Imaginative world set by Ernest Cline and the Audio book by Wil Wheaton was an immersive experience. Set in a time period, when people prefer to be in the virtual world than in the real world.
One of the things I liked about the book- Halliday’s quest where you need to know about 80s pop culture-books, movies, video games, cartoons, music during that period to win the game. Even today when you see 80s comics adapted to be high movie grossers and 80s music sampled in the present age, you value the creative work that happened during this time.
It also has very good female representation-normally we have nerdy boys as gamers, here we have 2 prominent gamers portrayed by female characters. Shoto and Daito’s characters were also good representative choices because Manga and Anime has played a vital role in making the art form better and Japanese creative work played a vital part in it.
Its a book that tells how much be value the virtual format even today -from social networking sites to bitcoins, we have already started concentrating more on things that doesn’t exist. This book explores a futuristic world, where corporations try to get more power in the virtual space like the Sixers while there are rebels like the Gunters resisting this fascistic monopolies.
“Going outside is highly overrated.”
“I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life, right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.”
“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.”
― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One
Nomad 