Ready Player One Read-Through: Chapter 23

Off to planet Frobozz. Zork text adventure game reference. Wade finds the clue to the Jade Key in a white house - there are 512 copies of it all around. Everything is about eighties nostalgia, plus a few tidbits of other pop culture iconography, in the OASIS in the 2040s. No imagination left in the future, apparently. With nothing new to add to the pop culture consensus.

He uses a whistle from a cereal box to obtain the Key. Cereal again! Cereal toys! The nostalgia! There involves collecting trophies from a cellar. Battles with trolls and other enemies are told to us in a single passive line. No excitement or stakes, remember.

Sixers show up when Wade has the Key. He escapes. His ship takes some damage but he's fine ("I was lucky." - take a shot!). At a garage repair shop he emails Aech:


While Joe and his boys worked on my ship, I sent Aech a brief email to say thanks. I told him that whatever debt he felt he owed me was now most definitely paid in full. I also copped to being a colossally insensitive, self-centered asshole and begged him to forgive me. (Page 232)


He apologizes! He is aware of his own flaws, at least. Shame that he never tries to work on them or improve his character in any way.

There is a full-on battle on Frobozz between the gunters and the Sixers now. Wade doesn't try to help the gunters - it doesn't occur to him. He just sits on his arse in his safe stronghold and watches the fallout on the newsfeeds. According to the Scoreboard, Shoto has a copy of the Key. Then Daito's name is wiped from it, implying that his avatar has died.

And that's it. That is what I have to say about chapter 23. It reads like a boring RPG.

But beware, the worst - the peak of rage to replace indifference - is to come. Be prepared for the grievous horror that is chapter 24 and beyond...