Best of Science fiction is that in it we can find readings of all kinds. From cutting plots to philosophical in the case of dystopias, uchronias or post-apocalyptic proposals, to Space Operas that take us to new worlds, passing through an imaginary like that of Ernest Cline with his geek view of the world.
And it is that the good of Cline has found his niche in the electronic circuits of the games, in the vision of the gamers as new heroes transmuted to the avatar of the moment. And that the starting idea may sound archaic for all lovers of a technological fun of the third millennium. But Cline has known how to reprogram new game fans without losing the old rockers, pioneers at the time of the devil's machines (as our parents would say every time they dropped 100 pesetas to throw them through the crack ...)
The result is a hybrid that captivated Spielberg himself at the time and that, precisely thanks to the support of the great film director, his proposal has reached all corners of the world to start a new game in each novel ...
Ernest Cline's Top 3 Recommended Novels
Ready Player One
In the current state of the seventh art, devoted to special effects and action stories, stocking up on arguments from good science fiction books at least compensates for the dangerous transition from cinema as a mere visual spectacle. Steven Spielberg is aware of all this, who knew how to find in the novel Ready Player One a perfect script for a good blockbuster ...
As for the novel itself, we could say that it is a dystopia with an eighties setting, only advanced to the year 2044. In the intricacies of the virtual environment Oasis hides an enigmatic proposal that can turn whoever discovers it into a millionaire. The real world has ceased to have any charm for the inhabitants of a planet Earth subjected to the dictatorship of capital.
People live in Oasis, a technological replica of the happy world by Huxley. And in fiction relationships are established. Oasis gives a lot of itself to end up surrendering to fiction as the only way to overcome physical reality.
James Halliday, the creator of the famous setting, has a surprise in store. Upon his death, he reveals that a treasure is hidden in Oasis, a fortune hidden in an Easter egg.
Wade Watts is one of the few who persists in the search as time goes by without anyone finding the famous egg. Until he manages to find the key.
All Oasis and all connected humans suddenly revolve around Wade Watts. The two realities then seem to overlap, and Wade must move through both environments to get his prize in the same way as to save his life, in danger from the moment he becomes the owner of the key.
The action of this novel will enchant thirty-something and forty-something grown up in the shadow of arcades, arcades, the trends of the eighties and nineties, and pop culture of the late twentieth century. A geek point and a wonderful evocative point ...
Ready player two
With cinematic success behind him, Ernest Cline knows how to seize the opportunity to continue recreating himself in an already emblematic universe. The thing has already gone well beyond the readings for zine-eating geeks and each new publication becomes a worldwide event.
And that's where we go, ready to leave our skin once again at OASIS. Because those of us who share certain references from the eighties or even the nineties, we find in this novel a meeting point with the kid that we were. Only that Cline knows how to attract young readers from the field of Science Fiction thanks precisely to the electronic as that fourth dimension where the Internet can coexist with its current gamers with the crazy machines that we were. It's about geeks of yesterday and today. No more.
Days after winning the competition devised by James Halliday, the founder of OASIS, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden in Halliday's safes and waiting for his heir to find him, lies a technological breakthrough that will change the world once again and make OASIS a thousand times more amazing (and addictive) place than Wade ever believed. possible.
This breakthrough leads to a new puzzle and a new mission, a final Halliday Easter Egg that hints that there is a mysterious prize. Wade will also meet a very dangerous new rival, incredibly powerful and capable of killing millions of people to get what he wants. Wade's life and the future of OASIS are once again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity is also hanging by a thread.
With a nostalgia and originality that could only come from Ernest Cline's mind, Ready player two He takes us back into his beloved virtual universe, embarking on another imaginative, fun, and action-packed adventure, and impresses us once again with his gripping representation of the future.
Armada
It's always good to diversify a little. Although the argument absolutely connects with the gamer theme. With Armada, Ernest Cline leaves in suspense a new approach to be developed from the idea that the bad guys in games can also come to this side of the world. And in that case survival depends on being able to pass the level...
Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming of the real world looking a little more like the endless sci-fi books, movies, and video games that have been with it forever. Dreaming of the day when an incredible event capable of changing the world would shatter the monotony of his boring existence and embark him on a great adventure in the far reaches of space.
But a little escapism doesn't hurt from time to time, right? After all, Zack keeps repeating to himself that he knows where the limit is between the real and the imaginary. Who knows that in the real world no one chooses to save the universe a teenager with anger management problems, a video game fan and who does not know what to do with his life.
And then Zack sees a flying saucer. To top it all, the alien ship is the same as the one in the video game that is hooked every night, a very popular multiplayer ship game called Armada in which players have to protect Earth from alien invaders. No, Zack has not gone crazy. Although it seems impossible, that is very real. And it will take your skills and those of millions of players around the world to save the Earth from what is to come.
Finally Zack is going to become a hero. But despite the terror and excitement that overcome him, he can't help but remember all those science fiction stories he grew up with and wonder:
