Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Book and Movie
Review and Comparison
I will admit, I know bookworms will hate me, I watched the movie before I read the book.
I first heard about Ready Player One about three years ago at a weekend festival. I made a friend there who raved about this movie called Ready Player One and a contest, that whoever won it would 'inherit' a massive virtual world, which they could then do with what they wanted. I thought it sounded pretty cool but, after that weekend, I never spoke to that person again and practically forgot about Ready Player One.
Until...
My younger brother saw it on Netflix. We were looking for a movie to watch and he said that he had been meaning to watch it for ages. And just like that, I seemed to remember the fact that I already knew about this story.
So we sat down and watched the movie and both loved it. I asked my brother to get me the book for Christmas and he followed through, so I have now both watched the movie and read the book.
And they could not be more different.
Not in a bad way, of course, as I loved both of them, but it does mean I can compare!
The Movie
So, like I said, I watched the movie first, with my brother. We were sat with popcorn and sleeping dogs scattered around the room. There was not nearly enough popcorn.
This movie is fabulous! There's action, adventure, there are times when you don't know how Wade is going to get himself and his friends out of a new mess. The OASIS is a virtual world and, with the whole world addicted, people can escape the crumbling real world around them. Halliday, the creator of the OASIS, left his fortune to no one and everyone at the same time. An intricate hunt, some might say a wild goose chase, leads those who call themselves 'gunters' (egg hunters) searching for the Easter egg that Halliday hid inside his world. Whoever can complete the hunt, whoever finishes first – they win the fortune, they win the OASIS.
The main characters in the movie are likeable, you root for them as you watch them come to conclusions that you know in the back of your mind you never could have solved. Wade might've been the main character, but it was Art3mis that I liked the best. She is brave, smart, loving. She shows that you can be anyone you want, that if you work for something, if you work hard, you can achieve anything.
I asked my brother to write a review for it too.
He did so (very unwillingly).
My brother's review:
I liked that everyone could pick different traits and build different avatars in the OASIS. I haven't read the book, so I can't compare it. (Is that it? Can I go now?)
He was very much more interested in the OASIS than the characters!
The Book
A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?
It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS - and his massive fortune - will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based in the culture of the late twentieth century. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle.
Suddenly, he finds himself pitted against thousands of competitors in a desperate race to claim the ultimate prize, a chase that soon takes on terrifying real-world dimensions - and that will leave both Wade and his world profoundly changed.
This book, as I said, I received for Christmas. My plan for the New Year was to get a proper sleep schedule, going to bed at a set time each day so I could then start waking up at a proper time each day.
As you might be able to tell, due to my use of the word 'plan', this has not happened.
Anyway, I was going to use this book as a way to help me do this, I was going to start reading at 11 every evening, read one chapter, and then go to bed.
I finished the book within a week.
This is the kind of book that you just don't want to put down. The characters are believable and likeable and you root for Wade a little bit more with each chapter. As Halliday grew up in the 80s, all the gunters are obsessed with 80s culture, as it's obviously going to be important in the contest. The best gunters know everything about Halliday's life, about the 80s, they know every word to every movie Halliday ever watched. They are, in a word, obsessed.
Wade is a completely believable OASIS obsessed teenager. He's overweight, he spends every waking moment in the OASIS and doesn't get out. There is no time for exercise and he lives off food vouchers he gets in return for fixing computers.
The obsession with 80s culture appealed to me, particularly, as I have a strange obsession with 80s rock music. It gave me a little thrill of joy every time I knew a song that was referenced.
Since my brother hasn't read the book, as he so clearly pointed out, I asked him to give a review based off the cover. So this is an art review, more than a story review.
My brother's review:
(That is a mad stack of caravans. Is he climbing a ladder?)
It looks like the caravans would fall down at any second, they don't look too steady. All in all, a good cover.
Book and Movie Comparison
The book gave a lot more detail than the movie did. The book was definitely more focused on describing the world, telling the reader about what was happening in the world and letting them live in the world as if they were in the OASIS as well. The competition in the film was simplified so that the story made sense on screen and reading the book gave so much more insight into what was happening in the OASIS and the origins of the world.
The film was very much focused on the characters. Whereas the book was very focused on Wade, the movie spent more time with other characters, such as Art3mis and Aech, which I also enjoyed, because Art3mis is (I think) my favourite character in the film. My favourite character in the book, however, is Wade. This is just one point that shows how different the movie and book are, the fact that I prefer different characters in each.
If you have read the book and didn't like it, don't not watch the movie because of this.
Likewise, if you watched the movie and didn't like it, read the book.
Although I loved both, I'm certain if you didn't like one, there's every chance you might love the other.
Did you enjoy reading about my opinions? Do you disagree/agree? Do you think my little brother's reviews are better than mine, because I might agree with you!
Bye!
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