure they are who they present themselves to be, which adds an overall sense uneasiness to their interactions.
The character of Wade/Parzival is fleshed out and he actually evolves in an organic way while living in an inorganic world. He feels 'real' in an 'unreal' world. Which is really what drives the story, especially if you don't 'get' the references. If Cline didn't write Wade as a character you're actually pulling for, the book wouldn't be generating any kind of interest outside of certain 'nerd' circles.
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So, In the end we're left with an amazing concept, but an above average execution. Cline could have (in my opinion) pushed certain things further than he did. The idea of playing with identity is touched on throughout the book, but in the end that's all we ever get. There are some great, obscure references, but sometimes that's all they are and they don't add anything to the story.
Would I recommend "Ready Player One"? Yes, I would. It will keep you entertained and you'll be sucked into the environments it creates. If you're not current on your 80's pop culture, though, you might want to brush up before hand (or keep Wikipedia up on the computer for research).
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