Ernest Cline
Author of Ready Player One
About the Author
Ernest Cline is an American screenwriter and novelist. He was born in 1972 and grew up in rural Ohio. In 1998, Cline wrote a screenplay entitled, Fanboys, about the craze surrounding the prequels to the Star Wars movies. Over a decade later, the movie was finally released in 2009. However, creative show more differences and his dissatisfaction with the final edit, led Cline to quit screenwriting and write a novel. That novel, based on an idea he had been considering for years, became the New York Times Bestseller, Ready Player One. His second novel, Armada released in 2015 also became a New York Times Bestseller. He made the Hollywood Reporter's 'Most Powerful Authors' 2016 list, entering at number 12. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: deadline.com
Series
Works by Ernest Cline
Untitled 3 copies
Associated Works
Anime Impact: The Movies and Shows that Changed the World of Japanese Animation (2018) — Contributor — 41 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Cline, Ernest Christy
- Birthdate
- 1972-03-29
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Ashland, Ohio, USA
- Places of residence
- Austin, Texas, USA
- Occupations
- cook
store clerk
spoken word artist
screenwriter - Relationships
- Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe (wife)
- Agent
- Yfat Reiss-Gendell
- Short biography
- ERNEST CLINE is an internationally best-selling novelist, screenwriter, father, and full-time geek. He is the author of the novels Ready Player One and Armada and co-screenwriter of the film adaptation of Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg. His books have been published in over fifty countries and have spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games.
Members
Discussions
Ready Player Two in Science Fiction Fans (March 2022)
Ready Player One in Gamers (March 2019)
Ready Player One in The Green Dragon (July 2013)
Ready PLayer One {Spoilers Possible} in The Green Dragon (July 2012)
Chat about... Ready Player One by Ernest Cline in The SF&F Book Chat (February 2012)
Reviews
Entertaining! It's not breaking any new ground - it's more of the same from the first book. I listened to the audiobook, which I felt helped with the entertainment. I had to zone-out during the walk-through of a video game I have never heard of before. Still an enjoyable listen.
I'd say 3.5 eighties references out of 5 eighties references.
I'd say 3.5 eighties references out of 5 eighties references.
Let's get this out of the way and say this is no [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg|14863741]. Perhaps, in fact, because it's too much like Ready Player One. Video games will save the world! One gamer, in particular, will save the world! '80s references will save the world! The world will be saved, period.
The thing is, an '80s obsession made sense for the plot of Ready Player One. It was the impetus of the plot, and the entire novel was a love letter to the era. Armada is loaded with '80s references as well, but it doesn't make sense for the plot so much. Sure, Zackary inherits his father's things and sort of inhales them into his persona in an attempt to understand the man. But Zackary doesn't seem to have developed as his own person with his own interests -- he's an 18 year old kid who, against all odds, seem to have ignored all peer pressure and failed to become a fan of any media that emerged after 1999 with the exception of the titular computer game. Any references to media post-'90s (and even mid-'90s) is glancing, perfunctory, and insincere. It's like Ernest Cline's fandom peaked, if not crystallized in the '80s and he's incapable of liking anything past the era. He pays lip service to newer fandoms, but he'll never really understand them.
Once past the shakiness of the premise and the whole "this is an alien invasion novel populated by characters who have read/seen/played alien invasion stories before" gimmick, the plot is perfectly serviceable and it can actually be a fun, if sometimes nonsensical read. Most of this section of the book is left waiting for the other shoe to drop, though.
And when that shoe drops... well, it's pretty disappointing. Zackary and his father are aware that the situation they find themselves in feels very manufactured, and the novel drives that point home with multiple references to media involving manufactured realities. So what I was expecting was to find out that the entire scenario was maybe a virtual reality, a world that began existing the minute Zackary put on his Oculus Rift (nice, though cheesy name drop) helmet. That was predictable, but it actually would neatly explain any plot holes that arose. It's a video game, after all: coincidences and awkward moments abound. Instead, though, it all turns out to be disappointedly real: a "test" devised by an alien species to see if we're worthy of joining them. And Earth passes, but only at the cost of millions of lives (including a few of the characters we get to know and like, for the brief portion of the book we have them). Now, we get to reap the benefits of this new friendship and advance our civilization into a new, evolved era.
It certainly seems like that, in itself, could be the beginning of a story. Instead, it's the ending: we rush toward a conclusion, with Zackary mourning his losses and promising he'll keep an eye on these new "friends" of ours. That's fine if a sequel is incoming, but as a standalone novel it's sloppy and unsatisfying.
It's also the plot of a Stargate SG-1 episode. COME ON!… (more)
The thing is, an '80s obsession made sense for the plot of Ready Player One. It was the impetus of the plot, and the entire novel was a love letter to the era. Armada is loaded with '80s references as well, but it doesn't make sense for the plot so much. Sure, Zackary inherits his father's things and sort of inhales them into his persona in an attempt to understand the man. But Zackary doesn't seem to have developed as his own person with his own interests -- he's an 18 year old kid who, against all odds, seem to have ignored all peer pressure and failed to become a fan of any media that emerged after 1999 with the exception of the titular computer game. Any references to media post-'90s (and even mid-'90s) is glancing, perfunctory, and insincere. It's like Ernest Cline's fandom peaked, if not crystallized in the '80s and he's incapable of liking anything past the era. He pays lip service to newer fandoms, but he'll never really understand them.
Once past the shakiness of the premise and the whole "this is an alien invasion novel populated by characters who have read/seen/played alien invasion stories before" gimmick, the plot is perfectly serviceable and it can actually be a fun, if sometimes nonsensical read. Most of this section of the book is left waiting for the other shoe to drop, though.
And when that shoe drops... well, it's pretty disappointing. Zackary and his father are aware that the situation they find themselves in feels very manufactured, and the novel drives that point home with multiple references to media involving manufactured realities. So what I was expecting was to find out that the entire scenario was maybe a virtual reality, a world that began existing the minute Zackary put on his Oculus Rift (nice, though cheesy name drop) helmet. That was predictable, but it actually would neatly explain any plot holes that arose. It's a video game, after all: coincidences and awkward moments abound. Instead, though, it all turns out to be disappointedly real: a "test" devised by an alien species to see if we're worthy of joining them. And Earth passes, but only at the cost of millions of lives (including a few of the characters we get to know and like, for the brief portion of the book we have them). Now, we get to reap the benefits of this new friendship and advance our civilization into a new, evolved era.
It certainly seems like that, in itself, could be the beginning of a story. Instead, it's the ending: we rush toward a conclusion, with Zackary mourning his losses and promising he'll keep an eye on these new "friends" of ours. That's fine if a sequel is incoming, but as a standalone novel it's sloppy and unsatisfying.
It's also the plot of a Stargate SG-1 episode. COME ON!… (more)
I liked the idea of the book, but I feel like it could have been executed better.
In a dystopian future, a virtual-reality video-game designer creates a contest to determine who will inherited his estate.
I liked the parts of the book that involved the contest the best. The characters were alright, but they seemed a bit flat.
It seemed like half of the book was 80's nostalgia and descriptions of virtual reality gear. A lot of the nostalgia and the tech-talk was necessary for the story, but it was overdone so it got tiring.… (more)
In a dystopian future, a virtual-reality video-game designer creates a contest to determine who will inherited his estate.
I liked the parts of the book that involved the contest the best. The characters were alright, but they seemed a bit flat.
It seemed like half of the book was 80's nostalgia and descriptions of virtual reality gear. A lot of the nostalgia and the tech-talk was necessary for the story, but it was overdone so it got tiring.… (more)
Lists
Best Young Adult (1)
Great Audiobooks (1)
io9 Book Club (1)
Best Dystopias (1)
2010s (2)
Florida (1)
Pageturners (1)
First Novels (1)
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Overdue Podcast (1)
Geek Books (1)
To Read (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 10
- Also by
- 6
- Members
- 24,848
- Popularity
- #845
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 1,646
- ISBNs
- 184
- Languages
- 21
- Favorited
- 19
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