In the year 2044, an average joe named Wade Watts uses virtual reality in the form of an online game called the OASIS to escape our pitiful reality. The game has been one with the culture for many years, but when the creator dies, an ultimate prize is revealed to the world. The challenges that must be completed to obtain the prize are affiliated with the creators’ avid love for pop culture. Competitors are ready for blood if it means coming away with this prize; if Wade wants to survive, he’ll have to face reality like he never has. Millions of people racing to the finish line, yet none of them are close to being his biggest competitor. IOI: A wealthy organization ready to take over the OASIS and destroy it. Wade’s hopes of reaching the prize first slowly start to fade as he realizes IOI is ready to do anything in its power to beat him to it.
From the beginning of the novel, Wade and Art3mis are illustrated as polar opposites. Art3mis is the secondary protagonist and famous gunter within the OASIS. Wade is a discouraged young teen due to a poor upbringing with an abusive aunt, living in a tractor-trailer, whereas Art3mis is a confident and determined young woman. As soon as these two characters are established, there is a clear difference in how society views them. Art3mis is a high class, well-respected royalty in the online scene, whereas Wade is viewed as a peasant because of his shy personality and unfortunate upbringing. Wade is aware of this, too. There are many times within the novel where the character can be seen manipulating his image online to help boost his self-esteem in the real world. This subtly addresses one of the biggest problems we have in our society today. Many people will try to better their image online in hopes of acceptance from the world around them, and it can lead to many horrible things like a negative body image, eating disorders, depression/anxiety, and many more. At the same time, we are shown that you don’t need to be 100% similar to somebody to create a connection with them. When the two first meet, Arm3tis takes the higher position and subtly insults Wade a few times during their brief conversation. After she learns to get over her entitled personality, the two find that they actually have a lot in common. Even though the two are close, Art3mis’s confidence still exceeds that of Wade because she isn’t nervous at all, while Wade is very nervous and starstruck.
As the story nears an end, we begin to see multiple personality shifts. Wade is persistent in convincing Art3mis to try the Third Gate with him, but she is resistant. This is a prime example of Wade’s shift in personality, where he is confident enough to beg her to come with him. This is something he never would have had the guts to do towards the beginning of the story. Art3mis’s frustration is an obvious sign of the couple’s heated relationship and is a good example of how their personalities collide but are also very similar in ways. This is also a clear example of Art3mis losing confidence in herself as a result of discouraging events in her life.
Overall, there are many morals to pull from this tale. The first one is that people will accept you for who you are so you don’t need to try and alter their perception of you. Wade was doing all these things to accommodate for what he thought was his poor physical appearance such as increasing his muscle tone, thinning himself out, and removing his acne; when in reality, he didn’t need to do any of these things for Arm3tis to catch feelings for him. Secondly, we must understand that people change. I personally have felt shifts in my personality for the better over these past few years, and this is something Wade Watts experienced throughout this story as well. Overall, I rate this book a 9.2/10 for its relatability to older generations through 80s/90s pop culture, while staying relevant to current times and teaching out kids valuable lessons about self-image.