Audiobook Review - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult/Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy/SciFi
Size: 384 pages
Publisher: Crown
Release Date: August 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-0307887436
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 5/5 stars


I pretty much loved everything about this book. I listened to this book on audio, imagine my surprise when I realized that this was narrated by Will Wheaton (I just listened to Fuzzy Nation a couple weeks ago which was also narrated by Will Wheaton) and he again did an absolutely stellar job of narrating. This book is so fun and is really a kick to read if you were ever interested in, or part of, 80's geek culture. It also has a strong cyperpunk feel to it; so fans of cyberpunk should also considering checking this book out.

Wade lives in 2044 and the future is bleak, power shortages have most of humanity struggling and out of work. So most of humanity live their lives in the OASIS; a virtual reality creaked by James Halliday that consists of thousands of worlds. This is where Wade goes to school, where he plays, and where he is raised. When Halliday dies he leaves the ultimate puzzle/lottery behind. Halliday has hidden an Easter Egg in the OASIS and whoever finds it will win Halliday's substantial fortune. Wade is one of many Gunters (egg hunters) who has spent years searching for the prize. When Wade stumbles on a clue that leads him to the first key his life is changed forever.

Did you grow up in the 80's? Do you love games of all types? If so this is the book for you. This book basically is everything 80's geek culture could ever ask for. There are references to numerous 80's video games in here: Joust, Golden Ax, PacMan, Zork, and many others. As well as references to 80's movies, music, TV shows, etc. All of this is wrapped into a quest to find three keys, conquer three gates and win the prize. So there is a bit of a classic Dungeons and Dragons feel to the book as well. But this is DnD with a cyber punk twist. Certain worlds will allow magic, and others tech, but chaos regions allow for both creating some truly mind-blowing scenes involving magic, guns, and lasers. The amount of awesome 80's trivia in this book is incredible; Cline definitely put a ton of research into writing this book.

This isn't just a geek fest, there is a lot to think about in this book too. Wade's closest friends are people he's never meet in person. Wade also spends a very small amount of time in the real world; his body is mearly a piece of equipment that he keeps exercised and fed so that he can jack in to the OASIS. This brings up questions about what it means to live; do we need to do things in person for them to be real and fulfilling? As you learn more about the genius that is Halliday this question comes to a head; was he happy with his creation or did he regret his lack of interaction with other humans?

Then there is the evil corporation that has hired people to play in the OASIS for them; this group of OASIS players is known as the sixers and they do everything in their power to win Halliday's Easter Egg. The sixers are basically everything corporate that Halliday hated. With the Gunters going against the Sixers you have a classic story about the normal everyday man facing off against the evil corporation.

As Wade and his friends make more progress towards finding the Easter Egg consequences start to leak out of the OASIS into the real world and people start dying. It becomes less and less clear where the OASIS ends and the real world begins.

The characters in this book are awesome; they are all so real and fun to read about. The story is absolutely engaging, it is pretty quest based so that is the main driver...but as the story continues it becomes more and more compelling and impossible to put down.

All in all this book was an absolute blast to read. It was a fun read for someone like me who loves gaming of all types, it provided some great food for thought, it was funny and heartwarming, full of great action scenes and completely engaging. I highly recommend this book. My only caution would be if you do not like gaming and do not know anything about 80's culture then a lot of this book is going to go right over your head. A lot of the negative reviews for this book are from people who don't like gaming or just don't get it. So, uh, seriously if you don't like gaming why are you are reading a cyberpunk fantasy novel about 80's gaming culture called Ready Player One!?

Highly recommended, an absolute blast to read, I can't wait to see what Cline comes up with next.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge
- Dystopia Reading Challenge

 

Early Graphic Novel Review -Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Sun - Ianto's Tomb by Alexander Irvine and Peter Burgting (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult/Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy/Gaming
Size: 132 pages

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Release Date: September 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-1600109966
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC through NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley(dot)com.  This book was an interesting concept.  Basically it starts with a graphic novel set in the Dark Sun world, then after the graphic novel there is infomation (monster stats, maps) on running the story as a campaign for a group of Dungeon and Dragons (DnD) characters.

The story features an ex-gladiator and a bard who meet in the desert.  They are trying to get into a city but run into quite a bit of trouble along the way.  The ARC I got only included the first 40 pages, or first part, of the graphic novel story.  Following that was stat info on the monsters the characters ran into during the graphic novel story.  Also included was information on the campaign setting, maps, scenarios ect.  All of the things you would need to run your own group of DnD characters through this graphic novel story.

First let's discuss the quality of the graphic novel.  The illustration is so-so; very cartoony with sound bubbles (blam! whack!) it wasn't bad but it wasn't exceptional either.  The story was much more interesting; this is obviously set on an interesting desert world where there are a lot of conflicting interests (slavery exists, as does gladiator fighting, as well as a mysterious symbols and tombs).  The dialogue between characters was well done and engaging.  Some of the battle scenes were a bit confusing, it was hard to figure out exactly what was going on with the characters.  So overall the graphic novel portion was okay, not exceptional but generally well done.

The second portion was all of the campaign setting info.  This info seemed very complete.  All the enemy creatures actions and stats are there.  Scenarios are played out and possible paths addressed.  There are maps of the regions and ships etc.  The group of DnD characters that would play this campaign follows in a general story similar but not identicle to the one played out in the graphic novel.

This is a neat idea, and the campaign provided is a nice campaign for shortish DnD excursion.  Nice for a DnD group that wants a smaller campaign to run through.  The campaign does seem to follow the graphic novel story pretty closely though.  As a DnD player I would think this would take a bit of fun out of the campaign.  If you read through the graphic novel then the element of surprise during the campaign is eliminated; which is part of the fun.

I did not get a chance to play through this campaign with my DnD group.  Since all of us have small kids we only get 5-6 hours per month of play time and are dedicted to a many years long campaign right now.  So I probably won't get a chance to play through it with them in the near future.  From my read through the campaign looks pretty well set up, although I will be curious to read reviews from people who actually give it a full play through.

Overall this is a nifty idea.  The graphic novel portion is okay; the illustration is not the best but it does provide an engaging story and a good introduction to the world.  The campaign information that follows the graphic novel seems complete and is a cool idea.  It should provide a nice short contained campaign for those who like that; it could also be tied in with a larger DnD campaign.  The only downside I can see is that if you read the graphic novel first, the element of surprise is gone from the campaign.  So if you want a small contained campaign in an interesting setting and enjoy fantasy graphic novels I would check this out.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- 100+ Reading Challenge

- Graphic Novels Challenge List