![\"readyplayerone\"](\"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2016\/07\/readyplayerone-192x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nYA Book Club recap by Hadley Willman, grade 11<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In June, the YA book club met to discuss Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, a popular novel for\u00a0teens that was originally marketed towards adults. Ready Player One tells of a world thirty years\u00a0in the future where everyone in the world is immersed in the virtual reality getaway known as the\u00a0OASIS, where children go to school, adults make a living, and anyone and everyone is caught\u00a0up in trying to win the 80\u2019s-themed Hunt. Years ago, Halliday, one of the creators of the OASIS,\u00a0died and left behind a video with a single clue to set the world on its way through half a dozen\u00a0stages of the Hunt to win the ultimate contest and receive as much money and power as\u00a0Halliday once held himself. Over the years, no one has made any progress in the contest and\u00a0interest begins to die down. That is, until Wade Watts, your average run-of- the-mill, Halliday\u00a0obsessed teen unlocks the first clue and sets off a worldwide race against time and an evil\u00a0power-hungry corporation to finish what he started.<\/p>\n
Everyone in the book club agreed that the novel\u2019s sense of adventure, what between the\u00a0quests, never-ending VR abilities, and thousands of worlds in the OASIS, is what made it such a\u00a0worthwhile read. Since the Hunt revolved around Halliday\u2019s childhood obsession with the 80\u2019s, it\u00a0created more of an impact with readers who lived through or knew aspects of that time period.\u00a0This was most likely one of the reasons the book was originally targeted towards adults, despite\u00a0the characters barely being adults themselves, as most members of the book club felt the\u00a0references go over their heads.<\/p>\n
The author did a good job of providing imagery for the world and the aspects of the game and\u00a0Hunt, but he left room for improvement with his characters. Dialogue was left to a minimum, as\u00a0every spare word was used for world-building, which made the novel, as one reader said, feel\u00a0like a monologue from the author. This made the book a slower read, providing another reason\u00a0why this may have been aimed towards older readers, as teens typically look for fast-paced,\u00a0action-filled reads. The lack of dialogue also meant that the characters were not able to convey\u00a0as much feeling through words as much as actions, pulling a reverse \u201cshow don\u2019t tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the most part, we agreed that the romance in the book seemed insignificant, almost like an\u00a0afterthought as it was so underdeveloped. Everyone believed that Wade shouldn\u2019t have set\u00a0aside his best friend and the years he had put into the competition for a girl he had just met, and\u00a0we wished he didn\u2019t let his instant fame get to his head. However, as one person argued, this\u00a0kind of character development allows for an emotional reaction in the reader, whether it be good\u00a0or bad, and creates investment in the characters and their flaws alike.<\/p>\n
Overall, the general consensus was that Ready Player One was a wonderful read for its\u00a0element of adventure and the idea of seemingly limitless possibilities in virtual reality, not\u00a0necessarily for its characters or inter-character relationships. We rated the book an approximate\u00a04.5 out of 5 stars.<\/p>\n
This meeting was moderated by Teen Advisory Board member Hadley Willman, Grade 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
YA Book Club recap by Hadley Willman, grade 11 In June, the YA book club met to discuss Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, a popular novel for\u00a0teens that was originally marketed towards adults. Ready Player One tells of a world thirty years\u00a0in the future where everyone in the world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":2997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,54],"tags":[49,145],"class_list":["post-2996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-teen-reviews","tag-book-club","tag-teen-facilitated"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2016\/07\/readyplayerone.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-Mk","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4148,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/ya-book-club-caraval\/","url_meta":{"origin":2996,"position":0},"title":"YA Book Club — Caraval","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"October 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"review by\u00a0McKenna Blackshire, age 14 Caraval by\u00a0Stephanie Garber Summary:\u00a0Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. 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