There are few books that leave the reader on the edge of their seat throughout the entire plotline. Ernest Cline does an excellent job of entertaining his audience in his futuristic novel, Ready Player One. This novel is directed towards teenage readers that enjoy suspense and action, and it has plenty to go around.

The main aspect of this novel is the escape from realism that it provides to the imaginative teenager. With the world practically in ruins, the protagonist Wade Watts escapes to the OASIS, a virtual world inside a world. This jump from reality is very refreshing to the reader. Contrary to our everyday life, the characters in this novel live in the ‘stacks’, which are literally stacks of trailers piled up in order to save space. This was interesting to myself as well as most teenage readers, to see how different Ernest Cline portrays living conditions in the future. Another reason that this novel is such an escape from realism is the technical aspect of the OASIS. In the real world, Wade Watts is an overweight, acne-prone, socially-awkward teenager. Inside the game, however, he is tall, dark and handsome with confidence and the ability to ‘mute’ other players that may be bullying him. This is an excellent aspect of the game, since bullying is a real aspect of high school life.

One of the things that makes this novel great is the overall readability of it. Ernest Cline does an absolutely fantastic job of describing objects and events in great detail, to ensure that the reader understands what is going on. When reading a novel, clarity is probably the most important aspect of the plot line. If the reader cannot comprehend the events going on in the story, then what is the point of writing? While reading this novel, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the story line with no difficulties of understanding it. The book revolves around 1980’s pop culture, the period in which Ernest Cline grew up as a teenager. This is one of the things that makes it so simple and easy to understand. The events and objects in this novel are real and exist in our world. The clarity of the novel allows the teen reader to comprehend the book while having a great time doing it. Ernest Cline is a tremendous author that truly paints a vivid picture in the reader’s head.